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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: The little ship that could.

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RE: The little ship that could. - 2/16/2015 6:47:01 AM

1275psi

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Central China

Long pig and Bigglesworth pace the airfield, killing time.
They are due back soon, the great silver birds
Just after dawn 40 plus have left this great dusty field, target Nagasaki.
A great deal depends on this mission. A great deal more than the beginning of the bombing campaign against the homeland proper.
A great deal more indeed.
The "special weapon", is ready
But can it be delivered safely? Or is the risk of losing the Enola gay too great?
Today will tell.

They both hear it together, the uneven drone of the approaching bomber...and both see the trailling smoke too.
'Damnation"

Damnation indeed
Horrified they will watch them trickle home, trailling smoke, gaping holes...blood smeared canopies
Not a bomber returns undamaged
20 do not return at all.

And japan has used but a bare fraction of its fighter defence..............

(in reply to 1275psi)

Post #: 3541

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/16/2015 3:21:27 PM

John 3rd

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From: La Salle, Colorado
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Go BABY!

Can you destroy the A-Bomb if the -29 is intercepted and shot down? HECK YES! Certainly makes sense to me...

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Reluctant Admiral Mod:
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Post #: 3542

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/18/2015 5:48:32 PM

Long pig

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A bare fraction, how many are there?

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Post #: 3543

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/19/2015 8:29:12 AM

1275psi

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August 4th

Minando

From the diary of private Arsaki, 33rd division, 15th Army

Our supplies are now utterly exhasted. Every day we are bombed and straffed. My Brothers fall about me left and right, from starvation, disease, despair
How I hate these cursed mountains, this jungle.

our officers, those that remain, are planning the final attack.
Soon I die Mother, a life for my emperor.
Do not weep for me, anything must be better than this.

(in reply to Long pig)

Post #: 3544

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/19/2015 8:36:15 AM

1275psi

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August 4, 5,th

Nothing much is happening, not if you ignore the russians swarming north, the chinese rushing east, the endless pounding at Minando, the starvation through out the land..............

No, nothing much...............

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Post #: 3545

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/21/2015 5:59:29 AM

1275psi

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August 7th

Susuzuki still lies at anchor at Kagoshima.
War or peace, the Harbour routine continues as time in memorable.
Call to hands at 0500, the fight for the wash basins, the securing of the hammocks, the cleaning and securing of the mess.
Then there follows the half hour Hirate and Okano both hate, the daily calisthenics, the (too them) pointless start jumps, the pushups.
Breakfast follows

Susuzuki musters to salute the flag at 0800 hrs precisely..........is there any navy that does not?
The ship is at Auxiliary steaming, Hirate and Okano have both been taken off the steaming watchbill for the moment, The Engineer has quickly spied the skill of his two new men.
Now they spend the day in the small cramped but well equiped, workshop.
These are good days. The work is steady, pump wear ring machining, shaft re conditioning, bearing replacements.
Good work, the work of skilled hands. Work that comes in, that you do, that you hand back well done.

It is even easy, at times, to forget the war.

The ship generally secures at 1600 hrs. There is no shore leave however.
Every night the ship exercises her damage control.
Watanabe has a slightly different slant to other ships of the fleet. They fight fires, they fight floods. Susuzuki's crw does this as well, but almost equal time is spent on challenging the men to learn other departments work.
Stokers man guns (an interesting moment when Okano and Hirate show their Yamato learnt skill on the guns), Gunners try not to be bewildered by the boilers
Whether the tactic will pay off remains to be seen.
But the evenings do pass quickly.

The evenings are filled with cards, Mojong, games. Rumours of a concert
Talk

The conversations range as far as any you and I would ever have had.
But they always return to the same thing.
The wars end.
It is coming.
If they survive it, what then?

Two men, at least, know exactly what .
Russia.
Under their own steam..

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Post #: 3546

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/21/2015 6:09:03 AM

1275psi

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Just after midnight, 30000 drunk, screaming, hopless soldiers burst in great human swarms out of the jungles , down from the hills , out of the ravines, from the caves of central Minando.
The food is gone
The ammunition gone
Hope, gone.

"take one with you"

They will try
5 allied divisions and armour wait for them.

20000 will fall.
And the allied lines will barely be reached, let alone breached.
The blood will flow freely through them however. Thick, stinking, horrible.
The commander of the Aussie 6th division sends a signal that will haunt him forever

'send Bulldozers'
There will be no other way to handle so many dead.

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Post #: 3547

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/21/2015 10:14:34 AM

Mike McCreery

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BANZAI!!!

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Post #: 3548

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/23/2015 7:47:34 AM

1275psi

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August the 8th

The Killing at Minando continues.
Smaller squads, companies, units this night.
Same piles of bodies, failed attacks, shattered units.

The survivors crawl back into the hills.

(in reply to Mike McCreery)

Post #: 3549

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/23/2015 7:49:49 AM

1275psi

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8th August

The RUSSIANS take PEKING.

An interesting moment.
"return it to our Ancestors, or face a million years of war"

Stalin will have to step adroitly indeed, if WW3 is not to begin right now............

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Post #: 3550

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/23/2015 7:56:03 AM

1275psi

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Extract from Shattering the Sword, a cantona production

The British Army has for months, besieged Singapore.
The Japanese Army has been chased deep into Vietnam, supposedly impotent and lost.

Not so.

The trains have been running long, hard, taking every able bodied man they can carry to Hanoi.
Un noticed, it appears.

Today 7 divisions attack across the vietnamese / china border at Laing Son, headed east
The 52nd Chinese Corp is the guard unit.
It is flattened.

A "back door attack"
More like a rogering...............

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Post #: 3551

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/23/2015 8:58:07 PM

John 3rd

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Perhaps it will serve as a small distraction to the Allies...maybe...possibly...

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Reluctant Admiral Mod:
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Post #: 3552

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/26/2015 7:21:44 AM

1275psi

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August 9th 1945

Enemy carriers sighted near Jolo island, headed towards Hong Kong.............

(along with a gazzillion other ships)

Hirate is dreaming. It is a vivid dream. He is standing on the batting plate, and the pitcher is about to throw.
But there is something wrong with his bat.
No matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to lift it............

'Wake up idiot!"
Conciousness floods in. Its dark, the mess is hot, stinking.
It is the Chief........incredibly.......
'get your arse below............we have to sail in two hours........."
he vanishes, his progress however is clear across the mess as a great many dreams are shattered.
Hirate groans.
0300 hours
If its such a goddam rush why not just broadcast it, call action stations?
Foggy brained he dreses, stumbles forward.

And then it strikes him........the rest of the ship is still asleep. What in the truck?
Okano runs into him, coming in from outside
"What the hell is going on?"
Okano pulls him through the door into the dark morning, and points across the bay

Carrier Unryu's stack broils dark smoke
Zuikaku's funnel whistles steam
Raising steam.................
"'Crud"
Okano grins........"I think this Charge of ours might be on the ball you know, come on, lets get to it"

Susuzuki is called to action stations an hour later, and her stokers are already ready.
She sails, along with the vast majority of Japans remaining navy, an hour after that.
Course south West.

Destination yet unknown.

(in reply to John 3rd)

Post #: 3553

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/26/2015 7:43:43 AM

british exil

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quote:

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hirate is dreaming. It is a vivid dream. He is standing on the batting plate, and the pitcher is about to throw.
But there is something wrong with his bat.
No matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to lift it............

Ah baseball! Long are the days when the crew of the little ship had their big baseball match. Memories of so long ago. Names faded. Some passed away. Heroic deaths or simply vanished from the face of the earth.

Mat

Did not want to start looking but it seems like an eternity when the baseball match was played.

_____________________________

"It is not enough to expect a man to pay for the best, you must also give him what he pays for." Alfred Dunhill

WitE,UV,AT,ATG,FoF,FPCRS

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Post #: 3554

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/26/2015 1:25:26 PM

Smoky Stoker

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@ british exil

You have a clean mind. I remember waking up in my bunk and finding the bat still in my hand many a time.

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Post #: 3555

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/27/2015 6:46:22 PM

1275psi

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giggle

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Post #: 3556

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/27/2015 6:59:21 PM

1275psi

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August the 10th

Japan has not been lying quietly, waiting to be crushed

Other hidden operations, small, but still vital have been occuring.
In the last month numbers of individual cargo ships have been dispatched via Iwo Jima, Siapan. All, surprisingly , have arrived safely at Truk, Biak, Neomfor, Palua.
A tanker convoy of 2 and escorts has even undertaken the journey Siapan, palua, Minando, and arrived undetected at Balikapapan, and begun filling
Another however, of three tankers and 10 E class escorts has been sighted creeping along the southern edge of the celebes sea, south of Minando
A singlr bomb has lightly damaged one tanker.
But Japan also see's (from search mainly at Jolo) a huge stream of ships headed across the Celebes sea, north of the tankers, south of Minando island.

There are three e class at Tarakan
2 at Balikapapan, 3 in the central phillipines, and of course those convoy escorts.

What to do?

Japanese sailors know only one thing

Attack!

The escorts are peeled from the convoy, sent North to Jolo island
At midnight, intercept

7 unescorted Liberty ships, full of fuel

All burn nicely..................

If you were just looking at the red dots, its not the Japanese army surrounded at Minando.
Its the allied one cut off in the phillipines..................

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Post #: 3557

RE: The little ship that could. - 2/27/2015 7:01:50 PM

1275psi

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Combined fleets mission lasts less then six hours

CV Unryu is torpedoed by a single fish with Japan still in sight.
(18 flood, 18 system)

The mission, still a mystery to Watanabe, is cancelled. The fleet about turns, makes for Hiroshima, and its docks.

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Post #: 3558

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/2/2015 8:00:41 PM

pws1225

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Bump to move from second page purgatory.

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Post #: 3559

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/4/2015 6:12:58 AM

1275psi

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12 August

Watanabe peers through the thin sea mist. Somewhere over THERE..............the marker bouy. And somewhere beyond THAT, hidden by the damn mist, Nagasaki.
"Slow ahead both"
tension fills the air.
About them, mirror calm seas', deep, deep blue. Scattered fishing boats,
And the damn mist.

Unryu lies 200 yaqrds astern, upright, down a little at the bows.. The fish has caused surprisingly little flooding. Almost so little it could be ignored in these desperate times. But for the fact the fwd elevator is jammed solid half way down, a zero still perched upon it, stranded, however.........

There are 7 other destroyers with Watanabe, 2 he can see, the others..gone.
'Unryu is reporting "I am having difficulties,, I need to slow to contain flooding"

he will need to contain more than slow flooding if a damn Sub spots her..........goddam, lets get her into port............
But he can only reply as any Captain can 'very well...keep an extra eye out, this is damn dangerous..."

Its only 120 miles from Kagoshima to Nagasaki..............about 119 of them filled with potential peril.

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Post #: 3560

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/4/2015 6:15:32 AM

1275psi

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A small CVE task group leaves Hong kong, and hits some of the shipping headed from manilla, or heading towqards Manilla

There are troops on these fast transports...........troops on a almost suicidal mission.

One High Command swears will occur
landings at Swatow, south China coast.

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Post #: 3561

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/6/2015 8:21:28 PM

1275psi

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13Aug

Watanabe's worries become groundless, Unryu makes port, and is rushed into drydock. She is given 14 days to repair.
Susuzuki and the other destroyers anchor, and again come to 4 hours notice.
It is mid summer now, the bay is beautiful, from the ships, the city is peaceful and serene.

Hard to believe today, that a war is going on.

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Post #: 3562

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/6/2015 8:32:33 PM

1275psi

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The imperial conference has gone on for 4 hours now, split, as always it seems now, between the two parties.
One, led by the three remaining civilians in the cabinet, wants peace.
The rest argue for continuing the war...........

The Russians are storming Mukden, a torrent of armour and men advancing on Korea itself. Strange to think that Manchuria, that land that started this long road to disaster, is now Red.
The Army hopes to stop the flood on the Ichon river, whether they can, many secretly doubt.

The argument for continuing the war, however, is still a strong one.
It is mid summer, if the allies are to invade the Home islands this year, then time before the Autumn storms is running out.
Huge area of SE Asia remain Japanese. There is much left to fight for there. The Home islands remain almost unscathed.

And there is a feeling, almost to outrageous to expres, that a victory in the Pacific might yet be claimed.
The Army in Minando fights on..........the allies unable to kill it.
There has been not a single allied landing for nearly 6 months.............

Are they that short on assualt ships, on battleships that they dare not launch another?
'We have bled them dry, your Highness"
The Emperor hears these words often now, maybe it is true?

True or not, they will fight on.

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Post #: 3563

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/6/2015 8:36:58 PM

1275psi

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The ocean west of takao, north of manilla erupts

A small allied task force sits in its middle, and attacks three AKs troop ladened headed north. They are sunk, at a horrible cost.
But three other task forces of fast transports slip by, unmolested, tomorrow they will land on the chinese south coast.
The allies will undoubtably try to stop them.
But some must surely get through.

In the Celebes sea, a2 AO's of japans are sunk at Panay by another CVE group near Jolo island.

But at balikapapan, 30000 tons of fuel has been loaded successfully, tomorrow it will begin for home.
The allied blockade is leaky..............

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Post #: 3564

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/10/2015 7:51:29 AM

1275psi

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14 Aug

20 miles south of the northern tip of Palawan island, Phillipines

0300 hours

Lt Ito, Commander of the E class Fumizuki, is a bare 22 years of age.
Barely begun shaving, if he would care to admit it.
But old enough to do this, almost too old in fact.

Youth, it must be admitted, does breed a certain barvado.
"Full ahead all!"
The helmsman , himself barely 16, grins. Ito's enthusiasm is infectious.
"Full ahead all!", he cries, and the telegraphs clang to the bottom of their travel
The little ship begins to tremble

To Fumizuki's flank, 4 other E class ships are spreading out, 500 yards apart, bones between their teeth, sterns boiling, the phosphorous glowing.

The night is bright, a full moon, the sea calm.......visibility superb.
At 20000 yards , the enemy are visible.............grey hulking shapes.............a line of battle.

A line of battle.
Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, new mexico, the elderly Arkanas.............and 4 destroyers.

Ito strides to the binnacle, grips his sword. This will be short, surely.......short but glorious.

18000 yards..............the sea hisses past, the gun crews stand, or crouch, at their stations, frozen.

Line of battle...........imperious...............how in the hell have they not seen them yet?

There is almost a sense of relief when the great line erupts into fire, a ripple down its length.
"Port ten"...........zig zag, for as long as I can...............

Shrieking frieght trains overhead............too long.....
"Stbd ten'
Thudding bangs 50 yards to port............ah, they have the range.............

'permission to open fire sir"
Lt Toyoda............20 years of age

Yes, and why not...........I have been so focused on the fish I have forgotten my pea shooters.......
"Approved"

15000 yards.........and E Yasoshima busts into flames...........
And now they are entering a veritable forest of water spouts...........shrapnel rattles, a man cries in pain
They remain unhit..............

10000 yards..............and the enemy fire seems to lesson, honing in on the Yukaze...........burning brightly 100 yards ahead of them .

Stbd 20.............I will use her as cover.............

8000 yards............and Toyoda cries."We are hitting them!"
yes, by the gods.we are.............."I have hit a battleship!"..........a battleship with my pidddling boat!

Torpedo range???..........yes, by gods, yes!
"hard to port!...............fire fish!...............

The noise is overwhelming......insane...........but still relatively harmless

They peel away from the slowing Yukaze............the poor barsted glowing red from end to end, her uppers a shambles, the enemy shells still pouring into her, past the almost awash Yasoshima...........

And to life.

They have lived
2 E class sunk
No fish hits on the battlewagons...........but a healthy supply of shells expended.

As Ito leads the 2 other surving ships towards manilla, he cannot feel but sorry for the Gunnery officers of those battlewagons.

And hope they meet the Yamato some day.

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Post #: 3565

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/10/2015 7:55:56 AM

1275psi

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23 E class attempt to land troops at Chaochow , southern coast of china

They are thwarted by 6 Flether class DD's, who sink 1, hit another 5.

But other Fast transports land some troops at Soochow.

And japan has more at sea, who tomorrow will try as well.

As predicted, the chinese cities are very, very lightly defended.
There remains a chance yet.

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Post #: 3566

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/10/2015 7:57:57 AM

1275psi

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Mukden, manchuria falls

Flattened actually

6500 AV headed south............ye gods

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Post #: 3567

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/12/2015 8:30:59 AM

1275psi

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Aug 15th

War is confusion

From almost dusk, to almost dawn, the waters off China's southern coast reverberate to the sounds of naval battle.
6 Allied destroyers foray from Hong Kong, tangle at long range with three Japanese destroyers, engage a dozen or more E class, lose them, find them, engage them again, and near dawn, exchange shots with those 3 jap DD's yet again

Ships are damaged on both sides.
Who won?...........hard to tell.
The enmy Battle wagons run into another small group of E class.............and shoot depressingly far straighter

And E class No 67 sends the most pathetic signal in History..........."have sighted 2 New Jersey Class BB's, 2 Alaska Class BC's, multiple escorts..............am attacking"

She, of course, is never heard of again.

So, there is action a plenty, tactically bloody yet fruitless for Japan, annoying, no doubt , for the Allies. But there is no doubt at all in Japans mind. The allies are gathering upon Hong Kong. They are on the move.
At last

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Post #: 3568

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/12/2015 1:51:01 PM

Anthro03

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."have sighted 2 New Jersey Class BB's, 2 Alaska Class BC's, multiple escorts..............am attacking"
'Duty is heavy as a mountain, death is light as a feather.'

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Post #: 3569

RE: The little ship that could. - 3/12/2015 2:20:30 PM

Mike McCreery

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You have lasted much longer than many many others. Nothing to be ashamed of when Fletchers pick apart ships that cannot do 1/2 their speed.

And the AAR has got to be one of the top ones in the history of the board :]

I vote for a sticky if it is possible. The story alone would motivate people to play!!

_____________________________

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Post #: 3570

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