Kirov III: Pacific Storm

The message was soon decoded and flashed to all surface action groups presently in the hunt. Admiral Yamamoto was informed a little after 12:40 hours by Operations Chief Kuroshima in the officer’s dining room where the fleet commander was just finishing his lunch.

“The ship has turned on a new heading, sir. Due north.”

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow at this. “Are you certain?” he asked setting down his chop sticks on the white linen napkin.

“It was first reported by a seaplane off the Tone, and has been verified by search planes from the Mutsu as well, sir.”

“North, Kuroshima? What is this ship up to?”

“It could have spotted us as well, sir. It was obvious that we were in a favorable position to intercept if it continued on its old heading. Who knows, sir. Perhaps it is running for Milne Bay now that we have herded it away from ports on the Australian mainland. Hara has a large screening force out west with his carriers. They may have spotted it.”

“Was there a speed indicated?”

“The pilots estimated no more than ten or twelve knots, sir.”

That again seemed to surprise Yamamoto, and he looked at his Operations Chief now, his lunch finished. “It does not seem that they have any fear of battle,” he said. “Ten or twelve knots?”

“The ship could have been damaged by our air strike, sir. This is good news. I suggest we alter course to intercept at once.”

“Give the order, Kuroshima. Yes, this is good news, though very surprising. Perhaps they do not realize we have two more battleships to their northwest. Well enough. How soon might we catch this ship?”

“That remains to be seen, sir, but we can cut the range considerably now if we run full out.”

“Make it so. And keep me informed if the enemy makes any further heading or speed change.”

“Of course, sir.” Kuroshima bowed with a quick salute, and turned to send the new heading order up to the bridge.

Yamamoto leaned back in his chair, thinking about this new development. He was immediately relieved that this ship was no longer threatening Hara’s carriers. Those ships had to be preserved at all costs. Without their strike squadrons intact, they were little more than ducks in a pond should any other American carrier be operating in these waters. Six fighters, he thought darkly. That was all Hara had left to put over his carriers, two shotai. And below decks there were no more than ten other planes, many bearing scars and shrapnel wounds from the incredible attack concluded that morning against this enemy ship. It was most unsettling; seemingly impossible! How could the seasoned pilots of Hara’s group have failed to bludgeon this ship with over ninety planes in the morning air strike? He could still not believe the results, or the baffling reports of aerial rockets that had been so deadly, intercepting and killing Hara’s planes before they ever set eyes on their target.

If the British built this ship, he mused, then it truly is a monster. Perhaps it was a new ship, something the intelligence masters and the bright young men of the Naval General Staff had been unable to discover. After all, his own ship, the super battleship Yamato, had been shrouded in secrecy for all the many years of its construction. Virtually everything about it, its displacement, armor, the true size and caliber of its guns, had been closely guarded state secrets. Was it so difficult to believe that the British could have built a fast and deadly ship like this, and engineered these marvelous new rocket weapons?

Thinking of Yamato again, he realized the tremendous resources it had taken to build, the seemingly endless work in the foundries and factories. Three of these superb battleships had been ordered, but only two delivered. The final ship would become a carrier instead, and that was probably very wise, he thought…unless…

The fate of Hara’s squadrons weighed heavily in his mind now. What if this ship, these new rocket weapons, changed the delicate balance of power at sea yet again? It had been a world of dreadnaughts and battleships, with nations signing treaties to stubbornly restrict the size and power of these deadly vessels. Then the British flew a flock of outmoded planes against the Italian battle fleet at Taranto and showed what even slow, obsolete aircraft might do against the steel dragons of the sea. Three of six Italian battleships there had been either sunk or damaged so badly they had to be beached. If a few British planes could do this at Taranto, he realized, then what might the superb fast carriers and naval aviators of the Imperial Japanese Navy do against the Americans at Pearl Harbor?

The plan was just a few months from being realized when the Germans stupidly struck the Americans in the North Atlantic, just a little over a year ago now. The Americans declared war, Japan foolishly sided with Germany instead of pursuing an independent course, and the Americans obliged by declaring hostilities against the Empire as well, on September 1, 1941. The Pearl Harbor attack plan was suddenly nothing more than stacks of useless paper!

Yet even though his carriers did not get the chance to prove their skills at Hawaii, they had performed flawlessly ever since, screening, scouting, providing decisive air power when needed as Japan rolled south into the resource rich island archipelagos of the Pacific. The old American battleships that the navy planners had been so eager to kill were still largely berthed at Pearl Harbor, too fat and slow to keep up with the speedy hit and run tactics required by the carrier fleets. Now this…

A ship that could defend itself against an entire carrier task force! A fast, deadly ship that had held Iwabuchi’s cruisers at bay, killed submarines with no destroyer escort, left the battleship Kirishima a steaming wreck in its foaming wake, and was now in a perfect place to strike at Hara’s carriers, their hangers largely empty, or at the slow transports bearing troops from the Nagoya 3rd Division. These reports of rockets that had even bloodied his ships were most confounding. His staff was of the opinion that they would have to be piloted to be so accurate. They struck targets the enemy could not even see!

While this made some sense to him, it would be most unlike the British to produce a weapon requiring a pilot to give his life. Perhaps the pilots were ejecting once they had aimed their weapons, but no sign of this had been observed, and not a single enemy had been found in the sea. It was a profound mystery.

Only one thing was certain, this ship changes everything, he thought. Now it will no longer be a war of carriers and planes, though they will always have their place in any well balanced navy. No. From everything he had heard, it was now the daring pilots of these rocket weapons who would decide the fate of nations, and only a ship capable of withstanding their warheads could close and engage the enemy in a gun duel…. A ship like Yamato, the largest and most heavily armored battleship ever built. If ever there was a real dragon of the sea, he was standing on its armored back at this very moment. His guns could tear any ship then known to pieces if they could get in range.

That was another mystery. Iwabuchi’s cruisers and even the Kirishima reported being hit by small caliber deck guns, yet at ranges exceeding their own main batteries! This ship used these infernal rockets in place of the monstrous gun turrets all other big ships would carry, and it gave the enemy the ability to strike at impossible ranges. How were they seeing his ships? One report had indicated a strange aircraft was spotted. They must use seaplanes as we do on our fast cruisers and battleships. It was the only thing that made sense. So here was a battlecruiser that could fight like a carrier, and with a lethal defensive shield against his own carrier planes with these new rocket weapons. The world had changed, right beneath his nose, and he had not seen it happening. This ship was a true nightmare, a revolutionary leap in naval thinking and design.

Then, inexplicably, this Shadow Dancer simply turns north, forsaking all the valuable targets it still had within easy reach. It was baffling, to say the least, but thankfully he could now focus his attention on finding the enemy and holding them accountable for the havoc they had caused in the seas around Australia. It may be the only one of its class, he thought. If I sink it, this would prove that the old strength of guns and steel can as yet prevail. What was it up to, he wondered?

If this ship were still out hunting for new prey, it would not make such a sudden and stupid maneuver. Perhaps this beast is wounded, as Kuroshima suggested. Or perhaps it has limited ammunition or fuel and must now run for a friendly base. But Milne Bay? There is nothing there but a few stubborn battalions of Australian infantry. Could the ship have other intentions? Could it be planning to attack Rabaul? Would it be so daring as to sail right into the arms of our main defenses? Then again, perhaps it was only trying to escape…

Every hunter needed good dogs to find and flush out his prey. He had three fast cruisers with him,