Chapter 97: On Call
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 97: On Call
The doctrine surrounding SHIPs on land was extremely fluid in the last years of the war. Theories on our best use were created, tested on the battlefield and discarded at a rapid pace as the brass hunted for the best way to employ us. While the AADs and the Japanese purpose-builds found their niche as heavy infantry rather quickly, us heavier combatants ended up employed in a dozen different ways.MAY 5 1944
D+6
0740 HOURS
"So he just wants us to sit here on our asses!?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Hou looked apoplectic at the news the USMC private had delivered us. We were still at the airfield, having been held in reserve for the last twenty-four hours. And now, we'd been told we'd be remaining in reserve as in-direct fire support. Glorified artillery, in short. Personally I didn't mind. We could still contribute, without risking my girls.
My sister was the one to walk up to Houston. She laid a hand on the cruiser's shoulder. "Easy, Hou. Don't shoot the messenger."
My second shook her head, and stomped away. "Yeah, yeah. I'll grab the fire support manuals…"
I turned back to the marine, the order papers he'd delivered still in my hand. "Apologies for my second. You're dismissed."
"Ma'am." He nodded, and headed off to do whatever it was that messagers did. Presumably delivering messages.
I turned back to our barracks and the firepit, where the rest of Seven-Niner were watching. "Alright. When Hou gets back with the manual, study up the radio procedures. If we're going to be providing fire missions, we're going to do it right."
That got a round of nods and affirmative noises from my girls. Satisfied, I turned back to the papers I'd been handed, and the main reason General Smith had sent a messenger rather than using the radio.
A battle plan.
The previous day, the Marines had continued their advance and run right into heavy Japanese defenses around Mount Barrigada to our east. Though, it wasn't much of a mountain. More just a big hill. The Japs were dug in on the high ground, and a few tank-SHIPs were reported present as well.
I would've thought that would mean we'd be sent in, but instead, we were to act as heavy fire support for the attack from the airfield two and a half miles away. The plans I'd been handed included a set of pre-attack fire missions to be carried out, after which we were to act as on-call indirect fire.
Easy enough.
"Found it." Hou spoke, as she emerged from our borrowed barracks.
"Good." I waved at everyone, "Gather around."
All twelve of us were soon huddled around the plans and the map. "The attack goes in at 1130 hours on the Jap's defences. We're going to execute a half-hour long bombardment just before." I pointed at the map, "Howe and I will pummel the hill itself, on these two large caliber fire missions. Hou, your target is here, on the forward slope. Perth, Lulu, Jup, Fletcher, you can handle these targets on the flanks. Perth, Jup, you take the northwestern targets, Lulu, Fletcher, you hit southeast. The E's and Sims', you are going to use your high angle mounts and lower velocities to hit the reverse slope."
Electra smirked, "Oh we'll 'ammer the fuckers."
"I know you will. Take note of these grid numbers, write them down. We'll send a few rounds to pre-range, and those locations will also serve as reference points for fire missions. The infantry should be informed and use them. Any questions?"
The destroyers and cruisers shook their heads. "Alright then. Hou? Study that manual. You're on comms. Oh, and give it to me when you're done. I'll memorize it as backup."
Hou glared at me. "Fine. Lazy battlewagon."
I patted her shoulder with a smirk, "It's called delegation."
"Smartass."
It was one thing to be in a battle line blazing away at an enemy fleet. It was wholly another to stand in the centre of Seven-Niner as all twelve of us blasted away at the nearby hill. Mainly thanks to how close we all were. Even spread out over the runway, we were far closer than we ever would've been at sea. The amount of rounds we could put downrange was just as impressive as always.
It was also deafening. Even the lighter blasts from the destroyers' 4.7- and 5-inchers were loud this close. Let alone Hou's eights, or Howe and I's fourteens.
Also of note was the trajectory of the shells. Hou, Howe and I were firing relatively flat, given we were only six thousand yards away, give or take. It was a good thing we had a clear view of the hill.
Said hill was blanketed in smoke and dust as our guns smashed the Japanese positions. The addition of more 14-inch fire from a pair of the standards offshore made the whole scene look almost apocalyptic.
Finally, after half an hour of fire, I checked the watch I'd put on for the express purpose of coordinating our bombardment. "Ten seconds!"
Timing was everything with this kind of assault. If we lifted our fire too soon, the Nips would have time to recover and prepare to meet the marines and soldiers. Too late, and we might hit them as they advanced. "Three, two, one! Cease fire, cease fire!"
All at once, our guns fell silent. Everyone just stood, staring at our distant handiwork. "Can they even survive that?" Fletcher muttered, gazing at the rising smoke and dust as it ascended high into the air.
"The boys on the western front did in the last war." Jup muttered.
"That's not a fair comparison." The American refuted. "The Japs haven't had time to dig a defensive network anywhere near that strong, and neither side was using fourteen-inchers!"
I tuned the two destroyers out as they started to bicker. I was happy to let them blow off some steam. We still had a job to do, and they weren't getting in the way of it. "Hou?"
"Yeah, I got it." My second replied, keying her radio on the pre-arranged fire support frequency. "All callsigns this net, Gunslinger, heavy fire support now on-call. Available: AP, HE and smoke, four-point-seven-inch, five-inch, and six-inch. AP and HE for eight and fourteen-inch. Contact Gunslinger or Princess for fire missions. Out."
I gave her a nod, and turned to the girls, already dropping my own rigging and heading towards our borrowed barracks at the edge of the airfield. "Alright, feel free to drop rigging and relax girls. Just be ready to fill any fire mission requests."
They seemed to like that order. Within a few minutes, everyone was lounging on the grass or in a folding chair beside our temporary home. I was no exception, having pulled out a book and put some of my music on the Tannoy, even as the sounds of gunfire and battle began to intensify in the distance. The sound of rifle and machine gun fire was so faint at this distance one could barely hear it.
But we could only relax for so long before our first request came in.
"Logger to Gunslinger!" The frequency suddenly squawked, and everyone tensed up at the sound of nearby gunfire audible over the soldier's voice. "Fire mission, four-point-seven-inch! Over!"
Hou gestured at our resident J-class destroyer. "You're up, Jup!" The blonde nodded eagerly, shooting to her feet and running out onto the runway as her rigging settled on her back.
"Gunslinger here." Hou spoke, quickly producing a small wood table and an issued map of Guam. "Six guns available, go ahead Logger."
"Target, Point Dagger!" That had been the targeting point on the left flank of the hill. "Up one hundred, right fifty, dug in infantry!"
"Point Dagger, up one hundred, right fifty." Hou read back, quickly doing some map work with a ruler and protractor.
"Readback correct! Get those rounds in the air!"
"Standby." Was all she could reply. A moment later he finished her math. "Jup! Target bears zero-eight-three! Range, five-thousand seven-hundred yards!"
"Zero-eight-three, five-thousand seven-hundred!"
"Two rounds, send it!" A moment later, the destroyer's A turret roared. "Shot, ten seconds." Hou radioed.
The procedure we'd figured out to streamline our fire missions seemed to work well, at least on our end. We'd decided to take full advantage of our fire control systems by having Hou translate incoming fire missions into bearing and range, which we could then input into our mechanical computers. If it worked, we'd likely be extremely accurate. And that seemed to be the case, as the radio came again.
"Dead on target! Two-four rounds, fire for effect!"
"Firing for effect." Hou radioed. Jup had also heard it seemed. Hou was halfway through turning around to yell at her when the destroyer rippled all six of her guns.
Satisfied my second had things under control I went back to reading.
"Do you really have to keep playing that crap, mate?" Perth suddenly spoke a few moments later from her own deck chair.
I glanced over at her. "What?"
"Your 'rock and roll'." The Aussie clarified. "How can you stand it, let alone like it?"
I frowned, "It's good-" I was cut off by Jup letting off another rippled salvo. "It's good music. I don't know what you're on about."
"Good!?" Perth shook her head, "Swing is good. Orchestral music is good. That?! You said it yourself! Half the sounds aren't even made by instruments!"
I frowned at her, "That's a stupid argument. Doesn't matter anyway. I like it, and I am the CO, so I'm going to keep playing it."
The cruiser frowned as Jup let off another salvo. "Great."
Not everyone had taken a liking to the music that I played decades ahead of its time. As much as Electra and Andie had taken a liking to it, Perth and Fletcher seemed to despise it just as much. Oh well, every generation thought the next's music was garbage, and this was no different.
Nonetheless, the morning, and the distant assault, continued on. A few more fire missions rolled in. Perth fulfilled a request for six-inch, and Sims and Hammann one too.
It was always a strange feeling to be so close to an active battle yet not a direct part of it. Two years ago, I would've felt guilty that I wasn't there. That I wasn't saving lives. Now, well… I still felt a bit off. But it was a feeling I knew well now. Was used to. We were still playing our part. The four stackers integrated with the infantry would fill the role I wasn't.
I was humming along to Everybody Wants to Rule the World when a panicked sounding female voice came over the radio. "Stalwart to Gunslinger! Fire mission, biggest-fucking-guns you've got!" I exchanged a glance with my sister. Was that Stewart?
We up? Her face seemed to say.
I nodded, let's go.
The two of us stood and jogged out onto the runway as Hou replied, glancing at us. "Gunslinger here. Twenty fourteen-inchers available, go ahead Stalwart."
"Target, Point Bayonet!" Near the crest of the hill. "Up two hundred, Jap Tank-SHIPs on the crest!"
I blinked in surprise, and exchanged a second glance with my sister on my right as my rigging appeared and my gun crews began loading AP shells. As one, we both turned our directors on the hill. I picked out Sewart quickly, thanks to her projection. She was just below the crest of the hill, and my powerful optics were just enough to make out her human form, laying prone behind a rock. One of her sisters was also nearby, also in cover, as were several dozen American marines.
Of course, the three Tank-SHIPs and platoon of Japanese infantry firing down from the crest were equally as easy to spot. They were skylining themselves, blasting 5-inch and auto-cannon fire down the slope. At this range, their projections were in full play, as were ours. I was actually quite surprised they hadn't reacted to Howe and I pulling our rigging. Their funeral.
"Princess to Stalwart." I took over from Hou, who gave me a questioning look. "Negative for your fire mission." A predatory smile appeared on my face, "Engaging directly. Hold on to your helmets."
"I'll take the right one." My sister spoke.
"Alright." I nodded, as the breeches of my main guns slammed shut. "Send it!"
Almost as one, our twenty fourteen-inchers spoke. Six thousand yards wasn't point blank. Not quite. But it was still very short range for our main guns. And while the Tank-SHIPs were small targets, being only half again bigger than a PT boat, we only needed to hit them once. With all the gunnery experience the two of us had, we were both dead on target.
A few shells fell just short, blasting up dust and smoke over the summit. Most went over. With all the smoke, for a split second I thought I'd missed. And then the black fog was lit by a bright orange flash and a distinctive armoured Tank-SHIP turret went flying up and out.
"Woah!" I exclaimed at the sudden detonation. "I think I got her!"
My sister chuckled, "Hit ammo looks like. How high did that turret get?"
"Three hundred feet, easy." Hou chimed in, watching through binoculars. "I think you hit yours too, Howe."
"I think so too. We'll know soon enough." My sister replied, "Look, Stewart's leading them up."
The little AAD had taken full advantage of our salvo. The moment our shells had landed, she'd sprung up and led her sister and the rest of the marines up. As we watched, they disappeared into the smoke and dust.
There were a couple flashes visible in the smoke. Likely the AAD's 4-inchers. A few moments later the radio crackled again, "Good shooting Princess."
"Anytime, Stalwart. We get them?"
"Did you ever! Got one's ammo, she's in two pieces. Looks like you over-penned the other, but a shell that big killed her whole crew with splinters." She cheerfully replied.
"And the third?"
"Oh, I smashed her skull in and put a shell through her chest." The four stacker chuckled. "Not too hard to kill 'em up close and personal."
Hearing such a young sounding voice sound like a goddamn psychopath would never not be disconcerting, even if the flushdeckers could pass as young adults now.
"Understood. Good work. Call us if you need us. Be aware, only our smaller guns have the arc to hit the reverse slope."
"Copy. Good shooting. Out."
I turned to my sister who was whistling along to the still playing song. She grinned and threw me a thumbs up, singing along. "All for freedom and for pleasure~"
I grinned back, and joined her. "Nothing ever lasts forever~"
"Everybody wants to rule the world~!"
We spent the next three hours fulfilling fire missions as the assault began to overrun the IJA positions. Between the AADs and marines in the front, and our heavy guns in the back, the Japanese positions began to collapse.
My sister and I were only called on once more, as another group of Tank-SHIPs counterattacked on the left flank. Howe had killed one with indirect fire, while the AADs got another. The third was actually killed by the infantry. Some crazy marine had managed to jump on her back and managed to tear off a vent cover on her rigging, before stuffing a satchel charge inside. If that crazy Yank didn't get a posthumous Medal of Honour for the feat I would be very surprised.
Without much to do and rather bored, the two of us had broken out the playing cards. Jup had quickly joined us, so I'd taught the two a bastardised version of Uno that we could play with a normal deck of cards.
Suffice to say, my two little sisters (one by blood the the other by bond) had quickly ganged up on me. I frowned as I stared at the twenty cards in my hand. "Wankers. The both of you."
My sister giggled while Jup gave me a smile, "Just play a card already!" I mumbled a few choice words under my breath as I dutifully threw out a two of clubs. Betrayed! By my own sisters!
Perth was nearby, looking rather amused at my plight. "If this is going to be how we spend the rest of the war, sitting in the back, relaxing and firing off a few shells… It's not bad."
Hou frowned, sitting on top of her plotting table. "It feels like we can do more on the frontline though."
"How?" The Aussie replied. "There's not much we bring that the AADs don't. Even with those 5-inchers, those Walking-Coffins have to hit 'em a dozen times to take down the four stackers. Sure, we can stomp the little shits, but we can do more from here. Fuck me dead, Howe's got two kills today. Four with you and Wales' kills. We can't be everywhere at once, but like this we kinda can be, mate."
I snorted. "Walking-Coffins. That's a good one."
Hou smiled in amusement, "I guess. Still. I don't like it."
As it came around to my turn, I threw out a ten which we were using as the wildcard. "I'll make it… Hearts." I turned back to Hou. "I'm with Perth. This is a much better use of our firepower than as heavy infantry."
The pseudo-Texan rolled her eyes, "You're just happy you don't have to worry about any of us getting killed."
I smiled, "Of course."
"Stalwart to Gunslinger, fire mission, fourteen-inch, only need the ten guns, over." Stewart's voice crackled over the radio.
I immediately snapped to my feet, dropping my cards much to Jup and my sister's exclamations of annoyance.
"Gunslinger here. Ten guns ready." Hou replied as I sprinted out onto the runway and pulled my rigging.
"Target is grid two-one-two-six-decimal four. Jap artillery battery." Her voice was calm, even quiet. A far cry from the previous call.
"Target is grid two-one-two-six-decimal four. Jap artillery battery." Hou read back, now audible only over the radio since I'd gotten some distance.
"Good readback."
"Standby." My second replied, working her map. "Wales, Target bears zero-eight-six. Range, eight-thousand thirty yards!"
"Zero-eight-six. Eight-thousand thirty yards." I repeated. "Two rounds, ranging… Shot!" The twin guns of my B-turret roared. "Ten seconds!"
And then, I waited. With any luck, I'd be on target. Eight thousand yards wasn't particularly far. I meant what I'd said to Hou. I much preferred using Seven-Niner as walking-talking artillery rather than heavy infantry. More relaxing, and far less tense. If free spirits could age, my hair would have long turned bleach-white from the stress.
Murphy must've been listening to my thoughts.
"Wales! Behind!" My sister's yell made me spin around on instinct, just in time to spot the Jap Tank-SHIP charging out of the jungle, followed by one of her sisters. She'd already cleared half the distance between me and the treeline before Howe spotted her.
For a split second I froze as I registered the sword raised above her head, and my cheek flared with phantom-pain. My hand reflexively fell to my own sword. Not again. I had training this time. I knew how to use my blade. Especially against a katana, thanks to how many times I'd sparred with Mr. Webb.
I had this.
And then she screamed "Tennōheika, BANZAI!" and shot me with her five-incher. It flattened against my chest, and only managed to piss me off. It also served as a reminder that, unlike the last time a Nip SHIP had come at me with a sword, I didn't have to worry about collateral damage this time.
So I shot her. The result was predictable.
Four of the eight HE shells I had loaded for bombardment work smashed right into her and smashed her like a tin can. The other girl stumbled as one of my misses detonated beside her, the blast throwing her sideways. I started backpedaling as my guns reloaded, and opened up with my fives and AA guns. I needn't have worried as a moment later a shell caught her centre mass and blew her in two.
I glanced over my shoulder to see my sister, her own guns smoking. "Much obliged sis."
She glared at me, "God damnit Wales. Did you forget you had guns for a moment?!"
I flushed with embarrassment. "Maybe."
She walked up and cuffed me on the head. "You idiot."
I stood there, stunned. She'd never done anything like that. Not even a friendly pat on the shoulder. She'd never been comfortable enough. That thought made me laugh.
She frowned. "What's so funny?"
I grinned, and pulled her into a cheeky headlock, ruffling her hair. "Look at you! All self-confident all of a sudden! Seems I need to reassert my big sister card!"
"Waaaaaales!" She whined, "Stop!"
"Now why would I do that?" I smirked. This was the first time I'd ever gotten physical with her like this.
"Fine!" In one smooth motion, she tripped me and used my arm around her neck to shoulder throw me. We went down in a tangle of scuffling limbs. Both of us grinning like idiots.
What warship didn't enjoy a good scuffle?
"God damn. You look like shit, Wash." Hou spoke later that afternoon, as TF89 joined us on the airfield.
True to my second's word, Wash was a bit battered. Her usual blue and white outfit looked a bit worse for wear where enemy fire had struck her, and she had a growing black eye. "You should see the other ship." She snarked.
"A walking-coffin shoot you in the face?" Hou quipped.
Wash gave a small chuckle. "Is that what you're calling the fuckers? Fitting. Yeah, my armored conning tower stopped it."
"Lucky. I assume she paid for her insolence?" I quipped, hamming up my accent a bit.
Wash shorted and replied in her own awful English accent, "Oh of course Your Majesty! She paid with her life!"
"Very good." I gestured at Hou. "Seneschal, a rum ration for these fine ladies for their fine work defeating enemies of the kingdom."
Hou bonked me, "Oh shut the fuck up you two. Very funny."
Wash and I both guffawed. I said a lot about how comfortable I was with Wash and TF89 that I could take the posh mask off and joke around like this. "Seriously though." I chuckled, holding out a small bottle of Navy Rum. "Here, you look like you need it."
"Appreciated." The Yank battlewagon took it gratefully, and immediately downed a swig. "Ah, that's good stuff."
"So." I started as she and the rest of her girls sat down with us. I noted the two Australian CAs among them. "They threw you in with this Yank, huh Aussie? Canberra?"
"Yea, mate." Aussie grinned, "She's not half bad, turns out."
Wash grinned. That was high praise coming from the normally stoic Aussie. "Nice to have some heavier guns too. They each snagged a Buckethead today."
My sister chuckled. "Are we competing to come up with the best slang for the Tankies now?"
That got a round of laughs. "I guess so," I chuckled.
"Oi, Wales?" Electra suddenly spoke from nearby where the destroyers had grouped up. "Could we have a bonfire?"
I waved her off. "Go ahead."
With some excitement, the gaggle of giggling destroyers, now a dozen strong themselves, ran off to find fuel. Wash glanced at me, "Are you sure that's a good idea? Didn't you get jumped by some Tankies earlier?"
I shrugged, "My marines are holding a perimeter. We'll be fine. Besides, the Japs were all but wiped out during the fighting today."
The grey haired battleship nodded, "Yeah. Idiots stood and fought, rather than retreat. Report said you got six of the bucketheads today?"
"Yup. You?" Hou replied.
"Four." Wash answered, hand rubbing her chin. "That makes ten. How many of the damn things do the Japs have?"
"A lot." I mumbled. "Makes sense. They're small and simple to produce on purpose I'd think."
"That's gotta be at least over two dozen on the island then." Perth entered the conversation.
I mentally counted all the Tank-SHIPs I knew had been killed. "Might even be three dozen. The AADs were having trouble from what I heard."
Aussie nodded. "Yeah. They were having to get up close and kill 'em in melee. We're lucky the wankers don't have the firepower to stop a platoon of charging four stackers before they can jump 'em."
"Maybe BuOrd can get some modern AP shells made for the girls. Seems like they'll need it." Lulu chimed in.
"Maybe." Hou rubbed her chin. "Even then, they'll have a hard time with armour that thick."
"They'll think of something." I added.
"'Aight." Perth stood, "I'll get the barbie on. Any helpers?"
"Why not." Lulu grinned, and shot up, her twintails swinging. "Teach me!"
Perth stared at her, "You don't know how to…? Alright fine. Follow me."
As the two cruisers got to grilling, I produced my own rum. I'd earned it today. I soon found myself simply enjoying the evening with friends as the sky began to turn orange. Hou and Wash were discussing anti-'Tankie' tactics, while the cruisers broke out some cards. Out on the runway, the destroyers had built a large pile of wood and other flammables and had a merry blaze going. They seemed to be pillaging the wicked hangars for fuel.
As for me. I just sipped my drink, and relaxed.
Nearly half an hour later, Perth yelled from the grill. "Food's up!"
I smiled, and stowed my drink. Standing up, I-
BOOM
We all felt the explosion, right before we were pelted with burning wood. I hissed as a burning piece of a crate smacked my back. I spun, expecting to see carnage at the bonfire. The damn thing had exploded, and the destroyers were picking themselves up from where they'd been tossed like rag dolls.
I quickly jogged over. "Everyone alright!?"
"I'm okay!" Electra chirped, climbing to her feet, and then hauling Jup to her feet.
"Me too." The blonde muttered. I waited with baited breath as all twelve of the little buggers had confirmed they were okay. "Just some light burns."
"Thank god." I muttered. "What the hell happened?!"
Electra beamed, seemingly amused by the entire thing. "No idea!"
"That's not a good thing you cheeky git." I glared at her.
Wash, who'd come over to investigate and make sure her own destroyers were alight, suddenly swore. I turned to find her looking at an unburned crate that had been part of a small pile of additional fuel to be added to the blaze. "What?"
Instead of answering me, she turned to the DDs. "Who collected these crates?"
Fletcher hesitantly raised her hand. "I did?"
"Where did you get them?" Wash grilled the blonde.
She pointed at one of the hangars. "There. There was a whole stack…"
"Did you throw one on the fire?"
A hesitant nod. "Why?"
Wash simply smashed open the crate, revealing an aircraft bomb. Eyes wide, I turned to read the Japanese on another identical crate. '100kg Aerial Bomb.'
My hand met my face. "Bloody destroyers!"
