1275psi
Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
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22 Feb 1945
It has been a long, long night on Battleship Fuso
A long night of alert, of being at combat stations, of waiting for the alarm bells calling to battle
Instead, nothing has happened. She has powered on, as hard as her ancient frame can carry them, skirting the southern coasts of Minanado.
As fast as she can, but not quite fast enough. As dawn breaks, beautiful and peaceful, she and her 6 destroyers are still 50 miles short of the beaches.
There is nothing for it. Breakfast is served, and she powers on.
Seaman Aso mans the port 5 inch gunnery director, a position he loves. (he loves everything about this old girl, her towering pagoda mast, her ugly funnels, her elderly guns)
He is not alone. Fuso is a tight ship.............she has kept them safe so many times before, why not now ney?
"Hey Arichi!, you want another rice ball?"
Below him, Arichi looks up........"No, you have it..........anything on the circuit?"
Aso presses the headset harder to his head. 'Nothing yet, but the Captain has told the gunnery officer it cannot be long now"
Arichi nods......"I hope number four has his crap in a sock today"
Aso can but agree. Once again he presses his eyes into the director glasses, presses his left foot. Hydraulic hums fill the space, slowly the director, Aso, Arichi, 5 and the other five men contained in it rotate to port. Below, and well forward, the 5 inch guns under the focastle follow him, one othe many reasons he loves his job.
Then he see's her...........as so do so many other eyes.
Through out Fuso, the cries go out
'Battleship!...3 cruisers, 3 DDs........bearing 090!...range 30000 yards!"
Aso carefully focusses..........In his ears the gunnery officers calm voice..."battleship is New jersey class.......a tough nut gentleman.........5 inch guns, when in range engage leading cruiser, standby to fire"
The quiet before the storm
NervouslyAso glances down to his lover below his feet, offers a quiet prayer for the face staring hard at the dials in front of him, hands white on the controls.
'be safe, my friend"
And then Fuso fires.........a full salvo, gunnery Officer in a hurry it seems, and the eyes must ram back to the glasses.and the black powder is already bitter upon the lips, acrid in the nostrils.
he begins his battle chant to his guns below........
'range 25000......bearing 085 degrees.............
range 24000.....bearing 080 degrees...........enemy has not engaged yet.we hit!.............no apparent damage...........secondary battery prepare to fire.
22000 yards...........Fuso shudders under his next salvo........he can follow the great red beatles all the way.........and one blooms on the enemy battlewagons side..............and she simply shrugs it aside
Disconcerting..........
Again the gunnery officer speaks.....strain in his voice...........our DDs are going to attack, please do not hit one, Aso, if you are ready."
Hiei!"
"Five inch guns, leading cruiser, range 18000, bearing 076........fire!"
Battleship New Jersey, at 25000 yards, opens fire, and strikes
Hard
Aso is flung from his perch, slamming painfully his rib cage against the controls...., blood on his lips
"Flood central magazines!"
"Admidship turrets destroyed!
"Fires admidships!"
"damage control parties to admidships!"
'Port 5 inch!, adjust your fire!"
"Yes gunnery officer!..........new target, destroyer, range 12500, closing...........bearing 100!"
Fuso leaps again, shudders, gigantic bangs............over the circuit, terrible screams, suddenly cut off"
Aso refocusses, the destroyer slicing in..........leaping , vanishing..........torpedoe hit!
Something slams him, the world wirls...heat, flame..........ringing in his ears.
Arichi slapping his face............'aso, Aso, we have to move, we have to get out............please, please, wake up!"
Ringing in his ears...........
The roof of the director is gone...........friends lie smashed, meshed with metal.
Blood flows
Another horrendous scream, a shattering bang..........
'Come on!.we have to get out!"
Together, they try to force the rear door, it is bent, buckled. They squeeze through.
Hell
Again, and again, and again, the shells are coming into Fuso. Impossible to describe. Frieght trains plowing into metal, into men
Exploding, sending metal carooming, skything..........
Screams.
A 16 inch shell strikes into the forward 5 inch battery, the focastle lifts......the forward turrets fall silent
Anther, and another turn the pagoda mast into a ladder of fire
More slice through armour like butter, vanish into her guts.
Men fall in heaps, blocking passage ways, soon to become blazing piles of flesh, foul, nauseating
The shells howl overhead, hammer home....every single one aimed at you.
There is nowhere to hide
Aso crouches, looks, they must get to the starboard side, must get away
Arichi places his hands over his ears, stands, screams, and screams, and scream
"make it stop, make it stop!, MAKE IT STOP!"
Aso grabs his hand, pulls him behind them, heading aft, heading around the back of the tower seeking the starboard side
The deck is listing.............
Nightmare visions..........number three turret, no roof, both barrells pointing to the sky, its interior a furnace....
The funnel, ..........gone
Number 5 turret............still firing.belching, smoke and flame even as fire licks its base
And still the frieght trains pound in
They find a ladder down to the main deck, passing 20 men huddled here under the cover of the bridge, the starboard director.
Fuso is slowing, listing, aflame
They pass behind the barbett of number two turret, pause........there is nowhere to hide..
The huddled men vanish as the wall behind them explodes
Fuso's bow streams smoke, flame, hell
The water erupts again, again
The shrieking..............he can feel himself going mad
Fuso topples, the water roars up, sweeps them into the sea....................
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RE: The little ship that could. - 
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