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ORIGINAL: 1275psi





4 March

Light cruisers Isuzu,Nagara, and destroyer Tokitsukaze, are deep in tiger country.
Deep. very deep. Calcutta is a mere 160 miles to the north east.
These cruisers are from another war, another time. But today, it is not the ships, it is the men who command them that matter.
Aggressive men. Men without fear, men detirmined to shake the Bay of Bengal up, to bring the fight to Britains very back yard.
It is just after midnight when the intercept takes place, 6 unescorted cargo ships, dark on the horizon.
There is no battle, just a slaughter.
One ship escapes..............until I-XX puts her down

Dawn, and they should flee. They do not. Instead they charge on, and claim another convoy, five more merchant men before breakfast.
The Submarines swarming to support this raid take out another two.

Only then, guns empty, do they flee.
Boldness is rewarded. The air response is poor, and misses.

Yamamoto reads the reports with satisfaction.
He has no idea if this operation has affected the enemies plans in the slightest. Probably not.
But a few more like it....................

Were the merchant men fully loaded or empty?
13 ships in 1 day!
13 unlucky for some, in other cultures a lucky number.

Should force Cantona to divert some DD's as escort, can he afford to assume it was the only raiding force in the area? Might you strike again? (Evil laugh!)

Keep on the good work, very much appreciated.

Mat

Consider your average front loading washing machine.
here, I think, is an approximation of the manhole entrance to the steam drum.
The steam drum, once you have squeezed inside, is somewhat larger in diameter, maybe by a few feet.

But this steel tube is not , of course, empty. It contains the great feed pipem, the steam take off pipe, the steam seperators, the baffle plates.

Today, inside this cramped tube, the men work at the hundreds of nuts and bolts that hold all this together. All of it must be removed, so that the inspections can take place, and after that, the repairs, and then the cleans.
But this is not the only work occuring.

The external casings are coming off, the handhole doors, dozens of small square openings in the boiler headers, they too, are coming off.
But the real problem is in the furnace. The sprayer door has been unbolted, and now Charge stands with Tan inside the furnace, and contemplates the mess inside.

Furnaces should not have bombs go off near by...............

In one boiler, an entire wall of bricks has all but collapsed, in all of them, the damage is terrible. And all show the carbon staliknites -(horizontal ones) of mis aligned burners.

The dragon eats well today. All four furnaces must be re bricked. many tons of furnace bricks will have to be smashed out, and manhandled ashore. Many tons of new bricks and all the associated cements, will have to be brought down, and then skillfully bricked back in.
many weeks of work.
And the external cleans have yet to be done as well.
Charge looks carefully at several rows of the fire side tubes, yes, there is no doubt. several have sagged.
Retubing is ahead..........






Command Headquarters
herbiesan recieves the weekly briefing

Burma: 5 divisions on the March, operation shielded march has begun.
Objective, to trap the british army on the coast north of Akyab. 15th Army, the diversion, crawls slowly north towards Imphal.
The war here, it seems, goes well.

Dutch east Indies

At least Navy now has done something for this exposed coast. 3 old cruisers patrol to the west of soerabaya, but would that be enough?
It would have to be. Until the allies carrier menace returns..........

Merauke, and timor, and babo, and all those vulnerable islands leading to the guts of his Empire.
16th Army is filling the gaps, but will they be quick enough, strong enough?
herbiesans skin crawls at the thought of what darwin represents..........

The Solomons.

38th division.
38th division at Lunga.
useless there?, or vital to the outer ring?
16th Army wants it. demands it. Insists on it. The navy is aganst moving it.
It is a decision he must make, and soon.............

The marshalls.
How long can the bluff there hold?
What of Ponape?
How long can Hiyo alone pretend to be Combined fleet?

And China
The Army is on the offensive in China.
Herbiesan is against this. terribly against it. But war is more than Armies, more than strategy. generals must be placated, egos fed.
He will see. Can northern china be taken, or will the tar pit simply get thicker?

herbiesan contemplates the map.
On paper, Japan remains strong.
but how strong are the Allies growing themselves?.............

Soon, no doubt, Japan would find out.

8 march 43

There are two naval engagements this dark, dark night.
The first is almost humourous.

DD Akebono, for the second time this month, skythes eastward from Port moresby waters, seeking to intercept shipping crawling up the Australian coast to Horn island

At midnight, at little over 1000 yards, she finds some
Battleship Royal Soverigns first salvo shrieks overhead, and moments later, 2 heavy cruisers add to the mayhem

Akebono reacts like a scalded cat, completing what is probably the quickest 180 degree turn of the war.
She takes but one hit on her frantic exit, enough to put her out of action for a month at least.

I am honestly not sure who got the greatest surprise this night. I do know that certain gunnery crews are going to get a right chewing out come morning.................


The second, at bathurst island, contains no humour. Just grimness, devastation and death

Destroyers Woodworth and Stewart are idling of the beaches of bathurst, when Myoko, natori, Kiso and 3 DDs take them totally by surprise
They are both sunk in mere minutes, Woodworths mast forlornly still sticking above the blazing waters.

Are you sure this will achieve anything?
I must ask my Generals this. Why, why do they think that war is always about the offensive?
Face it , herbiesan, face it. This is one of those perks for power...........

"Sir, 25th Army has begun its advance on Cox's bazaar"
"And the enemies reaction?"

Ahh. So, you did not expect one so soon. Did you General?. But there has been one, yes?

"general?, the enemy, has reacted, has it not?"

"yes sir. 5 to 9 units marching due east. "

Let us consider the map. Let us have these worms of men wait. The British will move on roads. 25th Army must cut through brutal jungle, and then there is the river..................
The river. Crossing it will wreck that Army. I feel it.

'General."
'Sir"
If the british are marching from Cox'x bazaar, they cannot be preparing for an assualt south, can they?'

'No sir"

As I thought. Altight. let the British March. let them march up the hill, and let them march back down.

'General. You will march 25th Army to the rivers edge. Right to it. But you will not cross it. Not one man, you understand, not one!"
'But sir!'
but nothing. I will preserve my Army. Every day matters now. can they not see?. The day of the offensive is over. We defend, we delay, we delay.

Admiral cantona will get frustrated. he will rashly act. he must. he must.


It is rapidly becoming our only chance................

9 march

Work on Zuiho continues.
And the dragon gets bigger each day.
Tans fears of what will be found in the fuel tanks are fully realised.
The dragon grows again
There are cracks, broken welds, dished plates, and twisted beams………..
Yes, when docking comes,(if it ever does, for Shokaku takes up most of it at this time), there will be a great deal to do.
Frowning truculent men slide into the boilers, and emerge frowning deeper still.
They have the language of Charge.
Tubes , a great many tubes “are truked”

Today the fleet engineer visits. “how fast was Zuiho on her last run?”
He is surprised that she could still make 27knots. ‘A great many of our ships are struggling……….its the poor fuel you know…………..”



“it’s the poor fuel you know”
Quite abruptly, destroyers Shinome, Fubuki and Murakumo erupt from the rain squall, here in the heart of the bay of Bengal.
And the British are there
11000 yards, hard on the port flank. Two cruisers, a pack of destroyers, maybe three cruisers. In the dark, it is hard to tell……………..
But they are definitely 8 inch shells shrieking overhead.
They flee, turning hard away, smoke bellowing from stacks, sparks streaming like a billion fireflies into the night, and the sea erupts about them in ghostly white columns.
Stern chase

The cruisers release the hounds, and the allied destroyers too dig in there sterns, and let hell lose below.
16000 yards.
Three ships, straining every rivet, every valve, every burner, every pump. Designed for 36 knots. Capable of thirty six knots.
Doing 32
“it’s the poor fuel you know”
16000 yards, and the chase is shadows, smudges on the horizon, bright stabbing flashes, and that unholy shriek , that gut squeezing wait for the bang, that thud through the hull of the near miss.
16000 yards, and three Japanese ships twist in bright cathode tubes
And Exeter hits Murakumo
And Dauntless hits her too.
They twist, and hope rises, 21000 yards, Japanes guns falling silent, until Murakumo begins to slow……..

19000 yards, and the shells stream her bright burning way
14000, and now they hit, and hit, and hit.

She falls behind, glowing evilly in the dark, until merciful rain hides her hissing frame
The Allies close .
‘it’s the poor fuel you know”
It takes hours this closing, 32 knots fleeing from 33.. or is it 31 now from 33?
Hours of waiting for the blow, of watching those great flashes from Shorpshire from behind, of cringing with each freight trains arrival.
It cannot last
The enemy destroyers are edging to the flanks, and they begin to shoot too..and Shinome staggers.
Her Captain signals his intentions, and she heels away across Fubuki’s stern, smoke streaming, charging at the enemy, determined to ram.
Bushido!. Glory!. Honour!
Stopped cold by radar, science, and cold calculating 8 inch gunfire………………..
Fubuki ‘s funnels glow, all overloads wide……………
Rain saves her. That or lack of enemy ammo……….
Not her vaunted pre war speed
“it’s the poor fuel you know”

Its only a small thing that swings herbiesans mind
A tiny island, useless for anything.
Except as a staging post.
Wessel island, east of Darwin , commissions an airfield.
That is one too many clues.
Marshalls or the Timor front?
It is no decision. “ Inform Yamamoto immediately. Get 38th Division out of Lunga now. Get it to 14th Army!”

Yamamoto considers the order.
So the strategic retreat begins. Lunga is being conceded even before it is challenged An Evil choice Herbiesan. An evil one indeed. How many more will you have to make before your generals, your people really see where this will all end…………..?

sparks streaming like a billion fireflies into the night

Oh that's good!

Well written and highly visual!

Thank you for comments

Not that it matters to us, I just noticed Intell screen says score 25600 odd to 14100 odd **major victory**. Is that a current score, or something?


10 March

It is late, very late in the evening.
Captain Kato returns from his short staff course, and descends below decks.
he is, not un naturally, dismayed by what he finds.
Ships in heavy refit, or deep maintenance are sad things.
The steady hum and whine of the hundreds of ventilation fans are stilled.

Few, if any machines are running. The ship, berift of most of its crew, who now have settled ashore into rough accomodation, is almost deathly quiet.
Dust rests everywhere. His decks are covered now in crude plywood, and canvas screens have spread everywhere.
Worse, much worse, he is assualted by string upon string of cables, hoses, tempoorary lights, and temporary ventilation tubes.
Its as if a dozen mad mechanical spiders have taken over, and spread home where ever they please.

In the hanger, now a echoing cavern, another insult. two great holes are in the deck, and chain blocks swing gently.
An ugly pile of brocken bricks and furnace refractory lies beside the pile, and wheel barrows have replaced zeros.
Ugly

Unrecongnisable pieces of metal, valves, pipes, also seemed to have escaped through this hole, some horribly black and soot covered.

It is a depressing sight.
Zuiho, he has to accept, is in Tans hands now.
A hard fact to swallow for a fighting captain, with war raging on the outer edges of the Empire.

47th sentai touch down gently in the gathering dusk.
Pilots gun throttles, and taxi as quickly as they can for the cover of the tree line about the strip.
They have been here before, and know the drill.

Lunga is no place to linger in the open

Kurihama seeks a meal , and a bed. They all do.
Sliding in, they have seen them, nearly a dozen APDs , and the ant streams of small boats ferrying men out to them.
The enemy, undoubtably, will have seen them too.

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.

11 March 43

Fuchida rises early, 3 am, the Morning quiet and still very dark.

It is still, and he can hear, even from this range, the gentle hiss of the pacific lapping Lunga’s shores.
For a few minutes he stands, sniffing the air, the sweat sheen drying on his body.
Behind him, in the crude shelter they call a hut, snoring still emanates from his companions.
Then the cramps hit again, and he hustles to the ditch, and again groans as he explosively relieves the pain..
The air here is not nearly so sweet.
He is not the only one struck with honourable gastro.
Fuchida is careful at the latrine, here in this dark, it would be too easy to fall in.
A good laugh for his companions…….or maybe no , Too many die every week on this pig of an island from this curse.
Finished, he quietly re enters the hut, extracts his clothing, dresses quietly.
His flight gear is worn, tattered, stained. It is almost all he has in the world. His clothes, his comrades, his plane.

Men are working on his plane, three skinny characters, all but naked, the battered bird hidden under a canvas tarp , shield for the necessary lights.
He watches them, un observed for a few minutes, struck again by the dedication of these men to keep him flying. They are so like his Father, he thinks . The way they work about her, familiar, yet respectful,. Confident, assured .. And it strikes him. They are not attending his plane for him. Not now, not in this early morning hour. There is something more going on here. Something deeper that drives and motivates them.
Two of them are arm deep behind the great radial, the third holding a torch.
And he sees it . Just like his father. That steady determination, the occasional curse. Men Fixing machines. Men pouring their heart and soul into machines.
Men tacking the wheel of their life, and finding meaning, and purpose, in machines.
Machines that this war is consuming in the thousands…………………………

He makes a noise, so not to startle them, and enters the area. ‘Morning men”
The one with the torch comes to the attention, eliciting a curse from the others “For truck sake, hold the light!”
Fuchida smiles. “carry on” he nods ‘”is there a problem, and please don’t let me interrupt”
But this is japan, and he is an officer, so inevitably the two other men will retract from his planes innards, will salute, .
“You have a cracked oil line, number 11 cylinder”
‘’can you fix it?”
A stupid question. If they are anything like his father, not fixing it is unthinkable. “Hie!. “
Yes, they can.
Fuchida knows better than to continue to interrupt. But first……….
He digs about in his pocket. “A gift from Rabual”
A handful of boiled sweets.
A precious gift here, so far from home. But they will not be eaten today, for battle surely comes.
And if it comes, and death takes him, tomorrow they might be wasted



“38th Divisions first lift is loading sir, 12 APD’s, about 1200 men. The convoy is unloading, 3 Aks.”
‘And the battleships?”
‘In covering position”
‘And air cover?’
‘They will be busy sir, very. A dozen KI 44’s. No more. ‘
There is only one Japanese carrier active in the entire pacific this day. CVL Hiyo plys the waters to the north east of Lunga. So far, so good. According to the Americans, the entire Combined fleet waits in ambush .
How long could this deception be kept up?




Nagumo meets his captain at the gangway. “Well done”
Kaga’s Commander smiles wanely. ‘It was, as you would say, a hell of a trip”
Dark rings surround his eyes, two deep pits in a drawn and white face. “ For a while there………….”
‘the storm?’
‘yes, the storm,………………..was bad”
Both men turn to contemplate the great ship. She rests now, safe at last, on the dock blocks.
Water still pours from her great gash deep in her belly.
“I am afraid Admiral, that your favourite ship will be out of the fight for a long time. A very long time”
“How long?”
“300 days”
“300 days from one torpedo?”
‘yes. 300 truking days”


Tans dragon is getting bigger. And, the men to feed it, are getting fewer.
Although her arrival is totally secret, Kaga’s docking is immediately felt. Tan arrives to the morning, confident of getting this, and that done. The turbine lids are going to begin to be lifted today, first step in fitting new seals, new bearings, new , heck, new everything.
Instead, he encounters a dock master, who informs him that 20 of the forty men assigned today have been sent west ‘for urgent work”
But worse news follows. 3 boiler makers have been conscripted. The Army , it seems, needs more men. Skilled or not……………..
Charge has but one comment at the news.
‘It was madness for Japan to go to war I the first place. Do you think we will as a people suddenly find sanity? I am telling you Tan, this circus is just getting rolling…………….”


Five thousand feet.
7 KI44 circle the waters to the south of the green lump called Lunga, vague and indistinct in the morning mist.
Seven fighters, waiting for what must come.
They do not have to wait long.
Ohashi sees them, wings waggle violently, and he peels down and hard left.
Fuchida follows, seeking, seeking, seeing them. Short, blunt crosses, twin engines, …………mediums. B-25’s!
Coming in low, hard, fast………….
Ahead, Lunga roads, and the APDs, the beetle parades of boats…………….

47th swoop in………………




‘Extract from shattering the sword, a cantona production”

With Kaga out of action, Shokaku out of action, and Japanese carriers definitely identified off Lunga, the chance was too good to miss
The invasion of Kwajalein and the Marshall island chain swung into action. ………………



Kato hears the news, ironically, in Imperial Fleet HQ.
Ironically, because todays meeting is to gather and thrash out a new Fleet doctrine……..lessons learnt from 42, .
‘or how to oppose a enemy fleet landing’.
Doubly ironic, considering that the fleet lies alongside, crippled by self inflicted maintenance……

Stick over, engine bellowing, ocean flashing underneath……the bombers, in vics, hugging the water, the Tojo’s chasing, diving, swooping past. The streams of tracer, the abrupt walls of water as lead scythes the calm surface, the violent hammering of his guns, the bang in the cowling, Ohashi pulling out and up, clawing for height, smoke streaming , the oil streaming, smeering the screen, his bullets striking a bomber, .another of 47ths’ arrowing into it as well, the bombers lurch, wheel, cartwheel of death through and over and into the ocean. A wheel, an engine, exploding past.
A destroyer, up and over, an engine vibrating, banging, the blindness, the despair of pulling away.
The battleship, pounding its guns at him!, the bAKAS!, I am on your side you fools.
The dying engine, the desperate approach, the failed cart, the crunching , sliding, horrifying dust choking “landing”
The silence
The ringing of the ears, the sink of cordite, of dust, and oil, oil everywhere, cloying, hot, smoking
The long, long walk home.

The log book:
11 march.
Intercept 12 B-25’s, near Lunga.
Engaged two, damaged one
Got shot down.

We got 4, they got me, Ohashi had a swim.

Fuchida

12/3/43

from Kwaljien
to
4th fleet

Enemy at Bunker door
We fight to last man
Long live the Emperor

13/3/43

Under cover of the battle cruisers, and CVL Hiyo, the evacuation of 38th division continues

Today, the liberators come, again.
Again, 47th rise to meet them
This time, however, Hiyo's Zeros, with cannons, help defend.

The bombers miss the battleships, the fighters miss the bombers, its a noisy party, and nobody gets hurt...............

But an interesting nugget of info falls Japans way.
The allies , through lose radio chatter (his blogg) reveal that they know 38th division is pulling out.
herbiesan wonders two things
One, how do they know?
but two, more importantly, he would give anything, anything for the allies to attack lunga , not Timor.

maybe this information could be reinforced?
But how?

congrats on getting Kaga safely in to the yard - it's always a relief when a critically injured ship makes it home.

I have always imagined the life of the engineering crew to be hard. When the ship is in port their work is just beginning while the gun crews, cooks, and everybody else gets shore leave. Those lucky bastards - does it really work out like that?

Hi Insano!

Your answer...............


Zuiho is a week into her maintenance period.
There is no way, one would think, this ship will ever, ever get to sea again.

Lets take a tour shall we?
I'll meet you at the gangway, that bustling little area of the ship, where traffic in humanity is worse than down town Tokyo.
This gangway is eastablished leading directly into the hanger, and many things strike you.
One is a table, and here a steely eyed man is wieghing everylump of metal that comes onboard, and leaves.

Look, see those men, thats a main feed pump impeller assembly on the trolley, off for re machining.
Its turbine is probably following.

yes, it is a bit gloomy, lots of temporary lighting too, just don't tangle in the leads ok?!
yes, there are holes in the deck. I believe that prig of an evaporator is coming out of that one some time...

No, we can't go that way, lots of welding happening down there, lets go this way below.

OH look..........pistons from the emergency generator.
hang on, I want a look.

Thought so, see the scoring here?............she got a bit hot that last total steam failure.

here is the lower hanger, all those pipes over there are the new tubes for 1 Alpha boiler, she's stuffed.

lets go down and look.


And so we go down.
And what, dear visitor will you see.
The ladder down is a conduit for a mass of cables, a hose, and samll ventilation hose, all haphazardly attached.
Pieces of un identified machinery parts lie every where, absolutely everywhere. You will spend this whole visit stumbling over them, stepping over them, or around them.
Dust and noise assualts you.
Men are working here and there, bent over this and that, doing God knows what.

Your Guide invites you to peer into the furnace. Men are banging away inside, and a pile of rubble is outside. Filthy hands are adding to the pile.
Over in another corner, a block and tackle is hard at work, raising what looks like a pump up into thelower hanger deck above.
And yet more men, not many, are stripping lagging from pipe work.
You don't know it, but that dust partical you just breathed, will kill you before you reach 50.
But you don't know that, do you.
Nobody down here does...................



So, what do you think, my friend?. A busy place yes?. And this is the easy bit. The pull it apart stage. Poor Zuiho, we have had a long year. Good thing we had this rest. So many bearings almost worn out, so many impellers worn out. So much worn out.

And look, down here. See those inspection ports. Thats where the real work is happening. We took a real whack or two this year. She's bent and almost brocken along her keel and stabiliser plates. Thats why we must dock next month.
Had enough?
I would offer you a meal, or a drink, except the galley has been gutted..............


Yes, Insano. They work. And this is war. they work in shifts, around the clock.
Every pump is to be stripped, rebuilt. The boilers will be retubed. The turbines opened and inspected. Vast numbers of valves have to be re fitted. Even larger numbers of things will have to be welded.

Literally every job will have to be de lagged, then, once finished, re lagged...........and painted again.
And we have not even begun the tank cleans.

And the men live in temporary accomodation, a common room, cold, windy, dirty, with intermittent hot water, and terrible food.

But then again, this is war, and at least here, nobody is trying to kill them.

14th March 43

South of Chengsa, three full divisions, headed by no less than 6 full tank regiments, advance over the open plains.
It is ideal tank country, even for these pitiful machines Japan calls a tank.
For the Chinese have only infantry to oppose them
4 full chinese divisions shatter in the space of less than 2 hours, the survivors streaming back towards Chengsa.

But this is not the only attack. 40 miles further east, another 5 divisions crash north east, and they too, throw the Chinese back.

Japans Northern Offensive, the first since the war began, races North east to cut Chengsa, and its many divisions off........

14 March 43

CA Tone, escorting the Hiyo north east of Lunga, eats a fish from the underwater menace.
Damage is slight, but she is detached home.

Tensions are high around Lunga, where the beetle boats continue to shuttle 38th division to the awaiting APDs. Enemy ships have been sighted south of Lunga. Type unknown. Numbers unknown. Just ships. Lots of ships.

They are in striking range..........

Tanaka takes Kongo, Kirishima, and prepares to patrol off Lunga.
If they come, they must come through him......................


At midnight, they do.

15 March

It is, quite simply, a turkey shoot.

In an attack that makes the Charge of the light brigade look like a superb military manouvre, half a dozen PT boats enter Lunga sound at high speed.

Kirishima, Kongo, never get to fire a shot, the escorting destroyers shattering them all well out of harms range.
The loading of 38th goes on unhindered.

But something else will force Japan to abandon these waters, force the battle ships all the way back to Truk
120 miles east of Shortlands, two of the three precious, precious AO's, complete with nearly every drop of fuel in the south east pacific, are sunk by submarines.

For Yamamoto , for herbiesan, who follows this mission closely, it is a heart rending blow.
38th must come out.
It will be up to the APDs, and an airlift now..

16 march

3 am

Herbiesan, in the still of his Bunker, reads the reports again.
Maybe it is the concrete, its cold, that sends the shiver through him. maybe it is not............

He has seven KI-43 units, a KI 44, and two KI-45 units in Burma.
They have fought every day for months now, in a battle swinging this way and that.
But the fasts have to be faced. 7 lost this day, 5 the next, 4 the next, 10 the next........
And production sits at 4 per day.

Now third air division calls for the disbanding of a group, to help bring some others back to strength.
Another difficult decision for herbiesan.

Herbiesan has to tighten his belt.

Things do not look good for the Empire of the Rising Sun. Maybe the Sun has reached it zenith and is fading?
Fading quite rapid now?


Mat