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RE: Small Ship, Big War

 
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RE: Small Ship, Big War - 11/30/2008 11:11:03 PM   
princep01

 

Posts: 943
Joined: 8/7/2006
From: Texas
Status: offline 		Cuttlefish, just a general question about your game.  At what point do you feel that the strategic initiative shifted from the Japanese to the Allies.  I know the obvious answer to most would be that it shifted when the big CV battle went against you, but do you feel that it actually shifted irretrevably at some point other than that?

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Post #: 3781
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/1/2008 12:59:19 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

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

ORIGINAL: princep01

Cuttlefish, just a general question about your game.  At what point do you feel that the strategic initiative shifted from the Japanese to the Allies.  I know the obvious answer to most would be that it shifted when the big CV battle went against you, but do you feel that it actually shifted irretrevably at some point other than that?


I would say that Japan ceded the strategic initiative in June '42 following their failed attempt to retake Wake Island. At that point I went over on the defensive and things remained at a kind of stategic balance point until the beginning of '43, when the Allies attacked Timor. Their defeat there stymied their offensive ability for most of '43, but realistically they still had the initiative. The big carrier battle in November '43 just opened the door for them.


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Post #: 3782
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 12:55:41 AM   
Onime No Kyo


Posts: 16842
Joined: 4/28/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: princep01

Cuttlefish, just a general question about your game.  At what point do you feel that the strategic initiative shifted from the Japanese to the Allies.  I know the obvious answer to most would be that it shifted when the big CV battle went against you, but do you feel that it actually shifted irretrevably at some point other than that?


Against?! What are you talking about, you defeatist, pro-imperialist traitor?! Where's the Kempetai when you need them?



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Post #: 3783
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 1:48:10 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 7, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

It is common to think of a warship as a collection of systems. One can rate a ship according to the quality and thickness of its armor, the number and characteristics of its weapons, its boilers and engines and the resulting speed and maneuverability, its fire control systems, damage control systems, and many other things. By doing so it is possible to assemble a complete picture of the ship and how it will perform in different circumstances, as well as how it compares to ships of other classes, nationalities, and times.

Captain Ishii understands all of the systems aboard his ship. More than that, after three years in command he knows them in his bones. He can tell by the vibration in the deck plates when the boilers need to be scaled before Sakati tells him. He knows exactly how long it takes Hibiki to respond to the helm at a given speed and in a given set of sea conditions. As he sits in his cabin, as he is doing now, he is aware of the ship around him in a way that is almost like a sixth sense. When the ship is at sea and under way this awareness is even stronger.

Right now, however, Captain Ishii is thinking about what he considers to be an even more important part of his command than any physical aspect of the ship. He is thinking of his crew, without whom Hibiki would be merely 371 feet of inert steel. He knows he may have to ask a lot of them in the days ahead.

He knows this crew as well as he knows the characteristics of the ship’s weapons. To be sure, he does not know the life story of each of the two hundred men aboard, but he knows these men and what they are capable of. And they know him. They have seen a lot together. When they set sail from Mako in the Pescadores almost three years ago they were merely competent, a collection of individuals who had been well trained but who had never seen combat. Now, however, they are a crew. Ishii does not think it is only pride that leads him to believe they are one of the finest crews in this or any other fleet.

He can feel their morale and mood almost as if they were all part of some larger organism, which is in a way almost true. The men no longer have the excitement and optimism of the early days, when it seemed Japan was destined to win. That has been replaced by something deeper and steadier, a belief in themselves and in their captain and a determination to fight to the end no matter what. It is almost as if it took the adversity of defeat to bring out the best in them.

Their faith in him gives Ishii much pause for thought. It is a hard thing to live up to, especially as he knows that he is far from infallible. And he is tired. He is no longer a young man and he feels the strain of every month of this long war.

He leans back in his chair and closes his eyes for a moment. The ship and the crew are ready, he thinks. He hopes he is. His destroyer is not a large or important part of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Empire’s shield against the enemy, but it is the part for which he alone is responsible. He sends a short prayer to his ancestors to lend him strength. He even spares a few words for the goddess Benzaiten. It can’t hurt. And Ishii knows he may need all the help he can get.



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Post #: 3784
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 2:09:20 AM   
Marc gto

 

Posts: 229
Joined: 9/25/2000
From: Batavia,ohio,usa
Status: offline 		cant forget the snake :)

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Post #: 3785
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 4:52:29 AM   
Fallschirmjager


Posts: 6793
Joined: 3/18/2002
From: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Status: offline 		Just got caught up with this after about two weeks of reading. Best AAR I have ever read, easily. And I have been on many boards with many AARs.

When I was reading through the first few pages of this I was thinking about how much fun it would be to do one of these on my own from the Allied side of the war. But as I got further in I realized I could never hope to eqaul the quality of this AAR and in the end even if I tried my hardest I would end up only mimicking and stealing CFs ideas and story lines and just alterting only a few superficial details.

So I guess in short I love this AAR but I hate you at the same time for raising the bar so high

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Post #: 3786
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 4:55:35 AM   
Alikchi2

 

Posts: 1785
Joined: 5/14/2004
Status: offline 		Just checking in to say I'm rereading from the start, and it's all quality - amazingly consistent, sir. Keep it up.

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Post #: 3787
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 11:11:34 AM   
tocaff


Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006
From: USA now in Brasil
Status: offline 		CF has become very adept at painting his characters and that's what makes this story, it's not an AAR, so good.  An AAR just tells us what's going on in a game from a strategic & tactical view and here CF does that on a tactical scale as it relates to our heroes.  I've found it to be a very realistic view of things from a person's limited concept of a huge conflict swirling around them.

I find I watch the Hibiki in my PBEM with more than a passing curiosity.  She's been strafed by Buffaloes off of Malaya while escorting a troop convoy and is now about 6 weeks away from her 1st scheduled refit.


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Todd

I never thought that doing an AAR would be so time consuming and difficult.
www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2080768

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Post #: 3788
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 3:52:31 PM   
vettim89


Posts: 3615
Joined: 7/14/2007
From: Toledo, Ohio
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: tocaff

CF has become very adept at painting his characters and that's what makes this story, it's not an AAR, so good.  An AAR just tells us what's going on in a game from a strategic & tactical view and here CF does that on a tactical scale as it relates to our heroes.  I've found it to be a very realistic view of things from a person's limited concept of a huge conflict swirling around them.

I find I watch the Hibiki in my PBEM with more than a passing curiosity.  She's been strafed by Buffaloes off of Malaya while escorting a troop convoy and is now about 6 weeks away from her 1st scheduled refit.



She is at the bottom of the BoB in mine - killed in a SCTF engagement off Ramree Island by UK BB's and CL's - Sorry Cuttlefish. I was hoping I cuold find her and maneuver SS Cuttlefish into position to sink her - now how's that for irony


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Post #: 3789
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 10:05:42 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

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

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

Just got caught up with this after about two weeks of reading. Best AAR I have ever read, easily. And I have been on many boards with many AARs.

When I was reading through the first few pages of this I was thinking about how much fun it would be to do one of these on my own from the Allied side of the war. But as I got further in I realized I could never hope to eqaul the quality of this AAR and in the end even if I tried my hardest I would end up only mimicking and stealing CFs ideas and story lines and just alterting only a few superficial details.

So I guess in short I love this AAR but I hate you at the same time for raising the bar so high


Thank you for the kind words, sir. As far as setting the bar high...well, I really don't think it's the quality that should give pause to anybody who wants to do something similar. It's the ridiculous amount of time it takes. It boggles my mind that I have been writing this thing for nearly two years now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

Just checking in to say I'm rereading from the start, and it's all quality - amazingly consistent, sir. Keep it up.


I was looking at some of the early entries the other day. They are done in such a different style than what eventually evolved that I was thinking of going back and rewriting them once the whole thing was done. But maybe not.

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Post #: 3790
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/2/2008 10:07:23 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 8 - 14, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

A sort of quiet falls over the Pacific through the first part of October. Allied offensive activity almost stops, though there are reports of large convoys moving from the south and east towards Guam. For the Japanese the lull has a sinister sort of feel. In the past this kind of quiet has always preceded a major offensive operation.

Aboard Hibiki the men wait, some more patiently than others. One of the least patient is the usually imperturbable Lieutenant Miharu. Because the task force is on twenty-four hour alert status leaves are reduced to day passes only. The ship’s executive officer is thus reduced to pacing and waiting for word about the birth of his first child.

Riku writes long letters to his wife Nanami, who remains on Okinawa. Shiro busies himself working on a new crate for Benzaiten. Other crewmen write letters or spend their money ashore. Tokyo is a good place to do this; there is no lack of places for sailors to drink and gamble. Geisha houses and prostitutes also do good business.

In general, however, the men are kept as busy as possible. Such drills as can be done while the ship is at anchor are run and of course there is always the sailor’s eternal enemy, rust, to be fought. Lieutenant Sugiyura runs the crew through calisthenics every morning.

A week passes in this manner before the first clouds of the coming storm appear on the southern horizon.


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Post #: 3791
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/3/2008 1:21:45 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 15, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

A strong task force built around battleships Ise and Hyuga enters Tokyo Bay and drops anchor. With them comes heavy cruiser Tone, which joins Hibiki and the rest of Admiral Tashiro’s task force. This is not the only news of the day, however.

“I heard a rumor ashore that American carrier planes are attacking Iwo Jima,” Lieutenant Kuwaki tells the captain.

Ishii nods. “I have heard the same thing,” he says. “Likely it is true.”

“Could this be the invasion?”

“Perhaps,” says Ishii. “But I doubt it. If the enemy follows his usual pattern this is just to test the defenses and maybe soften them up a bit. At any rate I haven’t seen any indication that we intend to respond.”

“What are the chances that we will see actual combat this time, sir, when the invasion does come?” Kuwaki asks. By way of answer Ishii gestures out at the bay.

“I think it is likely,” he says. “What do you see out there, Kuwaki? Or rather, what do you not see?”

Kuwaki considers the matter a moment. “Carriers, sir,” he says. “I see what you mean. There aren’t any here, are there?”

“Not a one,” says Ishii. “And I don’t know where they are, either. Meanwhile more and more battleships, cruisers, and destroyers keep joining us. Make sure those guns of yours are ready, Lieutenant. I think they are going to be used.”




< Message edited by Cuttlefish -- 2/11/2009 10:34:11 PM >

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Post #: 3792
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/3/2008 2:19:40 AM   
Alikchi2

 

Posts: 1785
Joined: 5/14/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


I was looking at some of the early entries the other day. They are done in such a different style than what eventually evolved that I was thinking of going back and rewriting them once the whole thing was done. But maybe not.


The style is certainly different. "Riku: *shrugs *" was a bit jarring. But I wouldn't change a word outside of formatting, personally.

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Post #: 3793
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/3/2008 5:24:12 AM   
Menser

 

Posts: 206
Joined: 5/2/2005
From: Peabody, Massachusetts
Status: offline 		I agree with Al there. Watching your writing style mature has been extreamly entertaining. I imagine your amusement when you look back to when you started when you review it :) Don't change anything here, but If you wish to rewrite some of it ....like say in a work you intend to publish, I say go for it. You have a wealth of material if you wish to try, and I think you would do very well. Now go and bring us more of our Hibiki fix!

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"Alea iacta est." Caius Julius
"If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing." Emo Philips
"Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." Abbot Arnaud Amalric

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Post #: 3794
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/3/2008 10:27:59 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 16, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

Shiro builds Benzaiten’s new home in Hibiki’s workshop. Ordinarily this use of ship’s equipment for such a large personal project would be frowned on but Constructor Chief Petty Officer Shinoda, who rules the shops with an iron hand, is one of the snake’s most ardent believers. It takes both Shiro and Yoshitake to carry the finished product from the machine shop down to where they bunk. Once there it takes up a good amount of room in the narrow space, though no one complains.

“You have outdone yourself, Shiro!” exclaims Oizuma as he looks it over. And he has. The new dwelling is no mere crate. It is a polished box over five feet long, attractively done in maple and inlaid with decorative cherry-wood carvings of scenes from the mythology of Benzaiten. Cunningly done catches and handles are flush with the rest of the box but allow trays to be slid in and out for water and for cleaning. On the inside a jungle environment has been replicated in miniature, perfect for the humidity-loving python. A round door at one end can be left open to allow the snake to come and go as she pleases.

Shiro’s round face beams as he takes in Oizuma’s delight. “But we still have to see if it satisfies the most important customer,” he says after giving Snake Man a moment to poke around and examine various features.

“Very true!” says Oizuma. He turns to the older, much smaller crate and lifts out Benzaiten. The snake placidly allows him to do so. This is a good thing; while the snake is now about the same length as Oizuma it is much stronger than he is. “Here, what do you think of this?” Oizuma asks as he allows the snake to slither down into her new home.

Everyone in the bunk area gathers to watch Benzaiten examine her new quarters. The snake’s tongue darts in and out as she tests the air, and she twines about slowly peering at things with the exact air of someone checking out a prospective apartment to see if it is suitable. In the end she wraps around a log and stretches out almost full length, where she falls asleep with every appearance of contentment.

“It seems to be a success!” says Yoshitake.

“The crew will be pleased, too,” says Oizuma. “I’m sure a lot of them will be trooping in here when we head off for battle. They will see we are treating their luck charm well.”

“You don’t believe any of that stuff, do you?” Riku asks him.

“Well, no,” says Oizuma. “She’s just a snake. But if some of the men think she is a servant of the goddess then who am I to talk them out of it? And who knows, if they think we can’t be beaten while she is aboard then maybe they will fight with more bravery and confidence.”

“There may be something to that,” admits Riku. In her new herpetarium Benzaiten stretches out a little more, no expression discernable on her scaly reptilian features.


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Post #: 3795
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/4/2008 12:44:35 AM   
tocaff


Posts: 4781
Joined: 10/12/2006
From: USA now in Brasil
Status: offline 		But is the new "herpetarium" capable of housing continued good luck?  A surface fleet to go on a Banzai charge?  The snake better be really large on that day.

_____________________________

Todd

I never thought that doing an AAR would be so time consuming and difficult.
www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2080768

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Post #: 3796
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/4/2008 12:46:03 AM   
Onime No Kyo


Posts: 16842
Joined: 4/28/2004
Status: offline 		"Big snake. Big snake. That is a very big snake. If I had to use a word to describe that snake, big would come to mind. Did I mention that that is a very big snake?" -Mike Rowe



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Post #: 3797
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 1:29:10 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 17, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

Hello there! Please come in. The space is not large and it will quickly become crowded, so if those of you in front would come all the way in it would be appreciated. Excellent, thank you.

Let me introduce myself. I am Seaman First Class Itokawa. Most of you will no doubt recall my earlier appearances in this narrative…what? You don’t? But I was in two entries! You remember, it was back when Hibiki was based at Kwajalein and Captain Ishii had everyone playing baseball. I was the pitcher for Lieutenant Sakati’s team, the Dragons.

Well, no matter. What is important is that I am one of the ship’s cooks. I have been asked to talk to you today about rice.

Rice is…I’m sorry, what? Oh. My sincere apologies. Yes, it seems likely that a large battle is coming up. But the Allies are taking their time and right now there is just not much going on. I know you would prefer tales of drama and excitement. I am mortified to be unable to provide them for you. If you will be patient I am sure something dramatic will happen soon.

In the meantime, let us talk about rice. Please, take this bowl and pass it around. What you are looking at is uncooked Japanese short-grain rice, or japonica. It has been polished, which is to say that the outer husks of the rice grain have been removed. We Japanese much prefer to eat such rice. Unpolished rice is for prisoners and the very poor.

There is something ironic in this, actually. It seems that rice hulls contain a great deal of niacin, a lack of which causes beriberi. To make up for the lack of niacin in the rice the Navy must allocate other foods, such as barley, to its sailors so they do not become sick.

Rice is more than just the mainstay of the Japanese diet. It is a mainstay of our culture as well. It is very difficult for us to imagine a meal without rice in some form being involved. So naturally it is the most common and important food prepared here in the galley.

We store the dry rice aboard in 80 pound sacks. Hibiki carries a great many of these sacks! If properly dried the rice keeps for a long time. The most common storage problem is usually rats but that is not a big issue aboard this ship.

We prepare the rice in these very large kettles. The rice is washed and then soaked for an hour beforehand before being boiled. Five parts water to four parts rice, no salt added. After boiling it is steamed until done. Once cooked it will keep all day if covered.

Believe it or not being a cook is one of the most dangerous jobs aboard ship. Do not laugh! Just imagine the challenge of working with these stoves and kettles in rough seas. They get very hot. Note the clamps on top of the stove to hold the kettles in place, and the clamps on the lids to hold them in place. But these can fail, and in any event we are getting thrown around too. Burns are common. If the weather gets too rough we cannot cook anything at all.

But back to talking about rice. Properly cooked it is nice and sticky, which is how we Japanese like it. Most of it we serve plain, of course. But we can add it to a great many other dishes, too. It is a very versatile food. We frequently add it to red beans to make sekihan, or cover it with other foods to make different kinds of domburi. For special occasions we mash it to a paste to make mochi cakes. The list is really endless, though of course aboard ship there is a limit to our creativity. We have to feed a lot of men, after all.

The door at the far end there leads to the forward crew’s mess. If you would be kind enough to make your way through a meal has been prepared for you. Watch your heads! The bulkhead doors here are likely to be a little low for many of you. You will need to sit rather close together, I am afraid. Space is at a premium aboard a destroyer.

The sake is courtesy of Lieutenant Sakati. It is made from rice too, of course. The sweets in the little bowls are made from rice flour. I’m afraid we have only chopsticks, though do not hesitate to emulate the crew and use your fingers as well.

Thank you all very much for coming. Please enjoy the meal.


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Post #: 3798
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 2:41:15 AM   
Feinder


Posts: 6589
Joined: 9/4/2002
From: Land o' Lakes, FL
Status: offline 		Anybody read Horatio Hornblower...?

His first command was a captured French sloop with a cargo of rice.  He didn't relize the ship had taken a hit below the water-line.  Repairing the hole was only the first of his problems.

-F-

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Post #: 3799
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 3:20:37 AM   
Mynok


Posts: 12108
Joined: 11/30/2002
Status: offline
Remember that story vividly. Avid Hornblower fan. The age of sail is and remains my first love in naval warfare.

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Post #: 3800
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 3:27:10 AM   
thegreatwent


Posts: 3011
Joined: 8/24/2004
From: Denver, CO
Status: offline 		Patrick O'Brian fan here, but I do remember a BBC radio dramatization of this Hornblower story. It actually sparked my interest in the genre.

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Post #: 3801
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 6:58:44 AM   
Alikchi2

 

Posts: 1785
Joined: 5/14/2004
Status: offline 		Interesting stuff.. you've been doing your research, I see.

If Hibiki runs out of 5" shells, those 80 pound sacks of rice might do in a pinch. Imagine one of those to the gut.

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Post #: 3802
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 6:24:19 PM   
bradfordkay

 

Posts: 8683
Joined: 3/24/2002
From: Olympia, WA
Status: offline 		" But back to talking about rice. Properly cooked it is nice and sticky,"

THis reminds me of a story my mother liked to tell about a family dinner right after WW2. Her uncle, who had just gotten out of the army, was lifting a fork of rice and letting the grains fall one by one back onto the plate. When he realized that every one was watching him curiously, he explained: " I had forgotted that rice comes in individual grains!"


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fair winds,
Brad

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Post #: 3803
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 8:47:42 PM   
Capt. Harlock


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

Rice is more than just the mainstay of the Japanese diet. It is a mainstay of our culture as well. It is very difficult for us to imagine a meal without rice in some form being involved.


If my information is correct, the Japanese words for the three meals of the day translate literally to "morning rice", "afternoon rice", and "evening rice".

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

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Post #: 3804
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 9:19:39 PM   
Onime No Kyo


Posts: 16842
Joined: 4/28/2004
Status: offline 		I'm sorry CF, but this was the first image that jumped into my head....






Attachment (1)

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Post #: 3805
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/5/2008 11:50:37 PM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 18, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

After pounding Iwo Jima for three days the enemy carriers withdraw. The major damage on Iwo is to the airfields, though gun emplacements and other positions are also hit. The only Japanese planes lost are a few search planes destroyed in their revetments; most of the aircraft there were withdrawn when the B-29 raids started. Losing planes while contesting the airspace over the island is not part of the Japanese plan.

Just what the plan is, however, is unknown. Rumor has it that Admiral Yamamoto and his staff have worked many days and nights on a response to the coming invasion. But operational security has been tight and while ships and aircraft are on the move all over the Home Islands no one can see enough of the big picture to tell what is going on.

There are many, even in the military, who do not understand just how wide the gulf in firepower has become and who count on this plan to reverse Japan’s fortunes. Those with a deeper understanding of the odds they face can only hope that somehow a victory results. Everyone, however, understands what enemy aircraft based on Iwo Jima would mean.

For the moment everybody waits. The most common wish, from enlisted men to the highest offices of the Naval Ministry, is for the enemy to strike soon and bring the waiting to an end.



< Message edited by Cuttlefish -- 12/5/2008 11:51:56 PM >

(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 3806
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/9/2008 3:38:27 PM   
Andav

 

Posts: 474
Joined: 5/8/2007
Status: offline
Must not let let the Small Ship fall from page one!

quote:

For the moment everybody waits. The most common wish, from enlisted men to the highest offices of the Naval Ministry, is for the enemy to strike soon and bring the waiting to an end.


This makes ALL of us! Keep up the GREAT work CF.

Walter

(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 3807
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/9/2008 5:44:18 PM   
Marc gto

 

Posts: 229
Joined: 9/25/2000
From: Batavia,ohio,usa
Status: offline 		It cant,,,they have a snake

(in reply to Andav)
Post #: 3808
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/11/2008 12:12:57 AM   
Cuttlefish

 

Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline 		October 19 - 31, 1944

Location: Tokyo
Course: None
Attached to: TF 27
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

The rest of the month passes more or less quietly for Hibiki and her crew. There are, however, a few events during this period that are worthy of note:

October 22: Yuriko Miharu is born in Kanazawa on a rainy afternoon. The baby survives the ordeal of coming into the world in good health, as attested by her robust and indignant cries. Kojima, the mother, is also fine. Word is immediately sent to Hibiki, where Lieutenant Miharu receives the news early the next day.

October 23: It is not common for fathers in Japan to be present at the birth of their children. Childbirth is the province of women. Even the typical American scene of the era, with the father pacing nervously in the waiting room while the birth takes place, would seem puzzling to most Japanese men. Still, Lieutenant Miharu finds it difficult to be so far away at this time.

He gravely accepts congratulations from his fellow officers and, as custom demands, signs a chit for several bottles of scotch and sake to be served that evening in the officer’s mess. Only Captain Ishii, who knows that Miharu and his wife never expected to be able to have children, knows how much this event means to his executive officer.

“I would let you go if I could, Exec,” he tells him. “But orders to sail may come at any time.”

“I understand, sir,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “My place is here. Besides, if my daughter is to have a future we must win this war. I can help her best right now by staying at my post.”

Captain Ishii nods. “That may be true,” he says. “But I know that doesn’t make it easier.”

“There will be time enough to see her after the battle,” says the lieutenant quietly.

October 26: Yamato and Musashi enter Tokyo Bay and anchor nearby. Word quickly spreads through Hibiki that the big battleships have been assigned to their own task force. When this is confirmed there is no longer any doubt at all that whatever is about to happen will find Hibiki on the tip of the spear Japan aims at her enemies. Pride and tension spread throughout the ship, but of the two emotions pride is by far the stronger.

October 27: American and British carrier forces once again appear off Iwo Jima. This time they station themselves to the northwest of the island as they launch air strikes against Japanese forces there. A few light probing attacks by Japanese long-range bombers based in the Home Islands are easily brushed aside. Is this the invasion at last?

October 30: To the frustration of most of Hibiki’s crew the enemy carrier forces withdraw after several days of attacks against Iwo. The waiting resumes.


(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 3809
RE: Small Ship, Big War - 12/11/2008 12:32:42 AM   
Onime No Kyo


Posts: 16842
Joined: 4/28/2004
Status: offline
quote:

October 22: Yuriko Miharu is born in Kanazawa on a rainy afternoon. The baby survives the ordeal of coming into the world in good health, as attested by her robust and indignant cries. Kojima, the mother, is also fine. Word is immediately sent to Hibiki, where Lieutenant Miharu receives the news early the next day.


....and promptly passes out, having to be revived by having a jug of water upended over his face.

_____________________________

"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok

(in reply to Cuttlefish)
Post #: 3810
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