“Right,” said Harada. “His primary threat is to important capital ships the Navy needs to sustain operations. That’s why Yamamoto pulled all the best ships south. He was counting on us taking Mizuchi out, and when we let him down, that was his only smart option.”
“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.”
It was actually worse than Fukada knew, for the intrepid Christopher Wells had arrived with HMS Formidable, and now the British would also match the Japanese plane for plane, though the edge in carrier operations and actual aircraft was still held by the Japanese. Yet it was going to be a much more ambitious operation than the historical raid, and with the odds much more even.
Harada
was going to have to weigh heavily in the outcome, because Somerville had been alerted to the operations, and he was already making preparations to put out to sea and intercept it.
* * *
The move up through the Strait of Malacca was accomplished without incident. Takami was well out in front, her radars scanning the sea and sky ahead, sonars listening for any enemy that might be lurking beneath the sea. On the 24th of September she was steaming about 15 nautical miles off Port Blair, and they had a helo up to give them a look over the island. Nothing had been seen due north, and Fukada asserted that Somerville would not be there, but Harada knew they were in a different game now, and he was taking no chances. Once they were confident nothing was east of Andaman Island, he turned west, intending to approach Port Blair and cover the landing operation there by those SNLF troops, with the light cruiser Sendai.
The port was at the southern tip of the big Andaman island. The smaller Rutland island nearly kissed the tip of Andaman, and some 20 miles south of that, was Little Andaman. Hara was taking his carriers south of Little Andaman Island, intending to move west of the long main island to begin his approach to Ceylon. Ozawa was heading instead for the 20-mile-wide channel, and that was where Takami would be heading soon.
It was then that the enemy showed his first teeth. A pair of fighters came out of the northwest, and Harada presumed they were simply out on a recon operation. He gave them a pass, knowing the enemy coast watchers at Port Blair must have already reported the approaching Japanese ships. But at 11:30 hours that morning, eight more contacts were seen approaching the island on the same vector at about 24,000 feet, and cruising at 195 knots.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” said Fukada. “That has to be a strike group. Probably torpedo bombers off Somerville’s carriers.”
“The ship will come to battle stations,” said Harada. “Stand up the SM-2s. We can spend a few to make sure those troops get ashore.”
The strike wave hit the western shore of Andaman Island at 11:38, and Harada gave orders to get after them at the 20 nautical mile range. The first missile was away at 11:40, just as the enemy planes, a group of 8 Barracudas, were descending to make their attack approach. They saw the contrails coming, yet much too fast to be from enemy fighters. Instinct serving, they continued their diving descent, thinking to get down and avoid the threat, but the missiles were not in any way fooled.
The crewmen on the Japanese transport Tatekawa Maru saw those contrails too, and now their blood froze, for they did exactly what all the rumors had been reporting, climbing into the sky, then descending. Several thought their ships were now under attack, and fearful shouts of Mizuchi were heard. Gunners on the cruiser Sendai even started firing at them, though they had no chance to hit those sleek arrows. Then to their great surprise and relief, the Japanese saw those rockets fly right over their ships, streaking towards the northwest. There they now saw the distant specks of enemy planes in the sky, and the gunners on the Sendai were retraining their weapons in that direction.
They saw the missiles home true, infallibly tracking and hunting those planes. Then the first exploded in a bright orange fireball, and the fearful shouts turned to cheers. “They have missed us!” one man shouted. “They have gone after their own planes!”
More explosions followed, and in those first hot minutes, four of the eight enemy planes were blasted from the sky, with one other suffering fragment damage from one of its dying comrades. The three remaining planes were getting lower, swooping over the long inlet of the bay and turning to come around and take the Japanese ships from the south.
“Three more,” said Harada. “I know it’s a lot to spend, but if they get one torpedo off it could deep six one of those transports. Then what good are we here?”
So they fired, three more precious SM-2s, and the result was inevitable. The missiles ran true, tracked their targets, and killed them, and Somerville would get the report five minutes later where he stood with Wells on the bridge of HMS Formidable.
* * *
“Sir,” came the signalman. “We’ve lost them. All eight, sir. They’re gone.”
“Damn!” said Somerville. “They must have seen our recon group and got up fighters. We tried to bugger them, but they were on to us.”
“No sir,” said the man. “It wasn’t Jap Zeros, sir. It was rockets. Bill Whitman was the last, and we heard it clear as day. Rockets, he said. The Japs have naval rockets!”
Somerville’s carriers were in a very good position to stop this little raid by the enemy, about 90 nautical miles slightly northwest of Port Blair. Indomitable was in the lead, followed by Illustrious and then the flagship, Formidable. Six destroyers accompanied them, in three groups of two, and the cruiser force, with Cornwall, Dorsetshire, Emerald, Enterprise and the destroyer Legion were some miles to his southwest steaming for the channel.
“Indeed?” said Somerville, looking at Wells. “Naval rockets is it?” Virtually everyone in the fleet had heard of them. There had been lots of talk of the big battles fought in the North Atlantic, and the Med. But the rockets had always been on their side. To now learn that the enemy had them as well was most disheartening.
“What do you make of this, Mister Wells?”
“I’m not quite sure, sir. I wonder if Admiral Tovey knows about it?” Wells had seen a good deal of action in this war. After saving Glorious, he had served briefly aboard HMS Invincible, and that was where he had his first glimpse of what this was all about. A mysterious ally had joined the Royal Navy, though Wells had never been aboard the ship. He knew it had Naval rockets as its primary weapon of war, but not much more. He certainly did not expect the other side had these weapons, least of all, the Japanese.
Somerville frowned, thinking. He was considering whether he should now launch a second strike, but reports arrived minutes later that the Japanese were landing troops at Port Blair. It was too late. All his planes would hit now were empty transports, as this was most likely a light SNLF battalion of Naval Marines. That would be enough to overcome the small garrison at Port Blair, no more than a company in strength, with a few 40mm Bofors and service troops for the port.
A day late and ten pounds short, he thought. But what we do know is that our enemy is out there, somewhere south of the Andaman Islands, and right where I expected them. We knew the Sunda strait was still too hazardous for them to use. So they had to approach through the Strait of Malacca, which is why I deployed here, and not farther to the southwest. I must move that way now, and seek to cut him off as he approaches Ceylon.
It was sound military thinking, but a maneuver he would soon find fraught with danger.
Part III
Pearl of Great Price
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
— Matt. 13:46-47
Chapter 7
It would come to be called the Pearl Harbor of the West, an effort by Yamamoto to smash the main British bastion in the Indian Ocean and drive them all the way back to Madagascar and Cape Town. If successful, it would be the perfect complement to the Army’s operation then underway in Burma, which had already seized Rangoon, and now intended to drive the British back into India. After that, Japan would stand on defense there, and no further offensive operations against India or Africa were contemplated.
The Army’s sobering experience in China had led it to determine that it could simply not invade another country as populous as India. There was too much ground, and the British would have an almost endless source of manpower for recruits that would likely flock to their banners after such an invasion. They already had great forces there in the British Indian Army, so it would be enough to drive them from Burma, and then secure that flank. Hara’s Operation C was the naval element, aiming to supplant Britain’s valuable naval bases at Colombo and Trincomalee with Japanese forces. From there, Japanese air power could pose a constant t
hreat to enemy shipping in the Bay of Bengal, and force British convoys to Australia deeper into the Indian Ocean.
Hara’s carrier group was 150 sea miles southeast of Port Blair when Takami fought its first defensive duel against those incoming Barracudas. They had traded seven irreplaceable missiles for eight enemy planes, which was the dilemma of these interlopers from the future. Every time they used the power they possessed, they grew weaker.
Receiving that report, Hara dispatched a pair of Zeros off Taiho to overfly the channel between the Big and Little Andaman Islands where Ozawa intended to take his task force. That was where Takami was now heading, and the planes would vector in on her coordinates, and then proceed northwest for a recon sortie. A little before 13:00 local time, the fighters made their rendezvous with Takami, and proceeded north.
“Come to 300,” said Harada, noting the time. They were now going to run up towards the Sentinel Island, passing south of that and continuing on this heading to scout the way into the Bay of Bengal. Ozawa’s Cruiser Force was just under seventy miles due east as they made that turn, bound to make that same transit of the channel. Eight minutes later, that recon sortie produced results when the Zeros spotted large wakes combing the sea.
“Sir,” said Shiota, “I am monitoring a signal from Scout 1. They have numerous contacts, 60 to 70 nautical miles out. Several destroyers and cruiser class ships, and three carriers. They now report the enemy is launching planes.”
“Notify Hara immediately.”
“Aye sir.” Shiota passed the information on to Ensign Teppo. She was at the comm station to be ears, but any communications with the Japanese fleet would go through Teppo’s mouth. It still would not do to have a woman make such a call in 1942.
Thor's Anvil (Kirov Series Book 26) Page 6
