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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (8/18/2007 3:00:54 AM)
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March 4, 1943
Location: 750 miles south-southwest of Broome
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 316
Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation
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In the morning search planes reveal to the Japanese the presence of HMS Enterprise, moving along the Australian coast barely 90 miles to the southeast. There is brief debate among Ozawa and his staff whether to wait for a bigger prize or to strike now. Ozawa decides in favor of a strike; yes, a better target might come along tomorrow, but the cruiser is here today. The Japanese carriers send off a dozen fighters and about forty bombers to deal with the lone ship.
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HMS Victorious and the rest of the task force have made excellent time since leaving Sydney, and by mid-morning they are some 300 miles south of Exmouth Bay. An Avenger torpedo bomber on a routine patrol comes across a number of wakes cutting across the calm ocean, and the pilot follows them right to the Japanese fleet. He observes the three carriers, all launching planes, and sends a frantic report back to Victorious.
The British can only assume they have been discovered. Victorious has little chance against three Japanese carriers, but the British are determined to make a fight of it. They send everything they have, 16 Seafires and 20 Avengers, winging north.
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“The target is reported sunk, sir,” the radio operator tells Captain Ishii via the speaking tube. “The planes are returning.”
“Thank you,” Ishii replies. “We will be coming about again soon to recover planes,” he tells the bridge. “Keep an eye on Zuikaku for the signal.” Hibiki is currently to port and slightly astern of the big carrier. He receives acknowledgement and starts to step out onto the observation wing to watch for the returning planes.
“Sir!” comes the radio operator’s voice again. “Our fighters report enemy planes inbound from the south!”
“The south!” says Ishii. “Where the hell did they come from? Combat stations, now!” Hibiki erupts into frantic activity as the klaxon begins to sound. None too soon. Already the enemy planes are visible. Two Zero-sen fighters roar over Hibiki, their engines screaming as they come to full power and start to climb.
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The Japanese have left a prudent combat air patrol over their ships, but the last direction they expected trouble from was the south. Many planes are out of position as the British aircraft come boring in. The Seafires move to deal with the rest. They pay for it, losing several planes to the guns of the Japanese fighters, but the Avengers slip underneath the fray and come in at the Japanese ships.
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In the forward 25mm gun tub Taiki is watching three Avengers. They are ahead of Hibiki, passing from left to right as they begin their run on Zuikaku. A Zero-sen fighter is on the tail of one and it begins to smoke as the plane jinks back and forth, trying to stay in the air long enough to reach its release point. The plane releases its torpedo too far out to be effective and then turns away, still pursued by the Japanese fighter.
Taiki tracks the second plane as it crosses Hibiki’s bow about 400 meters ahead. He stands so still that his crew thinks that perhaps their young gun captain has frozen. But Taiki is calculating, and almost immediately he gives orders to lay the guns and open fire. The three 25 mm guns roar, and tracers reach out to intersect the Avenger. It explodes, and pieces of aircraft spin into the ocean.
The last Avenger makes a good drop and banks away, evading the anti-aircraft fire from the carrier. The torpedo makes its deadly run straight at Zuikaku. The big carrier attempts with ponderous grace to turn away, but the torpedo comes relentlessly on and its track intersects with the side of the carrier. There is a thunk and the torpedo breaks in half and sinks, a dud.
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Zuikaku comes through unscathed, and there is cheering aboard Hibiki. This celebration is abruptly cut off by the sound of an explosion rolling across the water. Some 1000 meters behind Zuikaku a torpedo has found Hiryu, and this one is not a dud. As Hibiki’s crew turns and looks a second torpedo slams home against the carrier. Hiryu shudders under the impacts and slows almost to a stop, smoke roiling upwards.
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The surviving British planes head for home, chased by the Japanese fighters. Only a handful have been shot down, but many of them have been damaged.
The Japanese planes returning from the strike against HMS Enterprise have to wait until the battle is over before they can begin to land. Hiryu is wounded, perhaps mortally, so her returning planes are divided among the two surviving carriers. Fortunately the carriers are under strength enough that this does not leave either Zuikaku or Akagi overcrowded.
Now the Japanese must find and retaliate against their adversary.
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The British know they are still facing two carriers, and that they can expect to get hit. They quickly turn around their returning planes and launch another strike. All they can put in the air are eight Avengers and a few fighters, but it is better than sitting around and waiting for the Japanese to act.
This second strike crosses the Japanese attack. Victorious has been quickly located and 17 fighters escort 41 dive and torpedo bombers are dispatched to sink the British carrier.
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Aboard Hibiki they listen tensely to the broadcasts of the pilots as the Japanese begin their attack. Only five Seafires rise to meet the oncoming threat, and these are no match for the Japanese fighters. Victorious is ready for destruction.
But now the attacking Japanese planes make a fatal blunder. In the foreground of the British task force is Prince of Wales, and for reasons that will never be clearly understood almost all the torpedo bombers and many of the dive bombers choose to strike this ship. Prince of Wales is subject to a vicious attack, but the anti aircraft fire from the battleship and her escorts is heavy and accurate. The big ship takes one torpedo and a pair of bomb hits, but her survival is not seriously threatened.
A lone bomb strikes Victorious. It takes out an anti aircraft gallery but does little damage otherwise.
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The second British attack seems gallant but doomed, and in fact few planes return. One Avenger, however, sneaks through the covering fighters and the flak and puts a torpedo right into the side of Akagi. The Japanese carrier is not heavily damaged, fortunately, and the flooding is quickly contained.
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As the afternoon draws on the two forces begin to separate. Victorious is intact but has almost no planes left; the Japanese are in disarray and two of their three carriers are damaged. Ozawa still has hopes of finishing off the British carrier, but his first priority at the moment is saving Hiryu. Akagi is limping a bit but able to launch and recover planes.
Hiryu has her fires mostly under control. Flooding is a more serious problem, and as night falls the carrier is still battling the sea as it works on loosened hull plates and tries to bypass damaged bulkheads. Ozawa orders his ships to head for Tjilitjap, the closest port where the carrier might possibly be saved. They must proceed with agonizing slowness, however, and Tjilitjap is a very long ways away.
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Hiryu watch: Sys damage 34, Flood 43, Fires 14. Distance to port: 1000 miles
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