Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[mdiehl]

Bumpage.
 
We are all awaiting our next installment in the serial, Cuttlefish.
 
Hellooooo..... [;)]

[Marc gto]

lol yes we are

[Cuttlefish]

I apologize for the delay. I chose this past weekend to begin fulfilling a pledge I made to myself to quit smoking when I turned 50. So far I've been successful but it has been a difficult past few days.

I feel better this morning, however, and my ability to concentrate is at least partly restored, so with luck I will have a post or two up later today.

---

On another note, "Small Ship" just passed its second anniversary. I did not imagine when I started this as an odd little experiment two years ago that I would still be writing it today. And we aren't done yet!

[kaleun]

Congratulations on quitting, I know it is hard.
Just so long as you don't quit drinking![;)]

[Marc gto]

amen

[Dave3L]

Looks like I picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue.....

[Cuttlefish]

January 8, 1945

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

Orders: None

---

Riku considers the problem Captain Shimura has left him with from several possible angles. In the end he decides that if he is going to fight the Imperial Navy he is going to need the Imperial Navy’s help. He seeks out Lieutenant Miharu and tells him the tale.

Hibiki’s executive officer does not ask him if he has considered accepting the offer to join the Tokeitai. The two men have discussed their feelings about the military police before and are in fact co-conspirators in bribing the commander of a certain prison camp in the Yokohama area.

“Officially I can delay such a request,” he tells Riku. “And even once the process begins forms can be misfiled, signatures conveniently forgotten, that sort of thing. But in the end it will come down to who can pull the most strings. I suspect we will lose that fight.”

“Then what should I do, sir?” Riku asks. “I do not wish to leave Hibiki and I certainly do not want to join the Tokeitai!”

Lieutenant Miharu leans back in the single chair in his small cabin. “I am going to make a suggestion that you might find odd, Ariga,” he says. “It is going to sound strange but please consider it. Try being straightforward with him. I think it is your best chance.”

Riku blinks. “Sir?” he says. “I can’t just tell him what I think of that gang of thugs he works for.”

“No indeed,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “Be diplomatic. Convince him he doesn’t want you and don’t try to snow him, either. He’s too smart for that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good luck,” says the lieutenant. He stands to indicate the interview is over. “One more thing, Ariga. Captain Shimura may not be wrong about Okinawa, but have you talked to Chief Shun about that?”

“No sir, I have not,” says Riku.

“Do so,” says the lieutenant.

[tocaff]

Good luck and keep up the good work on not smoking.  I quit a million times and finally, years ago, for good.  I think that the key is to realize and never stop telling yourself this that your next butt is going to start you up again so don't have the next one, ever.  It gets easier and easier not to smoke with time.

[Cuttlefish]

January 9, 1945

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

Orders: None

---

“My mother will not leave her house,” Shun says. “My daughter will not leave her mother. There is really nothing further to discuss.”

Riku opens his mouth, then closes it again. He wonders if Nanami would leave if he ordered her to do so, but quickly realizes that he can’t put her through having to make that kind of choice. Shun turns away from the rail and looks out over the bay.

“Our traditions are old and very strong,” Shun says. “My mother was born in that cottage, in the year before the Japanese invasion. Generations of my family have lived there and died there. She won’t leave.” Shun half smiles. “I did try to convince her,” he says. “It did not go well.”

Riku bows his head in acknowledgement and hopes that his next conversation goes better than this one did.

---

Riku has no trouble in being admitted to see Shimura at Tokeitai headquarters; Shimura seems to have left word that Riku is expected. In very short order Riku finds himself seated across a desk from the Tokeitai officer.

“Thank you for coming,” says Captain Shimura. “I take it you have reached a decision?”

“It is good of you to receive me,” says Riku. “Yes, I have. Though your offer is a generous, more generous than I deserve, I fear I must decline.” Captain Shimura’s eyes narrow slightly.

“Indeed?” he says, his tone noticeably colder. “May I inquire why?”

“Sir,” says Riku, “you told me before that I had several qualities that the Tokeitai would find useful. I have decided, after considerable reflection, that I also lack several qualities that you would find necessary. I would be a sadly flawed tool, not at all deserving of serving within your ranks.”

“Oh?” says Captain Shimura. “With respect, I might be in a better position to judge what we need and what we don’t than you are. What qualities do you think you lack?”

“First of all, sir,” he says, “those of the Tokeitai must be visionaries, able to look beyond what is merely good to what is good for all. My own point of view, I fear, is hopelessly limited.

“Second, it pains me to reveal that I have an excitable nature. This means that since I lack the quiet, patient attitude serving with the Tokeitai requires I am fit only for front-line duty.

“Finally, sir,” Riku says, “I seem somehow unable to bring my full abilities to bear in situations where the odds favor me to any great extent. This regrettable weakness would seriously limit my effectiveness, I fear.”

Captain Shimura simply sits there for a moment, gazing levelly at Riku. Riku sits still, not betraying his nervousness. He wonders what Shimura truly thinks of the Tokeitai, how he views the actions of the organization for which he works.

After a long moment Shimura speaks. “It is regrettable,” he says. “I may in fact have been mistaken, Seaman Ariga. You might not be a suitable candidate after all.”

Riku ducks his head. “I apologize for having wasted your time, sir,” he says.

“Not at all,” says Shimura. “I found it…interesting. Good day, Ariga.” Riku rises and salutes, then leaves. Without further ado he finds himself outside, heading back to where he belongs. Back to Hibiki.

[Cuttlefish]

January 10, 1945

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

Orders: None

---

The chemical process used to clean pilot’s uniforms was slow to be discontinued. Even when early cases of the nerve disease it caused, cases such as Torpedoman Chuyo’s, seemed to point in its direction officials were slow to act. Face-saving and bureaucratic inertia delayed its discontinuation for weeks.

By January 1945 the process has not been used for a month but due to prior exposure the number of cases continues to develop. Almost overnight, it seems, Japan faces a major crisis as hundreds of expert pilots are knocked out of action. The scourge is especially bad among Army pilots in bases on the mainland but no unit or area is immune.

Japan’s ability to defend herself from an aerial assault has been crippled just as the Allied airbase on Iwo Jima becomes operational. The public is not informed of the problem but those in the know turn anxious eyes skyward and wonder what will happen now.

[Cuttlefish]

Shark7 has included a cameo appearance by some of Hibiki's crew in his own AAR. I thought the result was nicely done. Check it out here.

[Cuttlefish]

January 11, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: South
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: See below

---

Urgent orders reach Hibiki around mid-morning. Captain Ishii looks them over in his cabin and then quickly calls his officers together for a meeting in the wardroom. As the men arrive for the meeting most of them glance covertly at Ishii, trying to assess his mood. He does not seem happy.

“I will be brief,” he says when everyone is seated. “We are to join a powerful task force under the command of our old friend Admiral Tanaka. The task force departs tonight, with the goal of shelling Iwo Jima and destroying the many newly arrived planes there before they can be used against us.”

There are murmurs around the table. Even Lieutenant Sugiyura looks a little doubtful.

“It is not as bad as it sounds,” says Ishii. “Reports say that the enemy carriers have withdrawn now that the airbase is repaired and there don’t seem to be any powerful surface forces guarding the island. We will be escorting battleships Hiei and Kirishima and heavy cruisers Tone, Chikuma, and Takao. As I said, a strong force.”

Ishii can see that his officers are aware of just how many things might go wrong with this mission. But no one says anything. If this is the job they are given then this is the job they will do.

“We depart after sunset,” he says. “Prepare to sail.”

[kaleun]

Once more on to the breach!

[tocaff]

Hmmmm, maybe Shimura is a smart man whom doesn't want somebody in his command that doesn't want to be there?  Imagine that, a smart officer, a true rarity.  [;)]

[mdiehl]

Heh. I enjoyed the brief foray to Shark 7s AAR. Several cans of strawberries have arrived on Kasumi. All erudite WW2 scholars know how the Kasumi's former skipper would have reacted if the mess boys had eaten the last of the can.

[Cuttlefish]

January 12, 1945

Location: 290 miles south of Matsuyama
Course: South
Attached to: TF 43
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 416

Orders: Bombard enemy airfields on Iwo Jima

---

Taiki grips the sides of his radar console and tries to concentrate on the small display screen. It isn’t easy. Even down in the radar room the rattle of the machine guns and the crash of the 25s forms a continuous roar. From his time as gun captain Taiki can picture the frantic crews ramming fresh magazines into the receivers as they frantically try to track the attacking aircraft.

Hibiki is heeled over in a tight starboard turn that seems to have lasted forever; Taiki guesses they have at least come full circle. Suddenly the ship begins to right itself and as it does so the rumble of the ship’s engines becomes a roar. Taiki can picture the clouds of black smoke that must be belching from the funnels as Sakati overboosts the engines.

Through all the din the sound of airplane engines can suddenly be heard. How close they must be for him to hear them above the rest of the noise Taiki shudders to guess. Abruptly the engine sound drops in pitch.

“Hold on to something,” Taiki says to Oka, the operator on the Type 13 set. He follows his own advice and cannot help hunching his shoulders a little.

Hibiki suddenly reverberates as if struck by a giant underwater mallet. The stern lifts a bit, then settles back. The roar of the anti-aircraft guns slackens for a moment before picking up again.

“That was close!” says Oka. Taiki nods, then swears as he sees his screen has gone blank. He lunges out of his chair and kicks the right side of the console. The display comes back on.

---

One of the attacking de Havilland Mosquitos passes about two hundred meters in front of Hibiki at mast height and heads for Hiei. It’s a good shot for the forward AA mount and they take it, scoring a few hits. The enemy bomber wobbles slightly but continues on and releases its bomb. Happily the bomb buries itself in a wave and does not emerge. The enemy aircraft zooms over Hiei and away, trailing a little smoke.

Captain Ishii does not waste time watching it; he orders a port turn, both to throw off any other planes that might be attacking Hibiki and to stay clear of another destroyer circling ahead. Everywhere he looks are enemy airplanes, black puffs of anti-aircraft fire, and racing Japanese ships with convoluted wakes.

There are at least sixty or seventy bombers attacking them. In addition to the wave-skimming Mosquitos there are B-25s and SB2C dive bombers. The different planes are attacking from different heights and angles and this does a good job of dividing the task force’s anti-aircraft fire. Above the fray circle enemy fighters.

And then the attack is over. A few shots chase after the last enemy planes to depart and there is sudden quiet. Smoke from the anti-aircraft guns drifts across the water and begins to thin in the breeze and half-deafened men shake their heads in a vain attempt to stop them from ringing. Four enemy planes were shot down but three ships have been hit; Hiei, Kirishima, and Chikuma. Smoke rises from them as they work to bring their fires under control.

The damage to the task force does not seem too serious but it is clear that trying to get closer to Iwo than this would be suicide. Tanaka orders his ships to resume their formation and to change course back to the north.

Hibiki’s shortest sortie of the war is over.

---

Hibiki after the battle. Crew experience has jumped again, from 86/69 to 89/69. Note also the huge fuel consumption for the day, from 475 down to 416.

[Mike Solli]

*Sigh of relief*
 
But they're not home yet. [:(]

[Capt. Harlock]

there don’t seem to be any powerful surface forces guarding the island. We will be escorting battleships Hiei and Kirishima and heavy cruisers Tone, Chikuma, and Takao. As I said, a strong force.”

Hmm. Looks like a TF selected for speed rather than thickness of armor. And the apparent absence of "powerful surface forces" doesn't mean there are no surface forces. Could the USN slap together a scratch team such as the one in the opening of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal?

[Capt. Harlock]

The damage to the task force does not seem too serious but it is clear that trying to get closer to Iwo than this would be suicide. Tanaka orders his ships to resume their formation and to change course back to the north.

Hibiki’s shortest sortie of the war is over.

Rats. Cancel my previous post.

But it's interesting that Mosquitoes are being based there as well as American aircraft. (Personally I'm fond of Beaufighters.)

[Alikchi2]

Excellent battle scene, sir - they're some of the hardest to write, I imagine, but you're pulling them off with consistency.

I imagine the British Pacific Fleet has been formed by this time.