“It is not far from the truth,” said Kita. “All these weapons have their origins here, at least in terms of the accelerated development this war catalyzed.”
“Quite true, sir. I should also say that our missiles have already aroused a great deal of curiosity. At the moment, knowledge of our real identity and origin is restricted to a very few high level officers, but rumors spread, and they can be very compelling. It appears that Admiral Nagano wants a sip of our tea, and we were considering how to handle that. The knowledge of our presence here could be as disturbing to people of this era as it was for us to find ourselves here.”
“That is understandable,” said Kita. “We might be able to pick a fight with the Russians here on our own terms, but the decision was also made to support Japan. I won’t ask how any of you voted, but that will be a delicate matter. We’ll have to cooperate with these people, but I’m reluctant to be ruled by them. You deferred to Yamamoto’s authority, and I can understand why, Captain Harada. I’m just not sure I can do the same. I would prefer to meet these men on equal terms. Opinions?”
The general consensus was that they would almost have to remain independent to properly use the power they had. “I have great respect for these men,” said Yoshida, “but as good as they were, I can’t see that they will understand how we should operate. Modern warfare is a whole different kind of organized violence. We can’t put ourselves in a position where they might order us to do something we know is not wise.”
“I think I can explain this to Yamamoto,” said Harada. “When we were sent north to go after Kirov, he placed us nominally under command of Admiral Kurita. Yet when it came down to the action, I found myself having to call the shots. Kurita didn’t like it, but he cooperated with us. I think he resents that, particularly since we could not accomplish our mission and were forced to withdraw. He took that shame upon himself, and bears us no good will. We must remember the pride these men carry, the dedication they have, and the loyalty. They will all give their lives for Japan, and their sense of honor and commitment here runs bone deep. You know how many of them took their own lives when Japan was defeated.”
“It is that defeat we hope to prevent,” said Fukada.
Captain Yoshida took note of that, even as he had when he first engaged the Chinese fleet. War started with flags and honor, national pride, and music, but it always ended in the same thing—death and destruction. His planes were not made of canvass and steel any longer, or even aluminum, but now became artful contoured compositions of carbon nanotube reinforced epoxy. However they were made, their intention was simple in the end—find and kill the enemy before they did the same to you. That was the order of the day they were taking on, and it gave him no joy to think he would be killing the ancestors of the men who stood by Japan for well over half a century. He had secretly voted to remain neutral here, but now he steeled himself for the fight ahead. How to prevent the inevitable defeat of Japan in this war?
“Yet that is a high mountain,” said Kita. “These men started this war with the order to climb mount Niitaka, and that’s what we have in front of us now. Kirov is our first order of business. After that, are there any opinions on strategy?”
Captain Asano off the Kongo spoke next, a trim professional officer, 35 years of age, short yet ‘squared away’ as some in the navy might say, and meticulous in his presentation and manner. “Most of us know this history well,” he said, “even though we are told it has already been twisted out of shape. We know that it was the overwhelming production capacity of the Americans that made the outcome of this war inevitable.”
“Yes,” said Harada. “Yamamoto knows that as well. He knew it before Pearl Harbor. After sinking five of the six U.S. fleet carriers in the first year of the war, the Americans have already reached parity with the arrival of three new Essex Class carriers. We all know that is the ship that wins this war for them, allowing them to defeat our navy and dominate the seas. Japan has attempted to redress that with a secret naval building program Yamamoto calls the Shadow Fleet. It is more extensive than it was in the history we know, and there will be ships here that were never built—hybrid designs born of fast conversions from cruiser and battlecruiser hulls. Even so, those Essex Class carriers will just keep coming, one after another.”
“Unless we stop them,” said Fukada.
Admiral Kita turned to regard him. “You’ve been rather eager here, Lieutenant Commander. No harm in that. War is no easy game, but how do you propose we operate to stop them?”
“We know the approximate delivery dates for each ship they have in the pipeline, and there are many things we can do to disrupt that chain. First off, we can take out the locks at the Panama Canal. That will make the transfer of new ships to the Pacific more difficult. Yet even that is only a halfway measure in my mind. I think we should go right to the source of the problem—the American shipyards.”
That raised a few eyebrows before Captain Namura off the Kirishima spoke. “There were over thirty shipyards on the east coast, and an equal number on the west coast,” he said. “They also had shipyards along the Gulf Coast and Great Lakes, another twenty there. That’s just too many targets to have any chance of making a dent in their production.”
“We don’t need to hit them all,” said Fukada. “We only need to worry about the biggest yards: Newport News, Bethlehem’s Fore River Shipyard, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and perhaps the yard at Philadelphia. They built all their carriers in those four yards. A lot of the others you mention just built liberty ships, landing craft, smaller vessels like destroyers, but the bigger yards could build anything, including their new battleship designs. The Iowa class was built at Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Norfolk Virginia. All these targets are in the same general area, and our F-35’s could hit those sites from well out in the Atlantic. If we take out the yards I’ve mentioned, it will seriously hinder their production of major ship classes like the carriers and battleships.”
“So you are suggesting we move to the Atlantic? Another Pearl Harbor, only this time against ships that have yet to be built?” Kita did not know what to think of that at this moment, but he was entertaining all opinions here.“We could do this,” said Fukada. “We take out the Panama Canal, then proceed south and round the cape into the Atlantic. They couldn’t do a thing to stop us, and we could carry out the strikes I mentioned with little difficulty. All their existing carriers would then be here in the Pacific, and fair game when we return. In effect, we turn off the pipeline at the source; then return here to finish the job. In a matter of three months, we can decide this war.”
“Very optimistic,” said Kita. “And what about their Atomic Bomb program? If we stop their carrier production wouldn’t they resort to that expedient sooner, or just accelerate their B-29 program?”
“Sir, we know where that program is being developed, and we can strike Alamogordo from the Pacific easily enough, or from anywhere within the Gulf of Mexico. There are places where we can get within 1000 kilometers.”