|
1275psi -> RE: The little ship that could. (4/12/2015 3:50:20 AM)
|
Captain Okada
Carrier Kaga
Kaga is an old ship now. Old in years, old, gods, so old now in miles steamed , in battles fought.
Even as the Helldivers begin to gather overhead, begin to stoop, Okada feels a burst of pride at how the old girl still powers on, how she still responds to his helm, she is alive, is Kaga, and not yet ready to die.
They fall upon her from astern, aligning themselves with her fat flight deck, trying to avoid her guns.
Okada , standing erect on the AA bridge, watches them fall, seemingly oblivious to the guns banging about him, eyes only on the screaming howling shapes plunging down upon them
But he is not fixated, he can see the avengersalso , coming in from directly ahead, still small in size, but low, coming hard, oblivious to the AA, the sprouts of water chasing them.
They want him to turn hard, to expose Kaga's fatter flanks
'Port ten!"
kaga begins to turn
"reverse your helm!..........admidships!"
And then the bombs are arriving.
he watches them all.staning erect as all about him dive for cover, as if he, somehow, is not a part of this, an observer, a theatre watcher in this deadly, deadly play.
Incredibly, while others are killed about him, (disembowled, shredded, sliced asunder, crushed) he will barely sway, and remain totally unharmed
And even as the bombs explode, just one thought
Kaga is an ex battlewagon............her steel is thick and strong............
The first two bombs miss...........hard against her side, slamming her with shock
The next two hit........250 kgsers?............one strikes her flank..........is deflected by the armour
The otherpierces her flight deck one foot from the edge, passes through, deflects almost 80 degrees, explodes against her flanks, bends a support beam
Two more vanish into the flight deck.and explode deep in the lower hanger aft.
There is nothing there to burn , (other than men), the blast bulges decks, destroys much, leaves the vital spaces below unharmed.
her steel is thick
Another explodes at the aft of the tower, it kills, it mangles, it slows her little.....
She is old, is kaga
But it will take more than this to puit the old girl down.
Captain Yokokawa lies on his bridge deck.
About him shattered glass, the arcrid smell of smoke.
he stares across the floor to the navigator, who sightless in death, stares back
"bomb spunge.........bomb spunge, bomb spunge.....the words repeat over and over in his head
She has taken three, right down the middle.
But it will be the fish that has scuppered her.. powerless, burning end to end, Zuikaku slides to a halt
She has fullfilled her final mission
Bomb spunge
The Unryu takes a fish.(yes, another one in this career)
Like those before it, her damage control swngs into gear. Unryu remains in the fight
Ryuho , already settling, capsises under multiple torpedo hits
The attack takes nearly 90 minutes to develop, fight its way in, deliver, egress
It kills 20 zeros
It loses many more than that
The carriers, AA ammo exhausted, with only Tauiho and Unryo's flightdecks left open, turn east
Bomb spunges
They have completed their mission
The enemy fleet is but 200 miles to the West, under darkening skies
His Gunnery officer informs captain Owada that Yamato's AA ammo is all but exhausted, that nearly all of the ships AA ammo is exhausted.
Its immaterial
The carriers are abandoned, to the last escort
Flank speed, due west, then towards Hong kong, where, gods willing, yamato's guns will find fat prey
The orders are simple
'All ships, follow me!"
|
|
|
|
