I wonder when a certain admiral, captain and DamCon officer is going to come around for Ari.....
Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Commander of BatDiv 1 and USS Arizona (BB-39), United States Navy
Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, Captain of USS Arizona (BB-39), United States Navy
Lieutenant Commander Samuel Fuqua, Damage Control Officer of USS Arizona (BB-39), United Stares Navy
All three received the Medal of Honor, with Fuqua surviving Pearl. Kidd's and Van Valkenburgh's bodies were never recovered after Pearl Harbor, only their class rings were found in the wreck, Kidd's being fused to the hull of Arizona.
Fun bit, Kidd was a previous CO, and NIMTZ (yes, later FAMD...) had his flag aboard Ari. Very, very, very interesting (And Nimtz isn't a Battleship type.)
It seems that the attack on Taranto is having a much larger effect than I thought. It'll be interesting to see how things play out now that Thompson is going to slowly be working with less and less accurate information from the future. This alone is probably enough to shoot down a very large chunk of what he knows of history. But it's becoming quite apparent that his knowledge is really grating on him given how he can only use so much of it. I'm just waiting for him to snap one day and blurt something out in front of the wrong person.
Little E is adorable as always~
But I have to say that my favorite part of the whole chapter was the end with Utah and Chief Engineer Jackson. Just... It goes from heartwrenching to so much hope and happiness. Words don't do it justice. Congratulations Utah, your voice has been heard.
Utah was aware she was babbling. Her normally calm and motherly tone was gone, replaced by the excitable girl she once was, so many years ago. And could she be blamed for that? She wastalking with her XO. Not Admiral Thompson. Not Admiral Halsey. Her own crewmember!
"Hm. I'll hold ya to that," Jackson didn't dismiss her out of hand, as he continued to examine the old battleship carefully. He tapped his chin, attentive eyes locking on to Utah's own grey. "I heard the rumors from 'ole Johnny. Didn't think he was telling the truth, when he said Halsey ordered around the ghost of Big E. But...maybe there was some truth there. Prove it to me."
A smile crossed the battleship's face, as she set about doing just that. She hadn't made the breakthrough herself. It had been pure chance.
But she was talking with her XO, and that was all that mattered to her.
There are only 3 officers that a commanding officer of a warship -ever- have to truly worry about pissing off.
1. The Admiral in charge of their taskforce/fleet.
2. Their Chief Medical Officer, who can (at the probable cost of their career), remove the CO from command.
3. Their Chief Engineer, because god help your immortal soul if you fuck around with his baby, or worse, hurt her.
Addendum:
The only enlisted personnel the CO needs to truly worry about pissing off is the Chief of the Boat. Because he/she can likely call upon the bulk of the crew to make life hell for the CO without ever breaking regs (bent like a pretzel? oh yes), and, 9 times out of 10, is good friends with a noncom aide up there in the Pentagon, who's boss has a personal car that has flags with multiple stars on them.
Assigned as flagship Hawaiian Detachment, the cruiser arrived Pearl Harbor after her post-overhaul shakedown 7 December 1939, and continued in that capacity until returning to Mare Island 17 February 1940. Sailing to Hawaii, she departed 3 November for the Philippine Islands as the world situation grew darker. Arriving Manila 19 November 1940, she became flagship of Admiral Hart, Commander Asiatic Fleet.
Given that September 1940 was the latest date in the story so far, it looks like the ship ghost "curse" is going to spread to the Asiatic Fleet if Houston is still going to be transferred back to the Asiatic Fleet. I wonder if the unusual environment at Manila is going to change how fast/slow the sailors will recognize the girls there, given that there's a lot of retired sailors with their own businesses and family of active/retired sailors hanging around there too. (The families and dependents of the sailors will have all been evacuated by the time mid-1941 rolls around).
I don't envy Admiral Hart though. Between MacArthur, the IJN, and now his own ships and submarines revealing themselves to have human bodies all along the old man is going to have a lot on his hands. The submarines especially since he had a huge hand in their design and their relative state of undress in comparison to the other ships.
Minor bit of pedantry, but Americans would be upset over the Phillipines getting attacked, they had a very paternalistic attitude towards the Filipinos, but whether they would be upset enough to sustain the requisite war of attrition is an open question.
As an aside, idle discussion on the capabilities of ship spirits while they are still... well, just a spirit of the ship and how the navy could apply them? I mean, for example, if they have physical strength similar to that of their horsepower, then they could assist with stuff on the vessel that requires heavy lifting with ease*. Another example is If they have a thorough... "sensation" of what is happening in their hull, they could help with directing damage control teams. Those are two possibilities that immediately leap to my mind. Anybody else able to think of any more?
*It would also make it easier dealing with misogynistic morons who think they can push them around, or worse have their way with them, just because their female.
Minor bit of pedantry, but Americans would be upset over the Phillipines getting attacked, they had a very paternalistic attitude towards the Filipinos, but whether they would be upset enough to sustain the requisite war of attrition is an open question.
As an aside, idle discussion on the capabilities of ship spirits while they are still... well, just a spirit of the ship and how the navy could apply them? I mean, for example, if they have physical strength similar to that of their horsepower, then they could assist with stuff on the vessel that requires heavy lifting with ease*. Another example is If they have a thorough... "sensation" of what is happening in their hull, they could help with directing damage control teams. Those are two possibilities that immediately leap to my mind. Anybody else able to think of any more?
*It would also make it easier dealing with misogynistic morons who think they can push them around, or worse have their way with them, just because their female.
Secure comms. They can communicate with each other in a way radio operators just in front of their gear won't even suspect as an actual transmition, so they could end messages totally secure from conventional interception which would allow better tactical and operational coordination. If they learn how to manipulate the plotting room and the fire director they can cut the time needed to attack a target, especially if they share between ships their bearings so they can discriminate friend from foe faster and more efficiently.
Also the shipgirls themselves could be of great assistance in DamCom not only by pointing where does it hurt, but also as runners, capable of checking the unaccesible parts of the ship for survivors and guiding the rescue parties.
Secure comms. They can communicate with each other in a way radio operators just in front of their gear won't even suspect as an actual transmition, so they could end messages totally secure from conventional interception which would allow better tactical and operational coordination.
That sounds like it would be of a limited time value, though, since once the enemies recognize there are things such as ship spirits and disseminate the information to the rank-and-file, the radio operators would be able to hear the spirits talking with each other.
Dragging herself up, Dunkerque leaned against her hull, wide eyes staring in stunned disbelief. Bretagne, the closest thing to an elder stateswoman the fleet in Africa had, was gone. Her stern was ablaze, blown clean open by a shell from one of the big English guns. Dunkerque could make out the form of her counterpart as well...the older battleship lay on her hull's deck, smoke surrounding her. There was nothing but red past her hips, as her crew ran around, trying to save their doomed ship.
For two 15in shells from the British, perhaps even from Hood, punched through her armor. Armor never designed to resist shells of that caliber, crumpled as the shells punched through. One shattered the roof of her first turret, putting the guns there out of action. The second shot through her belt, and from there, through her boilers. Dunkerque fell to her deck, clutching her bleeding left arm, as her legs gave out under her. Her hull slid to a halt, her crew doing everything they could to beach her...prevent her from sinking, at the least.
Through pain filled eyes, Dunkerque watched as her sister and a quartet of destroyers made full speed out of the harbor, moving to escape the British, who had re-positioned to avoid shorefire. The elder battleship could only watch, knowing she couldn't follow. She may never be able to follow, if the damage was too great. And as Bretagne rolled over, another even larger detonation shaking the harbor, Dunkerque could do nothing but slide down, unable to even muster the energy to lay on her knees.
Dragging herself up, Dunkerque leaned against her hull, wide eyes staring in stunned disbelief. Bretagne, the closest thing to an elder stateswoman the fleet in Africa had, was gone. Her stern was ablaze, blown clean open by a shell from one of the big English guns. Dunkerque could make out the form of her counterpart as well...the older battleship lay on her hull's deck, smoke surrounding her. There was nothing but red past her hips, as her crew ran around, trying to save their doomed ship.
Hum. How to say 'yes, theese are the ghosts of your fleet' in such a way as not to get committed?
"There are manifestations that might show themselves to those with a significant connections to their ships. They can think, they can speak, and they can communicate with each other. They have worked rather hard to connect with and to be able to communicate with their captains and crews lately. They know their ships history, very well indeed. They were there. For all practical purposes, they are the spirits of the ships."
Thing is, once you have something that can physically affect the real world (Morse code with radio set, for example), and notable military applications (two captains talking with each other from anywhere on their ships, as long as their respective shipgirls assists), it's real to the military. The exact how's and why's is something for the eggheads to worry about. The important part is that it works. Then comes the 'how do we avoid civilian backlash from this' questions.
So, 3/4 people know of the existence of ship girls now? Here is a current list:
Rear Admiral James Thompson, Commander of USS Saratoga (CV-2), United States Navy
Vice/Rear Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, Commander of USS Enterprise (CV-6), United States Navy
Chief Engineer Joe Jackson, Excecutive Officer of USS Utah (BB-31), United States Navy
On Taranto:
So, Eagle didn't have her Avgas problem and Glorious survived Norway? That is a major butterfly for the RN.
And yeah, big butterfly for the RN, especially considering it means they have one extra carrier. Even if Glorious is old and not particularly great, anything helps.
I wonder how hard Utah (well everyone) going to be banging her head against her armor when it hits her of how dumb it was to try only one guy. Instead of well the entire crew of a couple hunderd.
Pretty much that. To get through to someone at first, the girls need to find someone attached enough to actually hear them. Then work at it, until they actually can see them properly. It's not a quick or easy process, and trying to spread it out causes more problems than it helps.
That said, making the first breakthrough makes it easier to move forward from then on, soo...
Heh, Little E's acting like a daughter trying to imitate/impress her father. It's quite heartwarming. Better to enjoy these moments while they last imo, because soon enough shit will get real.
Had he less self-control, Thompson would have to be answering some rather pointed and uncomfortable questions about how from Adm. Richardson I suspect.
This pleases me. Utah finally found someone who can see and hear her. It being the chief engineer/XO makes sense to me. It is good this happened, because I think she was about to just give up.
So at this point, who is in charge of what? Is Halsey TF 16 commander or what, or does it not even exist yet without USS Hornet? Is Richardson CINCPAC?
Hmm, what about the other current and future carrier commanders? Marc Mitscher seemed to be a big fan of Hornet when she existed.
And Glorious survived. Shouldn't have been to difficult, her loss was utterly boneheaded the first time around.
Halsey is in charge of Enterprise directly, and when she's around, Yorktown. I'm not sure if he historically was, but for the purposes of the story, that's the case here. Thompson is in charge of CarDiv 1, which at the moment is Sara and Lex. Though Lex is out on patrol with Yorktown where we are in story. Richardson is Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (CINCUS). This.
I wonder when a certain admiral, captain and DamCon officer is going to come around for Ari.....
Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Commander of BatDiv 1 and USS Arizona (BB-39), United States Navy
Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, Captain of USS Arizona (BB-39), United States Navy
Lieutenant Commander Samuel Fuqua, Damage Control Officer of USS Arizona (BB-39), United Stares Navy
All three received the Medal of Honor, with Fuqua surviving Pearl. Kidd's and Van Valkenburgh's bodies were never recovered after Pearl Harbor, only their class rings were found in the wreck, Kidd's being fused to the hull of Arizona.
It seems that the attack on Taranto is having a much larger effect than I thought. It'll be interesting to see how things play out now that Thompson is going to slowly be working with less and less accurate information from the future. This alone is probably enough to shoot down a very large chunk of what he knows of history. But it's becoming quite apparent that his knowledge is really grating on him given how he can only use so much of it. I'm just waiting for him to snap one day and blurt something out in front of the wrong person.
Little E is adorable as always~
But I have to say that my favorite part of the whole chapter was the end with Utah and Chief Engineer Jackson. Just... It goes from heartwrenching to so much hope and happiness. Words don't do it justice. Congratulations Utah, your voice has been heard.
Well, Taranto was a big deal historically. Showed the Japanese that, yes, you can hit a defended harbor. 'Course, it was less so on the American side, at least what it could have been. This should have been, along with the Fleet Problems, a hint that Pearl needed better defenses. But it wasn't enough, especially after Richardson got himself sacked.
Little E is cutest Fleet Carrier?
And Utah was probably my favorite part to write. Glad that worked out well!
Assigned as flagship Hawaiian Detachment, the cruiser arrived Pearl Harbor after her post-overhaul shakedown 7 December 1939, and continued in that capacity until returning to Mare Island 17 February 1940. Sailing to Hawaii, she departed 3 November for the Philippine Islands as the world situation grew darker. Arriving Manila 19 November 1940, she became flagship of Admiral Hart, Commander Asiatic Fleet.
Given that September 1940 was the latest date in the story so far, it looks like the ship ghost "curse" is going to spread to the Asiatic Fleet if Houston is still going to be transferred back to the Asiatic Fleet. I wonder if the unusual environment at Manila is going to change how fast/slow the sailors will recognize the girls there, given that there's a lot of retired sailors with their own businesses and family of active/retired sailors hanging around there too. (The families and dependents of the sailors will have all been evacuated by the time mid-1941 rolls around).
I don't envy Admiral Hart though. Between MacArthur, the IJN, and now his own ships and submarines revealing themselves to have human bodies all along the old man is going to have a lot on his hands. The submarines especially since he had a huge hand in their design and their relative state of undress in comparison to the other ships.
Minor bit of pedantry, but Americans would be upset over the Phillipines getting attacked, they had a very paternalistic attitude towards the Filipinos, but whether they would be upset enough to sustain the requisite war of attrition is an open question.
As an aside, idle discussion on the capabilities of ship spirits while they are still... well, just a spirit of the ship and how the navy could apply them? I mean, for example, if they have physical strength similar to that of their horsepower, then they could assist with stuff on the vessel that requires heavy lifting with ease*. Another example is If they have a thorough... "sensation" of what is happening in their hull, they could help with directing damage control teams. Those are two possibilities that immediately leap to my mind. Anybody else able to think of any more?
*It would also make it easier dealing with misogynistic morons who think they can push them around, or worse have their way with them, just because their female.
Oh they'd certainly be upset, but it's worth remembering that Thompson has biases from what he read, even if he doesn't realize he has them. Though, most American war plans operated on the assumption that if the Japanese attacked just the Philippines, it would be very hard to rally public support for a long or protracted war.
Which is part of why Pearl was so surprising. Yamamoto was a smart man, but he made a major blunder in attacking Pearl. Crippling the PacFleet BBs was a masterstroke...until one thinks about attacking American soil. Which is the one surefire way to rally American citizens against an enemy.
As for the spirits...they are very useful to have around, yes.
Welllll....depends. If her bridge is totally torn to shreds, she is going to be feeling that one. Probably about equivalent to a bad head injury. So she'd be capable of moving around and talking, but she would be far from her full capabilities.
Still better than the entire bridge crew being dead and having to scramble to command from somewhere else, though.
Also for an unrelated note to any of the replies, looking at Sara's history:
The Wiki said:
During Grand Joint Exercise No. 4, Saratoga and Lexington were able to launch an airstrike against Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 February 1932, without being detected.
Nope. The Battleship admirals dismissed it as a one time thing completely ignoring the events at Taranto. They were warned but disregarded the warning and as a consequence Pearl was attacked and 2 good men were railroaded.
Pretty much that. To get through to someone at first, the girls need to find someone attached enough to actually hear them. Then work at it, until they actually can see them properly. It's not a quick or easy process, and trying to spread it out causes more problems than it helps.
That said, making the first breakthrough makes it easier to move forward from then on, soo...
They didn't think to do their homework as it were.
Utah is a prime example of it.
She was basically thinking commander first then everyone else right?
What probably should have happen is that she should have look around to find the guy who's she her as a HOME and not another station. Then focus ON that guy. Then work their way out.
So while she was banging her head against a brick wall trying to breakthrough she could have took a step to the left and use the door.
This kind of "foresight blindness" happens all the time. In 1938 French General Pretelat, then commanding the French Second Army, ran a staff exercise where he was hit by seven German divisions, including two tank brigades, emerging suddenly from the Ardennes to crash into his defensive line on the Meuse. The result was a disaster and the French line was broken without hope of recovery. This exercise exactly paralleled the actual German attack in 1940. The French response was to cover the whole thing up so as not to "upset the troops."
One can say similar things about the German invasion of the USSR, where Hitler's generals reading about how the bad infrastructure, inclement weather, massive distances, and Russian resilience kept throwing wrenches in Napoleon's own invasion reassured themselves that they wouldn't suffer from the same problems.
The reality is that professional military men are, by their nature, a seemingly paradoxical mix of audaciousness and conservatism.
Well, it's worth noting that there were many Fleet Problems that hit Pearl, not just one.
That one just makes me wince because it was on a Sunday that was also the Seventh of that month (February in this case) and it was without Lex and Sara being detected.
That's like what Nuker just posted in how much of a parallel it is.
And in fairness in a different fleet problem both carriers were detected and blown out of the water by the battle line sneaking up on them in the fog they were using themselves.
