1943 (Kirov Series Book 27)

by John Schettler

  Nagumo was a carrier man, and thought it best to leave the big guns to the battleships. If he ever found himself needing to use those two 15-inch gun turrets against an enemy ship, he simply wasn’t doing his job as a carrier commander. They would not fire quick enough, or have the necessary accuracy to engage enemy destroyers, and any battleship he might encounter should be dealt with by his planes before it ever came anywhere near this ship.

  The navy simply can’t make up its mind, he thought. But behind that was the realization that this conversion must have been ordered just after Pearl Harbor. The Hiryu had been hit on the way home by that rocket weapon, just one single rocket, yet it was immolated in a matter of minutes, striking the ship with so many of its aircraft armed and fueled.

  Mizuchi, he thought. That monster took down Hiryu, and then it beat both Mutsu and Chikuma to piles of floating scrap metal. Not even the new missile destroyer we have was able to stop it. How could the Siberians have such advanced weaponry? And yet we have them as well. I spoke with Kurita in Japan, and he told me he saw our rockets firing at those of the enemy, and we were finally able to destroy them. If we also have these weapons, why doesn’t this Takami simply replenish and get after this beast again? And why aren’t they installed on any of these new ships? I have 25mm AA guns in abundance, but no rockets. Those five fast destroyers could use them like aerial torpedoes, yet not one rocket graces the deck of any of these ships. Something is very strange about all of this.

  Nagumo knew of Takami, and he had seen the rocket weapon that hit Hiryu with his own eyes. Yet he knew nothing of the real origin of either ship. That was a secret known only to Yamamoto and Ugaki.

  Chapter 20

  Efate – Code name ROSE

  On the 18th of January, the Americans filled the vacuum left by the withdrawal of Yamamoto’s carriers when the 1st USMC Parachute Battalion arrived off shore on three fast transports. The French garrison was caught by surprise, and was therefore unable to effectively oppose the landing at Mele Bay, which was bounded on two sides by peninsulas.

  While it made a decent anchorage, the Americans knew that they could not simply sail into Mele Bay for these landings, which would expose the transports to shore battery fire from any guns that might be set up on the two peninsulas that framed the bay.

  To the northwest, the thicker peninsula was about 4.5 miles wide at the base, and extended about 5.5 miles to the southwest. It rose from shallow coal studded beaches to a flat grassy plain with scattered stands of trees, which were thicker near the shore. At its farthest end was Devil’s Point, where there were two small bays no more than a mile wide. The southeast frame of the bay was a much smaller extension of land, no more than a mile and a half wide and a little over three miles long, ending at Pango Point.

  The battalion did not want to land at Devil’s Point, for it would mean they would have to fight their way along that peninsula before they could reach the main body of the island. Instead they landed on the irregular coastline of the southern Peninsula, between Pango Point and the main settlement of Port Vila. They were able to seize that small peninsula by storm, and the town began right at its base, where they were fighting house to house when the French Garrison was finally turned out to meet them.

  This force would have been outnumbered two to one by the two battalions of the French Tonkin Division, so it was never intended to try and seize the island on its own. The main blow would be delivered by the 8th USMC Regiment the following day. With the French defense mustering near Port Vila, it would land at the base of the larger peninsula at the small village of Mangalilu. There was a narrow road that led from that hamlet across the base of the peninsula to Port Vila. There, the main town hugged the southeast portion of the bay, and right behind it was the airstrip.

  The only Japanese forces on the island were a small aviation support detachment, which had been sent to improve that airfield. They had been working to break up coral to strengthen the bed of Vila Field, and had been able to support the arrival of a small squadron of nine Zeroes. Once the landings occurred, they were so close to that field that it could be taken under mortar fire. So the planes all took off, got tangled up with the American CAP from the scout carriers Shiloh and Antietam that had escorted in the Para Battalion, and then turned away north to Luganville on Espiritu Santo.

  There was one other good anchorage in the north called Havana Harbor. The 8th USMC Regiment landing at Mangalilu was going to send one battalion north to seize the harbor, then cut off that thicker peninsula, isolating any gun positions there before attacking Port Vila from the northwest. Yet the French put up a dogged defense, still steaming from the loss of the Bearn at the hands of these same to American scout carriers. In fact, Admiral Jean Decoux was there at Efate, and saw the arrival of the fast American landing force as if the Americans were adding insult to injury, and making an attempt to capture him personally. There were no French ships in the bay at that time, and he had been planning to fly to Noumea the following day on a small plane, but those travel plans were now impossible. Flustered and on edge, the Admiral got into a car and fled inland to a plantation site near Pang Pang on the other side of the island.

  That afternoon, a squadron of 17 twin engine Nells were sent from Noumea to attempt to strike the American landing ships. But Both Antietam and Shiloh had twelve fighters each, and they were enough to wreak havoc when the raid was detected on radar. Seven Nells were shot down, with two others damaged, and only four got through to actually make attack runs. They had been using bombs instead of torpedoes, and made an ineffective pass over the anchorage, hitting nothing.

  Yet farther north, Admiral Hara’s force was approaching the area, intent on trying to frustrate the American landings. With Halsey over 500 miles to the southeast, and heading for Pago Pago, it would be Spruance on the watch, with two groups. The escort carriers Vicksburg and Gettysburg were farthest north, near the small Vanikoro islands, and Spruance had the Wasp and Enterprise about a hundred miles to the southeast. They were actually heading for Luganville, the other enemy base in the New Hebrides which was beginning to build up its airfield and post small groups of planes. Spruance had permission to hit that base, but the Japanese found those escort carriers before he could close up on the situation.

  Hara had sent a probing attack at the Americans, just 60 planes, with most of them fighters. There were only 10 Vals and 15 Kates in the strike element, but those fighters were enough to sweep the skies over the escort carriers, which had only six or seven planes up each on CAP. The result wasn’t pretty, for the pilots had come off the Tosa, all experienced aviators out for blood. The Kates were carrying bombs for this strike, which was at fairly long range, and the Japanese were skilled enough to get three hits on the Gettysburg, wrecking the small flight deck and starting a bad fire. Vicksburg took one hit from a Val, the bomb falling very near the island.

  That attack sent a shock wave through the US command structure, and Spruance signaled Captain Sherman on the Wasp to turn northwest, put on speed, and prepare to engage enemy carriers. He did not yet know exactly where the enemy was, but had a good guess that they were probably north or west of the Santa Cruz Islands, most likely intending to sneak in and pound Ndeni again when they spotted his picket carriers and landed that sucker punch.

  This was a decision that was somewhat impulsive, given that he had only Wasp and Enterprise at hand. He had no real idea where the enemy was, or in what force, and yet, he was the cop on the beat that hour, and moved to support his comrades as best he could. His only other option would have been to contact Halsey and request support, but the Fighting Admiral was so far away, it could take 18 to 24 hours before he could be on the scene. So this option was tantamount to doing nothing in the mind of Spruance, and he rolled the dice, increasing speed and making ready for battle.

  Yet Hara had no intention of lingering where the enemy might expect him. That night, he turned south, and then slightly west, putting on speed and maneuvering to a position where he mi
ght be able to hit those American landings at Efate a day or so later. He decided to try and deceive the Americans with a feint attack from the north by land based planes on the morning of the 20th. There was a Squadron of old Ki-30 single engine bombers at Luganville that had taken off to make a run at Efate, but they suffered the same fate as the Nells out of Noumea. The fighters off Shiloh and Antietam cut them to pieces, killing 13 of 18, though that defense left them with little ammo and less fuel, which was exactly what Hara intended when he threw a long shot at the area, again with his Kates armed with bombs.

  Captain Hansen got the word from radar that another formation of enemy planes had been spotted to the northwest. “Nothing out there but open ocean,” he said. “Those won’t be from Luganville. Better tell the air crews to turn over those fighters ASAP. Our CAP is thinned down to just three planes.”

  Those crews would be too late, and the price would be two bombs on Antietam. The ship wasn’t seriously damaged, but it was hit badly enough to end flight operations while the crews were fighting a fire. So Hara had been fighting like Muhammad Ali, at long range, and he had been able to deliver two stinging jabs to the lighter American carriers, forcing Vicksburg and Gettysburg to withdraw east. Now he delivered this setback to Hansen’s smaller group. Spruance was beside himself, and he turned his two fleet carriers due west to close the range, but Hara knew exactly where he was.

  The cagey King Kong had maneuvered into the Coral sea, well west of the New Hebrides, and he believed he still had the range to strike his enemy as Spruance rushed west to look for him. This time the strike would be much bigger, nearly 100 planes, with half of them fighters, the remainder being longer range Kates, 26 planes off Junyo and Hiyo, and then another 18 Jills, the new torpedo bomber he had on the Taiho. They were the only strike planes that could go that far, along with the long legged Zero escorts. A scout plane out of Luganville fed that strike the location of Spruance and his carriers, and in they came, hitting at a time when Spruance did not believe his enemy was even close enough to reach him.

  The American had 12 fighters up, all F4F Wildcats, and the decks were scrambling another dozen planes on each carrier. The resulting fighter duel saw them get seven enemy Zeroes, and a good number of those torpedo bombers. The B6N Jills were out in front, and they got the worst of it, with six of the 18 shot down, and another seven damaged. Yet of the five planes that got through to make their attack run three would put their torpedoes right into the guts of the Wasp.

  Then the larger body of Kates arrived, with 11 of the 26 planes getting down to make clear attack runs at the American ships. Those B6Ns had the range to haul their torpedoes, over 1600 nautical miles endurance as compared to only 1075 miles for the B5N Kates. So the Kates were again carrying bombs, but they would be very good that day. Three would rock the Wasp, adding smoke and deck fires to the flooding caused by those torpedo hits. Only one bomb would strike Enterprise, and that did not cause serious damage.

  Yet when it was over, Spruance knew his game was over as well. He had gambled that he could intervene and challenge his enemy, but the presence of those land based search assets on Luganville had given Hara the read edge. He informed Halsey that he had been bushwhacked, with Wasp badly damaged, most of her remaining planes diverted to Ndeni or his own ship.

  “Get out of there!” said Halsey, hopping mad. “Some sly son-of-a-bitch is out there fighting from arm’s length. The only way we can get after him is to close the range and get inside. I’m coming about to get back in this thing. You get Enterprise down near Efate at once. They want to hit the transports there, so that’s where I’m taking my group. Join me by 09:00 tomorrow.”

  Halsey wanted to put one more face card in his hand by adding the Enterprise to his task force, then he believed he would have the cards to go raging after the Japanese, just as he had stopped their 1st Carrier Division earlier. The stricken Wasp was given a destroyer escort and ordered to Suva, limping along at just 8 knots, a thick column of smoke clearly marking her position. If Hara had come east, he could have finished the ship off easily, but instead he went further south, behind New Caledonia, eventually spotted by planes off Shiloh and Antietam. They were still bravely standing watch over that fleet of eight APDs offloading the 8th Marine Regiment at Efate.

  Hansen would have been better off to simply withdraw, because the punch that Hara would now threw at Efate was simply too much for those light escort carriers to defend against. It was led by 31 Zeroes, more planes than Hansen had between his two carriers, for Antietam was already wounded, finally getting temporary flight deck plates down to enable operations again. Halsey was hastening west, but he would not get there in time to prevent what happened next.

  Behind those Zeroes came a massive formation of 55 Vals, finally getting into the action with the range to reach the scene. Yet there was a reason Hara had been able to jab so successfully from extreme long range. Yamamoto had given him virtually every torpedo bomber then available in the South Pacific, all the planes off Akagi, and those of Kaga and Soryu as well. They were crowded on the decks of Tosa and Taiho, their engines sputtering to life and soon taking off to follow the dive bombers in. 88 B5Ns and another 24 B6Ns would come as the main second wave of the attack, and all the planes except the Jills were carrying bombs, intending to pound the American ground troops as well as the transport fleet.

  That sent over 160 strike planes in, and 26 of them would put their ordnance on a ship. They were all stationery targets, though the two scout carriers already had up steam and were racing out of Mele Bay, they would not escape. Shiloh would take four hits, Antietam another five, and neither ship would survive those heavy 1000 pound blows.

  In the middle of the battle, Captain Hansen sent out a frantic plea, right in the clear: “Where is Halsey, we need support! Where is Halsey?” He was still over 300 miles to the east, steaming at full speed. Four more bombs would hit the cruiser Saint Louis before it ended, starting raging fires. A torpedo would also strike cruiser Cleveland, and another four fish would sink the AP Wharton. Eight more bombs would smash the Harris and Zelin. This time, however, Hara was just a day late, for all the ground troops had gone over the netting and made it safely ashore that night, though many supplies were lost on those three APDs.

  Admiral Hara’s little reign of terror had been a stunning success. He had hit Ndeni, sent Vicksburg and Gettysburg back to friendly ports with damage, found Spruance first and mortally wounded the Wasp, then smashed the landing force, sinking two light escort carriers, the brave defenders that had been America’s first light of hope with their little victory escorting the Pensacola Convoy against the French Pacific Fleet. In his mind, he had just avenged the deaths of Gozo and Mezu when Halsey caught them alone the previous year.

  When Admiral Decoux got the news, he grinned ear-to-ear, and took out a bottle of the best wine he could find in the hidden larder at that plantation. He knew his fight here was not over, and it would likely not end well, but he was going to enjoy his last hours in nominal command of the New Hebrides Command while he could.

  For his part, Hara now had a sighting report out of Luganville that informed him of Halsey’s rapid approach. Four enemy fleet carriers had been spotted, the new ships that had so bedeviled Nagumo’s 1st Carrier Division. He briefly considered whether he should remain on station and confront them, then remembered Admiral Yamamoto’s eyes as he asked him that last question. “Kong… now I put what is left of the fleet in your hands. Be cautious, but realize also that we must kill our enemy, not merely dissuade him from engaging us. Yet we cannot afford more losses. Can you do this? Can you win without losing?”

  Hara made his decision. He had already won. Now he would make sure that he would not lose. As soon as his planes were recovered, he gave the order to turn northeast, heading out into the wide deep blue of the Coral Sea under a near full moon. The following morning Halsey’s heavy carrier group would reach the vicinity of Efate, but find no enemy to strike.

  Hara would meet
the oiler Toho Maru in the Coral sea to refuel his thirsty destroyers before continuing on to Rabaul. It was one of the most skillful defensive actions of the entire war, for which Hara would receive the grateful thanks of Admiral Yamamoto. The Second Battle of the New Hebrides would be a resounding Japanese victory, putting enough damage on the American fleet to make up for the wounds sustained by Kaga and Soryu. Most of the pilots that saw the Wasp after it was stricken believed it could not survive such damage, but it did, if only for a while.

  Sherman put most of his crew over the side picked up by the destroyers while Alwyn and Monaghan stood ASW watch. Yet they would soon be outfoxed by one of the most successful Japanese submarine commanders of the early war, Commander Matsumura aboard the I-21.

  He had scored his first victory against the American oil tanker Montebello, sinking that ship just before Christmas off British Columbia. Returning to the South Pacific, the I-21 had the audacity to shell the town of Newcastle north of Sidney, then nailed the USS Porter off the Santa Cruz Islands, the SS Kalingo east of Sidney, pierced the SS Iron Knight’s armor near Twofold Bay, and finally sunk the Starr King Liberty Ship near Port Macquarie. Cdr Matsumura would go on to racked up 44,000 tons, and now he was going to add two more ships and another 21,000 tons by first putting a torpedo into the Destroyer Aylwin, and then putting three more into the Wasp, right under the noses of that ASW patrol. The Monaghan made a furious counterattack, putting a couple depth charges close enough to rattle the sub and cause a few leaks, but Matsumura smiled, knowing he would evade and live to fight again.