Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[kaleun]

Just don't get too distracted with Hibiki-san; we wouldn't want it to interfere with your writing![;)]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Vetamur

(just a side note since the Hibiki is everyones favorite destroyer..in my newest game, the one I am doing the AAR on, the Hibiki hit Dutch Submarine KXI twice on Dec. 9th. as a side-side note, I hired a new part time secretary this week and her name is Hibiki..which is an extremely uncommon name here)

I did not realize it was ever used as a proper name. What an interesting coincidence!

[Cuttlefish]

August 9, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 412

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

Lieutenant Miharu is holding English class aboard the Hibiki. With the relative inactivity aboard ship he has revived the classes and acquired several new students. They are currently seated around him on the fantail of the destroyer, in the shadow of one of the Y-rack depth charge throwers.

“Repeat once again: ‘Is this the train to Chicago?’” he says. The eight men listening to him repeat the English phrase in chorus, with varying degrees of success. Miharu listens carefully.

“Seaman Watase, repeat it once more, please.” Second Class Seaman Tamotsu Watase dutifully repeats the English phrase.

“How many of you believe he said that correctly?” asks the lieutenant. All answer in the affirmative except for Riku, who looks doubtful. Miharu knows that Riku is his most advanced pupil, so he asks him for his opinion.

“I think he said ‘tlain’ instead of ‘train’,” says Riku. He enunciates the two words very slowly and carefully. Miharu nods.

“That is correct,” he says. “To we Japanese, the ‘L’ and ‘R’ phonemes are the same sound. In English they are different. This is a source of great amusement to Americans when they listen to us speaking English. We substitute the sounds for each other because our tongues and brains are trained to the fact that they are the same thing. But not so to Americans. The problem this creates for Japanese is not that we cannot be understood. In my experience, the problem is that it makes the Americans see us as foolish.” There are murmurs of indignation at this.

“So it makes a nation of loud, uncultured barbarians see us as foolish?” asks Ensign Handa. “That is stupid!”

“I stress this,” says Miharu, “because it is difficult enough to be taken seriously by an American as it is. Our cultures are very different. Even after a year in their country and many years studying their language I don’t think I truly understand them. Their general perception of us is even more inaccurate.”

“Perhaps they will come to understand us better once we are dictating peace terms in Washington!” declares Watase. Miharu smiles a little.

“No doubt in much the same way that the Germans came to understand and appreciate the French after the French dictated peace terms at Versailles,” says the lieutenant. “It is my own opinion that if we understood one another better we would not be fighting now. Who knows, perhaps in some future time of peace Americans will come to understand and appreciate our culture.”

“Perhaps,” says Riku thoughtfully, “there might even come a time when Japanese goods will be valued and eagerly sought in America.” This statement provokes general laughter. Riku looks hurt.

“You may as well say that there will come a time when our baseball players will be as welcome there as Ted Williams and Hank Greenberg,” laughs Ensign Handa. There is more laughter.

“Certainly!” whoops another. “No doubt they will be offered huge sums of money to leave Japan and play in the World Series!” Lieutenant Miharu smiles.

“Now you are just being foolish,” he says. “Let us get back to work. As I was explaining, in English interrogatives are usually spoken with an upward inflection at the end of the sentence…”

[Cuttlefish]

August 10, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 382

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

Lieutenant Umeda of the Tokeitai lies wracked with fever in a ward of a military hospital in Rangoon. His face is beaded with sweat and his skin is mottled and unhealthy looking. He has lost 30 pounds since leaving Japan.

His transport was torpedoed and sunk en route from the Nicobar Islands. He was rescued by another ship, but upon reaching Rangoon contracted malaria. He has spent the last week in the hospital.

On the bed to his right a soldier who lost a foot in the fighting north of Myitkyina tosses and moans. Umeda turns his head and looks at the window to his left. It is open halfway, but very little breeze comes in to disturb the stifling air and large flies buzz and crawl lazily across the glass.

Umeda clenches his fists weakly. Captain Ishii of the Hibiki put him here. Ishii and his executive officer and that ape of a CPO, he thinks. I will survive this, his thoughts continue, and I will return to Japan and someday I will have my revenge. He holds fiercely to these thoughts as he falls into restless sleep.

[Cuttlefish]

August 11, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 351

Orders: Hold position and wait.

[Cuttlefish]

August 12, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 320

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

A heavy rain squall passes over the task force. After the clouds pass the decks of the Hibiki literally steam in the hot sun. Even the ocean seems turgid and warm, not like the clean cold waters of Japan.

Hibiki seems to hang at the center of a vast quiet that has fallen over the South Pacific. Nowhere can the questing submarines or search planes of Japan locate any sign of enemy movement. It feels to the men aboard the destroyer almost as though they and the enemy were trapped and held motionless by the warm, heavy tropical air.

Whether there is fighting occuring elsewhere they have no idea. Sometimes it seems as though the war has ended and no one remembered to tell them. The destroyer continues its endless defensive patrols around the assembled aircraft carriers, waiting for something to happen.

[princep01]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

August 12, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 320

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

A heavy rain squall passes over the task force. After the clouds pass the decks of the Hibiki literally steam in the hot sun. Even the ocean seems turgid and warm, not like the clean cold waters of Japan.

Hibiki seems to hang at the center of a vast quiet that has fallen over the South Pacific. Nowhere can the questing submarines or search planes of Japan locate any sign of enemy movement. It feels to the men aboard the destroyer almost as though they and the enemy were trapped and held motionless by the warm, heavy tropical air.

Whether there is fighting occuring elsewhere they have no idea. Sometimes it seems as though the war has ended and no one remembered to tell them. The destroyer continues its endless defensive patrols around the assembled aircraft carriers, waiting for something to happen.

One could entitle this segment: "The dog days of war". You paint a hellish scene, Cuttlefish.

It does not go unnotice that this is Post 666.

[kaleun]

We seem to have many gifted writers in this forum.

[Cuttlefish]

August 13, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 289

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

There is a small flurry of excitement in the task force when CV Hiyo and her three escorts are detected to the north, but the carrier was expected around this time and is quickly identified. The four ships are quickly integrated into the main carrier group, and things resume their usual routine.

There is another stir of interest when Hiyo announces via signal lamp that she carries sacks of mail for each ship. The converted carrier is suddenly at the center of a converging ring of ship’s boats. Everyone is eager for some contact from home and a bit of a race develops to see who can get to the carrier first.

---

Taiki bids farewell to the friends he has made aboard the Hiyo. Traveling on the carrier has been an interesting experience for Taiki. The former ocean liner has luxuries of crew space aboard that the men of the Hibiki can only dream of. But Taiki is still eager to be back aboard the destroyer. Not only does it seem more like home to him, but the Hiyo is a slow and clumsy ship compared to the Hibiki.

The Hibiki’s boat is alongside. Taiki lowers two sacks down to the waiting crewmen and then climbs down the ladder to the boat. He drops nimbly into the pitching craft then straightens and salutes a slightly startled Ensign Handa.

“Reporting for duty, sir,” he says.

---

CV Hiyo:

[Onime No Kyo]

Yay! The wandering minstrel returns. [:)]

[Cuttlefish]

August 14, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 258

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

Lieutenant Miharu listens to Taiki’s tale and shakes his head in amazement.

“Remarkable,” he says. “You managed to find us in the middle of a top secret operation thousands of miles away. I hope our enemies are not nearly so persistent! At any rate, welcome back aboard, Takahashi.”

“Thank you sir,” says Taiki. “I am glad to be back. I admit, though, that I was surprised to be reassigned to the Hibiki. Not displeased, sir, by any means, but I did not expect it.” Miharu smiles.

“The Captain made that request when he recommended you for promotion,” he says. “That means he has confidence in you. You will have to live up to that.”

“Yes sir, I will,” says Taiki.

“Good. You understand, I hope, that there is a reason that seamen are usually assigned to another ship once they are promoted. You will have to be in charge of men that were once your friends. That might still be your friends. Or your enemies, for that matter.” The executive officer looks steadily at Taiki. “You must not allow this to influence your judgements or your discipline.” Taiki nods.

“Yes sir, I have thought about that. I will try, sir.”

“Very well,” says the lieutenant. “You will once again be gun captain assigned to the forward AA mount. We are in the middle of a long, dull stretch of patrol duty. I suggest holding daily drills to keep your crew sharp. Do you have any questions?”

“No sir,” says Taiki.

“In that case, good luck. Carry on, Takahashi.”

[kaleun]

This thread is addictive!

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

ORIGINAL: cantona

Now, thats getting a lift in style!!

Obviously you didn't spend four years traveling "in style".
[8|]

[cantona]

ORIGINAL: AU Tiger

ORIGINAL: cantona

Now, thats getting a lift in style!!

Obviously you didn't spend four years traveling "in style".
[8|]

Nope only warships ive been on are the HMS Alacrity and some US Auxiliary in the 80's that called into Gibraltar and we went to see them as Sea Scouts [:)]

[tocaff]

So the reunion has finally happened and now it'll be back into the war.  Of course there could be a letter in one of the mail sacks from a certain female in Japan to a crew member that can rekindle a simmering conflict between shipmates.    

[Cuttlefish]

August 15, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 227

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

Excerpt from “Naval Battles of the Pacific War, Volume II: Pacific Empire” by Morris Elliot Samuelson; Harper, Row, and Fujimori, New York, 1965


In contrast to the events in the Far East, the Pacific theater settled into a period of quiet following the Japanese repulse at Wake Island and the Australian capture of Gili Gili. Both sides circled each other like two wary fighters unwilling to drop their guards long enough to throw a punch.

American morale had received a much needed boost following these victories. It had been proven that the Japanese could be stopped, and the public mood in the days that followed was noticeably brighter. As the weeks went on, however, and something like a stalemate began to set in the pressure increased to follow this victory with further signs that the tide had turned and the war could in fact be won.

Against this backdrop Admiral William D. Leahy, the recently appointed Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief, called a meeting in Washington on August 15 to discuss Allied strategy in the Pacific. Present were General Marshall, Admiral King, General Arnold, and Field Marshall Sir John Dill, among others.

These men were aware of the need to maintain pressure on Japan. Without such pressure and the attrition of Japanese forces they feared that Japan might be able to fortify her defensive perimeter to an extent that would make future operations very difficult. There were, however, deeply divided opinions on how to proceed.

Of the three Allied penetrations of the Japanese defensive perimeter – Wake Island, Nanomea, and Gili Gili – only New Guinea seemed to provide the opportunity the Allies were seeking to engage the Japanese and wear down their forces. Wake Island was too remote and under too much Japanese pressure. In the weeks following the failed Japanese invasion two convoys had attempted to reach the island. Both had suffered heavy losses. Nanomea was also isolated and was being largely ignored by the Japanese.

Gili Gili had the advantage of being close to major Allied bases in Australia and of being even closer to major Japanese bases at Port Moresby, Lae, and Rabaul. The Allied situation there, however, had deteriorated rapidly since the initial occupation. The Japanese had complete control of the air and sea around eastern New Guinea, making offensive operations out of the base impossible.

As the discussion of the strategic situation continued it was apparent that the major stumbling block Admiral Leahy and the others faced was the Japanese carrier force. Every plan that was proposed ran the risk of disastrous losses should it intervene. With the British aircraft carriers either sunk or out of action there were only four US fleet carriers currently available. Against this force the Japanese were known to be operating eight fleet carriers and three light carriers in the Pacific. Eventually this imbalance would be redressed by US carriers currently under construction, but for the moment Japan retained a decisive edge.

It was reluctantly decided that the risks of a major naval defeat were too great. Though it might harm public morale and give the Japanese more time to prepare their defenses, they agreed to recommend that further offensive operations in the Pacific be postponed until 1943. Admiral Leahy directed that a document be drawn up outlining the situation and the group’s recommendations. He himself would brief President Roosevelt.

Unfortunately a copy of this document fell into the hands of Gyorgy Emale, the notorious Axis spy whose information did so much damage to the Allied cause until his capture and execution in 1943. It was soon in Berlin and the Germans thoughtfully forwarded a copy to the Japanese, who received it some two weeks later.

This intelligence revealed to the Japanese that they were waiting for an attack that would not occur in the near future. After some debate it was decided that this presented an opportunity to interfere with the Allied build up in the Pacific. Word was thus sent to the forces lurking in the South Pacific that defensive operations were cancelled. The Japanese carriers were released to become hunters once again.

[Cuttlefish]

August 16, 1942

Location: 100 miles west of Reef Island
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 79
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 474

Orders: Hold position and wait.

---

In his cabin, Captain Ishii opens a small package that was delivered to him along with the mail from the Hiyo. It contains a postcard of the volcano Sakurajima, a simple but pleasant child’s drawing of seagulls over water, a tin of candies, and a letter. The letter is from a ten year old schoolgirl in Kagoshima. Such packages have been sent since the start of the war to Japanese servicemen away from Japan, though Ishii has never received one before.

Ishii smiles as he reads the letter. It is unselfconciously cheerful and patriotic. The girl’s name is Chiyo, and she talks about her friends and her classes in school. She also wishes him well and hopes that he is able to strike blows for Japan against the enemy.

He finishes reading it and then opens the tin. The candies have melted a little and stuck together, but he frees one and pops it in his mouth. Then he takes a pen and paper and begins to write a thank you letter in return. It may be some time before he can send it, but he is touched by the gesture and does not want to forget to reply.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

August 15, 1942

...etc

Unless you know something you opponent knows, CF, the revered Mr. Sameulson will have lots of egg on his face if the USN shows up off Guam next week. [:D]

[kaleun]

Good, I was growing inpatient!

[Japanese_Spirit]

Very nice updates Cuttlefish! As always, I make sure to keep reading. Anyway, it was a nice scene about the little girl sending a small package to Captain Ishii although is she a member of his family or a friend of the family? It seems a little odd how a random girl could send a package to a destroyer captain whom isn't as famous as say Admiral Yamamoto or Koga.

Anyway, update soon! Looking forward to what happens next!