1275psi
Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005 Status: offline
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For a few minutes, just as the sun rises, you can see the smooth seas in the waters around Singapore reflect red. The water is still dark, but its surfave glimmers blood red A fitting setting for this day Battleship Haranua leads, somewhere below decks a stoker is struggling with air fuel mix, her aft stack streams smoke, foul and black, sharp in contrast to her boiling wake A mere 100 yards astern and to her left Flank, Kongo, trembling, plowing these seas, carving her own great white road Further out, the heavy cruisers, and ahead, steadily gaining, white bones in their teeth, the pack of greyhounds, the destroyers, sniffing for blood And on everyone of these straining ships, thousands of eyes seek the horizon, and the guns, both great and small, follow them. There is a slight mist, and the enemy are not sighted until at 22000 yards. But the sea planes leave little doubt to what they are, they are what have been reported. 2 Ams, a minelayer. But minelayers can leave deadly, deadly eggs. It must be killed before it can lay them. Haranua crashes into life, her guns the crack of doom, her barrels belching fire, the preview of hell. The cruisers follow. At 12000 yards, Tomiji can no longer contain himself Too many years have passed awaiting this moment "If you please guns, open fire" A and B fire together over Kongo's bow, the noise great and terrible, as it always is. And shoot well The enemy minelayer is there............and then it isn't Little of her remains. Both Ams join her in short order. Kongo has blooded "Message from Singawang fleet sir, invasion underway" Good "Aircraft!, bearing 180 true!" Not so good "Hard to starboard!, prepare for AA action!" And this, thinks Tomiji, could be instructive...........
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big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
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