who’d hoped they’d get to stay at the larger and more cosmopolitan city of San Francisco. San Diego had a population of just under 150,000, while San Francisco was more than four times larger.
Almost on the Mexican border, San Diego possessed a fine harbor, and a marine base as well as an existing naval base. Nimitz’s move was administrative and had nothing to do with the location of the fleet. Except for a handful of cruisers and destroyers, there were no major war-ships in the narrow harbor overlooked by the admiral’s temporary office.
This day, Nimitz did not see the bay or anything else. His eyes were focused on the report in his hand, and, since he was alone, he made no effort to stop the tears that streamed down his face.
The report confirmed what they had feared-the loss of the Pennsylvania and four destroyers with all hands. It was a catastrophe on a par with Pearl Harbor. The American public didn’t know about it yet, but desperate calls for help had been sent in the clear and had been picked up by shortwave radios. Amateur radios were supposed to have been shut down, but there were still a number of them listening. There would have to be a reckoning and an explanation, and it would have to come soon. Even with the battleship’s crew at less than full strength, the combined crews were in excess of a thousand souls.
Incredibly, because of the chaos at Pearl Harbor, no one was certain who was on the Pennsylvania and who wasn’t. That infuriated Nimitz. No one should have to die anonymously.
There was a tap on the door, and Admiral Raymond Spruance entered. He had been commanding Halsey’s cruisers when Nimitz ordered him back to California. Spruance was a quiet man, but extremely intelligent and decisive. If Halsey was a bull, Spruance was the thinker. In only a short while, Nimitz had come to depend on Spruance’s abilities.
Spruance crossed the office and discreetly looked out the window. It gave Nimitz an opportunity to wipe his eyes.
“The Japs have pulled their ships back to the west of Hawaii,” Spruance said. “This’ll give us a chance to send out floatplanes and look for survivors. I doubt there’ll be any, but we’ll give it a try.”
Nimitz nodded. Could it get any worse? he wondered.
In the Philippines, MacArthur’s army was pinned on the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor. They would surrender in a matter of weeks, a couple of months at the most. MacArthur had been ordered to leave Corregidor so he would not be taken prisoner and paraded through Tokyo as a trophy.
In the southern Pacific, a small American naval force had joined with other small forces from the Dutch and Royal navies. Under a Dutch admiral, they would try to blunt the Japanese offensive in that area. Nimitz thought their task was hopeless.
The British army was retreating down the Malayan peninsula toward the city of Singapore, and it looked like a disaster there as well. Churchill had proclaimed the place a fortress that would be held at all costs, but everyone knew better.
In both the Philippines and Malaya, the Japanese army had outfought and outmaneuvered the Americans and the British. This did not bode well for the fate of Hawaii.
At least, Nimitz thought with some satisfaction, he had only the Pacific to worry about. The situation in the Atlantic was no less dire, with German subs ravaging American shipping all along the eastern seaboard and up the larger rivers. In Europe, both England and Russia were reeling under Nazi attacks.
“Opportunity,” Nimitz said.
“What?” Spruance asked quizzically.
“Pearl Harbor and all that has followed is not an unmitigated disaster.”
“Some’ll disagree with that.”
“Let them,” Nimitz said firmly. “Tell me, Ray. How many battleships have been sunk or damaged by Jap carriers?”
“Nine or ten, depending on how the British count battleships,” Spruance answered. “Eight of ours and at least one British.”
“And how many carriers have been sunk?”
Spruance grinned. He knew where this was going. “None.”
“Right. Now who the devil needs battleships when they keep on sinking?” Nimitz shuffled papers on his desk until he came up with the right one. “Look, we began this war with seventeen battleships to the Japs’ ten or eleven. We’ve lost eight, at least temporarily, but have fifteen under construction. In a year, two at the most, we will have overwhelming superiority in battleships.”
“Of course,” Spruance said as he took a chair.
“And the same holds true with carriers. We have seven to their dozen or so, but we have another eleven being built, and that doesn’t even count the smaller carriers, which we will start producing by the dozens. Can they match that?”
“We know they can’t. We know the limitations of their shipyards. Japan doesn’t have an industrial base like ours to draw on. While it’s a closed society, we’re fairly confident they can’t add more than a couple of carriers or battleships in the next several years. We already outnumber them in cruisers, destroyers, and subs. If we use our resources properly, we will defeat them. The carrier is the queen of the navy now, not the gunship. Battleships and cruisers will protect the carriers, not the other way around.”
Nimitz slapped the desk with uncharacteristic anger. “Yet, we’re going to lose Hawaii.”
Spruance nodded glumly. Three carriers were operating under Halsey. Their task was to protect Australia. A handful of old, slow battleships under Admiral William Pye was positioned along the California coast. They were there primarily to calm the fears of the populace, not to fight the Japs. If they tried, they’d be murdered.
“If Hawaii goes,” Spruance added, “then we’ll have to pull out of Midway as well. That big Jap task force we’ve been listening to seems to have departed. Only Hawaii can be its destination. It’ll arrive in a week or so, and, by that time, their planes from Molokai will have softened up Oahu’s defenses to the point where a landing will be a cinch.”
Nimitz rose and paced the small office. “Our ships are sunk, our carriers are too few, and I’m being told our subs aren’t sinking anything because the torpedoes aren’t working correctly. Is anything going right for us?”
“Magic is. At least we have some idea what the Japs are up to. Just a shame we can’t do anything about it right now. If the Japs ever find out about Magic, we’ll really be in a dilemma. We’ll be deaf and blind along with crippled.”
“Well,” Nimitz said, “that’s what we need to talk about. I just got word that Magic may be compromised.”
Spruance paled. “How?”
“The last of our codebreakers on Hawaii departed a few days before the landing on Molokai. They were on the cruiser St. Louis. We believe the St. Louis was torpedoed and sunk off the big island, Hawaii.”
“Survivors?”
“We don’t know. For once I find myself praying there aren’t any.”
Alexa ran outside in the night to help Jake with the packages that were stacked in the motorcycle’s sidecar. “What have you brought?” she asked with a laugh. “Christmas was a while ago.”
It was after midnight, and Jake had awakened her with his knocking on the door. She wore a thin cotton nightgown and had a short robe over it. Neither reached her knees, and she was barefoot.
Melissa Wilson had heard the motorcycle through her open window, and she too came out. If she was surprised to see Jake at two in the morning, she didn’t show it. All over Hawaii, people had become nocturnal, as they found it safer to travel slowly at night than to attempt movement during the day, when the Jap planes were out.
Alexa gaped as she handed several packages to Melissa. “What are you wearing?”
“One of my Jerry’s shirts and a smile,” Melissa said happily. “Don’t worry, Lexy I won’t scare Jake away.”
Jake pretended he didn’t hear the conversation and tried not to stare at Melissa as the three of them moved quickly into Alexa’s house. There they pulled the shades and lit some candles. Electricity had been out for a while, as had the telephone lines. There was an air of eager expectation as they opened the bundles. The two women immediately knew what they contained-food.
“Won’t this get you in trouble?” Alexa asked as she looked over the array of treasures. There was bread, powdered milk, cans of all kinds, and packages labeled as something called C rations.
