“No sir,” said Harada. “To have any chance at all against a ship like that, it was necessary to fire everything we had in one salvo. Admittedly, the odds were long, but we at least had some chance of scoring a hit. As I have told you, our ship was primarily designed as an air defense fleet asset. We are meant to operate in a task force of similar ships, guarding other important fleet assets.”
“Your modern day carriers?”
“Such as we have. The Japan of 2021 does not have very many aircraft carriers. A few helicopter carriers are now receiving a new plane, but otherwise, our navy was prohibited from building carriers, because they were deemed to be an offensive weapon, and the force was merely designed for defense after Japan’s defeat in this war.”
“I see…” said Yamamoto. There was that word again, defeat, and it was a hard one to bear. The images he had seen in the library of the Takami still haunted him, the burned out cities, the image of Musashi dying that gallant but horrible death. For all the power he felt beneath him as they sat there in his stateroom aboard Yamato, he knew his own flagship was also fated for destruction. It all seemed inevitable now, just as he feared at the opening of this war. It all seemed to be written, as it was in that library, and how could he ever hope to write that history otherwise? He realized, even now, that Japan had gone to war with the United States without any clear plan on how that enemy would be defeated.
“So now you are a fleet defense asset,” he said to Harada. “You have no further offensive capability?”
“We have a few torpedoes, though they are also defensive weapons, largely for use against enemy submarines. The explosive charge is under 100 pounds, only ten percent as compared to your own Type 93 torpedo. We might use some of our anti-aircraft missiles in an anti-shipping role, but only against very lightly armored targets. They would not put much hurt on a cruiser or even an American carrier of this era.”
“But this Mizuchi… It still has such weapons that can hit our ships?”
“If I may, sir,” said Fukada, “we aren’t exactly certain how many missiles they have, but twenty is a normal loadout on their main ship killers. They fired thirteen at us, and we stopped them all, except the one that struck Haruna.”
“Thirteen?” said Yamamoto. “Interesting. They have already fired three at my carriers, so that make sixteen. And they fired three at Mutsu and Chikuma, so that makes 19. Are you suggesting they may only have one more of these naval rockets at their disposal?”
“We don’t know that for certain,” said Harada. “Yes, twenty is a normal loadout, but they may have been carrying more—at least they seemed to suggest they had a loaded gun still pointed at my head when we spoke with them.”
“Spoke with them?” This surprised Yamamoto.
“Yes,” said Harada, “we had a nice little parley with the enemy in the middle of the fight. They threatened us with further harm unless we withdrew. I called their bluff, but nothing else came of it. In the end, withdrawal was the wiser course, and I strongly recommended that to Kurita, though I know he wasn’t happy about it.”
“Very well,” said Yamamoto. “Even if this ship does have only one more of these rockets, it only took one to sink the Hiryu and one to send Akagi into the docks for four months. Let us assume they have at least that many, and possibly more.”
“I believe they do have more sir,” said Harada. “Missiles are bundled in groups, and then mounted in silos or compartments beneath the deck. They fired twelve of one type missile at us, a very deadly model that we call the Sunburn. It took a good many of our own missiles to stop them, but we got them all. Then, near the end of the engagement, they fired a different kind of missile at us, much faster, though with a smaller warhead. We used a special defense system I have not spoken of to target and kill this missile, but the point I am making is that it would be rare, indeed very odd, if such a missile were mounted alone. In fact, they are designed to work in groups and be fired in salvos. They hunt like a pack of wolves, and are even able communicate with each other and make independent decisions about targeting assignments. No, it would have to be in a module or group like the other missiles we faced. For this reason, I suggest they have more of that type. A small group might see four in one underdeck compartment, so I would say they have at least three more.”
“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.”