The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

what is the propulsion of your Yamato?

Hi friend

4 big gruber motors, couple of motor bike batteries........I think she will actually be reasonably quick.
Hope you like her
(Amazingly there are now three 1/72 Yamatos here in Sydney)

I have started a Kirishima..........

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

what is the propulsion of your Yamato?

Hi friend

4 big gruber motors, couple of motor bike batteries........I think she will actually be reasonably quick.
Hope you like her
(Amazingly there are now three 1/72 Yamatos here in Sydney)

I have started a Kirishima..........

Better give Kirishima a heavy keel to provide some counterweight to that massive superstructure! Stability was always a problem for the Kongos after they were refurbished as battleships in the 1930s.

[CV Zuikaku]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

what is the propulsion of your Yamato?

Hi friend

4 big gruber motors, couple of motor bike batteries........I think she will actually be reasonably quick.
Hope you like her
(Amazingly there are now three 1/72 Yamatos here in Sydney)

I have started a Kirishima..........

She is really outstanding! So detailed. Really great job! [:)]

[1275psi]

Oct 25
Singapore becomes a rabbit hunt amongst the rubble
By days end, resistance has literally ben snuffed out.


The stench of death will remain for weeks............



T-25 reaches her destination upon dusk
There is a nervous hour as the ships boats deliver the drugs, the bandages, and a doctor
(a brave man indeed, thinks Hirate).

But it turns out well. By dawn the small ship is again well on the way home

Hirate will wonder if this is his last day at sea..........a mixed feeling indeed.

[zuluhour]

..........dumb struck

[Major Shane]

I just want to say thanks for your posts. This AAR has read like a great historical fiction novel. It took me 3 weeks to read it all. I check in every day for a new post. I am sorry your opponent has slowed down. I have learned so much about ships and sailors. Please keep it going. I'm a loyal fan.

[kaleun]

Finally got up to date.
Awesome work on the Yamato.
Also on the AAR

[1275psi]

Thankyou for comments
I will post pictures of her sail day probably in the war room or general area

I am glad you enjoyed the ride Mr perkins!

October 26th

T 25 returns to kagoshima,, nestles against the dock neatly
Hirate has been impressed, young as he is, her Captain has shown a flare for driving a warship
But he is still not dis appointed to return to the Motor torpedo barracks

Okano meets him in the evening full of gloom
"For one......don't ever leave me wondering what the hell has happened to you like that........but two,
bad news.......rumours of another posting......."
A shiver of fear runs through Hirate.........another one?......at this stage of the war?"

'Where?...........have you heard where?"

"There are only, I believe, 2 battle wagons left in the fleet......you get a fifty, fifty guess"

Truk.

[1275psi]

Oct 27th

It is late 1945

And finally the allies strike at the Jugular
Palembang is bombed

The jugular still pumps, right now 8 tankers are on the way home from Palembang, loaded with oil from this
lonely outpost
2 wont make it, killed near Siagon
6 left
How many engines, airframes can 6 tankers of oil power?
I am not sure.

Does it matter?
Right now we are making just one type of plane, and one type of engine.
Its that desperate

One type of plane, one type of engine

It would want to be a good one

[1275psi]

Oct 28, 1945

With a small wobble the fighter touches down upon the strip, twitches (and causes a dozen sharp intakes of breath among
the dozen or so spectators watching) and then runs true
The pilot brings it to a halt, then taxi's over to the group of engineers, uniformed men.
With a shudder the engines fall silent

Lt oda slides back the canopy, wipes the sweat from his brow, and breaks into an enourmous grin
The senior engineer steps forward.' "and?"
"She is ready.......she is more than ready.....when can I have one?'
The Engineer smiles, the first he has shown for may , many months now.
This journey, this birth, is almost at an end, after so many trials...

'Soon Oda, soon....."

Oda leaps down from the wing, not waiting for the ladder......"466 knots., level flight....., and I thought I knew what fast was."

The engineer nods. faster than even he hoped for.
He turns, marches to a silent man standing watching.
'She is ready"

The silent man nods.
Good.
Very good
he, in turn speaks to his underling
"Commence Serial production"

The Shinden, slated for Ogowa's Eagles first of all, begins production.
106 units a month.

[Long pig]

Magnificent Lightning, I wonder if it can make a difference now in such small numbers ... I hope so 😀

[1275psi]

Hi Long Pig!
Miss ya mate!

No posts on you yet, as I have not seen a B-29 for ages


Hirate and Okano once again crawl slowly across the landscape of Japan in an obscenely crowded train
The Journey is stop, start, stop again.
There are less troops this journey, but many, many civilians.
Peasants. Children.
All Hungry, all thin, drawn pale faces everywhere.
The people of Japan are on the move , looking for food.


The train is headed towards Hiroshima, a journey that should fill them with anticipation.
But they are silent, inward.

Hirate chews the same thoughts over and over again.
"Why us?"
"Why, with so many to choose from, why us?"
And why the Musashi?

Why, have we been fated to serve on this the most hunted of vessels, now, so late in this cursed war?

But there is no answer

Just the thoughts, again
Why?

[1275psi]

battle joined at Genzan, Korea

13254 AV vs 5001

1 to 5 deliberate attack

I lose 12000 men, the Russians 16000

I can go and eat a meal during the replay!

[1275psi]

October 28th

Extract from Shattering the sword, a Cantona production


The last fires extinguished in Singapore, the last defenders found and eliminated, the British Army
turns its attention to the great docks.
Engineers she does not lack, nor the innovation and skill to quickly repair what is broken, or to
replace what is utterly broken
These are , of course, the days of, "just getting it done"
Days the like of which we may never see again

The Japanese have attempted, of course, to destroy the shipyard, have scuttled 2 small ships in the docks entrance
, sunk the dock doors themselves.

But they have failed utterly to damage where those doors will need to sit, and the pumps
hidden below the concrete have, it seems, simply been forgotten

Cranes can be replaced........
So Can warehouses
The Engineer commanding surveys the damage with a very, very practiced eye.

"Inform Ceylon command, we will be ready to receive the fleet by weeks end"

The British pacific fleet, in reality the Indian fleet, will soon need a new name

South China sea fleet.

[1275psi]

Hirate and Okano stand outside the small hut near the main dock Hiroshima
This is the dock liaison hut, interface between the Navy, and the Hundreds of dockyard workers that
have been assigned to this ship, this next task

Both men cannot help themselves, eyes drawn irresistibly to the mammoth nestled in the concrete cavern.

Battleship Musashi lies under repair.

She has had terrible luck.
Only 5 Russian shells struck her during that aborted bombardment of Vladivostok.
They could not have done more damage if they tried for a 100 years.

The fwd gunnery director ...........obliterated
The Aft....jammed.
The Command bridge, wiped away

And her hanger deck seared by fire


A new director sits upon the tower, the hanger deck now gleams

But to reset those directors to work, to connect those cables, those hydraulics, those thousand and one
things that need to be aligned, so that the guns, Musashi's very purpose, can actually hit something......

32 days.
This is how long the Dockyard needs

32 days


Our two men do not, of course, know this yet

To them, the great ship seems undamaged, ready to sail.
And apparently, it seems, with them......

The door opens to the hut, a harassed looking leading seaman pokes his head out, spies the waiting men
"Ahh, Chief petty officers!, the Engineer will see you now"

They enter, face a desk overflowing with paperwork, a chaos of forms, note books, plans, , work orders.

He has aged, has the Engineer, aged, and gained a solid stripe.
But the eyes still sparkle, and the smile remains .

Now Commander, Engineer for this mighty vessel, Tan, ex Zuiho, leaps to his feet, hand outstretched ......."thank the heavens...
My reinforcements!"

[Major Shane]

Awesome, another reunion. One thing that holds true for any of us who have served, is seeing a long lost comrade. I can't count how many times I have run into someone for a previous assignment and picked up the conversation like it was yesterday. It's also very normal to bring in officers and non-commissioned officers to a unit because they had previously served with a leader in the unit. When you are going to combat, you people around you that you trust. Great job bringing these three back together again.

[nicwb]

Sorry - late the party. That's one impressive model of the Yamato ! Where in Sydney do you propose to launch her?

[1275psi]

Hi!
Hubertus Country club
5 sept
weather permitting!


October 30th 1945

War is hell
But for Hirate, this is turning into a special hell
One , he thinks, he will never win

Commander Tan has asked for reinforcements, and he truly, truly needs them
The paper war...........

It is hard to convey the sheer ..........inevitability that Naval practice sometimes follows.

Did you know that right at the extrimis of germanise last days, when Pinz Eugans guns were the last
heavy artillery in the entire courtland peninsula.........she was withdrawn for refit?


Refit???


Somewhere, someone really had priorities wrong there .

And now, it seems, Musashi has been infected with the same disease.

Overdue inspections
Overdue maintenance routines, boiler cleans, turbine bumps, tank cleans.....
And reports!
Please provide overdue correspondence on this, on that, ..on every bloody thing!

Tan has been buried
Now, apparently, he hopes these two new Chiefs can help him

By the end of today, Hirate knows that he might not be able to......

Oh, inspections, that he can do, and tomorrow he will be deep inside Musashi's belly, but
these reports...

He has no schooling for this.
Okano, well he has a little more.

The day, this first one will pass relentlessly, form after form, after useless form.......

Musashi is due to sail in 32 days

Not nearly soon enough!!!!

[1275psi]

The evening however, helps

There are still pockets in Hiroshima where one can obtain food, obtain beer, tiny little
tucked away places
Tan, it seems knows of one

The bar is smaller than your bathroom.
Tans laughter fills it

The three men share the last years, grow melancholy as Hirate recounts Zuiho's passing

They drink a silent beer for the charge.

'Now, says Tan,"let me tell you how I have deceived the entire Japanese navy with my Engineering
knowledge"
It will be a long tale.......the carrier tahio, a spot on a cruiser, and now" my
ultimate magic trick" he grins, The Musashi.

The trick, as always, is to surround yourself with good men.

[1275psi]

Oct 31

"You can have them, gladly"
Ogowa hands back the form to the 201st's commander.
Right now, for this moment, Ogowa is now a Commander with out a plane to command.
His 30 odd NK5J's have now been handed on, and good riddance
Tomorrow, the first deliveries of the new fighter, the magnificent lightning.

let us hope it truly is magnificent......



Ogowa has come a long way, once, barely noticed as a pilot.
Now, now the highest of high commands listen to him.
Production of the NK5j ceases in Japan, the 2 version will do, there are 200 plus of them
still in the pools.
The Shinden needs two engines, and these come of the lines in still insufficient numbers for
the George, the Sam, for anything else.


japan has been spared the bombers, so far

But for how much longer?

Ogowa knows it. Come the spring, the skies will be black with them.