The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

November 13th

Oita, again

This time, nearly 100 B-29's

This time, 40 plus Franks rise to defend

All war we have bitten deep into allied bomber raids
Bomber crews have bled, and bled, and bled

Something, today, has changed


maybe 6 are shot down
The rest thunder in, imperious, at 13000 feet

Oita is crushed

It has taken months to gather the kami's here, squadron upon squadron of them
Scrap now.



A hundred shaken pilots will emerge from their shelters, and view the wrecks
A strange mix of emotion.
Rage, that they cannot die for the emperor, for Japan
Relief, that maybe they won't have too.

[1275psi]

Wearily Mioko steps from the foul smelling bus, stops, breathes deeply the clean, crisp air
whipping across Hiroshima bay

Yamato still sits there, impassive as ever

1000 years might pass, and that cursed ship will still be there......

Carefully she lifts the small calico bag she has with her, it contains three precious
onions, payment for covering a desperate mothers lunch break.
She lifts it carefully ,for her hands are sore, scratched, a little swollen if she dares
examines them carefully, something she won't do, for fear the tears might come

The walk to home is about 500 metres, enough to notice that some things have changed, are changing

Lined up on the road, 500 odd kahki clad men, the construction battalion that has
done so much to ruin the neighbourhood in these last months
Sullen, silent men. Most Koreans.

They are departing, apparently

To where?
To do what, to dig anew?, or to repair?

Mioko does not care. Maybe, just maybe the thievery that has plagued the village will stop
now.
If only the rest would go away too.............

[1275psi]

Nov 14 1945

Liberator bombers out of Singapore pound Miri
Better there, than the homeland.

The great dying of the Japanese army continues
Genzan's turn

No less than 426000 Russians assault 183000 defenders

Death is spread evenly, a large football crowd on each side

No crowd I would want to be in.............


Musashi .....18 days

The war is quiet , yes. But for Japan, quiet is good.
The allied war machine, hidden in the wings, must be , surely, by now, awesome.
Where the hell is it?

[1275psi]

Cantona has a gravely ill grandparent
Turns on hold

[kaleun]

Best wishes to him

[british exil]

Tell him that our thoughts go out to him. Tell him to spend whatever time is necessary. The game can wait. It is after all just a game. Life is way more important.

Mat

[1275psi]

November 15th

"A pointless exercise"
"Are you sure.........we must tell the people that Japan still has teeth......
however short they are"
Grimly the Admiral nods in agreement......Japans teeth are beyond blunt now, but what
can she do?
Die, of course. But if possible, die gloriously......................

"The war council itself has ordered the mission, and rest assured, the Emperor will
be watching........CVL Ibuki and 2 destroyers will sail for Siapan, and convoy raid
The council will then be able to truthfully say that the sea lanes south remain open to the Empire"

And that, the Admiral thinks, will be an empty truth..........for open or not
there are few ships left to sail them

But orders are orders...........


Not content to lie passively, Japan will prod the dragon



Un aware, as yet, that the Dragon already is coming for them.........

[1275psi]

From
24th Flotilla
Takao

To

All stations

Large numbers of CV's, BBs, escorts, multiple task forces 60 miles North west Vigan
course North west......



Teeth bared.........it comes........





Ogowa converts a second George unit, s-301st, to Shindens.

Okiwana receives large numbers of fighters, a scattering of bombers.
The first snowballs for the furnace.

[1275psi]

November 18th

Tan climbs the long gangway, and pauses for a moment.
He has been the Engineer for this floating Monster for nearly 6 months now, an
incredible honour, when you consider it.
A long, long way indeed from the locomotives of pre war.

It will be a pity, he thinks, to see such a machine destroyed. A funny way
to consider Musashi's possible future destruction, to consider with sadness
the loss of such magnificence above that of the men upon her.

Including , of course, himself.

But, miracles can happen...........
He acknowledges the salutes from the gangway staff, and moves aft.
There is a hatch, a ladder leading down to the steam boat stowage. This is his shortcut,
a way to avoid the passing through the armour deck, the hatches here are always
a bottleneck
He moves un erringly now into the boat stowage area, and into the hanger, almost empty at the moment.

Once, he needed to follow the green and red lines painted on the decks to guide him, the many
"you are here signs" merely to prevent becoming hopelessly lost.
But now he knows his way about the Monster.

The decent begins, down, door, hatch, ladder, down, down, down.
The engineroom (this one of many) gleams.
There has been more than enough time to make any defects good, to turn almost idle hands
to polishing.

The plant is fully flashed, fully under steam.
But there is little to indicate this, no steam leaks, no drips, no hiss..........
So unlike poor old Zuiho.......
Just a quiet hum, the beat of the ventilation fans, and lurking there, that feeling
of sheer, awesome power.

Hirate and Okano man the steaming platform.
As do nearly a dozen other men.

A thousand miles and a million years from Zuiho, here, strict , strict discipline, men rigid, men
welded to position.

Hirate, Okano both turn.
The Salutes perfect.
They know, that here, a role must be played
And played it will be

"All good men?"
"Nothing to report sir, the Trial is going well"

Tan leans closer, so only the three of them can hear
"Positive?"

"Unfortunately, yes"

Inexorably, Musashi is nearing availability
The trumbal draws nearer to the guillotine with every day.

[1275psi]

19th of November 1945

The enemy is up to something.
But, what?

The weather improves, and with the extra air assets thrown into takao searching the seas to the West,
the enemy is quickly found.
But it still does not answer the question, what in the hell???

Large numbers of warships to the West, south of Honkers
More ships entering honkers

A convoy, obviously, and of some importance, with this weight of metal protecting it.

But why?




Command ponders.........acts cautiously.
Okiwana receives lots of fighters, a few bombers.
We will wait, and see.

[1275psi]

Nov 20th
100 B-29s strike takao

Some damage, more consternation than pain.

We again........wait.

[1275psi]

"All pilots of 401st report to the mess"

Ogowa meets them with a grin

"I have been told that Genzan airfield, Korea, is ready to receive us. I have also been
told that the Russian has fallen into a nice routine of sweeping the base, hunting Oscars"
He strokes his moustache.

Its not a very impressive one. But it doesn't need to be.
The men of 401st Sentai would follow it anywhere.

"Time to test the Shinden......we depart in an hour"

[1275psi]

They arrive just on dusk.

Genzan field look, is, war worn

Wrecks dot the boundries, patches of dirt indicating recently filled bomb holes
dot the area like swish cheese.
The AA guns track them almost from the moment they appear overhead.

And the ground crews work with that direct simplicity that only imminent
attack can produce.
Fuel, ammunition, clean the screens.
Get em under cover, get them dispersed.

No maintenance, this is a fly in, fight, fly out operation.

Diogowa blots his copy book. Too used to Hiroshima's cement taxi ways, he wheels off
the main strip at speed, bounces on the rough, and puts his propeller into the dirt.

He is not alone

31 of these eagles have travelled here, tomorrow only 27 will fly.
The Shinden is a fragile promise.


Nobody sleeps well........there is the rumble of artillery (unsettling indeed), and the certainty
of action tomorrow
Dawn comes too quickly (or not quick enough for some)

Frost lies upon the ground, and breath hangs in the air.
The day will be brilliantly clear.

By 0900 hrs Ogawa leads 26 other fighters at 16000 feet, waiting for the bears to come

It is not long, before they do.........

[kaleun]

Taching!

[1275psi]

The allied fleet leaves Honkers, heads south

High Command remains still baffled over the move........sure, that we will find out
in time enough.

One of our last tankers is caught sneaking through the central phillipines.
The four intercepting destroyers looked tired though..and that tells a tale in itself

[1275psi]

'bandits.......below, nearly a dozen"
Ogowa see's them instantly....a dozen strong, Yaks, LA'7s......straggling along at 10000 feet
following the valley south.
Hunting, for sure

Now, un aware, hunted.

'Attack!"
Throttle forward to the wall, that almost frightening acceleration, winging over, winging down,
speed climbing, the altimeter spinning
They see him
TO Late!
They scatter
The stooping eagles are simply too fast, too fast, too bloody fast

Barracuda's amongst the minnows

It happens Oh so quickly......picking a target, Oda sliding close past, the enemy turning, growing, guns hammering
the flashes, the explosion, the bank, the next one, frantic to avoid..
closing, closing, there, on him, the bloody jammed guns,!...
Oda, he can bloody almost sense his crap eating grin,, as he takes down what should have been his...

And it is over.

9 kills
No losses
No damage

Oda now has 14....the leading Ace in the IJNAF.....

Crap eating grin and all............




Ogowa will take them home to Hiroshima this evening.
Who's next?

[1275psi]

Nov 22

As 401st Sentai rest again at Hiroshima, Ogowa and Diogowa again take to their second
favourite ride, their Bicycles.

Its a cold ride, no snow falls, but gloves are needed.

Both men are shocked at the surroundings now about the little house, the mud, the soldiers, the AA guns.
Yamato has a small floating pier leading to it, it is beginning to look suspiciously
ready to become a more permanent feature.

The biggest shock is in the house.
Both women, the elderly Father are drawn, grey, tired.

Ogowa, between teas, sneaks a look into the pantry..and it is, as he suspected,
almost bare.

"Are you still getting the food parcels?"
Both women look embarrassed, uncomfortable

'Well, are you?"......

I have promised these people. I have promised
"Hie"

"Then, where is it, why are you going Hungry?"

It is the Father who answers
'Everyone in this village is going hungry.to receive such a generous bounty....and
to not share it"

"Everyone?"
"Everyone"

Only silence can greet such an answer, silence and discomfort.


Later, in the mess, Diogowa can only express his disgust
"The military brought this misery upon the people, and yet we eat, and eat well, and they starve.
I thought we were here to serve them, not feed of their shrinking carcass?!

But Diogowa only has it half right.

In Japan, as winter advances, there is no where, where food is in surplus.

[1275psi]

November 23rd

Musashi sails.

Okano and Hirate have been given plum jobs by Tan, Hirate the aircraft hanger services,
Okano the boats
Both will spend a busy day, despite the very short journey the battleship makes out into the bay.

She will travel barely a mile, then moor, and commence Ammunitioning.
it will take all day....some 180 of the 18 inch main shells, nearly 600 rounds of 6 inch.

Of the 4.7, and 25 MM rounds........the numbers seem endless.

Tan, the Gunnery officer, the Captain, all have seemingly turned a blind eye.
The 25 MM guns, especially single mounts, seem to be sprouting like mushrooms.


Other non conventional activities accompany the ammunitioning. 4 large barges deeply laden
with sand nestle alongside.
Nearly 500 men are put to work making sand bags, they too begin to sprout around every platform,
every gun.
Another 200 men are at work bringing up from below buckets of soot and crushed charcoal,
mixed in buckets the decks are stained black, a task that almost breaks the
Executive Officers heart.
The hours lost, wasted, scrubbing those decks to a pure shine...................

Hirate now has to supply all 4 float planes with what ever they need, a task
considerably easier than Zuiho, but one his team needs more practice on. Soon his voice
will ring in both hanger entrances, and deep inside Musashi under her concrete quarterdeck.

Ogowa works nearby, supervising the steam pinnace, the gantry crane launching it,
then a frustrating day of refuelling the shuttle of boats too and from shore.

Musashi rings with activity


late in the day both men are able to briefly rest on the lower Port boat space.
A mile away, yamato
And behind her.......Home

Ominously though, Yamato too is busy.
her Guns turn, her director turns, the barrels rise, fall, rise again

Drilling

And nestled too........ammunition barges.


"I think, my brother, the time draws near"

how to answer that?

Impossible

Silence falls upon them.

Above them, the hydraulic whine and rumble as 2700 tons of metal swings to port. Musashi, too, begins gunnery drills.

[Smoky Stoker]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi
Of the 4.7, and 25 MM rounds........the numbers seem endless.

Nitpick, but given that amazing miniature Yamato you constructed,you may want to know. By 1941 all the Japanese battleships had 12.7 Cm/40 Type 89 guns. Caliber is an even five inches.

[1275psi]

On the 24th, the mystery British task force makes several pin prick raids on Taihoku
A night strike by Nicks miss an American CVL

Encouraged, large numbers of planes again flow south west from Japan, the British, it is assumed
are testing the waters.

Let them come


be our guest...........



But what idiot invites death through the front door.............