Kirov III: Pacific Storm

waterspouts churning into the sea about 500 meters off the port side of the enemy ship. It seemed a feeble response given the impact and shock they had just sustained. Lookouts were already shouting orders through voice tubes to the fire control men below, and the turret was re-training to correct even as the heavy shells were being hoisted and shoved into the breech, followed by four powder bags required for the range.

Then Iwabuchi saw the dark shadow of the enemy ship wink at him, almost like signal lamps, one, two, three. Seconds later he heard the whine of incoming shells, amazed to see two rounds fall not twenty meters off his port side. Then the main pagoda mast was struck hard by one, then a second explosion, more windows shattering on the bridge. The last two rounds were near misses to starboard.

“Those were small caliber rounds!” shouted Ikeda, surprised at their range and accuracy. He had not expected that his own secondary batteries would come into play in the engagement until they closed well inside 18,000 meters, but it did not seem as though they were gaining on the ship any longer. In fact, when Kirishima’s main battery fired again, the spotters clearly called the rounds short. The enemy ship was again slipping away.

Wink, wink, wink. More rounds were loping into the sea, this time one hitting the main mast above the bridge and taking down a watch station, and another striking well below, where it started a small fire. A third round hit close off the port side scudding against the main belt where it did little harm to the thick eleven inch armor there.

The Captain was enraged. It was as if the other ship had stepped up and delivered a hard fist to his nose with that first blow, and now followed it with the insult of these lighter slaps in the face. He considered ordering his cruisers to go to full speed and close the range on this beast, but realized they would only be peppered by these long range secondary batteries for at least an hour while they struggled to get in close, just as Captain Kiyota had reported. The accuracy of the enemy’s weapons was uncanny! Every round they fired had been pointedly targeted at his own ship, a certain message that they knew where the real threat in his task force was.

Frustrated and angry, he clenched his fist, ordering his last forward battery to fire again. It was more for honor’s sake than anything else. The rounds were falling short again. This Mizuchi was slowly pulling away. It had lingered to see if he would dare engage, and delivered one hard blow to test the mettle of its pursuers. Iwabuchi reluctantly gave the order to cease fire.

“Twenty-eight knots,” he said darkly, listening to his old engines straining. How much longer could they keep the boilers fired up like this and run at high speed? The heavy cruiser Tone was rushing to join him, and he would soon have three fast cruisers again. Tone could make 36 knots and she also had six seaplanes for scouting and shadowing. He knew that the enemy would not be able to slip away, not today.

What ship was this? Certainly not the Renown as he first thought. There had been no fire from any large caliber gun, only these jabbing pricks by what seemed no more than a six inch round. But that rocket weapon was truly fearsome. This ship had real power, he knew. He could not catch this beast, but by all gods and kami he would not give up the chase. He would follow in the wake of this demon if it took every last drop of fuel, and if he ever did close the range he would kill it quickly and mercilessly…or he would kill himself trying.

~ ~ ~

“That got their attention,” said Fedorov. “I think they are falling off in speed a bit.”

“Confirmed,” said Rodenko. “I would estimate the battleship is now at 28 knots.” Kirov had gone to full battle speed earlier, and now had a four knot advantage on the enemy.

“Any sign those cruisers are getting curious?”

“No, sir. They are matching the speed of the battleship at the moment. But my readings aft are not precise. I’ve been using targeting radars of secondary systems, and I also painted the ship with a laser.”

“Looks like they put the fire out quickly enough,” said Fedorov, “but the last few salvos were only from one turret. We may have knocked that forward turret out, at least for the time being. This ship has four twin turrets, so half its firepower is out of the battle as long as they have to pursue us like this. It doesn’t seem like they’re giving up the chase either. The man may have a real bone to pick, Captain. I think we are safely out of range now, and I suggest we cease fire.”

“Very well,” said Karpov. “Secure the 152mm gun systems, Samsonov. I won’t waste any more missiles on this ship for the moment either. The cupboard is starting to look rather empty.”

“We’ll run full out for the Torres Strait, but when we get there we’ll have to slow down considerably to navigate those shoals and reefs properly. We may be in action again sooner than you think.”

It was more than an obvious conclusion, for the unknown history ahead was to send many more surprises their way before night would fall.

Part VI VENDETTA

“If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, do we not revenge?”

~ William Shakespeare

Chapter 16

Admiral King had been the one to start it all. First King, then Marshall. The feisty admiral had been so distraught over proceedings in the Pacific that he had become all but unbearable. A surly man by nature, King was also never one to be unimpressed by his own intelligence, and seldom believed any other man was his equal, particularly when it came to the complexities of naval strategy. King’s steely eyed look was enough to back down most anyone, but when it came to convincing President Roosevelt, he needed the more reasoned approach of Marshall to help his cause.

What he wanted was action in the Pacific. Not the slow logistical buildup, the slow steady turn of the coiled spring that had been underway since the outbreak of the war. When ‘War Plan Orange’ had been canceled, King brooded that the loss of the Philippines was an insult the navy would have to atone for one day. Yet, in his heart of hearts, he knew the plan itself was drafted in a bygone era when the old battleships formed the backbone of the fleet. Had they sallied forth from Pearl as the plan expected, the Japanese would have had a field day with their carrier fleet.

King was wise enough to realize the day of the battleship was fading. He knew the carriers were already carrying the ball when it came to operations in the Pacific, the problem was, there was all too little forward movement. The U.S. had been on the defensive for a long year now, with little to show beyond Doolittle’s daring raid on Tokyo. The string of Japanese victories had gone unbroken, challenged only once by two American carriers in the Coral Sea when the Japanese pushed for Port Moresby. They had lost his old lady, ‘Lady Lex,’ when she went down in that battle, and it galled him to no end.

The code breakers had been able to penetrate the JN-25 naval code, and warned that a big enemy operation was imminent. It did not take them long to determine that Fiji and Soma were the strategic end points of this