1943 (Kirov Series Book 27)

by John Schettler

  Another challenger was the Mitsubishi Ki-83, a long range twin engine fighter that was first inspired by the appearance of the American P-38. The Mitsubishi version had the same hitting power of the Ki-87, but a range of just over 1200 miles. The Japanese had not called for such designs until 1943, when it was already too late to see them produced. Volkov had called for them in 1941, and delivered secret documents to designers like Tomio Kubo working for Mitsubishi. He made sure the Takajiwa company was also in the race with their Ki-94, a sweet high altitude interceptor that incorporated many features being built into the American Mustangs. Tatsuo Hasegawa was the man behind the plane, and Volkov also passed him documents to smooth the way toward his vision.

  A third designer, Miki Tadano, had dreams of speed from an early age and would one day design Japan’s first “Bullet Train.” In WWII, he put his imagination and skills to work on the design of a bomber that would be as fast as a Zero, but have the range of a G3M, the plane the Allies called “Betty.” They would call his new brainchild “Francis,” the P1Y Medium Bomber, and it would come to production a full six months early. That was the plane the Navy would choose to carry its Okha Cherry Blossom man-guided missile bombs, though no one knew that just yet.

  When Yamamoto learned how the war once ended, he was also deeply disturbed. Dazzled by the performance of Naval rockets as both a strike and defensive weapon, he initially hoped Japan would be able to produce them. When he learned of the Okha Cherry Blossom project, and the entire notion of the Kamikaze behind it, he shrugged, wanting something more than such desperate measures.

  While the Zero was still an excellent fighter, the Navy knew it would need a successor soon, and while they accepted the proposed A6M3 designs, the loss of range was a serious concern, and in this history it was rejected until that could be corrected in the A6M3-A variant, which included self-sealing gas tanks, better protection, and a radio that actually worked.

  There was much more that could be done with the existing Zero, and Volkov pointed this out. Its wings could be extended and strengthened to give it much better speed and performance in a dive. The magazine could be increased to at least 100 rounds on the Type 99 cannon, and better machineguns for the wings needed at least 250 rounds. Wing mounted drop tanks extended the range. This plane would actually be put into production in mid-1942 in this reality, and it would receive the designation A6M4 Reisen.

  Beyond that, Volkov would have another answer for Yamamoto as well, suggesting the plans for the many new bomber interceptors might be used to adapt these designs for carriers. One looked very promising, and the N1K Shiden-Kai would be one of those alternate history variants in this war.

  In place of the “Divine Wind” to shield Japan from the ravages of US carriers and bombers, why not opt for planes capable of stopping them? The Army was eyeing the designs of the three companies mentioned above, and now the Navy wanted into the game. The N1K3-A, Model 41 Shiden-Kai, was finally born. The “Violet Lightning” instead of the Divine Wind would be Japan’s shield, and this one was built to fly from carriers. The Americans would come to call the NK1 “George,” perhaps the best enemy fighter they actually faced in the War in the Pacific. In the old history, only 71 came off the production lines in 1943, and no more than 1007 were ever built. Volkov was doing everything possible to see the US would face more Violet Lightning in this war, sooner, and in greater numbers… If Japan could ever build enough to matter.

  The skies over the Pacific would soon be darker and more dangerous, for these superb piston and prop designs would fly much sooner. Production, not design, was now the great liability for Japan. In 1942, the Empire built 8,861 new planes of all types. They would nearly double that number in 1943, building 16,693. In that same time period, the United States built 47,836 planes in 1942, and 85,898 more in 1943. If only a third of those went to the Pacific, the Americans would still bring twice as many planes to the war as Japan in those years. In 1944, the US would build 96,318 new planes, more than Japan, Germany, and the UK combined. That was the grim reality that Yamamoto feared when Japan awoke the sleeping giant.

  For now, however, Halsey could only crow about the Navy’s new Fighter and torpedo bombers beginning to arrive in small numbers. “If this new Hellcat is as good as they say, our boys will do a whole lot better against the Jap Zero,” he said. “And Lexington has all new TBD-5s and the new Avenger torpedo bombers in her strike wings. We’ll see how Lady Lex looks on the dance floor with that new outfit.”

  “Lady Lex?” said Nimitz, somewhat surprised. “Is the crew still calling it that?”

  “Naw, just me. I’ve a soft spot for the name. The crew has taken to calling it the Blue Ghost. I didn’t think we’d have either Lexington or Yorktown this soon, but Essex will be glad to have company. They may be a little raw, but once those pilots get airborne, they’ll know how to fight. I rounded up all the vets I could find from their old ships, so they have a bone to pick. Good men.”

  “Well now they get their second chance,” said Nimitz. He paused, his thoughts lingering somewhere, his eyes on Halsey as he thought. “Bull,” he said. “We’ve got to win this one. If they knock us down here, it will set us back another six months. I’m counting on you.”

  “Admiral, you just point me where you want me to go.”

  “In harm’s way,” said Nimitz. “And may God go with you.”

  Part II

  Everything Honorable

  “It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.”

  —George Washington: 15 NOV 1781

  Chapter 4

  Admiral Tovey had a great deal on his mind, as always, and it was also swirling around ships and planes. The losses had been mounting, and the fleet was beginning to feel the strain. The heavy cruisers have done quite well, he thought, but we’ve taken appalling losses among the light escort cruisers—14 ships sunk, to cut us in half in that vital category. Among the heavier ships we’ve lost Prince of Wales, Rodney, Valiant, Malaya, Queen Elizabeth, Barham, and then Renown. That’s a third of the battle fleet gone, and nothing coming to replace those losses.

  Now that the Torch landings have been covered and carried off, the burden is lessening somewhat, but I still have the problem of re-establishing a secure convoy route to Murmansk, and now, the loss of Ceylon has been a major setback in the Indian Ocean. Those two valuable bases at Colombo and Trincomalee are now in Japanese hands, and those equally valuable aircraft carriers, Formidable and Illustrious, went down trying to defend that island. That makes three gone now, along with Courageous, and only the little escort carriers have come along to replace them. I suppose Somerville was lucky he was able to save Indomitable. We had no business trying to mix it up with the Japanese carrier squadrons. They’re just too skilled at that type of warfare, and our ships are not up to snuff when it comes to the carriers.

  It was then that a knock came on the door, and in walked Admiral Fraser. Tovey had been expecting him, and the two men shook hands warmly. Fraser, along with Cunningham in the Eastern Med, was now one of Tovey’s ‘recruits’ to the ranks of the secret organization established within the Royal Navy known as the Watch. Its original purpose had been to keep watch for a mysterious Russian raider, but those moments existed now only within the mind of Tovey himself, and that of Alan Turing. Both men had been plagued with these strange feelings of déjà vu, odd recollections, snippets of memories they thought they had lived, and then there was that file box in the archive at Bletchley Park that seemed to document it all.

  Little by little, Tovey was waking up. He was able to take hold of those memories now, and trace them back to their roots. He was remembering. Fraser still struggled with his own recollection of the events he experienced, unable to make any sense of the memories, which seemed to have him in the Pacific. Tovey listened with a very understanding ear when he spoke of them, but decided he could do nothing to spe
ed things along. Fraser would either remember, or not, and in his own good time if he ever did.

  Now the purpose of the Watch involved something else, still a guarded watch on the seas as always, for if one ship like the Russian battlecruiser Kirov could appear, and then the submarine Kazan, the Argos Fire, and the Funnies, what might turn up next?

  Today’s meeting with Admiral Fraser was to discuss a few other mysterious ships, not at large on the high seas, but right in the slip yards and dry docks of the kingdom. A year ago, Fraser had taken some interest in the little engagement involving a pair of small American hybrid cruiser/carriers in the New Hebrides. They had intervened at a critical moment to defend a vital convoy, engaged and sunk the French carrier Bearn, and routed their small Pacific Squadron, and even tangled with the Japanese.

  Then, during the Canary Islands, the Germans had sortied with a similar ship, deep into the South Atlantic, and scuttlebutt there was that they had taken a particularly rich prize. He found himself fascinated with the concept of the hybrid ship, and new intelligence now indicated that after the initial losses sustained in the Pacific War, the Japanese were working on several more of these vessels to quickly augment their carrier fleet. The Americans also rushed to complete two more in the same class, converting their Cleveland Class cruisers to these light, fast battle carriers that could carry a dozen planes.

  The two men discussed that for a moment. “They might do well as convoy escorts,” said Tovey. “They would have the guns and speed to get after U-boats on the surface, and the planes to spot and attack them from the air. They wouldn’t stand against a serious minded German raider, but there’s another issue here—the Germans. They’re getting ready to commission another fleet carrier up north, and we still have to consider the two carriers they have in the Med. If they ever manage to get them all together, they’d have themselves a nice little fleet. Those Stukas were quite bothersome when we faced down Admiral Lütjens. Hood knows it, as does our lately departed Renown. Repulse is still in the dockyards as well.”

  “That brings me to the main point of this discussion,” said Fraser, “Repulse. That project is coming along nicely. In fact, I’m told the ship can start sea trials soon—a little something to ease the sting after losing Formidable and Illustrious. I didn’t think the Admiralty would listen to me when I put the idea forward. The Director of Naval Gunnery called my idea an abortion.”

  “I rather think he meant abomination,” said Tovey.

  “And he went so far as to say the entire concept was the result of a psychological maladjustment in naval thinking. Can you imagine that?” Fraser gave Tovey an indignant look. “Good that I had seniority over that man. Repulse was the perfect trial for this concept. You and I both know that trying to put more armor on her to let her stand with ships the Germans were throwing at us wasn’t going to get round the block. The day of the battlecruiser has come and gone, but the day of the aircraft carrier is well upon us now, and we need to stay in the game.”

  So Fraser had put forward the idea of converting Repulse to a carrier, but still retaining her forward 15-inch gun turrets. All that damaged superstructure was removed, and instead of taking nine months to rebuild it, an armored flight deck was laid down in its place. The interior spaces were cleared out to allow for 24 aircraft, and Britain would now have her first hybrid battlecarrier, even faster than the Repulse was as a battlecruiser at 32 knots. In her first trial at sea, with all new boilers, the ship ran at 34 knots.

  “Think of that ship on convoy escort,” said Fraser.

  “I might do so, but the problem I have with hybrid designs is that the ship seems to have an odd sort of identity crisis. Is it a carrier, or a battleship? In either category, it becomes a weaker, less capable ship than one built with a single purpose in mind. You fight these ships quite differently. Battleships are hunters, built to intercept and destroy enemy capital ships in a good gunfight. Carriers hang back, like a woman in skirts. They flirt with their planes and wave from afar, but never want to let the other fellow get close enough to plant a kiss. So then… if I deploy Repulse as part of a battleship task force, perhaps as a scout, what happens if she were out in front and encountered the Tirpitz? She’s certainly out gunned. Just one good hit on that flight deck puts it out of business, and even two turrets up front won’t be enough to let her stand and argue with Tirpitz.”

  “Ah, but her planes can let her find the enemy before they get close,” said Fraser. “They won’t be flirting and waving, but dropping thousand pound bombs and torpedoes. If Tirpitz gets cheeky and tries to close the range, then Repulse has the speed to avoid an unwanted encounter, like a proper lady. Now then, suppose this German raider is something else—a young buck? A Hipper class heavy cruiser wouldn’t dare show its face against those 15-inch guns. If such a ship gets too forward, Repulse would slap it easily enough. You see? It’s the old argument that led us to build battlecruisers in the first place—strong enough to beat any cruiser they encounter, and fast enough to outrun anything that can outgun her.”

  “Not quite,” said Tovey. “Don’t forget the Kaiser Wilhelm. That ship has six 15-inch guns, and can run two knots faster than your new hybrid Repulse.”

  “Academic,” said Fraser. “I’ll match those 24 aircraft on Repulse against that third 15-inch turret on Kaiser Wilhelm, and we’ll see who comes off the better. In any case, that nasty little Kaiser is nicely bottled up in the Med, where I hope we’ll keep it. Without Hindenburg to lead the way, the Germans have kept that one safely out of the game at Toulon.”

  “That’s where Bismarck is,” said Tovey, “and the Germans are very close to getting that ship back into service. Along with the Normandie, now Fredric de Gross, they will still pose a grave threat. Another problem with Repulse is that she had short legs—only 4,000 nautical miles.”

  “We’ll get her up to 5,000 as a carrier,” Fraser put in.

  “Less than half what an Illustrious Class carrier can give us,” Tovey countered, “and she’ll carry only half as many planes. You see, when such a ship is acting as a carrier, she hasn’t got punch, and a carrier has no business trying to slug it out with another ship built for surface action. All that aviation fuel and ordnance for the planes is just too volatile. So if this is something to be avoided, then why put the guns there in the first place? Why not just build a carrier?” Tovey thought he had a good argument with that, until Fraser reminded him of something.

  “Do you recall that encounter with HMS Glorious in the Norwegian Sea?”

  “Who could forget that. The young man Wells saved that ship damn near single handed, just as Admiral Volsky saved our HMS Invincible.”

  “Well now,” Fraser smiled. “I wonder if the Twins would have wanted to mix it up with Repulse if they had found her. She’d be lobbing 15-inch shells their way before the Germans could close the range, and our Fulmars and Albacores would be all over those rascals in short order.”

  “I suppose you might have a point with that. Yet now that we’ve put Gneisenau down, the new Twins are Bismarck and Tirpitz. I don’t think your new hybrid design would discourage those two sea demons.”

  “Lütjens had them together in the Atlantic and we held our own,” said Fraser. “And may I remind you that it was the Stukas off the German carrier that put that serious damage on Hood.”

  “Thank god we haven’t got this Graf Zeppelin to worry about any longer,” said Tovey. “But we do have to worry about his brother, Peter Strasser. Admiral, you do make some good points here. If you ask me if I’d rather have Repulse back as a battlecruiser, or as this hybrid, then I think I’d side with you. You are correct, the planes by far outweigh that third 15-inch turret from a military standpoint. Repulse might help out in the Norwegian Sea, or even in the Atlantic, I’ll grant you that, but we’ll need something a little better for the Pacific. Implacable and Indefatigable are in the works, but a long way from being ready. They’ll carry over 80 planes, just like the new American carriers, and still run at 32 knot
s. In the meantime, while we wait for them, Somerville is sitting on his thumbs at Madagascar and hoping the Japanese don’t get a notion to take that island as well. He’s no offensive capability at all, and can barely serve to try and safeguard the Winston Special convoys to Australia.”

  “Suppose I could give you something with the same capability of Implacable this year,” Fraser teased. “That’s where my idea concerning those hulls for the Lion Class comes in. This time our Mister Goodall, the Director of Naval Construction, said I should look to building out the Audacious Class carrier concept on those hulls.”

  “Audacious Class?”

  “That’s the reworked carrier design with dual hangar decks. I’m afraid we won’t get anything like that in this war. But those Lion class hulls were just sitting there begging to be useful.”

  “Ah, yes, we once thought the splendid cats were going to prowl the seas again, but work was stopped on those. I thought the orders were cancelled?”

  “Not at all,” said Fraser. “My good man, I took this little problem right to the Former Naval Person to see what he might think, and did so just after the DNC wrote that cancellation order for the Lion Class, in 1939.”

  “Indeed?” Tovey inclined his head. “And what did Mister Churchill think?”

  “Not much in the beginning, though he said he would try to see the work along, particularly on those new 16-inch gun turrets. However, shortly after Hood took that hit, he told me that he wanted them built out as fast carriers, and as quickly as possible. You see, if we try to build them out as fast battleships, the job will never be done in time. He agreed with my argument on that point.”

  “And here I was hoping for some good fast battleships to run with Invincible,” said Tovey. “Lion is to become a carrier?”

  “We won’t be using that name,” said Fraser with a wave of his hand. “Too much like the German tanks for my liking. The other two hulls were going to be Conqueror and Thunderer, a bit difficult to roll off the tongue, so I suggested Incomparable.”