Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Kiith]

I'm a long time lurker on these boards but just had to post to say great story telling Cuttlefish. I'm totally hooked on your AAR and that little destroyers crew. Looking forward to seeing what the the next day brings for them.

[Cuttlefish]

Thanks for posting, Kiith, and welcome aboard the Hibiki! Chief Petty Officer Shun will be along shortly with your duty assignments.

This is a good point to thank everyone who has followed this tale through the first year of the war. I have appreciated all the interest and I enjoy the comments, whether I respond to them or not. I really didn’t know how this AAR would turn out or how it would be received when I started it, but even though my skill does not always match my ambitions everyone has been great. I’m looking forward to the second year of the war.

And there will be a second year. The current victory point ratio, in case anyone was wondering, is 3.3 to 1 in favor of Japan. Not bad, but there is no chance the Allies are going to pack it in any time soon.

One last note: I have never credited one of my biggest inspirations for starting this AAR. Back in my first WitP game (this one is my third) my opponent, who is an old friend, started including stories with his turns about the men of the 24th FG, based at Port Moresby for much of the war. He had nicknames and biographies to go along with all the pilots, and I started really looking forward to the latest edition of the “Port Moresby Saga”. He does not post on this forum, but I told him then that I thought his stories would make an interesting AAR and I think that is when I really started thinking about doing this one.

Anyway, back to the war. But before we move on to the war’s second year let’s take a look back at the first one.

[Cuttlefish]

Here is a brief summary of Hibiki’s first year of the war. The destroyer has been damaged twice and is credited with three enemy ships sunk, with partial credit for four more. Battle casualties to date total 10 dead and 14 injured.

---

DD Hibiki: Tabular Record of Movement

4 December 1941:
Departs Mako (Pescadores) as part of Admiral Kondo’s Southern Force.

7–9 December:
Bombards and covers landings at Khota Bharu.

10-13 December:
To Saigon to replenish fuel and ammunition.

14-17 December:
Bombards and covers landings at Mersing.

18-19 December:
Escorts damaged battleship Haruna back to Saigon.

20 December:
Rejoins Southern Force near Kuching. With DD Akatsuki drops depth charges on a submarine that strikes CA Mogami with dud torpedoes. Sub damaged, no kill is confirmed.

21 December:
Southern Force attacks and destroys a large group of patrol craft and merchant vessels fleeing south from the Philippines.

22-25 December:
Replenishes fuel and ammunition in Saigon, then proceeds to Kuching.

26-27 December:
Southern Force and light carrier task force enter the Java Sea in pursuit of enemy warships damaged at Singapore.

28 December:
While off Singkawang is struck by single bomb starboard near aft torpedo mount. Eight dead, eleven injured, damage moderate.

29 December – 7 January 1942:
Proceeds to Okayama for repairs.

8-26 January:
Under repair at Okayama.

27 January-5 February:
Moves to Tokyo, then escorts CA Suzuya to Truk where both ships join Admiral Goto’s heavy cruiser task force.

6–8 February:
Ordered to Guadalcanal to support upcoming invasion of New Caledonia/New Hebrides.

9–11 February:
The task force is diverted to Kwajalein when word is received of the US attack on Wake Island.

12-15 February:
Admiral Goto’s force moves north to Wake Island.

16 February:
US tranport and auxiliary vessels are attacked at Wake Island. Sixteen enemy vessels sunk. Hibiki sinks PC Tiger and AVD Thornton.

17-24 February:
Returns to Kwajalein.

25 February–2 March:
Admiral Goto’s cruisers escort Kido Butai south to intercept US carriers believed to be in the Fiji area.

3 March:
Battle of Gardner Island. US carriers Lexington and Hornet are sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft.

4-14 March:
Returns to Kwajalein.

15-18 March:
Bombards US positions on Wake Island.

19-26 March:
Returns to Kwajalein.

27-29 March:
Admiral Goto proceeds to Wake to destroy enemy PT boats there.

30 March:
CA Kako torpedoed in night action against PT boat force. Hibiki sinks PT-26.

31 March-9 April:
Returns to Kwajalein.

10-23 April:
Escorts CA Kako back to Japan.

24 April–10 May:
Undergoes refit at Kobe. A second depth charge rack and many new AA guns are installed.

11-19 May:
Moves to Tokyo.

20-28 May:
Proceeds to Kwajalein as part of Admiral Ishikawa’s Task Force 62, based around battleships Yamato and Haruna.

29-30 May:
Moves to Wake Island to shell enemy positions and installations.

31 May:
En route to Wake Hibiki is attacked by three SBD dive bombers. One 500 lb. gp bomb strikes the destroyer on the port side aft. Two dead and three injured, damage is moderate.

1-7 June:
Hibiki proceeds with the rest of the task force to bombard Wake, then is detached and returns to Kwajalein.

8-17 June:
Returns to Japan for repairs.

18 June–11 July:
Under repair at Kobe.

12-18 July:
At Tokyo.

19-26 July:
Escorts Shokaku to Wake Island to cover Japanese invasion.

27-30 July:
Moves to Kwajalein:

31 July- 27 August:
Escorts carriers Hiryu, Shokaku, and Akagi to Santa Cruz Island area. Remains there to counter possible enemy moves in the region.

28 August-12 September:
Japanese carriers move south to attack enemy shipping.

13 September:
Enemy convoy of six tankers sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft.

14 September-20 September:
To Luganville to take on fuel and supplies.

21 September-28 September:
Returns to Kwajalein.

29 September-10 October:
Escorts carrier task force in unsuccessful hunt for enemy shipping between Canton Island and Palmyra.

11 October-19 October:
Returns to Kwajalein.

20 October-10 November:
In port at Kwajalein undergoing minor repairs.

11 November-16 November:
Briefly ordered to the Kuriles as part of Admiral Ozawa’s Task Force 72 based around carriers Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku. However, the ships turn around and return to Kwajalein.

17 November-6 December:
Patrols the area around Kwajalein with TF 72.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

And there will be a second year. The current victory point ratio, in case anyone was wondering, is 3.3 to 1 in favor of Japan. Not bad, but there is no chance the Allies are going to pack it in any time soon.

Good news indeed for we Hibiki fans. But doesn't a 4:1 victory point ratio give the Japanese the game in 1943?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

And there will be a second year. The current victory point ratio, in case anyone was wondering, is 3.3 to 1 in favor of Japan. Not bad, but there is no chance the Allies are going to pack it in any time soon.

Good news indeed for we Hibiki fans. But doesn't a 4:1 victory point ratio give the Japanese the game in 1943?

Right, 4:1 is a Japanese victory at the end of '42, or 3:1 at the end of '43. From the point of view of the Hibiki, I think this represents the chance that the Allies would agree to terms and end the war. Not much of a chance, it would seem. I suspect wolffpack and I would agree to continue the game whatever the score says, but I might find the chance to write a happy ending for the AAR hard to pass up.

[Cuttlefish]

December 7, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 436

Orders: Await further orders.

---

December the 7th dawns fair and clear over the Marshall Islands. Hibiki and the rest of the carrier task force are at work early, operating east of the atoll. All Japanese forces are on high alert; surely if the Americans are ready to try something, this is the day they will choose.

For the Hibiki, however, it turns out to be another day of watching the carriers launch and recover search planes. No enemy activity of any sort is detected. Evening comes and there are no reports from anywhere in the Empire of enemy attacks. This elicits many comments among the members of the crew about the lack of pride and resolve the Americans have shown by not at least making a show of force during the day.

Of all the crew, however, only Lieutenant Miharu has any real experience dealing with Americans. He listens to the comments, but does not offer any reply. As he stands watch during the night, however, he thinks about it. The Americans, he reflects, are probably not as unaware of the significance of the day as his shipmates think. On the contrary, he is sure that for them December 7 will be a date they will remember for a long, long time.

But he believes that they are a pragmatic people, less bound to symbolism and gestures than are the Japanese. He has no doubt at all that when they strike they will remember their defeats at the hands of Japanese, and burn with a desire to avenge them. But they will strike when they are ready. Military advantage and not an arbitrary calendar date will determine when they attack.

He is as curious as anyone about when and where that will be. He is glad, however, that it is not his job to try and figure that out. There is enough for him to do just trying to keep this one ship ready for battle when it comes.

[Cuttlefish]

December 8, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 435

Orders: Await further orders.

[Cuttlefish]

December 9, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 433

Orders: Await further orders.

---

“Hey, Ariga! Look what I have!” says an excited Shiro. Riku turns from his work near the bow of the Hibiki to see Shiro coming up behind him waving a camera. “It’s a camera!” says Shiro unnecessarily. “My parents sent it to me.” He hands it to Riku, who looks it over.

It is a brown Sakura wooden box camera. Not an expensive model by any means, but quite serviceable. Riku holds it up and sights through the back. He points it at Shiro, who grins and waves.

Taiki strolls up. Riku and Shiro come to attention, and Taiki asks to see the camera. Soon Shiro is happily explaining the simple controls; the shutter release is in front, there is a knob on one side for advancing the film, and a sliding plate in the back allows the user to choose between full and half frame pictures.

“Petty Officer Takahashi, would you take our picture?” asks Shiro. Taiki agrees, and moves around to the bow. He positions Riku and Shiro so that the forward dual 5” turret is in the background, and beyond that part of the tower. Shiro smiles delightedly and throws an arm over Riku’s shoulders, and Riku crosses his arms and assumes his roguish grin. Taiki takes the picture at exactly the right moment.

---

This photo will survive the war, and will eventually be printed in the book that Shiro will someday write. Shiro looks at the photograph often in later years, his heart full of emotion. There, captured forever, is the youth and optimism of the two young Japanese sailors.

Shiro will try to remember what it was to be twenty years old and indestructible, but he cannot quite do it. His older self has seen too much and knows too much. But there are still times, when he is alone, that he will snap a crisp salute before he puts the picture away, a salute to the comrades he knew and the ship he served.

---

[princep01]

"Men, I now knew, do not fight for flag or country, for the Marine Corps or glory or any other abstraction.  They fight for one another.  Any man in combat who lacks comrades who will die for him, or for whom he is willing to die, is not a man at all.  He is truly damned".
 
                                                                                                                                    William Manchester
                                                                                                                                     Goodbye Darkness

[kaleun]

[:D]

[brisd]

Thanks for a year of Small Ship, Big War.  Great job!!! [&o]

[kaleun]

Second!

[tocaff]

I hate it when I check in looking for the next installment in the saga and CF hasn't posted one.  I've become a Big War, Little Ship junkie!

[Cuttlefish]

December 10, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 431

Orders: Await further orders.

---

The light carriers Ryujo and Ryuho arrive at Kwajalein during the day. There are now fifteen carriers there; eight fleet carriers, four light carriers, and three escort carriers. Other types of warships are also well represented. There are five battleships, ten heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, and forty-four destroyers, including Hibiki. And of course there are numerous auxiliary vessels present.

The biggest headache that this agglomeration of firepower causes is for the people in charge of the fuel storage facilities. Kwajalein’s port facilities were never designed to accommodate a fleet of this size for an extended period of time. Fortunately there is an abundance of fuel oil in Japan. The rich oil fields of the Dutch East Indies have been put to good use, and the enemy submarine fleet has been unable to put a dent in the tide of resources flowing into Japan.

But fuel oil in Japan and adequate fuel oil in Kwajalein are two different things. Convoys of laden tankers arrive at the atoll almost every week. The storage tanks are somehow kept full, and hard work and good organization keep the fuel tanks of the warships and all the other vessels using the anchorage topped off and ready for action.

[Cuttlefish]

December 11, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 429

Orders: Await further orders.

[Cuttlefish]

December 12, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 428

Orders: Await further orders.

[Cuttlefish]

December 13, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 426

Orders: Await further orders.

---

From the personal diary of Petty Officer Third Class Taiki Takahashi:

It’s a strange thing. I am clearly no longer an enlisted man. I can’t maintain my old friendships, at least not the way they once were. In fact I have to deal harshly with anyone who forgets that fact. Yet so far I have not formed any friendships with the other petty officers to replace them. I have never had trouble making friends, that is not the problem. It is that I have the feeling that the others are all watching me. Just because you have the title and the patch on your sleeve doesn’t make you one of us yet, I can feel them thinking. You have to prove you belong, first.

I know I must be patient. And I do not wish to complain, not even to myself, because I cannot say I have been treated unfairly by anyone. And yet…well, it does get lonely. I wonder if even Shun felt this way once? It does not seem likely, but who knows? It is hard to remember sometimes that the man is human.

It will come in time. I think that perhaps the best thing I can do is to be a petty officer. Not just have the title, but to fill the role in truth. If I do that, then I will be like a stone correctly placed in a rock garden. One can look at such a stone and know it is placed there because that is exactly where it belongs. It fits in harmony with its surroundings. I have seen officers, new to a ship or a position, attempt to assert their position by loudly forcing others to acknowledge them. Yet declaring that a stone is in harmony with its surroundings does not make it so.

Perhaps it is not the best analogy. I am no philosopher. But I think there is some truth there. I will concentrate on being Petty Officer Takahashi, not just acting like Petty Officer Takahashi. If I am successful then I think the rest will follow.

[Cuttlefish]

December 14, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 424

Orders: Await further orders.

---

“When did it happen, sir?” asks Lieutenant Miharu. Captain Ishii has just returned from Sixth Fleet headquarters with word that light cruiser Tatsuta has been lost in action off Paramushiro Jima. This is the first Japanese ship larger than a destroyer to be lost in the war. Despite the fact that Tatsuta was one of the oldest ships in the fleet and mounted less firepower than for example the Hibiki, the sinking puts an end to one of Japan’s favorite propaganda claims.

“Two days ago,” replies Captain Ishii. “Not that anything has been announced officially, of course. From what I hear she was covering a force of minelayers and minesweepers that had the bad luck to collide with another American bombardment force heading for the base there. Tatsuta went down covering the retreat. Two minesweepers were lost, but the rest of the ships escaped.”

“That is too bad,” replies Miharu, “but at least they went down fighting. Any word about survivors?” The captain shakes his head.

“No,” he says, “but in those waters I doubt there were very many of them. The cold…it steals your life away quickly.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right,” says the lieutenant sadly. “At least one has a chance to be rescued in these southern waters.” He pauses. “Except for the sharks, of course. Not many of those in the Kuriles.”

“Well, there are the hohojirozame*,” says the captain, “but they are not common. The cold would almost certainly get you first.” He turns and looks out at the water for a moment. The relationship of the Japanese to the sea is an old and complex one, and even the most pragmatic of Japanese sailors feels a strong spiritual connection to it. “Either way, the waters take what is due them,” he says at last. Lieutenant Miharu quietly nods agreement.

*“White cheek shark”, a Japanese term for the Great White.

[Cuttlefish]

December 15, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 422

Orders: Await further orders.

[Cuttlefish]

December 16, 1942

Location: Kwajalein
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 420

Orders: Await further orders.