“If we had coordinated better we might have gotten that bastard.”
“I’m not so sure. It was all going to come down to those eight SSMs we threw at him. Maybe if we did have four fleet carriers, and they threw a couple hundred planes at Kirov, then one of our missiles might have had a better chance to get through. Yamamoto was correct, two carriers were not enough, and we botched the one good chance we had.”
“So how will we operate now?” asked Fukada. “What would you do?”
“Me? If he’s got a head on his shoulders, and I think he does, then he knows he’s really a lone shark when it comes right down to it. He’s a sea wolf, and that’s how I would sail that ship. Look, they have to know the history every bit as well as we do. It shouldn’t be hard for them to find out from signals traffic what the Japanese Navy is up to down here. So that’s where I’d be, skulking about like a wolf at the edge of a herd. I’d leave commercial shipping alone, unless I could get hard ID on troop transports. But better yet, I’d hunt Japanese carriers. That’s where this war will be won or lost. Yamamoto still has an edge. He knows that and he’s husbanding his resources here in the south and hoping he can dominate the waters around Fiji now. If I were this Karpov, that’s where I’d be, and soon.”
“And how do we operate?”
“Well,” said Harada. “We’re one toothless wolf now, but at least we can still bark. Face it, we’re a sheepdog now. Our job here is to spot the enemy with that SPY-1 system, and cry wolf. If they throw planes at us that look like they can do harm, then we take them down, while we can. I’ll be stingy with the missiles, but if we get pressed hard, I’m ready to use them.”
“Don’t sell the Japanese Zero short,” said Fukada. “Those carriers out their can defend themselves, and the British better know it.”
Chapter 6
That evening they had the pleasure of taking a trip over to the Taiho for the final mission briefing. There they met the bull necked Admiral Hara, and Captain Ichibei Yokokawa, former commander of the carrier Zuikaku. Kurita was also there, commanding the battleship squadron, and he gave them both a dark glance, still smoldering with inner anger over what had happened during the last operation. He still burned with shame, for instead of leading this attack, he was now subordinated to Admiral Hara. This was, in his mind, what he deserved by abdicating his own authority and listening to the advice of these two new officers, men he had never heard of before, but apparently men who were also close to Yamamoto. Yet that did not mean he had to like them, and he didn’t, blaming them in part for his own perceived failure.
The Captains off Satsuma and Hiraga, and the other carriers were also present. Decked out now in official period Navy uniforms provided to them by Yamamoto, Harada and Fukada fit right in, but Harada had told his XO to say nothing unless spoken to directly. They would play the part of the dutiful officers now, there to receive orders, and not plan operations.
Hara told the assembly that Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa was presently in the Mergui Archipelago, a group of islands off the coast of the northern Malay Peninsula, about 200 nautical miles southwest of Bangkok. The navy had moved in a squadron of long range torpedo bombers there at Bangkok, the plane the Allies called the “Nell,” and they could serve in bot a recon and strike role.
“Ozawa has the four cruisers of Kurita’s old 7th Division,” he said, Kumano, Suzuya, Mogami and Mikuma. That last ship is fitted out with our latest search radar, capable of seeing planes out to 90 kilometers, or ships at sea 18 kilometers away. Ozawa also has destroyer Division 17 with him, and this entire force will be designated the northern scouting detachment, also tasked with attacking any enemy commercial shipping encountered.”
Now he looked to Kurita, cleverly giving him face as he continued. “Vice Admiral Kurita has been promoted to commander of the fast battleship squadron, and he will accompany my carriers in support. Where would you prefer to position your ships?”
Kurita knew where he would prefer them, well out in front, but he had been ordered by Yamamoto to stay very close to the carriers, where his armor and AA defense would provide them with good cover. While Yamamoto did not expect to encounter an enemy using naval rockets here, he nonetheless wanted Kurita to begin adopting this tactical deployment, as it would now become the primary role for his fast battleships—defense of the carriers.
“I will be cruising right with you, sir, with one battleship off your port quarter, and the other to starboard.”
“Very well, Taiho will be honored to have such a strong escort.” He offered a shallow bow. “As for the new ship, Takami, it will be an advanced radar picket, also fitted out with our very latest equipment. Its mission is to report enemy contacts directly to me so that we may take appropriate offensive action.”
Now Harada offered a shallow bow in confirmation of those orders. He could still feel Kurita’s eyes on him, and did not speak, knowing he should not presume to stand with the Admirals.
“A small detachment of SNLF troops has already gone forward under cover of this weather to land at the enemy outpost of Port Blair on the lower Andaman Islands. They may have scout planes there, so it must be taken. We should arrive in time to cover that operation, and then, once the area is secure, the transports will follow us, and we will proceed to Ceylon for the main landings. Any questions?”
There were none, and so Hara continued. “It is just over a thousand sea miles to the Andaman Islands from here. I propose to cruise at 18 knots and therefore arrive within 60 hours, on the 24th of September. Once Port Blair is secured, it is then another 800 sea miles to our planned strike position off Southern Ceylon—a little under 48 hours sailing time. I presume we can be there by the 28th of September, with our primary mission being to neutralize any enemy naval forces, and to bomb their airfields and prevent them from interfering with our landings. Covering the transports will be a primary part of this operation. The landings will be scheduled for the period September 28 thru October 1st, depending on events. The entire operation should conclude by October 15th.”
That was a lot to bite off and chew, thought Fukada, though he said nothing, being the most junior officer present. Afterwards, when they were back on the launch heading for Takami, he expressed doubts to Harada.
“This force is much smaller than the one sent in the history we know,” he said. “Yamamoto sent five fleet carriers and a light carrier, with four battleships, seven cruisers and 19 destroyers. We have half the carriers and battleships, though we’re fairly thick on the lighter ships. That’s the Tone over there, behind Taiho, and I’ve spotted a couple light cruisers anchored with the Hiyo and Junyo. The real operation had no land assault planned. We’ll have to protect those troops, and handle anything the enemy throws at us, and with just 150 planes compared to the 350 Nagumo had. I don’t like it, but I wasn’t stupid enough to say anything in there.”
“You left out one ship Hara has that was never there before,” said Harada with a smile. “So we’ll just have to fill in for those shortfalls you mention. Those battleships look pretty mean as well. Any idea what the British will have?”
“Admiral James Somerville,” said Fukada for a start. “He was no slouch, and if the history here rhymes at all, he’ll have a pair of Illustrious class carriers, the light carrier Hermes, as many as five battleships and cruisers, and destroyers to match us pound for pound.”