“Unless those were the other three missiles they fired at the carriers,” said Fukada.
“They may have been the nest mates of the last missile they fired at us, yet we can’t be sure in any case,” said Harada.
“Then let us simply assume our enemy can still harm us,” said Yamamoto. “That is enough to guide our thinking here. However, the fact that his ordnance is limited is most interesting. I suppose I always knew this to be the case, but now it is more important, because we can threaten his ship and force him to use what he may have left, even if it costs us lives and ships to do so.”
“And it will,” said Harada. “Count on that, so choose the ships you want to expend carefully, and the men. I made such a threat, but the enemy failed to fire anything more at us. If they had, we might not be discussing this here.”
“Then you would agree that your ship has little offensive capability now.”
“True, but that does not mean we cannot be very useful. Our defensive capability is still available, and our electronic systems and radars can provide a great deal of situational awareness in a battle scenario. We can scout and find the enemy, and defend against air attack with an almost certain kill on any plane we target.”
“Until your own anti-aircraft missiles run out. Correct?”
“Correct.”
“And how many of these remain on your ship?”
“38 of one type, and 12 of another longer range variant.”
“So you can kill 50 planes. I suppose that is useful to know, for it represents a good part of an American carrier wing.” Yamamoto was filing all of this away into a compartment of his mind. There was no recrimination in his interaction with these men, and he did nothing whatsoever to shame them. They had done what they could, and failed to kill Mizuchi. Now he wanted only to ascertain how he might still integrate Takami into his fleet.
“Well gentlemen,” he said. “I must say that Admiral Kurita was none too happy when he left just now.”
“We could see that,” said Harada.
“He is a proud man, and perhaps I was remiss in putting him in a situation where he held the burden of command, while your knowledge of your own capabilities required you to intervene. I will not do this again. Henceforth, you will operate with our carriers. I will now take the advice offered to me by your Executive Officer earlier. Your ship will assist operations currently underway here in the south.”
“We would be honored, sir.”
“And you may be very busy. While you were away much has happened. Operation FS was launched, and initially with some success. We sank two enemy carriers in the Coral Sea and a third in the Koro Sea off Fiji. Yet for this we paid a very high price. Our own carrier fleet has nearly been cut in half. We lost Hiryu last December to this Mizuchi, then Gozo and Mezu were sunk in the Gilberts, Shokaku in the Coral Sea, and the hardest blow of all fell on that Koro Sea battle. There we lost Zuikaku and Shoho.”
“Those are very heavy losses,” said Fukada.
“Heavy indeed. At the moment we have 8 carriers operational. Kaga and Akagi are repaired and constitute Carrier Division 1. Soryu and Tosa form Carrier Division 2. The new carrier Taiho was commissioned in June, well ahead of schedule, and is presently in sea trials. Beyond that, we have three smaller carriers, the Hiyo, Junyo and Taiyo. I would like to assign your ship to Carrier Division 3. It will operate under Hara with the new Taiho, and two of the light carriers. I have a new mission in mind, but first you must understand the present situation.”
“Operation FS?” asked Fukada.
“It was partially successful. We have troops on Fiji, but so does the enemy. Their Marine Division has landed there, and it has been a bit of a slugfest. At first it appeared as if they might push us right into the sea, but we were able to reinforce our garrison. Yet keeping them supplied is now a daily burden. By day, planes we send to Nandi duel with their own planes at Suva Bay. By night, we send in fresh troops and supplies on fast cruisers and destroyers from Noumea. Their own carrier force remains in the area, though it now operates from Samoa as a forward base.”
“Which carriers survived?”
“Enterprise and Wasp. They also have the two hybrids that could return to the theater at any time, and a small escort carrier, more a seaplane tender, the Langley.”
“Excuse me sir, two hybrids?”
“Yes, they fought the French fleet before your arrival, sinking the Bearn, and even jousted briefly with one of our own light carriers. One was damaged in that action and sent to Pearl Harbor, but I must assume it has been repaired.”
“French fleet?” said Fukada. “I don’t understand.”
“It was just a few destroyers, light cruisers, and the one carrier, which the Americans quickly sunk.”
“Do you know the name of these ships—the hybrids you mention.”
“Antietam, and Shiloh. I believe those are battles from their Civil War.”
“Yes,” said Harada, “but we’ve not heard of those ships, at least not this early in the war.”
“Antietam was a long hull Essex class ship,” said Fukada. “Yet it did not appear until very late in the war, and there was no carrier by the name of Shiloh in WWII. Nor was there ever an engagement with the French fleet.”
“Nor a ship by the name of Takami, or another we call Mizuchi,” said Yamamoto. “Perhaps you gentlemen need to spend some time in our ship’s library.”
“It appears so,” said Harada, looking at Fukada.
Yamamoto continued. “There are three operations before the navy now. The first is the continuation of Operation FS. The second the persistence of this enemy raider in the north, Mizuchi, and the action on Karafuto. I fear neither one will have an easy or a speedy solution. My choices are limited. I can split the fleet 60/40 and try to bring one or another theater to a decisive resolution in our favor. May I ask you whether you think a massed fleet effort would prevail over this Mizuchi?”
“A massed effort,” said Harada. “You mean with many more carriers? That would be hard to say.”
“What if I were to assign four carriers to attack this ship?”
“Then they should all be grouped together, and Takami would have to be slightly forward of that group as an air defense picket. Any attempt to confront this raider on your own would likely only result in more losses to your carrier fleet. Of this I am almost certain. But with us present, our missile shield could defend you, and perhaps your strike wings could get something through, but you should expect heavy losses.”