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RE: Small Ship, Big War

 
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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/12/2009 7:25:22 PM   
thegreatwent


Posts: 3011
Joined: 8/24/2004
From: Denver, CO
Status: offline 		Uh oh... Dark omens.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/12/2009 7:54:55 PM   
John 3rd


Posts: 17178
Joined: 9/8/2005
From: La Salle, Colorado
Status: offline 		Let us hope she is simply...pregnant...



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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/13/2009 1:18:07 AM   
kaleun

 

Posts: 5145
Joined: 5/29/2002
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		And who is the father? Do tell.
I have a baaad feeling about this


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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/13/2009 8:29:49 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		March 4, 1945

Location: 60 miles south of Takao
Course: South
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 318

Orders: Escort Ryujo to Saigon

---

“I see it,” says Lieutenant Commander Laird, commander of submarine Blackfin, as he peers through the periscope. “It’s a destroyer. Too dark to be sure, but I think it’s a Fubuki-class.” Blackfin had picked up the Japanese task force on radar a couple of hours ago. After hurrying to get into position the submarine now has a target in her sights.

Up on the surface it is a dark, cloudy night. A stiff breeze has whipped up a moderate chop, but hovering at periscope depth the submarine’s crew takes no notice of this. More important, there is no sign that the Japanese ships have any idea that they are here.

Laird orders all six forward tubes loaded. A firing solution is calculated. It is an almost ideal attack against an unaware target. It is likely that all these destroyers are guarding an even more valuable prize but the Japs are moving too fast for Blackfin to try and find it. Laird knows he has only one shot and he does not intend to waste it. And he isn’t going to mind adding a Jap tin can to his score, not one bit.

Laird peers into the telescope and laconically orders all six tubes fired. He does not add “Sayonara, Jap” or anything like that – he’s a professional and doesn’t need feel the need for bravado – but he knows his business and doesn’t give that destroyer out there a chance in hell of surviving this attack. He lowers the periscope and orders the submarine to dive. The other destroyers out there are not going to be happy when his torpedoes find their target.

---

Lieutenant Miharu comes back onto the bridge and peers ahead through the oversized night vision binoculars at the next destroyer ahead in the column. Hibiki is currently bringing up the rear of the three destroyers screening Ryujo’s port side.

“We’re about seven hundred and fifty meters back,” he says to Ensign Konada, who currently has the helm. He does not raise his voice – he almost never does – but there is a note in it that indicates he is not pleased. “What interval are we supposed to maintain, Ensign?”

“Five hundred meters, sir,” Konada replies promptly, sweating a little.

“Some destroyers,” the ship’s executive officer observes, “wander away from station. Some destroyers have trouble maintaining the proper course and speed. This destroyer, Ensign Konada, is not one of them. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes it is sir,” says Konada, sweating a little more now. The young officer is finding out the hard way that conning a ship is as much art as it is science. Konada has methodically studied the subject but despite knowing all the rules and principles it is no easy trick keeping Hibiki on station on a dark night with a quartering sea.

“This ship has a lot of power,” says Lieutenant Miharu a touch more gently. “Don’t hesitate to use it.” He rings the engine room and orders all ahead three-quarters. Hibiki rumbles as the engines respond and the destroyer begins to pick up speed.

---

Aboard Blackfin they mark the time to target. No explosions result. Laird orders the submarine back to periscope depth and does not immediately see their target. Then he finds it, a good two hundred yards ahead of where it should be. It is maintaining its course, though, apparently completely unaware of the attack.

The destroyer is now receding into the darkness and there is no chance of a second attack. Laird’s mouth narrows to a thin line but he says nothing. He orders a contact report broadcast and then Blackfin resumes the search for targets. There will be other days, other chances. It’s a long war.

---








Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Cuttlefish -- 4/15/2009 1:55:18 AM >

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Post #: 4354
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/13/2009 8:30:48 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		Note on the last entry: can anyone spot the odd historical parallel here? It makes Hibiki’s latest narrow escape even more weird.

My opponent’s only comment after this turn was “Man, that is one lucky little ship.”

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Post #: 4355
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/13/2009 8:46:50 PM   
String


Posts: 2661
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From: Estonia
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Note on the last entry: can anyone spot the odd historical parallel here? It makes Hibiki’s latest narrow escape even more weird.

My opponent’s only comment after this turn was “Man, that is one lucky little ship.”




Survivors, generally, tend to be the lucky ones

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Post #: 4356
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/13/2009 8:54:01 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
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From: Los Angeles
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quote:

My opponent’s only comment after this turn was “Man, that is one lucky little ship.”


I imagine Wolffpack's mouth narrowed to a thin line even as Blackfin's commander's did . . .

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Post #: 4357
RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 2:21:40 AM   
Feinder


Posts: 6589
Joined: 9/4/2002
From: Land o' Lakes, FL
Status: offline
Much earlier in "Small ship, big war"...
-F-

quote:

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Cool idea... If you wanted a "lucky ship", you could also have chosen the Shigure; she lasted nearly the whole war through plenty of battles that saw horrendous casualties on the IJN side.



Yep - she was SOLE survivor in two major battles, iirc. At one point she went into drydock for steering problems, and found a nice round torpedo sized hole in it - where an USN torpedo had failed to detonate... but even her luck ran out eventually (a sub got her, iirc).

EDIT: from her TROM:
"24 January 1945:
Sunk: Torpedoed by USS BLACKFIN (SS-322) in Gulf of Siam, 160 miles east of Khota Bharu, Malaya (06 N, 103-48 E). Sank in 10 minutes with 37 killed, 17 injured; 270 survivors, including Lieutenant Commander Hagiwara (to C.O. KASHI), rescued by KANJU and MIYAKE."





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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 3:00:39 AM   
marky


Posts: 5780
Joined: 3/8/2004
From: Wisconsin
Status: offline 		Hibiki has always been a lucky ship but good grief! that late in the war with a 6 fish spread and no hits? Ishii and company should be in Davy Jones Locker

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 3:42:29 AM   
Hornblower


Posts: 1361
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From: New York'er relocated to Chicago
Status: offline 		i was on pins and needles for that one

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 4:36:17 AM   
thegreatwent


Posts: 3011
Joined: 8/24/2004
From: Denver, CO
Status: offline 		I need to quit checking my blood pressure after reading this AAR, my doc may up my dosages if he sees my BP log.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 4:53:04 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		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.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 9:16:25 AM   
Ambassador

 

Posts: 1674
Joined: 1/11/2008
From: Brussels, Belgium
Status: offline 		Wow, that's a lucky escape.  And again, Hibiki proves to be a good protection for her protectee.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 3:37:55 PM   
Mike Solli


Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku
Status: offline 		Hey Cuttlefish, what were you thinking when you saw that torpedo attack?

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/14/2009 4:32:52 PM   
Shark7


Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007
From: The Big Nowhere
Status: offline 		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

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/15/2009 1:48:15 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
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quote:

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.

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Post #: 4366
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 1:50:07 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		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.


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Post #: 4367
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 1:55:32 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		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.


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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 2:06:58 AM   
John 3rd


Posts: 17178
Joined: 9/8/2005
From: La Salle, Colorado
Status: offline 		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...



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Post #: 4369
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 3:18:52 AM   
kaleun

 

Posts: 5145
Joined: 5/29/2002
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		Morale? Discipline?
I always wonder how the Germans and the Japanese maintained their discipline so long, fighting a losing war.



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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 11:59:09 AM   
tocaff


Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006
From: USA now in Brasil
Status: offline 		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?

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I never thought that doing an AAR would be so time consuming and difficult.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki - 4/15/2009 1:01:23 PM   
rjopel

 

Posts: 614
Joined: 12/19/2007
From: Charlottesville, VA, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


quote:

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.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 10:07:36 PM   
DW

 

Posts: 161
Joined: 2/14/2008
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quote:

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...

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Post #: 4373
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/15/2009 11:50:13 PM   
tocaff


Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006
From: USA now in Brasil
Status: offline 		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.

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I never thought that doing an AAR would be so time consuming and difficult.
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Post #: 4374
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 2:42:33 AM   
DW

 

Posts: 161
Joined: 2/14/2008
Status: offline
quote:

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.



< Message edited by DW -- 4/16/2009 3:58:16 AM >

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Post #: 4375
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 3:53:49 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		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.


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Post #: 4376
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 9:06:24 AM   
Ambassador

 

Posts: 1674
Joined: 1/11/2008
From: Brussels, Belgium
Status: offline 		Another Takahashi ?

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Post #: 4377
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 9:40:58 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Another Takahashi ?


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

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Post #: 4378
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 10:15:01 AM   
Ambassador

 

Posts: 1674
Joined: 1/11/2008
From: Brussels, Belgium
Status: offline 		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...

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Post #: 4379
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 4/16/2009 8:36:34 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


quote:

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.

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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

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Post #: 4380
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