“Sir… I understand your logic here, but it has one flaw.”
“Oh? Enlighten me, Mister Fedorov.”
“What you say is true. This action would preserve our SSM missile inventory, but for the expenditure of a special warhead? Would you trade that power for those 13 missiles we just fired? I certainly wouldn’t. Those warheads are decisive. Yes, they trump any enemy defense, in any situation we choose on a tactical level like this, but their real power lies in their application on the strategic level. Consider what the Americans did with theirs. They never once thought to develop this weapon for use on the tactical level. It was always a strategic blow they envisioned, and their target selection bears witness to that. Timed appropriately, in just the right situation, those warheads represent absolute power to change the course of events.”
Karpov pursed his lips. “Yes, I suppose that is true, but if I smash them here, take out these battleships and then find their carriers, I will have effectively broken the back of their Northern Fleet. It would then be impossible for them to interfere with our subsequent landings on Sakhalin.”
“Sir, I doubt they can do that as it stands. It won’t take much to mission kill that surface action group—just a handful of SSMs, or better yet, we could use the Vodopads. Torpedoes are a much better solution against those heavily armored battleships. Save the SSMs for the carriers, and it will only take one or two hits.”
“What about that destroyer? Do you think we can leave it to its devices here?”
“They have virtually no offensive capability now,” Fedorov said quickly. “And they’ve already expended a good number of SAMs here on defense. That’s all they are now, just what they think they can turn us into—a radar picket with good AA defense. In my view, their real military power here is very limited now. In fact, I wouldn’t even waste anything further on them. Yet, if you must, I would think four MOS-IIIs might do the job. Their laser defense may get one of them, but my bet is that one gets through. That said, I would not give this ship the time of day here. They are not a threat to our operations, not even worth those four MOS-IIIs.”
Karpov waited, thinking, then raised an eyebrow. “Of course,” he said quietly. “I was only thinking out loud, Fedorov, nothing more. Mister Samsonov… I think its time we do make good on one of our promises. Take down that incoming air strike.”
Chapter 6
“Sir,” said Otani. “I have missile fire again. This time its directed at the air strike off Kaga. SA-N-92 Gauntlet type missiles are outbound now.”
“Range?”
“79 nautical miles.”
“We’d never hit them the SM-2,” said Fukada. “They’ll be on target before our missiles are even half way there.”
“A lot of good we’ve done here,” said Harada, somewhat dejected. “If we’re to defend the fleet, we’ll have to have all the eggs in our nest. With missiles as fast as these Russian SSMs, we can’t even protect Kurita—which reminds me. Have they turned?”
“No sir, they are still on a heading of 020 degrees north, and at 24 knots.”
“Well then we need to reinforce our suggestion and get them out of there. Otherwise this Karpov will do exactly what he bragged about a moment ago. Let’s face it, we need to withdraw. We’ve covered the landing of those troops, but this plan to take on that Russian battlecruiser had gone bust. It isn’t a question of us getting him now. It’s down to whether or not we can save ourselves.”
“What about the rail gun,” said Fukada, pointing to that weapons control station.
“What about it? Like I said earlier, all we would do is rile them up if we started taking pokes at them with that gun. I say we pull in our horns, make a graceful bow and get the hell out of here. If he continues south towards Hokkaido, then we’ll reconvene this discussion. But at least down south we’ve got more Japanese land based air power. It looks like they’ve called my bluff. We’re finished.”
“But we might at least get in a few licks, perhaps damage them.”
“Sour grapes,” said Harada. “No, mister Fukada, it’s weapons tight on the rail gun. That’s an order. And before you get your feathers ruffled about it, I want you to consider the fact that we’ve got just 36 SM-2s left. If we hand on in this scenario, we might have to use them all, and with a very uncertain outcome for this ship. Yet if we keep those arrows in our quiver, we’ve at least one card to play. It’s going to be a very long war….”
Fukada thought about that, and his own arguments to Yamamoto. He realized that Harada was correct. They had mismanaged their attack. Communications were in place, but the pilots off those carriers had trouble adapting to the last minute change of plans. They were late, and now they die out there alone, with our only consolation being the fact that the Russians have to expend ordnance to kill them. The Captain summed it up pretty good. All we are now is a candle in the wind of this war. Yet he’s right about those 36 missiles. If we hold those, we might make a difference somewhere else, against the Americans. That’s what we should have done in the first place. Why wouldn’t Yamamoto listen to me?
He knew the answer to that the moment he asked himself the question. They appeared here in a daze, unbelieving, shocked by what had happened to them. Then they hatched this plan to get to Yamamoto. It did one good thing, he thought. It put us on the right side of this argument. We had to stand up for Japan, even if it meant we turned our backs on the allies that designed and built the technology we’re using now. This ship is basically just a knock off for a Burke Class Destroyer, with a few more bells and whistles.
But look at us now. Our SSMs are gone, and 40% of our SAMs, and all we did was cost the other fellow 13 missiles. We walked into Yamamoto and Ugaki like we were demigods, miracle workers, with the ship that would turn the tide here in the Pacific. I suppose that’s why Yamamoto set us loose up here. He knows that Russian ship, Siberian ship, is his real nemesis for the time being. It will take the Americans some time to get back on their feet after losing those two carriers in the Coral Sea.
So now we must make a shameful withdrawal here, and then explain all this to Yamamoto. That will be somewhat humbling, won’t it? But at the moment, I don’t see anything more we can do here. “Alright,” he said aloud to the Captain. “I agree with your assessment. In fact, I argued it from the very first. Let’s get out of here, before this Karpov tries our defense again.”
Harada nodded. “Helm, come about. Make your heading 180 degrees south. Ensign Shiota, advise Admiral Kurita that we are redeploying south—don’t use the word withdrawal or retreat. State that all air assets must return to the carriers immediately. Make it urgent. Send it to Kobayashi, and he’ll deliver it to Kurita.”
“I understand, sir.”
When Kurita got that message read to him by the liaison officer, he clenched his jaw. “Redeploy to the south? Why? The enemy is here—somewhere. We must be very close now.”
“Sir,” said the Lieutenant. “In order to properly defend the fleet against the missile weaponry you have witnessed in play here, it is imperative that we now form a unified battlegroup. We are too far north for Takami to adequately protect us.”
“Protect us? That is a cruiser! I am sitting on a battleship, and there is a second one off our port bow.”