Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[vettim89]

That, our honored friend, may be your best one yet! [&o][&o][&o]

[kaleun]

Beautiful; simply beautiful.

[Marc gto]

you do know how to write a great story cf

[hosho]

Hi there,

I have been reading this "AAR novel" for some time now, and I must say that this story MUST BE PUBLISHED! Cuttlefish your writing is simply amazing! [&o]

P.S. Don`t keep us addicts waiting for too long, we all need our Hibiki fix [:)]

[Cuttlefish]

November 27, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Hibiki remains anchored in Tokyo Bay. Ensign Izu stands at the stern, watching a convoy of eight large troop ships being shepherded past by a handful of older destroyers. Izu identifies the closest destroyer as a Mutsuki class, probably only seven or so years older than Hibiki but significantly older than that in design. Soldiers line the rails of the troop ships. Izu thinks of his father, whose unit is somewhere in the Philippines.

Ensign Konada, his uniform immaculate as always, comes up beside him and surveys the passing convoy. “Where do you suppose they are going?” he asks. “Could they be reinforcements for Iwo Jima or Chichi Jima?” Izu shrugs.

“There is no way to tell,” he says. “I hope not, for their sake. The chance that any of them would reach shore alive is very small. But I expect they are going to the Ryukyus, or the Philippines, someplace like that. Wherever the enemy is expected to attack after the Bonins.”

“Is it not defeatist to think the enemy will conquer the Bonins?” Konada asks. His tone is of polite inquiry. Izu glances at him.

“It is practical,” says Izu, a trifle shortly. "Wars are won by planning and execution, not by hope or blind faith."

Konada ponders this for a minute. “That makes sense,” he admits. The two men watch the ships for another moment, then Konada departs.

Izu watches him go. He finds himself having to shake off an irrational dislike of the young officer lately, and it suddenly occurs to him why. It isn’t his spit-and-polish attitude or his relentless reverence of authority. The kid does try hard and he is at least willing to learn. No, the crime of which he is guilty is one over which he has no control. Try to be fair, Izu tells himself. It isn’t Konada’s fault that he isn’t Ensign Handa.

[Capt. Harlock]

“It is a little unusual,” comments Shiro, “to listen to a priestess speaking of a perfectly rational, deterministic universe.” The woman smiles.

Once again, a brilliant twist -- a goddess telling her followers not to trust to blind faith.[&o]

[Cuttlefish]

November 28, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Excerpt from “Japanese Destroyer Attack!” by Shiro Kuramata, Ballentine Mori Press, 1963. Translated by Captain Ben Packard, USN (ret.). Original Japanese title: “Small Ship, Big War”:


As I prayed at the shrine on Enoshima a conviction slowly grew in me that I would survive the war. By the time we left I was certain of it, though I could not say how I knew. As this obviously proved to be the case I was left to wonder whether it was chance that I survived or whether some other agency was involved.

To this day I have no answer. These days, when belief in the old ways is waning, it may be easy to scoff at the idea that Benzaiten had her hand hovering protectively over our ship. Even to me it sometimes sounds silly. But it was easier to believe in such things then. Remember that in those days there were many of us who truly believed that the Emperor was the son of Heaven. The war changed many things.

I did not mention my newfound conviction that I would survive to my friends. For one thing, I did not want to tempt fate by speaking about it out loud. But I think the main reason was that I did not know whether anyone else would survive with me.

[Cuttlefish]

November 29, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

Captain Ishii awakens in his home in Hyogo Prefecture and is for a moment disoriented. He does not know where he is. The floor beneath his sleeping mat does not move, and instead of the smell of oil and sea and sweat he smells breakfast being prepared.

Home. That’s right, he is home. The morning sun is coming in strongly through the window. How long has it been since he slept this late? Ishii cannot remember. But to have slept so is a blessing. There is a second mat folded under his head and shoulders, elevating them, and it is the first night in some time that Ishii can recall sleeping soundly.

His wife comes in, carrying a tray, and smiles at him. Ishii smiles back. She is no longer the delicate young woman that he married, it seems like such a little time ago. But her face is no less dear to him for all of that, even if there are lines there now that didn’t used to be there. He starts to get up, but then his wife clucks at him.

“Stay there,” she says. “I do not often get a chance to wait on you the way a good wife should.” She kneels and sets a tray down next to him. There is rice, of course, and miso soup, along with a bit of fish and a few pickled plums. These latter are a real extravagance in these difficult times, and Ishii cocks an eyebrow at his wife.

“Don’t say a word, husband,” she says. “I have been saving these. Just enjoy them.” And Ishii does. He savors his breakfast and then after a while rises, puts on a kimono, and goes out to sit in the garden. After a while his wife comes out and sits beside him. Despite the season it is warm enough in the sunshine and almost against his will Ishii finds he is able to relax a little more with each passing day.

He just wishes he could make himself stop scanning the koi pond for periscopes.

[Hornblower]

excellent

[veji1]

Brilliant as always... I guess everybody reads this story his own way but in my mind I can see the comic book... Brilliant..

[CarnageINC]

Comic book, hell this could easily be a book

[mdiehl]

and miso soup, along with a bit of fish

Is this an "Uh oh!" moment?

[kaleun]

As far as the book project goes, CF can set the whole thing up with picks and everything and then publish it as an e-book at Lulu.com.
He can set the sale price and gets 80% royalties.
Just with the forum dwellers he'll get a nice stimulus package for his next effort:

Big War Small ship, Admiral Edition!

[Cuttlefish]

November 30, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

As we approach the second anniversary of this tale it seems like a good time to once again post a dramatis personae.


Officers:

Lieutenant Commander Hagumu Ishii, Captain. He is from Hyogo Prefecture and has a granddaughter, Sachiko, born after the start of the war.

Lieutenant Sakamoto Miharu, Executive Officer. His home is in Kanazawa. Taught Japanese at Annapolis for a year in the 1930’s. Has a new baby daughter, Yuriko, born October 1944.

Lieutenant Sakati, Chief Engineer. Trained at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. A man who knows and appreciates fine liquor.

Lieutenant Sugiyura, Chief Torpedo Officer. Martial artist and the most aggressive of Hibiki’s officers.

Lieutenant Kuwaki, Chief Gunnery Officer. Promoted to full lieutenant since the start of the war.

Lieutenant JG Nakagawa, ship’s medical officer. A veterinarian before entering the navy.

Lieutenant JG Kataoka, paymaster. Slightly plump and perhaps just a bit of a rogue at heart.

Ensign Handa, small boat specialist. His war of practical jokes with Ensign Izu got out of hand for a while, but the two became good friends. Transferred to battleship Musashi in August 1943, killed in action November 1944.

Ensign Tomio Izu. Amateur ornithologist, his father is a colonel in the Army.

Ensign Konada. Handa’s uptight replacement, is learning that substance is more important than style.

Petty Officers:

Chief Petty Officer Shun. From Okinawa. Terror of the ship’s enlisted men. He and Captain Ishii go back a long ways.

Constructor Chief Petty Officer Shinoda. Baseball player and master of the machine shops.

Senior Petty Officer Toshio Aikawa. Appears in the narrative only occasionally but is respected by both officers and enlisted men.

Petty Officer First Class Okubo. A bully and all-around jerk.

Petty Officer First Class Taiki Takahashi. Began the war as an enlisted man. Remarkably intelligent. Has lost much of his naïveté during the war but not his sense of honor. Married Sayumi Komatsu in January 1944. He is currently the ship’s chief radar operator.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Yahama. Engineering. A remarkably squat and ugly man but one of Sakati’s best men.

Enlisted Men:

Leading Seaman Riku Ariga. A former rogue and con man who tried very hard to reform after having the bad luck to fall hopelessly in love with Shun’s daughter. Finally married Nanami in 1944.

Leading Seaman Shiro Kuramata. A woodcarver and gentle soul from Tendo. Close friend to Riku and Taiki. We know he will one day write a book about his experiences during the war.

Leading Seaman Yoshitake. Bunks with Shoji, Shiro, Riku, and Oizuma. Can be a bit of a wise ass but is an okay guy.

Leading Seaman Hosogaya. Strongest man on the ship except for Shun. Torpedoman and baseball player. Joined the crew in 1943.

Seaman Senior Oizuma, “Snake Man.” Owner of Benzaiten. Hopes to become a biologist after the war.

Seaman Senior Kinsei. Torpedoman. Joined the crew in 1943, started out in Sugiyura’s doghouse but has since won approval.

Seaman Senior Chuyo. Torpedoman, friend of Kinsei and Hosogaya.

Senior Seaman Oka, radar operator.

Seaman First Class Itokawa. Cook and baseball player.

Seaman First Class Hikaru Shoji. Another bunkmate of Riku and Shiro, was plagued by bad luck until receiving a good luck charm from his friends.

Seaman First Class Konno. Plays second base for the ship’s baseball team.

Seaman Second Class Moshizuki. A heavy drinker and frequently in trouble.

Others:

Kojima Miharu, Lieutenant Miharu’s wife.

Morito Miharu, the lieutenant’s brother. A member of the Communist Party, which is a criminal activity in and of itself. Killed on Okinawa by Umeda.

Rin Shun, CPO Shun’s mother. A wise and tough old woman, seriously ill for a time but recovered. Shot and killed Umeda when he invaded the Shun home in an attempt to kill her son.

Nanami Shun, CPO Shun’s daughter. Beautiful but fiercely protected by her father. Now married to Riku, still lives on Okinawa with her grandmother.

Ensign Noboro Takahashi, Taiki’s brother. Serves aboard battleship Mutsu. Injured off Wake in ’42, has burn scars as a result.

Benzaiten, a Borneo blood python. The ship’s unofficial good luck charm.

Lieutenant Umeda of the Tokeitai. Held a grudge against Chief Shun and Captain Ishii, killed on Okinawa by Shun’s mother.

Sayumi Komatsu. War widow who attempted to continue running her family’s plastering business. Married Taiki in January 1944.

Captain Shimura of the Tokeitai. Has at different times worked both with and against Hibiki’s crew.

Frank Barnwell of the RAF, Blenheim gunner and radio operator. Picked up by Hibiki when his plane was shot down in the early days of the war. Escaped and after many adventures ended up in India with his unit. Was again shot down and wounded; is now in England and out of the war.

Nonaka, an old retired petty officer and former mentor of Shun. Can usually be found at Sugai’s bar in Osaka.

The Rickshaw Man. Assassin and agent of Big Ears Du, the crime lord of Shanghai. An old enemy of Shun’s.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Marson of the Australian 7th Infantry Division. Appeared in the battles of Timor and Port Moresby.

Gordon McNair, merchant seaman. His tanker was torpedoed and he was left adrift by Kido Butai off New Zealand.

Ensign Mark Turnby of PT-62, son of a friend of Lieutenant Miharu’s. Rescued by Hibiki and now a resident of Kawasaki POW Camp 2-B.

Lieutenant Jack Kennedy, torpedo boat commander. Captured along with Ensign Turnby and also a resident of Kawasaki POW Camp 2-B.

Seaman Ralph Bethke. A crewman on the US destroyer La Valette. He writes messages and tosses them overboard in bottles, one of which gets Yoshitake into trouble.

[Cuttlefish]

December 1 - 6, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

The third year of the war comes to a quiet end for Hibiki, still at anchor in Tokyo Bay. As with the first and second anniversaries of the beginning of the war I present a TROM (Tabular Record of Movement) for the year just concluded (the first two TROMs can be found here and here):

Tabular record of movement, IJN destroyer Hibiki, 7 December 1943 to 6 December 1944:

7 December 1943 – 26 December:
At Kwajalein.

27 December – 3 January 1944:
Raids enemy shipping at Luganville as part of a cruiser task force under the command of Raizo Tanaka. Hibiki engages and sinks AK Charles F. Amidon.

4 January – 6 January:
At Kwajalein.

7 January – 16 January:
Escorts the damaged Yamato to Tokyo. Many of the crew are stricken with dysentery en route.

17 January – 17 February:
At Tokyo. Taiki gets married. Morito Miharu and Lieutenant Umeda are both killed on Okinawa.

18 February – 13 March:
Operates out of Saipan as part of DesDiv 33. Engages enemy PT boats at Woleai March 8.

14 March – 31 March:
At Osaka.

1 April – 10 April:
Escorts troop ships carrying the 48th Independent Mixed Brigade from Osaka to Iwo Jima.

11 April – 12 April:
At Osaka.

13 April:
Proceeds alone to Tokyo.

14 April – 1 May:
Escorts carriers operating west of the Marshall Islands as the Allies invade Eniwetok.

2 May – 3 May:
Ordered to Saipan to refuel and move to cover freighters bringing supplies to Ulithi.

4 May:
SS Grenadier fires four torpedoes at Hibiki in a night attack. All miss.

5 May:
Carrier force provides cover for surface force withdrawing after a successful night attack at Woleai.

6 May – 11 May:
Escort operations conclude. Task force returns to Osaka.

12 May – 6 June:
At Osaka. Chief Petty Officer Shun is shot and wounded.

7 June – 15 June:
Escorts carriers in an attempt to intercept Allied transports en route to Guam. Two enemy destroyers sunk by carrier planes.

16 June – 16 July:
At Tokyo.

17 July – 23 July:
At Kagoshima.

24 July – 18 August:
Escorts carriers operating west of the Carolines in an unsuccessful attempt to interfere with the build-up of Allied troops and supplies in the region.

19 August – 26 August:
At Kagoshima.

27 August:
Detached and sent to Kobe for refit.

28 August – 18 September:
Refit at Kobe. Radar and additional 25mm AA guns are installed. Riku and Nanami are married.

19 September – 20 September:
Escorts carrier Hiyo to Tokyo.

21 September – 24 September:
At Tokyo.

25 September – 3 October:
Visits Bonin as part of surface combat TF.


4 October – 4 November:
At Tokyo.

5 November – 9 November:
Naval battle of Iwo Jima. While escorting Yamato and Musashi Hibiki sinks DD Dale and damages two more DDs and an AK, then survives heavy enemy air attacks while retiring.

10 November – 6 December:
At Tokyo.

[tocaff]

The old gal has had a busy war and her skipper is showing the wear & tear.

[Cuttlefish]

December 7 - 31, 1944

Location: Tokyo/Osaka
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: None

---

The remainder of December is a quiet time for Hibiki and her crew. On December 8 the destroyer escorts damaged cruiser Tone to Osaka. There they remain through the end of the month.

The war continues, of course. There is fierce fighting throughout the month on both Iwo and Chichi Jima. Japanese resistance remains stubborn, though as the year draws to a close it is clear that Allied forces are slowly gaining the upper hand. Japanese bombers flying from the mainland attack enemy shipping around Chichi Jima on several occasions, sinking a fair number of freighters and destroyer escorts there.

On the last day of the year a massive raid of 329 B-29s attacks Tokyo from the Marianas. But the air defense over Tokyo is very strong and Japanese fighters succeed in largely breaking up the raid before it can do serious damage. The heavy toll forces General Curtis LeMay to admit that the air offensive against Japan will have to wait until at least one airfield in the Bonins has been secured.

---

Thus we come to 1945, the last and most desperate year of the war. For those who have followed Hibiki through over three years of war, thank you. From this point on there will be no more extended quiet periods for Hibiki and no more shortcuts in the story. From here until the end it will be day by day.

The game itself continues, though I decline to give the current date. I do not wish to drop any hints or spoilers. I will note, though, that there is a lot of action ahead for our little ship. Hang on to your hats, as they say, the ride is going to be a bumpy one from here on out.

I will mention one other thing. Whether Hibiki survives or not we will now follow the war to the end. We’ve come this far together and I think I owe it to all of you and to the crew to tell the tale complete.

Enough said. On to 1945.

[Fishbed]

Glad to be aboard for the last act, Sir!

[tocaff]

[:)]

[Alikchi2]

It's been a fantastic ride so far, I'll happily follow it to the end.