Steel Reign (Kirov Series Book 23)

by John Schettler

  That ship was supposed to be in Puget Sound for an overhaul, he thought. Well, she’s damn well going to need it now. Look at those fires—my fires. This all happened because I got on that Squawk Box and made it so. Was Murray right? Was I a fool to send Fletcher off with Wasp and Shiloh like that, and then slip off myself to thump my chest with the Japanese?

  Only time would tell….

  Chapter 27

  Hornet was already skewered by a torpedo hit, though all accounts had her still ‘Haze Grey and Underway.’ San Francisco was having a harder time suppressing those fires but TF-16 was already out for some payback, though they were having difficulty finding the Japanese 5th Carrier division to the north. The thunderheads that had fringed the action against Halsey’s group had been moving north during the long hour it took to spot and launch the strike, another hour would pass as the squadrons formed up and moved north, their blue wings dark against the glowering sky.

  Lieutenant Grey Davis of VF-6 had the first flight in the vanguard, with Firebaugh, Runyon, and Packard off his wingtips. There were three other flights in the escort, making 16 F4F Wildcats in all. Behind them came Lieutenant Ray Davis with VB-6 and there were 29 SBDs in that formation, and another 26 from VB-8 off the Hornet. No torpedo bombers were included in the strike. Halsey had seen their performance in drills, and was not happy with either the pilots or the torpedoes they were carrying, which had a tendency to misfire, run high and wide all too often, or to even fail to detonate for those lucky enough to score a hit. He would lead with his dive bombers, and hold the torpedo planes for a possible second wave.

  While the Americans searched north through the gloom, Hara’s recovery operation had gone remarkably well. The real front of the storm had not yet reached his carriers, though winds were rising from the south. The relatively calm waters there enabled smooth flight deck operations. The Japanese had the advantage of knowing the exact heading to take back to their carriers, and they got there before most of Halsey’s planes could determine where the enemy was. Then came the break-neck effort to get fresh planes ready for action, a job the crews on the hanger deck had been doing even while the recovery was still underway.

  Hayashi leapt from his plane and immediately headed below to check on progress, delighted to find there was already another squadron of D3As ready to be lifted up to the flight deck. He wanted one of those planes, unwilling to wait for his own plane to be turned around and prepped again for action. It was his enthusiasm for the action that saw both he and Ema back on the flight deck half an hour later, each having pulled rank to commandeer planes to get airborne again as soon as possible. They would get at least twelve D3As off Zuikaku, each man taking two Shotai of three planes. Unwilling to wait for the rest of the groups to be spotted and rise again for action, Ema got permission to look for the strike groups coming south from Carrier Division 2.

  Word had been flashed to Nagumo that the American carriers had been found, and already attacked. He had 33 D3As up, and the 12 planes off Zuikaku would make that 45. They would be joined by only 4 B5Ns in that second strike, all that was ready on the Shoho. The remainder would still be some time arming and fueling. Four Shotai of A6M2 Zeroes would escort this strike in, and hoping to surprise the Americans again by coming from a different direction, Ema suggested they make a wide loop to the east around some thunderheads before turning south.

  It was that spur of the moment decision by a single man that gave Halsey’s carriers just those few minutes more that they needed to get the last of his strike airborne and on its way. They would eventually find Carrier Division 5, and King Kong Hara was in for a very harrowing day.

  The SDB was a sturdy, reliable plane, with decent range, and capable of lifting over 2000 pounds of ordnance. The planes were now carrying 1000 pound bombs, twice as heavy as the 500 pound bombs delivered by the Japanese dive bombers. Of the 55 SBDs up that day, only three would be taken down by the relatively light Zero escort, which had enough to do in trying to fend off the 16 American Wildcats. 11 more of the Dauntless dive bombers would take damage from both fighters and enemy flak, but of the 52 that were still flying, most all would get those 1000 pounders in the air, and today they were going to be very good.

  The American flyers knew their back was now against the wall. They had lost Lexington at Pearl, Saratoga and Yorktown went down in the Coral Sea, and they knew the enemy had already put a torpedo into the Hornet. They had to turn the tide soon or the war would simply slip from their grasp. They simply had to hurt the Japanese now, and they did.

  The Lucky Crane saw her luck run out that day, with three successive flight deck hits and a whole lot of whooping and shouting when the US pilots saw the tall columns of dark smoke broil up from the carrier. Halsey’s wait was finally over when the radio was suddenly alive with the heated calls of his pilots. One voice cut through it all, and finally put a smile on his heavy face.“Hot damn! Look at that Jap carrier burn!”

  The SBDs were going to get 10 hits that day, an astounding 20% of what they carried to the fight. Two more would hit Zuikaku, wrecking elevators, igniting ready ammo, blasting away three planes on the fiery deck, and putting that carrier completely out of business, with a ten degree list to starboard. Zuiho took two hits, the second setting off her Aviation fuel storage bunker with a resulting explosion that literally wrecked the ship. The last three got Shoho, putting heavy damage on that carrier and shutting down the small flight deck. The ship would not survive, her list too heavy to stop by counter flooding, her fires simply uncontrollable.

  In one fell swoop, Hara’s 5th Carrier division was literally destroyed as a viable fighting force. King Kong himself was wounded in action from bomb splinters that flayed the bridge on Zuikaku. It had been his unlucky fate to see his carrier division savaged again, and this time the Lucky Crane would be fortunate if it could even safely reach the nearest friendly port at Noumea. With shock and shame consuming him as he watched Shoho roll over and die, he sent a signal to Nagumo informing him of the damage.“Shoho lost, remainder of division carriers have suffered heavy damage and must withdraw.”

  When that news reached the bridge of Akagi, there was an audible hiss from one of the junior officer’s quick intake of breath. One minute they were filled with jubilation. The American carriers had been found, hit by Hara’s pilots, and a second strike was already in the air. The next minute 5th Carrier Division was stricken from the rolls of active combatants.

  Nagumo’s expression was cold and stoic, yet one man noticed the small tremor in his white gloved hand, his jaw tight, eyes narrow. The outcome of this battle was now riding the thunderheads with his dive bombers.

  * * *

  The second strike, mostly from Carrier Division 1 was over the American task force a little after noon, the skies still slate grey, and a light rain beginning to fall. They did not yet know what had befallen their brothers with Carrier Division 5, and if they had it would have probably made them just a little more rash, a little more determined, but a little less effective with anger clouding over the stony calm a good dive bomber needed to ply his craft.

  They were going to be very good that day as well. Pensacola took the first hit, very near the wound she had suffered the previous January. It seemed the enemy was rubbing salt there, but the scrappy cruiser was not seriously hurt. The chopping recoil of the flak guns punctuated the hour for Halsey now, drowning out the last of the chatter he had been listening to over the radio set. He knew enough to realize his flyers had hurt the enemy, but now he ran outside to the weather deck just in time to see two bombs straddle the Enterprise, one striking very near the bow, its explosion close enough to score the metal with the claw marks of shrapnel.

  The second bomb was close amidships, the belt armor taking the brunt of that near hit. Big E would get off easy that day, for those were the only two bombs that would touch her. Hornet’s luck was not so good. That ship was going to take four more bomb hits, the after elevators useless, and a deck fire there impeding any furth
er flight deck operations. One struck near the island, the concussion nearly blasting open the lower hatch and shaking the bridge some 50 feet above. Another did the real damage when it penetrated the flight deck, plunged down into the hanger deck and even blew through that as well. The explosion took out two TBDs that had just been refueled and armed, and the fires were severe.

  That hit shook the ship so hard that the temporary hull patch the engineers were working on to seal off that earlier torpedo hit was shaken loose and the see rushed in again, sweeping three men away and flooding two more compartments before they could seal off those hatches. Soon that water would begin to overwhelm the pumps, and Hornet was settling heavily into the water, listing to port and smothered with thick black smoke. Mitscher was almost certain that the carrier had been struck a fatal blow, and began passing the word for the crews to make ready to abandon ship. It wasn’t the steel ship he was worried about any longer, but the 3000 men that were riding its burning back.

  It was going to cost that strike wing a single Zero, six Vals, one of the four Kates, and thirteen other Vals damaged by flak in that attack. That was a small price to pay for the Hornet, and Halsey’s only solace was the fact that he had hit all three carriers in that first attack, and Big E was still alive and well. His boys would return, many having to divert to Suva from VF-8 and VB-8 off the Hornet. Then he would work like a madman to get those planes turned over and ready to go again. Enterprise would manage to get 31 SBDs up again, but with only six Wildcats in escort. This time they side swiped the burning Carrier Division 5, and followed a small flight of planes that were heading north. There they found Carrier Division 1, and right there between the two flattops was the biggest battleship they had ever laid eyes on.

  The weather was terrible, with the same row of thunderstorms that had swept over the US task force earlier, but down they came. Only one would get lucky enough to do any serious harm, and it was Akagi that would shake with that hit, which set off aviation fuel on the hanger deck and started a hot fire that was serious enough to halt operations. Soryu wasn’t touched, but the tremor in Nagumo’s hand was visibly noticeable now, and he hid it in his jacket pocket. The realization of what had just happened was only too evident. Carrier Division 5 was gone. Most of the surviving planes were diverted to the pot marked airfield near Nandi on the main Fiji Island, but there was not enough aviation support there to sustain operations indefinitely. Akagi had her nice new refit spoiled by that hit, though Nagumo believed the ship could be made operational within a few hours.

  Yet in those hours, there was only Soryu out there as the sole remaining operational carrier in the Kido Butai. The Blue Dragon was all that remained.

  * * *

  Even Thunder Gods fall.

  Lieutenant Hayashi learned that the hard way when his battered D3A finally reached Nandi. He was down off the plane, seeing soldiers from a Naval infantry battalion pushing a B5N aside to clear the small portion of the runway that was still functional. That set his mind on finding his good friend Subota, and he ran off toward a small group of torpedo bombers, hoping to find him there. What he found instead was the terrible news that his comrade was seen in a bad tail spin dive, right at the edge of a thunder storm.

  His eyes wide, a frantic look on his face, Hayashi turned and ran back to his dive bomber, pushing a sergeant aside and climbing up, heedless of the man’s shouts that the airfield could not be cleared for his takeoff. He tried to turn his engine over. He’d get out there and find Subota. It was the only thing to do, but the plane simply sputtered and died, its fuel exhausted. He had been lucky to make that landing safely, and his D3A wasn’t going anywhere until it could be serviced.

  Hayashi felt the wave of despair sweep over him, his eyes glassy. He imagined Subota’s plane going down in that wild sea, imagined him alone out there at the edge of that storm, watching the lightning, hearing the raucous boom of the thunder, feeling the hard cold rain on his face. It would be a fitting death, but even as he thought that, he bent forward, both fists at his forehead, and leaned heavily on his flight panel, the tears streaking the char of smoke on his face. The Marine Sergeant saw him there, and said nothing more. He took off his cap, rubbed his chin, and strode away.

  * * *

  The Blue Dragon was all that remained….

  That was the one burning thought in Yamamoto’s mind as soon as the battle ended. What if he had listened to that truculent officer from Takami and watched those rockets savage this American attack? No, he had decided to fight this battle on even terms, but the losses the Kido Butai had sustained were very heavy relative to the damage he inflicted on his enemy. He knew they had sunk at least one American fleet carrier, but for that they traded Zuikaku. Admiral Hara sadly reported that he did not think they could save the ship. Shoho was also gone, leaving only Zuiho still afloat, but out of the war for at least four months or longer. Hara’s group was a broken sword.

  At least Akagi was not seriously hurt, and could probably be fully operational in a few days. Yet now so many questions crowded his mind wanting answers. Could he adequately cover the delivery of the Tanaka Regiment to Nandi with only one fully operational carrier? His fuel reserve was now at 55%, and he could not linger here for very much longer. What about all those planes and pilots that had diverted to Nandi and Tavua? They would have to hold their own for a time until Army planes relieved them, but it would not be wise to leave those experienced carrier trained pilots there on the islands. A look at his plane inventory found him with only 141 planes at sea including five B5Ns stranded on the Zuiho, unable to take off.

  And what of the enemy? If we have sunk only one enemy fleet carrier here, he thought, where were the other two? They were undoubtedly further east near Samoa, but for how long? This American Admiral was aggressive enough to divide his task force in the face of the storm, and yet he held his own against the full might of the Kido Butai. That is very disturbing. And what might come of the operation in the north? Will Takami be able to protect the northern fleet from this Russian Sea Demon? What might happen to Kaga and Tosa?

  All these questions created a reasonable doubt that he could continue operations now. Without any discussion, he ordered the carriers to withdraw west. They would rendezvous with a tanker and refuel.

  Nagumo bowed solemnly, but said nothing when he received the order. He knew the calculus that must be running through Yamamoto’s mind now, and his own instincts would be to do the very same thing. They must move west now, refuel, assess the condition of Akagi, and sort out the shattered naval squadrons into some reasonable order. Perhaps further operations could be contemplated at that time, but not today—not on the 5th of May, 1942.

  Part X

  The 7 Keys

  “Darkness is but a door, frightening not because it opens,

  but out of fear that it will never close”

  ― Jonathan Jena

  Chapter 28

  The Japanese situation on Fiji was much more serious than even Yamamoto knew. The 1st USMC Division had moved aggressively north against the Sakaguchi Detachment. That was bringing three full combat ready regiments against one, even though Sakaguchi could rightfully say he was commanding a relatively strong brigade. He had an engineer battalion attached to his three battalion regiment, and there were also two battalions of SNLF Naval Marines under his command.

  The Japanese were not entirely aware of the full strength of their enemy, or that Vandegrift’s division now had four full regiments, the 1st, 5th, 7th and 11th Marines. Two more were in theater at Pago Pago from the 2nd Marine Division. This force was more than a match for Sakaguchi, and the sharp meeting engagement at the edge of the heavy jungle soon checked his advance, and then pushed him into a stubborn withdrawal.

  It was lack of adequate supply that was hindering his operation more than anything. He had sent the three infantry battalions and one SNLF battalion off lightly supplied, intending to quickly storm into Suva from the north. Now he had been stopped cold and pushed back, and h
is men were tired and hungry, with many companies almost completely out of ammunition. The Japanese had no choice but to continue their retreat in that sector, and by the 8th of May, the US Marines had pushed to within 15 kilometers of the small port of Tavua and the airfield about five klicks inland.

  Further south, the Abe Detachment, and Kimura’s Recon Regiment had better luck. They doggedly pursued the withdrawal of the New Zealand troops, pushing them off a temporary holding action along the Singatana River leading down to Nayawa on the coast. Weary after the long march from Nandi, the Kiwis needed rest, supplies and fresh ammo of their own. General Patch therefore sent first the 164th Regiment of his Pacifica Division, and then the 182nd, both marching along the Queens Road that followed the coast east.

  By the time they stabilized the line, and relieved all the Kiwis, the Japanese had nearly overrun the makeshift airstrip at Korolevu. With both regiments finally formed up, and with the full division artillery behind them, Patch was confident he could hold the line.

  The situation the Japanese soon found themselves in was now far from satisfactory. Abe and Kimura had been stopped, Sakaguchi pushed back, and the long awaited reinforcements in the Tanaka Regiment were still far to the east near Noumea where they had been held in place pending the outcome of the naval battle. Now that the Kido Butai was withdrawing, the only Navy presence would be the flock of planes and pilots that had come fluttering in to Nandi and Tavua fields, unable to land again on their carriers, which was somewhat ominous in itself.

  General Tsuchihashi of the 48th Division had adequate supply near the two landing sites, but little or no transport. It was only after he received the report that Sakaguchi had failed to make the sweeping maneuver against Suva, that he now contemplated his situation in a darker light. Somehow, the enemy had achieved parity, he thought.