So there was a method to the madness in those orders Halsey received from Fleet Headquarters. Nimitz was mustering all the muscle he had in the deep South Pacific. He was going to build a fast carrier group with Enterprise, Hornet, Wasp, and the light carrier Shiloh, and he was going to add considerably more firepower with the addition of these three new battleships. The Marines were all huddled aboard what was now being called “The Presidential Convoy” heading for Pago Pago. It was called this firstly because it sailed on Roosevelt’s direct order, and secondly because the transports that carried the troops all bore the names of past US Presidents.
With the 1st US Marine Division soon to arrive in Samoa, the US was going to have some punching power for their first real offensive of the war. The only question now was where that punch should be aimed. The Japanese were already wading into the shallows of the Solomon Island Group, though their presence there was strongest in the north on Bougainville. They had begun setting up a seaplane base at Tulagi, and put small survey detachments ashore at Lunga on Guadalcanal and a few other nearby islands, looking for the best places to build airfields.
Admiral King was eager to get in the fight, and largely responsible for making sure the 132nd Regiment got to Fiji as it did. Now he wanted his Marines to get busy, and flatly stated that to go anywhere other than Fiji would be most unwise.
“We need Fiji’s airfields and harbors, and now that the enemy is already there, that’s where we should hit them,” he said in a meeting of the Joint Chiefs.
“What about something a little more daring?” said Marshall. “The 132nd Regiment is already on Fiji, and we could hold our ground and keep the Japanese busy there. Then we could swing north and hit the New Hebrides. Take this island—” He fingered the big Island of Vanuatu, “right in the center of the board. In effect, we’d be outflanking the Japanese at both Fiji and Noumea once we got airfields and good air support established at Luganville. And from there we can also cover the Santa Cruz Islands and springboard into the lower Solomons. As serious as these penetrations are with the enemy on New Caledonia and Fiji, the Japs are out on a limb. If they want to supply those troops they’ll have to come down through the Solomon and Coral Seas, and from Luganville, we’d have a base that could keep a watch on both those approaches.”
“Right,” said King. “Then how do we keep Luganville supplied if the Japs have planes on both Fiji and Noumea? General, those bases have to be taken, no if, ands, or buts about it.”
It was going to be much debated before a decision would be reached, and the matter would eventually end up in Roosevelt’s lap again. At the moment, however, the fate of Fiji itself still rode in the whirlwind. It looked like Operation FS was going to be a complete success. Hara’s 5th Carrier Division had met and all but destroyed Fletcher’s Task Force in the Coral Sea. Port Moresby had been invaded and secured in five days time, the base at Tulagi was unchallenged, and troops were already safely ashore on the main island of the Fiji Group.
“We have done all of this, I might add,” said Admiral Ugaki, “without any magic tricks by that ship out there.”
“Don’t underestimate them just yet,” said Yamamoto. “The situational awareness they provide has been most useful, even if it has not been necessary for them to use those advanced rocket weapons. I remind you that we can operate now with such impunity only because they have assured us no enemy task force is within striking range of our forces.”
“Where do you think those other enemy carriers have gone?” asked Ugaki.
“The losses they sustained in the Coral Sea had to shake them,” said Yamamoto. “It is my feeling that they were planning a two pronged attack, only their left pincer was shattered by our 5th Carrier Division. We paid a price for that in losing the Soaring Crane, and now Lucky Crane has withdrawn to Rabaul, so the real effect of that battle was to remove all four carriers from the plotting table.”
“Yet we will have Zuikaku back in a week’s time,” said Ugaki.
“Yes, but there are still three American fleet carriers in the Pacific. I believe they will consolidate now, as they cannot afford to face us on even equal terms after this loss. The battle in the Coral Sea taught them that, so I find the silence after those raids in the Marshalls to be somewhat ominous.”
“That was nothing,” said Ugaki. “In fact, I believe those raids were meant as a mere diversion while that other American task force attempted to ambush us. Thankfully Hara’s pilots took care of that.”
Yamamoto nodded, but looked at the report on his desk detailing plane and pilot losses from the sinking of Shokaku. It could have been worse. Many on the ship were safely rescued at sea, and those in the air that survived the attack were able to land on Zuikaku. Yet we were perhaps one 500 pound bomb away from suffering the same disastrous loss the Americans took. What if they had hit Zuikaku’s flight deck? None of those planes would have been recovered, and I would be inscribing a good many more names on that plaque aboard Akagi.
So now we lose our second fleet carrier. Thankfully we will have Kaga back in service soon after her repair and refit. The Kido Butai remains strong in spite of these losses, but I must be very careful in the days ahead. The Americans are now like a coiled spring. They must strike us somewhere, and I must learn what they are planning. I do not think I will find the answer in the library aboard Takami. Everything here is now vastly different from that history. So we will fight it the old fashioned way, with blood and steel on the seas, and our brave pilots in the skies above. If the Americans do strike us soon, then we will see what this strange new ship can really do. The war may be decided on the outcome of the next major battle, and I must win it… or die trying.
Chapter 20
By the morning of the second day the situation on the north and west coast of the main island was starting to look grim. The Kiwis had fought hard, with the village of Lautoko north of Nandi changing hands twice in the long days fighting. The key factor, however, was the complete control of the sea and skies around the island. Japanese cruisers with powerful 8-inch guns were able to weigh in heavily on the fighting along the western shores, and by nightfall, the haggard Kiwis were starting to call Nandi Bay ‘Battleship Row.’ Kongo, Kirishima and Haruna had sat out there all day, pounding any location where they could get a good fire order from shore based spotters. Those heavy rounds were simply too much for the infantry to endure, and the New Zealanders were forced to withdraw into the heavily wooded interior to gain positions where the Japanese could not easily call in those guns.
The problem with that strategy was that all their stores and supplies had been in those positions along the coast. The Japanese now had all the ports on the west coast they had been after, clearing Nandi and Lautoka, and the Sakaguchi Regiment had secured Tavua in the north. Brigadier Robert Row had the 8th Brigade, and he huddled with Brigadier Lawrence Potter of 14th Brigade to see what could be done. Potter had been literally holed up in his underground communications center and headquarters at a place called ‘Black Rock,’ a fortified post hacked out of the stone by the Kiwi engineers a month earlier.