“But you have just told me you have no further offensive capability.”
“But you do, sir. Your carriers do, and if enough of them were grouped in one massive attack, you might get hits, and it will only take one or two to cause significant damage. Modern ships are not well armored. Their defense relies on missiles.”
“I see,” said Yamamoto. “Yet that would put every carrier I might assign to such a mission at risk. Surely that is the case in every operation of war, but Mizuchi seems to hit anything it fires at. Nagumo’s description of the death of Hiryu was none too pleasant.”
“They failed to hit Takami,” said Fukada. “And they tried thirteen times. In the same way, the missiles we still have could protect your carriers, and then it would be simply a matter of swarming the defender with as many planes as possible.”
“You are forgetting the speed demons,” said Harada, prompting Yamamoto to give him a quizzical look. “I’m sorry sir, but the last missile Mizuchi fired at us, the one I mentioned earlier, was very fast—twice the speed of the first twelve we defeated. The missiles we fired at it failed to acquire the target, and it was only our last ditch inner defense that scored the lucky hit. Yet if it had failed to do so, Takami would most likely have been sunk. If the enemy has more of these fast missiles, then our ability to defend your carriers may not be absolute.”
“True,” said Fukada, “but if we do not attack, and Takami expends its remaining missiles in other operations, then your chances of killing Mizuchi diminish considerably.”
“So you are saying we may have only one last chance,” said Yamamoto. “I understand. And if the enemy has more missiles than you believe, and they are these speed demons, as Captain Harada describes them, then what?”
Before Fukada could argue that away, Harada spoke up first. “If they were to fire a salvo of four or five such missiles, assuming they still had them, then we might get one of them, two at the most. The others would reach a target. And one thing more. This ship also carries torpedoes—533mm with a 300kg warhead capable of ranging out 50 kilometers. It also has another model that is one part rocket, and one part torpedo. It fires into the water, ignites its rocket engine while submerged, then emerges from the sea to approach the target. It can then deploy as a torpedo, or a depth charge in the sea, and that rocket extends the range to 120 kilometers.”
“Quite sobering,” said Yamamoto. “That is three times the maximum range of our Type 93 torpedoes. Hopefully it would miss at such a range. Our own units do not fire the Type 93 at its maximum range for that same reason.”
“Unfortunately, this torpedo will be much more accurate than your Type 93. It uses what we call inertial guidance, not the best way to find a target, but much better than anything used in this war. The fact that it closes most of the range as a rocket in the sky, is also a factor. Hopefully we might be able to shoot one down, unless it deploys into the sea again as a torpedo.”
Yamamoto nodded. “I will consider what you have said here. Risking the carriers also gambles with the edge we presently have relative to the Americans. They are the real enemy. I do not think Mizuchi could ever win the war against us, or that the Siberians could ever successfully invade Japan. As for the Americans….”
“Agreed, sir.” Harada decided not to speak of the possibility that Kirov harbored nuclear weapons. Instead he focused on the battle against the United States. “The next six to eight months will be decisive. Mizuchi certainly remains a threat, but for now, at this moment, the carriers still rule the Pacific. So fight your war as you would if our ship were never here, Admiral. Fight your war with those carriers, and win.”
Yamamoto nodded. “I thank you for your cooperation, and your enthusiasm, in spite of the recent setbacks. In considering that, I wish to ask one more thing. We know the Americans are building a new class of aircraft carrier. What can you tell me about this?”
“The Essex Class,” said Fukada. “Those ships will form the heart of the US naval force in this war. They are over 60 feet longer and wider abeam than the Yorktown Class, and much heavier at nearly 37,000 tons, full load. Later models will get even heavier, but they are still every bit as fast as Yorktown was at 32 knots. They will also have much better anti-aircraft defense, and over 60mm of armor on the main flight deck. These were fairly durable ships, with 100mm side armor as well. They also have an interesting innovation in the deployment of a deck-edge elevator in addition to two inboard elevators. But their real virtue is the air wing, at least 90 planes, and the Yorktown carried up to 110.”
“Yorktown? We sunk that ship.”
“They will rename many of their new Essex Class carriers after the ships they lost early in the war—Yorktown, Lexington, and Hornet will all sail again as new Essex Class carriers, and I suppose the Wasp, if you manage to sink that one.”
“All of them? How many of these carriers will they build?” asked Yamamoto.
“The first arrives this year, the Essex. In 1943, six more join the fleet, and in 1944 they will commission another seven, with at least three more ready in 1945…. Before the war ends, if it does end the way it did before.”
“Then they are presently building more carriers than we started the war with,” said Yamamoto.
“And that is just the Essex Class,” said Fukada.
“They will also deploy a light carrier, the Independence Class, ships that were converted from their Cleveland Class Cruisers. They will carry only 33 aircraft, but they will commission at least nine of those ships in 1943.”
“Bringing nearly 300 more enemy planes to sea,” said Yamamoto, somewhat discouraged. “This was my greatest fear, that tremendous industrial might of the United States. They will build new carriers faster than we can sink them!”
“Unfortunately, sir, I must regretfully report that not one of the Essex Class Carriers were sunk in the war. Many were hit and damaged, but none sunk.”
“Yet that history may not repeat,” said Harada. “You have already inflicted more losses on the American Carrier fleet than occurred in the history we know. At the moment, the Americans remain very vulnerable.”
“But six months from now they should have at least three new Essex Class carriers,” Fukada warned, “and five of the smaller Independence Class.” He wanted no misunderstanding as to what may be coming.
“So in that time they will replace all their losses,” said Yamamoto, “and they will match our fleet carrier for carrier, including the ships we presently have nearing completion. This is exactly what I feared, and why I had to go to the Emperor to request we activate the emergency fleet expansion program. We call it the shadow fleet, and phase one of this program was already activated in 1940, for many of our own carriers were converted from battlecruisers, seaplane tenders and even fast tankers or ocean liners. All three ships in the Tosa Class were once battlecruisers, and now I must share yet another state secret with you. The Tosa Class battlecruisers were not the only hulls completed for new ships of that nature. Four hulls were laid down in our Amagi Class, and two hulls in the Kii Class. Only two of those six ships were ever commissioned as actual battlecruisers, our Amagi and Kagami, but the other hulls have been fitted out with propulsion systems, and all the interior spaces are completed—except they were not designed as battlecruisers, but carriers.”