Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[thegreatwent]

I need to quit checking my blood pressure after reading this AAR, my doc may up my dosages if he sees my BP log.[:)]

[Cuttlefish]

Nice find, Feinder! I'd forgotten about those posts from nearly the beginning of the AAR.

Same submarine, same general time period, not the same area but off the coast of Asia, and this war's equivalent of Shigure. Like I said, kind of weird.

[Ambassador]

Wow, that's a lucky escape.  And again, Hibiki proves to be a good protection for her protectee.[&o]

[Mike Solli]

Hey Cuttlefish, what were you thinking when you saw that torpedo attack?

[Shark7]

Man Hibiki is one lucky ship, hope my Kasumi can match that record.

It is odd looking at the histories of our favorite ships. In my case, Kasumi did not survive the war, but she was the longest lived of the Asashio class. And technically the Allies did not sink her, bomb damage caused her to lose steerage and the Japanese Admiral in charge of the task force ordered her torpedoed and sunk rather than tow her to port. Kasumi fell to a pair of type 93 Long Lances.

6-7 April:
Escorted YAMATO from Inland Sea on attack mission towards Okinawa. Sunk: on 7 April in attacks by aircraft of TF 58; lost steering control due to two bomb hits and a near-miss; 17 dead and 47 injured; FUYUZUKI removed survivors, including Lieutenant Commander Matsumoto, and scuttled with two torpedoes, 150 miles southwest of Nagasaki (31 N, 128 E).

Source: http://www.combinedfleet.com/kasumi_t.htm

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Hey Cuttlefish, what were you thinking when you saw that torpedo attack?

My only thought contained two words, one of them not repeatable on these forums.

[Cuttlefish]

March 5, 1945

Location: 220 miles southeast of Hong Kong
Course: South
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 282

Orders: Escort Ryujo to Saigon

---

“Hey, Snake Man, how is Benzaiten today?”

“Hm? Oh, hello, Shoji. She’s fine. Whatever was bothering her seems to be over.” To demonstrate Oizuma lifts the snake out of her box. The reptile, as is her usual habit, twines up his arm and drapes herself across his shoulders.

“So I see,” says Shoji. “A moody snake, who can figure it? Maybe a rat gave her indigestion or something.”

“Or something,” says Oizuma. “Whatever it was, I’m glad it’s over.” Benzaiten settles down and seems to fall asleep, though it is hard to tell because of her unblinking, lidless eyes.

[Cuttlefish]

March 6, 1945

Location: 240 miles east of Camranh Bay
Course: South
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 239

Orders: Escort Ryujo to Saigon

---

Riku comes off duty and decides to take a turn around the deck to get some air. They have come far enough south that the weather is noticeably warmer and the evening is a pleasant one, with little breeze.

As he steps out on deck from the aft deckhouse he sees the unmistakable silhouette of Chief Shun standing at the rail. The big man is looking out over the sea.

Riku hesitates. Since becoming Shun’s son-in-law things between the two of them have been cordial enough, but distant. Their respective ranks of course mandate a certain distance, but Riku thinks there is also something else. Shun may still dislike him intensely, of course. He may even be embarrassed at once having tried to kill him. Honor is a tricky thing and Shun has more than most.

As Riku stands there Shun turns around and looks at him. I wonder how he does that, Riku thinks. It used to terrify me when I was part of the deck force and it still seems almost uncanny.

“Ariga,” says Shun by way of greeting. He turns back around and resumes his study of the ocean.

“Chief Shun,” Riku says in reply. After a moment of hesitation he moves to join him by the rail.

“We have passed the Ryukyus,” Shun says after a moment. “We were close a couple of days ago, yet for all we could see of them they might have been on the other side of the ocean.”

“I thought of that,” says Riku. “It’s hard. I miss her and I’m worried about her.” In the dimming light Shun nods.

“I too am afraid for her,” he says. “And for my mother.” Riku hesitates for a moment, then speaks.

“You are not commonly supposed to be able to feel fear,” he says, his voice respectful.

Shun grunts. “There is fear, and there is fear,” he says. “For myself, I am rarely afraid. But if you live long enough you learn things, Ariga. You learn that that world is not a solid place. You learn that…you learn that things can go wrong.” There is a long silence, broken only by the rumble of the ship’s engines and the sound of water hissing along the hull. Riku does not say anything, he only waits.

“There is the telegram,” resumes Shun, his voice low. “There is the doctor, his face grave. There is the official car pulling up outside your door. And then your world breaks, a little, and never seems so solid or safe again.”

At the start of the war Riku, with the relentless optimism and confidence of the young, would have had little idea what Shun was talking about. But after long years of war he understands all too well.

“I know,” he says. Shun turns and looks at him.

“I think maybe you do know, a little," he says. "May it be long before you understand completely." He stretches. “Time to turn in. Sleep well, Ariga.”

“Sleep well, Chief Shun,” says Riku. Shun moves away from the rail, making no more sound than a ghost, and goes below.

[John 3rd]

CF this brings nice moment of thought.  Can you imagine what the crews felt like in the Kaigun at this stage in the war?  I think of Hara taking command of Yahagi and his comments there.  With the war obviously getting worse how did they maintain any form of morale?

Gladiator:

Quintis:  "People should know when they're conquored"

Maximus:  "Would you Quintis?  Would I?"

Makes one that a bit...

[kaleun]

Morale? Discipline?
I always wonder how the Germans and the Japanese maintained their discipline so long, fighting a losing war.

[tocaff]

Military tradition, honor and culture factor into the equation of fighting a losing war.  You fight for the guys next to you and when things get close to home for family.  What choice is there other than mutiny?

[rjopel]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Hey Cuttlefish, what were you thinking when you saw that torpedo attack?

My only thought contained two words, one of them not repeatable on these forums.

I'd bet a lot of people thought the same thing as they started to read it.

Never has so much sweat been pured over so few pixels.

[DW]

ORIGINAL: tocaff

Military tradition, honor and culture factor into the equation of fighting a losing war.  You fight for the guys next to you and when things get close to home for family.  What choice is there other than mutiny?

Don't forget a good dose of terror...

[tocaff]

Mentioning the terror can't be properly put into words.  Living through combat is nothing short of a miracle.  Forgetting it's horrors would be a crime.

[DW]

ORIGINAL: tocaff

Mentioning the terror can't be properly put into words.  Living through combat is nothing short of a miracle.  Forgetting it's horrors would be a crime.

Actually...

I was referring more to the coercive power of the state than to the horrors of war.

[Cuttlefish]

March 7, 1945

Location: 100 miles southeast of Camranh Bay
Course: South
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 452

Orders: Escort Ryujo to Saigon

---

Warrant Officer Higa banks his Ki-21 bomber to the north. He and the five other men in the bomber are fifty miles out from Saigon and he has orders to pay particular attention to the northern approaches. An aircraft carrier is supposed to be coming in tomorrow night and it’s important to make any enemy submarines out there keep their heads down. He checks his gauges and then automatically resumes scanning the water a thousand feet below.

“…so then I told her that her eyes reminded me of autumn rain,” his co-pilot is saying. “After that she just about melted, let me tell you. We went to…” Higa tunes him out. Every flight he is regaled with tales of the man’s romantic conquests. Higa knows for a fact that none of them are true, but he never calls him on it. It is harmless enough to let the man have his fantasies and some of them do make for amusing listening.

Suddenly Higa’s attention sharpens. Less than a kilometer ahead and a few degrees to the west he sees something on the water, something that could be a conning tower.

“Look there!” he says, pointing. His co-pilot shuts up abruptly and fumbles for his binoculars.

“It’s a submarine, all right,” he says excitedly. “They see us! Look at them scramble.” Higa pushes the plane forward and the pitch of the two Mitsubishi Ha-101 engines increases as he adds power.

“Takahashi!” barks Higa to Saito, his bombardier.

“I am ready, Warrant Officer,” says Saito. He scrambles into position and peers experimentally through the Type 90 bombsight.

Ahead of the plane the enemy submarine is already beginning to dive. The joke among the ASW crews flying out of Saigon is that it is not necessary to hunt the enemy submarines – they are so thick that just flying out over the South China Sea and dropping bombs at random is likely to result in a kill. In reality it is much harder than that, of course, and Higa mutters to himself as they draw closer, willing his plane to arrive in time.

The submarine dives but is still clearly visible under the surface as they arrive. Four bombs tumble free and crash into the water ahead of and around the sinister shape of the submarine.

“No hits,” says Saito glumly. “I bet we rattled their teeth, though.”

“I am not interested in their dental needs,” snaps Higa, disappointed. He orders his navigator to note their position and call in the contact. Maybe the information, at least, will help that inbound carrier avoid the danger.

[Ambassador]

Another Takahashi ?[&:]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Another Takahashi ?[&:]

No relation to Taiki! Takahashi is one of the most common Japanese surnames.

[Ambassador]

Ok, I wondered if it was a cousin or something.  Come to think about it, we haven't had news from Taiki's brother for a long time...

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Another Takahashi ?[&:]

No relation to Taiki! Takahashi is one of the most common Japanese surnames.

Quite true. The woman who is possibly the wealthiest woman in Japan (a bit like J. K. Rowling) is Rumiko Takahashi, the artist behind Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha.