“Very well,” he said firmly. “I accept your invitation, Captain Harada.”
“But sir,” said Ugaki, as Yamamoto expected he would. “Meaning no offense to these officers here, but if you are to board that ship, then a strong contingent of Naval Marines must accompany you. While these men seem accommodating, I do not have to remind you that they appear here under very unusual circumstances, and there has been more than one threat to your life.”
“Of course,” said Yamamoto. “Does the Captain have any objection to this?”
“Only one sir… The matter of secrecy. The fewer eyes, the fewer mouths to speak of what they have seen. You are both men of character and indisputable judgment. Your discretion in this matter could never be doubted. Yet a contingent of Naval Marines?”
“Yes, like those that accompanied you to Yamato,” said Ugaki, his tone hardening again.
“Gentlemen,” said Yamamoto. “I have long ago ceased to concern myself with my personal fate in regards to these foolish death threats. Karma is karma, and life is very short. But to satisfy the concerns of Admiral Ugaki, the forward turret of this battleship will be loaded and trained on your ship. I will board with Admiral Ugaki, however, should I fail to return within an allotted period of time….”
“I understand,” said Captain Harada. “Sir, as these are most unusual circumstances, as Admiral Ugaki correctly points out, I accept. Damage to our ship would be a tragedy, given its power to influence events here. Yet it will not be your guns that will keep you secure, but my word. I will personally guarantee the safety and security of your lives, swearing now on my honor and that of all my ancestors.”
“Then let us hope they rest peacefully,” said Ugaki.
The bargain was struck. Captain Harada could hardly believe they had been able to pull it off, but curiosity is one of the most powerful lures in history, and he knew that both these Admirals were now very eager to get answers to the unanswered questions in their minds. Yet when they do get them, will the shock be too much for them to believe? Right now we are no more than an unknown entity, a secret project with what looks like a very interesting bag of tricks. But when these men see the touch screen radar and control sets on the bridge? When they see the video of themselves on that weather deck as captured by our helo operator, what then? A missile was one thing, our technology is quite another. HD video alone would be astounding to any man of this era.
One thing at a time. Now we move to phase two of our little plan. The crew will all be waiting in dress whites, and we’ll make a fine show of this visit. Then, after the magic, it’s the formal dinner in the officer’s mess, and the one conversation that might end this war before it goes any further.
It was as good a plan as they could have conceived, one that allowed them fidelity to their own nation and people, while also trying to mend fences and bring about peace with nations that would become firm allies in the decades ahead. But they would not be the only ones to make revelations during this visit, and things they would hear were going to set their course into dangerous waters, sooner than anyone thought.
Chapter 26
When Yamamoto saw the interior of DDG-180, he was dumbstruck. He had been piped aboard with all due ceremony, saluting the lines of officers and crewmen in starched white uniforms. With a good memory for faces, he found himself looking over the lines, thinking he would see men there he might have known, but they were as fresh and new as the ship itself. They were ushered inside a nearby hatch, and made their way down the corridors and up ladders to the heart of the main conning section. Yet it was not men with binoculars on high towers that kept the watch here, but the unseen eyes of high speed solid state digital electronics.
Takami was unlike any ship he had ever set foot on. The Combat Information Center was astonishing. There, in the velvety blue semi-darkness, officers sat in a long row before an array of lighted panels displaying colorful maps, with phosphorescent green radar fans tracking contacts all through the region. The Admiral clearly recognized the outline of the bay where they were anchored, realizing that these must be the advanced radars. Captain Harada even pointed out a contact on one screen, saying that was the battleship Yamato.
The Admiral stared in awe, watching the things the men were doing with what looked to be flat typewriters sitting before them. Yet he could not take his eyes from the colorful screens, seeing the men simply touch them with a fingertip to change the information being displayed. He had absolutely no reference point for them, and could not even begin to imagine what they were, and how they worked. His eyes strayed to Admiral Ugaki, seeing the perplexed look on the man’s face. They were seeing things that they simply could not understand, and the longer they were there, the disquiet that fell on them deepened.
Captain Harada perceived their mood, and gestured to a table and chairs that had been cleared for just this visit. “Admiral,” he said. “This is the room that receives signals sent from our radar equipment. It is displayed on these screens, analyzed, and tracked. If this ship were in combat, each and every enemy aircraft or ship would be shown on these screens, and to strike one, my officers need to simply touch the contact with a fingertip, or use another pointing device. That command would then launch a missile like the one we demonstrated, and it will unerringly find, track, and kill the designated target. This ship is capable of tracking and engaging, scores of contacts at any given time. In effect, we could easily destroy the entire air wing of an aircraft carrier, and well before the pilots of those planes could ever come into visual contact with us.”
Yamamoto sat in silence for a moment, then turned and simply asked one question. “Captain, where was this ship built?”
Harada looked at Fukada, who sat dutifully at his side, realizing this was a first moment of truth. “At the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Naval Plant, Nagasaki.”
“Nagasaki shipyard? I know that facility well. Musashi was built there, but this ship… all these flashing lights, those strange displays you speak of—they could never have been built at that plant.”
“No sir,” said Harada, looking the Admiral directly in the eye. “Not today. Not in the 1940s. The equipment and technology that you see here all around you is something that no industry in Japan could design or build today. The rockets we possess, with their advance capabilities, are also beyond the understanding of your engineers.”
“But the Russians have these things,” said Yamamoto. “They have given them to the Siberians, or so we have come to believe. They have even used these naval rockets against us in battle, which is why I gave you such wide latitude here when I saw that rocket fired from your ship. The men who died on the carrier Hiryu also bore witness to the power of these new weapons, as did Admiral Nagumo when the Kido Butai was attacked on its return leg from Pearl Harbor. We know the Russians have an advanced ship with these weapons, because it has bedeviled the Germans and Italians for months in the west. Now it is here, and then you come on the scene, in a ship no one has ever heard of. Was this advanced equipment, this ship, all obtained from the Russians?”