Kirov III: Pacific Storm

“We must have lost all the days we sailed from St. Helena to this point,” said Fedorov. “In fact, I think we may have started shifting into this time as early as yesterday. I could feel something was wrong. This is most unusual,” he said as the briefing began.

“That is an understatement, indeed,” said Karpov. “I’m still trying to shake myself awake every time I realize we have been shooting at planes that went out of existence eighty years ago.”

“We may have more yet to come,” Fedorov warned. “The KA-40 has located the Kido Butai for this operation, the main mobile carrier group. It was able to get a little long range HD video footage but was wary of enemy combat air patrols over the target and turned east. It was enough. I studied the footage very closely, and I am certain that a force comprised of the carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku, escorted by another light carrier and the heavy cruiser Tone with five destroyers is here—” He pointed to his navigation Plexiglas board, and then fed the signal to the overhead HD monitor as well.

“The carriers are northwest of our position now, about 175 kilometers out. That is very close considering the combat radius of their aircraft. We are still well within their strike zone.”

“I have already given my opinion on how we should handle the matter,” said Karpov. “Two missiles would be enough to disrupt any further operations against us.”

Admiral Volsky listened, nodding, but saying nothing for a moment. Then he asked about the overall picture painted by the data.

“There appears to be a major operation underway against Darwin,” said Fedorov. “Only it is completely a- historical. It should not be happening. It never did happen, particularly on this date. All the action should be in the Solomons now, at Guadalcanal. But from what I’ve been able to piece together, I believe ‘Operation FS’ is now underway, or some variation of that plan.”

“Operation FS?” Volsky wanted more information.

“It was a plan to isolate Australia by continuing the drive south through the Solomons with the aim of striking New Caledonia, and eventually Fiji and Samoa. Hence the initials F and S for those islands. This attack on Darwin must be a part of the overall plan. It was debated in early 1942, largely opposed by the Japanese Army, and then eventually discarded for the Midway operation. But if it is underway now then I can only conclude that Midway was never fought—or if it was fought, then the Japanese fleet must have been victorious.”

“They were supposed to lose four carriers in that operation, Yes?” asked Volsky.

“Correct, sir,” Fedorov continued. “Yet if they IJN has the capability to launch an operation of this scale and scope, they must have sufficient carrier forces in theater. This bit we’ve sailed into is the sideshow. It was never part of the original FS plan, at least not formally, but it has apparently been added. With two fleet carriers here, then the Japanese must still have their other main carrier divisions intact in the Solomons for the drive south. They could never successfully move troops without strong air cover. As for Zuikaku and Shokaku, they should not be here either. They should be east in the Solomons this month, supporting operations near Guadalcanal. In fact, they were supposed to be dueling with the American carriers Enterprise and Saratoga on Aug 24-25 of this year… but that was only because the other four fleet carriers were lost at Midway. I suppose if that battle was not fought their presence here makes a great deal of sense.”

“I think we can safely say that these facts you refer to are no longer viable,” said Karpov.

Fedorov shrugged, a sullen expression on his face. “I’m afraid I will have to agree, Captain. What we are looking at here is a complete restructuring of the history of the war in the Pacific. Nikolin has been very busy the last two hours. The radio intercepts he has from Allied sources clearly indicate that Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea is also Japanese controlled, which means that Coral Sea was a Japanese victory, or perhaps never even fought. This is a radical deviation from the history we know, and we are right in the middle of a very well stirred bowl of soup now.”

“Yet you say this is 1942,” said Volsky. “What happened to this interval business you were talking about earlier? We did not move forward this time?”

“It was just a theory, sir. I concluded we might move to 1943 if we shifted again, based on our previous displacements, but Nikolin is convinced that this is 1942, so we have been pulled back into the same year we were in the Mediterranean.”

Volsky laughed. “What will Admiral Tovey think if he gets a report about us now? You say we may have started shifting here yesterday? We vanish at St. Helena on August 23, 1942, and then appear here, thousands of miles away, in just a day’s time? That will befuddle the British if they ever hear about it!”

Fedorov considered that, coming to a startling conclusion, but saying nothing about it for the moment, being more concerned about their immediate situation. Volsky caught the glint in his eye, and a flash of trouble there, though he did not pursue the matter, listening intently as his young first officer continued the briefing.

“Given that the Chronology of the War at Sea is of no further use to us in the broad sense, we can only make our decisions now based on the immediate tactical situation. There are two other contacts to report. One is here, about forty kilometers north of our position, a group of three fast cruisers, and they have now turned south. They will be in range in short order. The second is here, about seventy kilometers north, and vectoring east-southeast on an intercept course. We got very good footage on that group. It is a Kongo class battleship with two destroyers—most likely the Kirishima, as that ship had been operating with these carriers throughout this period.”

“Well if the broad strokes of the history are all wrong now,” said Karpov, “what makes you think these details will hold true?”

“I can’t be certain, of course. You make a valid point, Captain, but I can make educated guesses here based on my general knowledge. Our advantage is no longer as precise as it was, but some patterns in the history do still seem to be holding true, like the composition of the carrier division we spotted. Battleships screening carrier forces would need the speed to keep up with them. The Kongo class ships can run at 30 knots. The same puzzle pieces are here, but they just make a new picture now. Those were the same ships that fought the Battle of the Coral Sea, along with another light carrier. The Japanese still seem to be pairing them up like that as they did in the history we know. I am also very sure about the battleship. There was no mistaking its silhouette, and if it is the Kirishima, it may still be captained by Sanji Iwabuchi, a formidable foe. We would be wise to stay well ahead of that ship.”

“We had no trouble with the two Italian battleships,” said Karpov. “And for that matter we kept all the British battleships we engaged at bay as well.”

“True, Captain,” Fedorov returned. “But these are not the Italians. You saw what happened when their torpedo planes came in. They died, yes, but they kept on coming just the same. You can expect this same determination from Iwabuchi. He was adamant. In fact, he fought the very first action where battleships on two opposing sides faced one another in the Pacific. His ship was heavily engaged in a night action off Savo Island near Guadalcanal with the American battleships Washington and South Dakota. I have a document detailing that battle and I have prepared a slide showing the hits sustained by Kirishima.” Fedorov displayed a profile of the ship on the overhead display, and they could see that it was riddled with red and blue dots indicating locations where the ship had been struck by shells.

“Take a good long look at this, and count the large red dots. Kirishima was hit by no less than twenty 16 inch shells, each one with a striking power almost as great as our missiles! Note that most of these hits were at or below the main deck. The lighter blue dots on the upper parts of the superstructure were from the 5 inch secondary batteries, another seventeen hits from those. The ship took damage to her rudder and engine compartments. They had to flood gun magazines due to the fires. Her armor was breeched and she was holed below the waterline, but both the ship and its crew kept on fighting through the whole engagement until her flood control officer was unable to stop her from capsizing….” He paused, letting the image speak for itself, and hoping he had made the impression intended on the other officers, particularly Karpov.

“Kirishima sunk during that battle, in November of this very year. Her captain was pulled alive from the sea and eventually posted to the Philippines. During the final American invasion there, he disobeyed an order to withdraw from Manila and stubbornly defended the city, block by block, leaving it utterly devastated and killing all of a hundred thousand Philippine citizens in the fighting. He died, some say by committing