Kirov III: Pacific Storm

“You can rely on me, sir,” said Karpov, and every man on the bridge knew it was no boast.

~ ~ ~

For the Japanese the price of Hayashi’s second hit was higher than any expected. Of the 67 planes that formed up over Hara’s carriers that morning, only seven would return to land on the forsaken decks of Zuikaku and Shokaku. For Zuiho, not a single plane would return. Sakamoto and Ema were among the survivors. Two more planes would ditch close to Iwabuchi’s pursuit force and he would send his destroyers to the scene of the attack to look for pilots. Only twelve were found still alive. The Japanese had lost sixty planes and forty-six precious pilots, a hard and stinging blow.

When Admiral Hara finally got the news from a haggard Sakamoto on the bridge of Shokaku, his face was grim and set. His carrier task force was now little more than a fast scouting unit. He still had eighteen B3N2 torpedo bombers that had been held back, yet all his D3A dive bombers were gone, save the seven that barely survived the attack.

“Hayashi had it right,” said Sakamoto, his face grim and downcast. “This is a demon from hell! Mizuchi is not half a word for what this ship did to our squadrons. I lost half my planes before we ever set eyes on the target! The range and accuracy of these rockets is astounding! It was as if they had eyes—yes, Admiral—they were not merely fired with the hope of striking us. It was a certainty! In the second wave every single rocket fired was able to find one of my planes. A sane man would have called off the attack after that first barrage, but I do not have the luxury of such sanity in the heat of battle, and with orders to strike our enemies.”

“You did all that any man could,” said Hara. “Look what Hayashi did! Two hits, and one he strikes with his own life in the bargain. Such bravery will be remembered.”

“Shall we spot the remaining planes for another strike, sir?” Sakamoto said bravely.

“No, Sakamoto. It is yours to suggest this. Honor demands it. But I will be the one sane man here today and refuse to send the last of my pilots to their doom against this ship. If what you say is true it would be foolish. We hit them with over sixty planes just now. What good will an attack with our last eighteen torpedo bombers and these seven surviving D3As do? The British have trumped us today. This new anti-aircraft rocket system you describe is truly formidable. I must immediately inform Admiral Yamamoto. If the Americans have these weapons as well, then our string of victories could reverse itself very quickly. A single ship with these weapons can render our entire naval strategy based on aircraft carriers obsolete overnight.”

“Yet our primary mission was accomplished successfully,” said Sakamoto. “We have troops at Darwin and will have that in hand soon enough.”

“Indeed, but we were to take the Fifth Carrier Division through the Torres Strait, along with Mutsu and Nagato of the bombardment group. Yamamoto will be expecting us in the Coral Sea in a few days, but what use will we be to him now?”

“The pilots, sir. We must do everything possible to rescue the pilots. Many died when those rockets came in at us, but a good number may be in the water still, and alive if we can get to them before the sharks. The Navy can always get us more planes.”

“Destroyers are racing to the scene even now,” said Hara.

Sakamoto shrugged. “How do we fight this demon if our planes cannot get through, Admiral?” He had a vacant, empty look in his eyes.

“With battleships,” said Hara, an air of finality in his tone. “Only a battleship has the armor to close with this monster and grapple with it. We will see what Iwabuchi can do. He is right on this ship’s wake, and we will detach Tone and three destroyers, and send them after this enemy ship as well. The battleships from the bombardment group will rendezvous with us soon and we will have them for more than adequate escort.”

“Sir, there were two shotai of D3As at Kendari training there. They could fly out to reinforce us, and we can also get fighters from Amboina and arm them with bombs. Rabaul will also have a couple of dive bomber squadrons they can transfer to us if need be.”

“They are not carrier trained, Sakamoto.”

“Yes sir, but we can put men in them who are trained. All they have to do is land on our carriers.”

Hara nodded. “Here we are trying to scrape up enough planes and pilots to make at least one of our carriers operational again.” He was deeply distressed. “It is even more likely that we will be recalled to Kure when they hear what has happened this morning.”

“I will apologize—”

“You will do nothing of the kind,” Hara cut in sharply. “The responsibility is mine. I will do my duty with whatever we have, and I must return Mutsu and Nagato to Combined Fleet as well. In the meantime, let us hope Lieutenant Hayashi’s bravery has slowed this demon down.” He turned to a signalman. “Get a message to Captain Iwabuchi aboard Kirishima. Tell him I am sending him another heavy cruiser. The honor now falls to him. He must find and kill this ship as soon as possible!”

He gave Sakamoto one last look, pointing. “Get those dive bombers from Kendari,” and he said nothing more.

~ ~ ~

When the message came in Captain Sanji Iwabuchi smiled for the first time in many days. He had little to be joyful about. The air strike had been a complete disaster, but ahead on the horizon he could see a column of thick black smoke, and it seemed that it was growing ever larger, ever nearer as Kirishima pressed on, her old engines straining to keep up the speed.

They had slowed down slightly, but were still making 28 knots, and he could see that the lead the enemy had managed to open in the long overnight chase was not so fat after all.

“Koshino!” he said, elated as he called for his gunnery officer.

“Sir?” Kimitake Koshino was at his side with a hasty bow.

“I trust the guns are ready.”

“Yes, sir. Everything is in order.”

“Good, because from the look of that smoke we will be up on this enemy ship in little time. Sound battle stations. Signal Captain Kiyota aboard Nachi. His cruisers are to fall off and join us as one group for this action. We will not have the destroyers, as they have been sent to look for downed pilots to return to Hara’s carriers. He is sending us Tone in their place.”

“That will be more than enough, sir.” Koshino considered the addition of Tone, with eight more 8 inch guns and more than enough speed to run this enemy down. She could easily reach 36 knots.

“Ono!” Iwabuchi called for his Executive Officer, and Ono was quickly at his side. “Study that smoke. How long before we sight that ship and get in firing range?”

“Ah, it looks like Hara’s planes have done us a real favor, sir. The ship was gradually slipping away, but our seaplanes now report it has slowed considerably. We are closing the range now. I make it no more than two hours and we should be able to engage.”

“Excellent!” said Iwabuchi. “A fine morning as well. Soon we will see what has been giving Hara’s pilots their nightmares, neh? They are calling this ship Mizuchi, the sea dragon, and from our rescue operations it is killing planes and pilots like flies. Yet we will have something more to say about it in due course. We are going to attack at high speed, all our heavy ships in line abreast, and we will not break off until this ship is sunk, is that understood?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good, then. We’ve had this Mizuchi by the tail all night. Now we will see if this ship really breathes fire as Kiyota’s claims. Soon we will be breathing fire ourselves. Where will this engagement be fought?”

Ono walked to the map table and placed a thin finger there. “About here, sir. A hundred miles west of the Torres Strait.”