Kirov III: Pacific Storm

We feel sure that somehow that young body
would have known the yearning delight
for which we searched in vain all our lives.
We believe that the untried soul,
trapped in its young prison,
might have flown free
and known the joy that we still seek.”

~ Josephine Hart, Damage

Chapter 13

Hayashi and his plane struck the ship about seventy-five meters from the stern, smashing right down onto the armored roof of the aft auxiliary command citadel. The “battle bridge,” as it was sometimes called, this facility had been used by Admiral Volsky to regain control of the ship during the ‘Karpov incident’ in the North Atlantic. It served as an auxiliary command center for the ship in the event the main bridge was damaged or otherwise out of action. It had control stations for every vital ship system, including a combat information center, helm station, communications, radar and sonar, and it was also protected by an armored shell of 200mm Kevlar coated hardened steel armor, just as the main bridge. That was the only thing that prevented the plane from plunging right into the guts of the ship at that point.

The armored roof buckled, then collapsed under the intense kinetic impact of a plane weighing over 5,600 pounds, and the immolated D3A ravaged into the citadel, her bomb then exploding in what was essentially an armored box with 200mm reinforced steel for walls and flooring. Nothing in the box survived, the equipment, computers, ship’s stations, were all completely destroyed, but the box itself held as designed, and the explosion was prevented from doing further damage below decks. The facility was not in use at the time, but three duty officers there were killed instantly.

The explosion was largely directed upwards through the already penetrated roof, and seared fragments of the D3A and the exploding bomb, became a rain of shrapnel that shot up like grapeshot and caught the spinning panels of the Fregat-3D radar system, severing control wires, smashing sensors and immediately darkening the ship’s primary long range defense radar.

Kirov groaned with the hit, but it was not to be a fatal blow. That said, a fire started in the blackened battle bridge, and fire was the nemesis of every ship at sea since the Greeks had first used it as a weapon in ancient times. Damage control parties scrambled to the scene and the ship shuddered, still at high speed until Volsky gave the order to slow to twenty knots.

On the Tin Man HD display they could see that the Fregat system was no longer rotating, and one of the fire control radars for the Klinok system silos mounted under the aft deck was a blackened wreck as well. It had been on the roof of the aft citadel.

It wasn’t long before Byko had an overall assessment. The fires would be contained within an hour, but the battle bridge was a total loss, destroyed beyond their capacity to ever repair. Three men were dead, seventeen injured. All things considered, it was good news. If Hayashi had struck another fifty meters forward he would have blasted right into the rear of the main tower, where two hidden steam vents stood in for what was once a smokestack on older warships. With no armor to speak of there, his plane would have plummeted deep into the ship, perhaps not stopping until it struck the armored shell that surrounded the ship’s reactor core.

“We’ll need time, sir.” Byko pleaded on the intercom. “There were two other near misses, one very near the reactor core amidships. Thank God they didn’t hit us, but I would advise we put divers down for a quick assessment. You can’t continue to run at this high speed. These fires are serious.”

“Tell him we have reduced to twenty knots and will slow to one third if he cannot contain the fires. When the divers are ready, have him call the bridge.” Volsky folded his arms, a worried expression on his heavy features.

“Gentlemen,” he said gravely, “that was nearly the end of us. It was well fought, Karpov, particularly considering the situation with our missile inventories. Yet we have long known of the determination and reckless bravery of the Japanese. This attack was a perfect example. They were willing to die to a man to get this one single hit, and God help us if we ever forget it in these waters again.”

“The Japanese Navy was perhaps the most skilled fighting navy in the world at this moment, sir, said Fedorov. Their equipment was not the best, but their knowhow and tactics were second to none, and no one will ever question their bravery. I believe we have just taken the first ever kamikaze attack of the war. That did not happen until much later in the war in the old history.”

Historically the Tokubetsu Kogekitai units had not even been formed yet. The first attacks were not made until October of 1944 when Masafumi Arima, even now aboard the carrier Shokaku, led an attack much like this one against an American carrier task force. One of the planes struck the USS Franklin, a large Essex class carrier, and Arima was immediately elevated to the status of a demigod by the war propagandists. The Special Attack Unit was formed that month. Shortly thereafter the cruiser Australia was hit, and a few smaller ships, but the first official attack by the special Kamikaze unit itself hit the USS St. Lo, a light escort carrier in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

“Well now they have the idea a few years early,” said Volsky. “Who knows what they will do to the course of the war? What does Byko say about our radar?”

“The Fregat system is off line, sir. We won’t know how bad the damage is for some hours, at least until they put the fire out and can get men up on the aft mast. The smoke there is too thick now. We lost the Klinok aft fire control radar as well, so it may be wise to move any missiles in those aft silos to the forward deck.”

“Have Martinov see to it,” said Volsky, squinting out the window and frowning at the smoke and fire aft. “That will be sending up a charcoal marker into the sky to designate our position for miles in every direction. Where were those pursuing ships, Rodenko?”

“I last noted them about twenty-seven nautical miles behind us, sir. I am trying to switch to the active phased array systems now in place of the Fregat, but some of my panels are yellow lighted, and not responding.”

“Most likely the aft panel that was on the citadel there,” said Karpov. “I doubt it survived that hit.”

“Most likely, sir,” Rodenko agreed. “That will leave us with panels forward and to both sides of the ship, and it will only give us a 120 decree arc of coverage to port and starboard. Without that aft panel and the Fregat system, we now have a hole directly aft where we are relatively blind on radar.”

“We still have the Voskhod-2 Top Mast radar,” said Karpov. “It’s not a fully integrated 3D system, but it has excellent range and we can still use it and route signals to the CIC.”

The Voskhod or ‘Dawn’ radar system had once been a main 3D defense system, but the new Voskhod-2 had handed over that task to the updated Fregat system and was now used primarily for long range weather forecasting and general surveillance. Then Fedorov had another idea. “We also have the KA-40, sir. We can mount an Oko panel and get good returns that way.”

“Fedorov,” said Volsky. “How long before that pursuit force might get in range to cause us any concern?”

“All they need to do is get inside 30,000 yards to start lobbing shells our way again, sir. That would be a little under fifteen nautical miles out. So they only need to cut twelve miles off our lead. At our present speed of twenty knots, they will do that in about ninety minutes. They can probably see our position now with the smoke column, and I have little doubt that they are heading this way.”

“Ninety minutes,” Volsky mused. “Considering the damage we have already sustained, I will take no chances with these ships. Mr. Karpov, the instant that pursuit force puts rounds within a thousand meters of this ship, use your best judgment and hurt them. Hurt them badly. We cannot have this madman in a battleship on our heels at the moment. Understood?”