Princess of Wales: A Memoir on the The Second World War and Origin of Ship Spirits (Kancolle)
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Chapter 57: Politics and PTs
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AN: Today is a good day for WWII KC fics huh? First Changing Destiny gets an update, and now I have one for you lot too 
Chapter 57: Politics and PTs
Our two week break after 3rd Savo was quiet, with only one engagement well down the slot when some American destroyers intercepted what was now being called the Tokyo Express. The Japanese were making near nightly supply runs with destroyers to try and keep the troops fighting us ashore fed and armed. Unfortunately for them, Boise ended up working with the Marines several times during those two weeks. Ashore, they simply didn't have any response to a light cruiser, and the land war rapidly began to swing in our favor.
OCTOBER 25 1942
D+46
0910 HOURS
It was just over two weeks later that I was summoned to speak with John. Things had been going well. The Americans filling in for us guarding Iron Bottom Sound had little to do, beyond trying to intercept the now named Tokyo Express.
I was fully repaired, at least in combat terms. I still had a few holes in my superstructure, but nothing that would impact my combat performance. The same went for almost everyone else with the exception of Perth and Andie. Unfortunately those two would need significant repairs, and so joined Hammann in the baths for the long term.
And so twelve had become nine.
Another battle or two like that and we'd be down to half strength. It just went to show even in victory casualties were inevitable.
I soon reached John's dugout and climbed down. The Commodore was looking over his map table. "Morning, Sir."
He glanced up, "Morning, Wales. How are you feeling?"
"Good." I replied. "We're ready for combat again, barring Perth, Andie and Hammann."
"Good to hear." He replied before pointing to the map, "There's been a couple of destroyer skirmishes with the Tokyo Express in The Slot over the last week, but nothing major. We'll likely be committed sometime this week."
"I see."
He hummed, then turned to me, "That aside, we've been asked to give a briefing this evening."
I blinked, "To who?"
John gestured in the vague direction of the Sound, "Two torpedo boat squadrons and a tender just arrived at Tulagi. Since I am the most senior officer present and able, the Lieutenant Commander in charge of them has asked me to provide him and his Captains with a general brief on the situation and any advice I can give."
My brow furrowed, "Where do I come in?"
John smiled, "I can brief them on the strategic situation, but I haven't seen active combat since Bali Strait. You, on the other hand, have very recent combat experience. So, I want you to give a small tactical brief on Japanese tactics and ships."
"Oh. Alright." I nodded. "I can do that."
John nodded, "A PT will be by the wharf at seventeen-hundred to pick us up."
"Okay." I replied, "Anything else?"
Now he grinned, and pulled a small bag from behind his desk. "We got the mail."
"Girls! We got mail!"
That was all I needed to say to get everyone scrambling into the bunker's common area, excited to hear about sisters sailing distant seas. It wasn't a very large bag of mail, just a few letters for each member of 79.
It took about ten minutes to hand all the letters out. Eventually I was left on the small common room couch with Howe, a small pile of letters for both of us.
The first two were from Duke of York and Anson, both being the usual storytelling and catching up. I hadn't met them yet but I already adored my two younger siblings. Duke was in the Med, fighting the Italians with KGV. At least, that was what I could intuit, based on the small ink splotches left by the censors. Annie, as we'd all started calling our youngest, was with the Home Fleet, keeping the Jerry's surface fleet bottled up.
Then I reached Repulse's letter.
Dear Gwen,
I hope things are going well back there, lass. Feels like forever ago we saw one another. I've heard you're still at the front, giving the Nips what for. I hope you're keeping good care of the girls? Do give them my regards, eh?
You're the talk of the fleet over here. First SHIP and all that. All the damn battle honours you're racking up too. You've already got 'ole 'Spite beat on battle honour count. If you didn't know, she's got nine. You've ten. She's a bit miffed about it. I've not seen the old lady this competitive in years. She's just arrived back here, and is already raring to go. I've been racking up honours too. And last I checked Jup and the E's are still with you, and they'll have most of the same honours too.
So we've got a wager going: Whoever has the most at the end of the war gets a vacation of their choice funded by everyone else in on the wager. You in? Oh, and ask the rest of 79 too. They all seem to be in the running.
Anyway, things are going well over here. Doris sends her love. They've got her playing landship and blowing up Jerry's panzers. I've been busy, both on land and sea. I just got a full refit too, which is damn nice. I'd say more, but we both know the censors would ink it out.
Keep yourself safe for me, lass. We're halfway through.
With Love
Reanne
I smiled, it was always nice to hear from 'Pulse. I certainly looked forward to seeing her again. I really missed her.
The next letter was from Kay, and came with a small package.
Dear Gwen,
I just received your last letter. I am glad to hear you are doing well. It can't help but worry every time I hear you've taken part in yet another battle. But I suppose if nothing has defeated you on the waves yet, nothing ever will. I know I haven't told you this enough, but I am so proud of you, little sis. You've grown into a magnificent young woman. You are an example for every vessel in the Navy of what we should strive for. You've already more than made our ancestors and traditions proud.
But do be careful. I really do worry, knowing how often you're in the thick of it.
But enough about that. Things are turning around over here, now that the Yanks have shown up. They're bloody green, and don't know what the hell they're doing, but they're eager and quick to learn. Given a few months and experience, they'll be able to keep up with us.
I've honestly been a bit bored recently. The only action I've seen has been air attacks. My XO duties keep me busy, but they're almost routine now. Hard to believe it's almost been a year since, well, you and Reanne happened. Speaking of, Reanne and Doris are here and they say hi.
Now, I've also sent you a little something with this letter. I know you're a CO yourself now, and the safety of your fleet ride on you. I can't imagine the responsibility. So, I figured I'd send you one of the best books a military officer can read.
Stay safe, little sis.
Love,
Georgia
I smiled. It was always good to hear from family. Curious, I picked up the small package, and began to unwrap it. Under the packing paper was a book.
I gave a small chuckle when I read the title. Of course she sent me that book.
1655 HOURS
Right on time, the PT boat pulled up to the small wharf where Jon and I were waiting. It was a small dock, recently constructed by the SeaBees, just big enough for small boats.
I'd seen smaller combat boats before, both at home and at Singapore. They were always such tiny things, carrying a paltry few weapons. Most of the few I'd met were like Millie: Small fast gunboats capable of sub hunting.
But this one was a proper torpedo boat, with four fat torpedo tubes strapped to her deck, two to a side. She was painted gray, with only a single Oerlikon and four M2 Brownings to her name. And to top it off, she was made of wood.
Thank god I was a battleship, instead of one of these poor girls. I doubted they'd see it that way though.
The captain of the small vessel stepped onto the dock. He was a young man, with sun bleached light brown hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of aviators, and he wore somewhat rumpled USN summer khakis, a Lieutenant's rank on his shoulders. He seemed… Familiar.
He turned to introduce himself to John, but before he could speak, a small girl not even five feet tall hopped onto the dock. "Heyo!"
I blinked. "Oh. Um. Hello."
"Heya!" The PT boat repeated herself. "I'm Nina! You that great big battleship I've heard about running around?"
Still off balance, I paused and gave her a lookover. As I'd already noticed, she was short, and quite young, yet ironically looked a bit older than Jup. Maybe thirteen or fourteen, physically? She had ginger hair, with green eyes and freckles.
"Perhaps." I finally replied. "I'm not sure what clearance you have… Either way, Captain Gwen Windsor. A pleasure." I held out a hand.
"Nice ta' meet ya!" the girl replied, shaking my hand vigorously.
"Captain." John's voice drew my attention. I turned to see both officers already aboard.
"You can talk to her more during the trip, Nina." The young Lieutenant admonished.
"Aww…" the PT pouted, before teleporting back to her hull.
I simply shook my head at her antics. "Let's get going then."
For whatever reason, whether busy or distracted, the excitable Nina left me alone for the first fifteen minutes of the journey. We were sailing quite quickly, just under thirty knots at my estimate, though nowhere near the small boat's full speed. It would be about an hour's journey at this speed.
I ended up sitting on the stern, reading my new book. There were many perks to being a ship, but one often overlooked is the excellent sea legs - and therefore sense of balance - that meant I could happily perch with my legs dangling over the stern, and have zero fear of falling overboard.
I'd gotten several pages in when the boat's spirit popped back. "Whatcha readin'?"
I blinked at her sudden appearance, glancing up. "A book my sister sent me in the mail."
"That was nice of her! What's it about?"
I gave a small chuckle, "You may have heard of it. The Art of War."
"Oh, it's one of those types of books. Laaaaaaaaaaaame…" Nina complained. "You officer types are always so serious about stuff."
"It's hard not to be. This is, quite literally, a deadly serious business." I replied.
"That doesn't mean you can't live a little every now and then! I know you're all about being this big posh British battleship, but c'mon! Nobody ever wants to just take a bit of time when we're all safe and all, and just have a bit of fun!"
I chuckled, she was so… carefree. It was a bit refreshing to be honest. "You're not wrong. But I'd hardly call anywhere in the Solomons 'safe'. I prefer to do my 'living' back in nice safe Australia. Preferably with a few gin and tonics."
"I'm sure Aussieland is nice and all, but it's not near as interesting as out here! There's so much fun stuff here!" She grinned.
"Heh." Had I been like this? Back before Denmark Strait? "Give it a few battles." I replied, "You'll learn to appreciate the boredom. It means you aren't getting shot at."
The girl considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Maybe! But I bet it's gonna be plenty fun in its own way!"
"I suppose it is." I mused, "The adrenaline rush of battle is something else. Honestly, yes, War is fun. Until one of your friends or sisters ends up on the bottom. Then it just becomes terrifying…" My mind went back to Hood.
"Yeah… I guess it would be. But I'm a PT boat! Live fast, die young, take many with… you…" Nina trailed off. "Are you okay?"
I blinked. "Um, yes. Why?"
"You, uh…" she hesitated. "You looked about a thousand miles away for a bit."
Had I? I felt fine. "Sorry, don't worry about it. I'm alright."
"Okay!" Nina perked right back up with a bright smile. "So! Do you have any good war stories?"
They always wanted bloody stories. "I'd rather not…"
"Oh, okay."
"Enough about me." I spoke, changing the subject. I still had a point to make. "What about you? Get along with your crew?"
"My crew is great!" the young girl replied with a smile. "The LT in particular is just the best! He's like a big brother to me!"
I glanced behind me, for'ard. The young man was manning the helm while chatting with John who was beside him. Still, the feeling of familiarity lingered. I turned back to her, holding up the book. "Then you should at least understand the need for study. War is a thinking man's game."
"Yeah, but studying is boring!" Nina pouted. "If I'm reading, I wanna read something exciting!"
"Come now. You don't want to learn how to fight better?" I chuckled, "Look at it this way: enduring a little boredom in the short term means you'll be far better at beating the Japs."
"If you say so… but that's what the LT is for! He knows what he's doing, and I just follow his orders like the rest of the crew!"
I paused. "Are you commissioned?"
"Nope!"
I furrowed my brow. "Really? What's your rank then?"
"Ohhh… you meant like that. PT boats don't get commissioned into the Navy, so I thought, y'know…" Nina paused and shook her head. "I'm an Ensign."
"Do you have any other officers?" I asked.
"Yup! Three officers, including the El-Tee."
I nodded, "And what happens if they're killed or wounded and you're now in command?"
"Um…" the girl frowned and looked away.
I inclined my head, "Like I said… Deadly serious business… You're an officer, so you have some responsibility. You don't need to be serious all the time, but you owe it to your crew to be ready, just in case the worst happens." I chuckled. "That actually happened to Exeter at Java Sea. Lost her Captain, and XO got wounded. Her 3IC went into shock, and she ended up in command."
"O-oh…" the young girl stammered quietly, looking rather lost. I suddenly felt bad for bursting her bubble. But it was better she got through it now than in the middle of combat.
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Don't worry. Odds are long such a thing would happen." I explained, trying to console her. "But you never know what's going to happen. In my experience, naval warfare is all pure dumb luck. You just try to stack the odds in your favor as much as you can."
"Right. Right." She nodded, still a bit shaken.
I met her eyes. "Do you trust your captain?"
Now a determined nod. "Yes."
I smiled. "Then watch him. Learn from him. I'm sure he'd be happy to give you some advice and pointers."
"Okay. I can do that," Nina said, with an adorable determined nod.
I couldn't help but ruffle her hair with a grin. "We'll make a proper officer of you yet."
Nina laughed softly. "Thanks. He really is a great man."
I glanced back at the helm. "What was his name again?"
"Lieutenant Kennedy." At that moment, possibly because he heard his name, the young man in question glanced back at us.
Everything suddenly clicked into place. I had seen him before! I spun back to the PT boat. "John F. Kennedy?!"
"Uh… yeah? Is he famous or something?"
"I…" I was frozen. Why had I said that out loud?! Stupid! "Lucky guess." I muttered, before turning back to take another look.
He'd turned back around, but I couldn't help but boggle at the fact that JFK himself was right there. I didn't know much about the man to be honest. Just that he was one of the great American presidents, he'd been assassinated, was a major part of why America won the space race, and a few of his more famous quotes. All thanks to my grandmother. I couldn't even count the number of times I'd heard 'He was such a good president' from her in my teen years.
And I'd most certainly seen photos. The man before me was understandably far younger than the gentleman I'd seen in the pictures. Had he served in the navy in the war? Or had I somehow changed that? I didn't know.
"Huh."
Nina wasn't letting that go. "Lucky guess?! You don't just have a lucky guess for someone's name like that, especially since you know his middle initial! He's gotta be famous, right?" she asked. "I mean, how else would you know that?"
"I- uhhh." I stammered, "Classified?"
"How the fuck is that classified!?" Nina demanded, before flushing with embarrassment and covering her mouth. "Sorry…"
I sighed, "It's fine. And… It's a very long story. I'd tell you if I could. And I will tell you when I can, okay?"
"Okay!" the PT smiled brightly.
Bloody adorable small boats… "So, do you have any sisters?"
I couldn't help but be a bit nervous as I stood at the front of the briefing room. I was many things, but a public speaker was not one of them. The Commander in charge of the PT squadrons had appropriated a room aboard Jamestown, the PT tender, for the briefing. The wall behind me was covered in a map of the Solomons, while in front of me was my audience of twelve captains, their boats, and a few other officers including John and Commander Hanson, the commander of the flotilla.
John had already given his brief on the strategic situation. Now it was my turn to talk about the tactical.
"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen." I started awkwardly, voice wobbling a bit. I took a deep breath to calm the butterflies, slammed my regal mask on as well as I could, and continued with far more confidence than I felt. "I am Captain Windsor, also known as the battleship Prince of Wales. I am the flagship and at sea commander of Task Force Seven Niner."
Some of the officers didn't look too happy to see me, but they were the minority. I did my best to ignore them as I continued. "Know thy enemy, and know thyself, and you will not fear the result of a hundred battles. That is why I am giving this briefing. So you may know your enemy, and how they fight. War is understanding strengths and weaknesses, and exploiting them to achieve victory."
"So. Point number one. Throw out anything you have heard about Whites being superior to Asiatics. There is no truth to them, and all you will accomplish is getting yourself killed and your boat sunk. The Japanese officers, sailors and ships are the same as you and I. They are just as smart, clever and adaptable as anyone else. If you do not respect them, and do not expect the playing field to be level, they will be very happy to prove you wrong. It is what happened at Pearl. It is what happened at Singapore. Do not make this mistake. The only difference is the colour of their skin. And that goes doubly for the myth of the Japanese not being able to see at night because of their eye shape. That is not how the Mark 1 eyeball works."
"So, with that out of the way. The Japanese are superb night fighters. As best as we can tell they have specifically trained and prepared for night combat. Their situational awareness is excellent. If you spot a Japanese ship, assume they have already spotted you, as that is most often the case. Moreover, assume torpedoes are in the water. The IJN uses compressed oxygen in their torpedoes. This gives them several advantages. First, they have an extremely high speed, in excess of forty knots, and second, they have extreme range. Current estimates put it at over thirty thousand yards. Finally, they're wakeless, and you will not see them coming. Less an issue for PTs, but still something to be aware of."
A hand rose. "Yes?"
"Ma'am. Isn't Pure oxygen highly explosive?" A lieutenant asked.
I nodded, "Very. If you end up at close range with an enemy vessel, aim for the torpedo tubes. Even a M2 could set them off and cripple the ship."
I glanced around. "Any more questions about the torpedoes?"
Ten hands shot up. This was going to be a long briefing.
Two hours later, I'd finally finished up. The PT's and their skippers had happily lapped up all the intel I could give. It seemed even those with reservations about being outranked by a woman understood my firsthand knowledge could save their life.
It was dark by the time we'd reboarded Nina and set off across Iron Bottom Sound again. John had gone below deck for one reason or other, while I ended up beside the helm.
Part of me still couldn't believe I was standing beside JFK. But then again, I'd already met President Roosevelt, what was one more US President? Or future President, as it were.
My disbelief must've shown on my face, because after several minutes of silence the Lieutenant glanced at me. "I know I'm handsome, Captain, but have my looks really got you that worked up?"
I froze, flushing. Had I been staring? And I mean, he was very easy on the eyes. "No, it's not your looks, Leftenant."
He chuckled, "I'll take your word. Though Nina told me you already knew my name…"
I sighed, "Of course she did. I'm not allowed to speak of it, Leftenant."
His brows rose. "Huh."
Time to change the subject. "How long have you commanded Nina?" I asked.
"Not long." He replied with his light Boston accent, "Just a month now."
"Is Nina her actual name? I'm afraid I don't know the naming scheme for American motor boats."
Kennedy shook his head, "No, it's what she chose for her legal name. To the Navy she's PT-109. When she first became visible her crew called her On-Niney, and she eventually rolled it into 'Nina'." He glanced at me, "So why 'Gwen Windsor' for you?"
I smiled, mind going back to the night in Singapore. "Gwendolyn Windsor, in full. Gwen because I consider myself Welsh, and Windsor because I'm named after the title of the heir to the British throne, and the current ruling family is the House of Windsor."
"Huh. Must be nice to pick your own name."
"A bit." I muttered.
"I certainly like it!" Nina said out of nowhere, popping into existence right beside Kennedy. "Gwen is a pretty name, but I really like Nina! That's why I chose it!"
I started. "Gah! Bloody hell, give a girl some warning before you do that."
"What, like this?" Nina asked, before teleporting to my side just as quickly.
I gave the PT a deadpan glare. "Very funny."
Kennedy chuckled, "That's Nina for you."
The small boat just beamed. I could only hope the two would make it through their baptism of fire in the coming weeks.
But in that time I would have bigger fish to fry, as it were…
Chapter 57: Politics and PTs
Our two week break after 3rd Savo was quiet, with only one engagement well down the slot when some American destroyers intercepted what was now being called the Tokyo Express. The Japanese were making near nightly supply runs with destroyers to try and keep the troops fighting us ashore fed and armed. Unfortunately for them, Boise ended up working with the Marines several times during those two weeks. Ashore, they simply didn't have any response to a light cruiser, and the land war rapidly began to swing in our favor.
OCTOBER 25 1942
D+46
0910 HOURS
It was just over two weeks later that I was summoned to speak with John. Things had been going well. The Americans filling in for us guarding Iron Bottom Sound had little to do, beyond trying to intercept the now named Tokyo Express.
I was fully repaired, at least in combat terms. I still had a few holes in my superstructure, but nothing that would impact my combat performance. The same went for almost everyone else with the exception of Perth and Andie. Unfortunately those two would need significant repairs, and so joined Hammann in the baths for the long term.
And so twelve had become nine.
Another battle or two like that and we'd be down to half strength. It just went to show even in victory casualties were inevitable.
I soon reached John's dugout and climbed down. The Commodore was looking over his map table. "Morning, Sir."
He glanced up, "Morning, Wales. How are you feeling?"
"Good." I replied. "We're ready for combat again, barring Perth, Andie and Hammann."
"Good to hear." He replied before pointing to the map, "There's been a couple of destroyer skirmishes with the Tokyo Express in The Slot over the last week, but nothing major. We'll likely be committed sometime this week."
"I see."
He hummed, then turned to me, "That aside, we've been asked to give a briefing this evening."
I blinked, "To who?"
John gestured in the vague direction of the Sound, "Two torpedo boat squadrons and a tender just arrived at Tulagi. Since I am the most senior officer present and able, the Lieutenant Commander in charge of them has asked me to provide him and his Captains with a general brief on the situation and any advice I can give."
My brow furrowed, "Where do I come in?"
John smiled, "I can brief them on the strategic situation, but I haven't seen active combat since Bali Strait. You, on the other hand, have very recent combat experience. So, I want you to give a small tactical brief on Japanese tactics and ships."
"Oh. Alright." I nodded. "I can do that."
John nodded, "A PT will be by the wharf at seventeen-hundred to pick us up."
"Okay." I replied, "Anything else?"
Now he grinned, and pulled a small bag from behind his desk. "We got the mail."
"Girls! We got mail!"
That was all I needed to say to get everyone scrambling into the bunker's common area, excited to hear about sisters sailing distant seas. It wasn't a very large bag of mail, just a few letters for each member of 79.
It took about ten minutes to hand all the letters out. Eventually I was left on the small common room couch with Howe, a small pile of letters for both of us.
The first two were from Duke of York and Anson, both being the usual storytelling and catching up. I hadn't met them yet but I already adored my two younger siblings. Duke was in the Med, fighting the Italians with KGV. At least, that was what I could intuit, based on the small ink splotches left by the censors. Annie, as we'd all started calling our youngest, was with the Home Fleet, keeping the Jerry's surface fleet bottled up.
Then I reached Repulse's letter.
Dear Gwen,
I hope things are going well back there, lass. Feels like forever ago we saw one another. I've heard you're still at the front, giving the Nips what for. I hope you're keeping good care of the girls? Do give them my regards, eh?
You're the talk of the fleet over here. First SHIP and all that. All the damn battle honours you're racking up too. You've already got 'ole 'Spite beat on battle honour count. If you didn't know, she's got nine. You've ten. She's a bit miffed about it. I've not seen the old lady this competitive in years. She's just arrived back here, and is already raring to go. I've been racking up honours too. And last I checked Jup and the E's are still with you, and they'll have most of the same honours too.
So we've got a wager going: Whoever has the most at the end of the war gets a vacation of their choice funded by everyone else in on the wager. You in? Oh, and ask the rest of 79 too. They all seem to be in the running.
Anyway, things are going well over here. Doris sends her love. They've got her playing landship and blowing up Jerry's panzers. I've been busy, both on land and sea. I just got a full refit too, which is damn nice. I'd say more, but we both know the censors would ink it out.
Keep yourself safe for me, lass. We're halfway through.
With Love
Reanne
I smiled, it was always nice to hear from 'Pulse. I certainly looked forward to seeing her again. I really missed her.
The next letter was from Kay, and came with a small package.
Dear Gwen,
I just received your last letter. I am glad to hear you are doing well. It can't help but worry every time I hear you've taken part in yet another battle. But I suppose if nothing has defeated you on the waves yet, nothing ever will. I know I haven't told you this enough, but I am so proud of you, little sis. You've grown into a magnificent young woman. You are an example for every vessel in the Navy of what we should strive for. You've already more than made our ancestors and traditions proud.
But do be careful. I really do worry, knowing how often you're in the thick of it.
But enough about that. Things are turning around over here, now that the Yanks have shown up. They're bloody green, and don't know what the hell they're doing, but they're eager and quick to learn. Given a few months and experience, they'll be able to keep up with us.
I've honestly been a bit bored recently. The only action I've seen has been air attacks. My XO duties keep me busy, but they're almost routine now. Hard to believe it's almost been a year since, well, you and Reanne happened. Speaking of, Reanne and Doris are here and they say hi.
Now, I've also sent you a little something with this letter. I know you're a CO yourself now, and the safety of your fleet ride on you. I can't imagine the responsibility. So, I figured I'd send you one of the best books a military officer can read.
Stay safe, little sis.
Love,
Georgia
I smiled. It was always good to hear from family. Curious, I picked up the small package, and began to unwrap it. Under the packing paper was a book.
I gave a small chuckle when I read the title. Of course she sent me that book.
1655 HOURS
Right on time, the PT boat pulled up to the small wharf where Jon and I were waiting. It was a small dock, recently constructed by the SeaBees, just big enough for small boats.
I'd seen smaller combat boats before, both at home and at Singapore. They were always such tiny things, carrying a paltry few weapons. Most of the few I'd met were like Millie: Small fast gunboats capable of sub hunting.
But this one was a proper torpedo boat, with four fat torpedo tubes strapped to her deck, two to a side. She was painted gray, with only a single Oerlikon and four M2 Brownings to her name. And to top it off, she was made of wood.
Thank god I was a battleship, instead of one of these poor girls. I doubted they'd see it that way though.
The captain of the small vessel stepped onto the dock. He was a young man, with sun bleached light brown hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of aviators, and he wore somewhat rumpled USN summer khakis, a Lieutenant's rank on his shoulders. He seemed… Familiar.
He turned to introduce himself to John, but before he could speak, a small girl not even five feet tall hopped onto the dock. "Heyo!"
I blinked. "Oh. Um. Hello."
"Heya!" The PT boat repeated herself. "I'm Nina! You that great big battleship I've heard about running around?"
Still off balance, I paused and gave her a lookover. As I'd already noticed, she was short, and quite young, yet ironically looked a bit older than Jup. Maybe thirteen or fourteen, physically? She had ginger hair, with green eyes and freckles.
"Perhaps." I finally replied. "I'm not sure what clearance you have… Either way, Captain Gwen Windsor. A pleasure." I held out a hand.
"Nice ta' meet ya!" the girl replied, shaking my hand vigorously.
"Captain." John's voice drew my attention. I turned to see both officers already aboard.
"You can talk to her more during the trip, Nina." The young Lieutenant admonished.
"Aww…" the PT pouted, before teleporting back to her hull.
I simply shook my head at her antics. "Let's get going then."
For whatever reason, whether busy or distracted, the excitable Nina left me alone for the first fifteen minutes of the journey. We were sailing quite quickly, just under thirty knots at my estimate, though nowhere near the small boat's full speed. It would be about an hour's journey at this speed.
I ended up sitting on the stern, reading my new book. There were many perks to being a ship, but one often overlooked is the excellent sea legs - and therefore sense of balance - that meant I could happily perch with my legs dangling over the stern, and have zero fear of falling overboard.
I'd gotten several pages in when the boat's spirit popped back. "Whatcha readin'?"
I blinked at her sudden appearance, glancing up. "A book my sister sent me in the mail."
"That was nice of her! What's it about?"
I gave a small chuckle, "You may have heard of it. The Art of War."
"Oh, it's one of those types of books. Laaaaaaaaaaaame…" Nina complained. "You officer types are always so serious about stuff."
"It's hard not to be. This is, quite literally, a deadly serious business." I replied.
"That doesn't mean you can't live a little every now and then! I know you're all about being this big posh British battleship, but c'mon! Nobody ever wants to just take a bit of time when we're all safe and all, and just have a bit of fun!"
I chuckled, she was so… carefree. It was a bit refreshing to be honest. "You're not wrong. But I'd hardly call anywhere in the Solomons 'safe'. I prefer to do my 'living' back in nice safe Australia. Preferably with a few gin and tonics."
"I'm sure Aussieland is nice and all, but it's not near as interesting as out here! There's so much fun stuff here!" She grinned.
"Heh." Had I been like this? Back before Denmark Strait? "Give it a few battles." I replied, "You'll learn to appreciate the boredom. It means you aren't getting shot at."
The girl considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Maybe! But I bet it's gonna be plenty fun in its own way!"
"I suppose it is." I mused, "The adrenaline rush of battle is something else. Honestly, yes, War is fun. Until one of your friends or sisters ends up on the bottom. Then it just becomes terrifying…" My mind went back to Hood.
"Yeah… I guess it would be. But I'm a PT boat! Live fast, die young, take many with… you…" Nina trailed off. "Are you okay?"
I blinked. "Um, yes. Why?"
"You, uh…" she hesitated. "You looked about a thousand miles away for a bit."
Had I? I felt fine. "Sorry, don't worry about it. I'm alright."
"Okay!" Nina perked right back up with a bright smile. "So! Do you have any good war stories?"
They always wanted bloody stories. "I'd rather not…"
"Oh, okay."
"Enough about me." I spoke, changing the subject. I still had a point to make. "What about you? Get along with your crew?"
"My crew is great!" the young girl replied with a smile. "The LT in particular is just the best! He's like a big brother to me!"
I glanced behind me, for'ard. The young man was manning the helm while chatting with John who was beside him. Still, the feeling of familiarity lingered. I turned back to her, holding up the book. "Then you should at least understand the need for study. War is a thinking man's game."
"Yeah, but studying is boring!" Nina pouted. "If I'm reading, I wanna read something exciting!"
"Come now. You don't want to learn how to fight better?" I chuckled, "Look at it this way: enduring a little boredom in the short term means you'll be far better at beating the Japs."
"If you say so… but that's what the LT is for! He knows what he's doing, and I just follow his orders like the rest of the crew!"
I paused. "Are you commissioned?"
"Nope!"
I furrowed my brow. "Really? What's your rank then?"
"Ohhh… you meant like that. PT boats don't get commissioned into the Navy, so I thought, y'know…" Nina paused and shook her head. "I'm an Ensign."
"Do you have any other officers?" I asked.
"Yup! Three officers, including the El-Tee."
I nodded, "And what happens if they're killed or wounded and you're now in command?"
"Um…" the girl frowned and looked away.
I inclined my head, "Like I said… Deadly serious business… You're an officer, so you have some responsibility. You don't need to be serious all the time, but you owe it to your crew to be ready, just in case the worst happens." I chuckled. "That actually happened to Exeter at Java Sea. Lost her Captain, and XO got wounded. Her 3IC went into shock, and she ended up in command."
"O-oh…" the young girl stammered quietly, looking rather lost. I suddenly felt bad for bursting her bubble. But it was better she got through it now than in the middle of combat.
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Don't worry. Odds are long such a thing would happen." I explained, trying to console her. "But you never know what's going to happen. In my experience, naval warfare is all pure dumb luck. You just try to stack the odds in your favor as much as you can."
"Right. Right." She nodded, still a bit shaken.
I met her eyes. "Do you trust your captain?"
Now a determined nod. "Yes."
I smiled. "Then watch him. Learn from him. I'm sure he'd be happy to give you some advice and pointers."
"Okay. I can do that," Nina said, with an adorable determined nod.
I couldn't help but ruffle her hair with a grin. "We'll make a proper officer of you yet."
Nina laughed softly. "Thanks. He really is a great man."
I glanced back at the helm. "What was his name again?"
"Lieutenant Kennedy." At that moment, possibly because he heard his name, the young man in question glanced back at us.
Everything suddenly clicked into place. I had seen him before! I spun back to the PT boat. "John F. Kennedy?!"
"Uh… yeah? Is he famous or something?"
"I…" I was frozen. Why had I said that out loud?! Stupid! "Lucky guess." I muttered, before turning back to take another look.
He'd turned back around, but I couldn't help but boggle at the fact that JFK himself was right there. I didn't know much about the man to be honest. Just that he was one of the great American presidents, he'd been assassinated, was a major part of why America won the space race, and a few of his more famous quotes. All thanks to my grandmother. I couldn't even count the number of times I'd heard 'He was such a good president' from her in my teen years.
And I'd most certainly seen photos. The man before me was understandably far younger than the gentleman I'd seen in the pictures. Had he served in the navy in the war? Or had I somehow changed that? I didn't know.
"Huh."
Nina wasn't letting that go. "Lucky guess?! You don't just have a lucky guess for someone's name like that, especially since you know his middle initial! He's gotta be famous, right?" she asked. "I mean, how else would you know that?"
"I- uhhh." I stammered, "Classified?"
"How the fuck is that classified!?" Nina demanded, before flushing with embarrassment and covering her mouth. "Sorry…"
I sighed, "It's fine. And… It's a very long story. I'd tell you if I could. And I will tell you when I can, okay?"
"Okay!" the PT smiled brightly.
Bloody adorable small boats… "So, do you have any sisters?"
I couldn't help but be a bit nervous as I stood at the front of the briefing room. I was many things, but a public speaker was not one of them. The Commander in charge of the PT squadrons had appropriated a room aboard Jamestown, the PT tender, for the briefing. The wall behind me was covered in a map of the Solomons, while in front of me was my audience of twelve captains, their boats, and a few other officers including John and Commander Hanson, the commander of the flotilla.
John had already given his brief on the strategic situation. Now it was my turn to talk about the tactical.
"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen." I started awkwardly, voice wobbling a bit. I took a deep breath to calm the butterflies, slammed my regal mask on as well as I could, and continued with far more confidence than I felt. "I am Captain Windsor, also known as the battleship Prince of Wales. I am the flagship and at sea commander of Task Force Seven Niner."
Some of the officers didn't look too happy to see me, but they were the minority. I did my best to ignore them as I continued. "Know thy enemy, and know thyself, and you will not fear the result of a hundred battles. That is why I am giving this briefing. So you may know your enemy, and how they fight. War is understanding strengths and weaknesses, and exploiting them to achieve victory."
"So. Point number one. Throw out anything you have heard about Whites being superior to Asiatics. There is no truth to them, and all you will accomplish is getting yourself killed and your boat sunk. The Japanese officers, sailors and ships are the same as you and I. They are just as smart, clever and adaptable as anyone else. If you do not respect them, and do not expect the playing field to be level, they will be very happy to prove you wrong. It is what happened at Pearl. It is what happened at Singapore. Do not make this mistake. The only difference is the colour of their skin. And that goes doubly for the myth of the Japanese not being able to see at night because of their eye shape. That is not how the Mark 1 eyeball works."
"So, with that out of the way. The Japanese are superb night fighters. As best as we can tell they have specifically trained and prepared for night combat. Their situational awareness is excellent. If you spot a Japanese ship, assume they have already spotted you, as that is most often the case. Moreover, assume torpedoes are in the water. The IJN uses compressed oxygen in their torpedoes. This gives them several advantages. First, they have an extremely high speed, in excess of forty knots, and second, they have extreme range. Current estimates put it at over thirty thousand yards. Finally, they're wakeless, and you will not see them coming. Less an issue for PTs, but still something to be aware of."
A hand rose. "Yes?"
"Ma'am. Isn't Pure oxygen highly explosive?" A lieutenant asked.
I nodded, "Very. If you end up at close range with an enemy vessel, aim for the torpedo tubes. Even a M2 could set them off and cripple the ship."
I glanced around. "Any more questions about the torpedoes?"
Ten hands shot up. This was going to be a long briefing.
Two hours later, I'd finally finished up. The PT's and their skippers had happily lapped up all the intel I could give. It seemed even those with reservations about being outranked by a woman understood my firsthand knowledge could save their life.
It was dark by the time we'd reboarded Nina and set off across Iron Bottom Sound again. John had gone below deck for one reason or other, while I ended up beside the helm.
Part of me still couldn't believe I was standing beside JFK. But then again, I'd already met President Roosevelt, what was one more US President? Or future President, as it were.
My disbelief must've shown on my face, because after several minutes of silence the Lieutenant glanced at me. "I know I'm handsome, Captain, but have my looks really got you that worked up?"
I froze, flushing. Had I been staring? And I mean, he was very easy on the eyes. "No, it's not your looks, Leftenant."
He chuckled, "I'll take your word. Though Nina told me you already knew my name…"
I sighed, "Of course she did. I'm not allowed to speak of it, Leftenant."
His brows rose. "Huh."
Time to change the subject. "How long have you commanded Nina?" I asked.
"Not long." He replied with his light Boston accent, "Just a month now."
"Is Nina her actual name? I'm afraid I don't know the naming scheme for American motor boats."
Kennedy shook his head, "No, it's what she chose for her legal name. To the Navy she's PT-109. When she first became visible her crew called her On-Niney, and she eventually rolled it into 'Nina'." He glanced at me, "So why 'Gwen Windsor' for you?"
I smiled, mind going back to the night in Singapore. "Gwendolyn Windsor, in full. Gwen because I consider myself Welsh, and Windsor because I'm named after the title of the heir to the British throne, and the current ruling family is the House of Windsor."
"Huh. Must be nice to pick your own name."
"A bit." I muttered.
"I certainly like it!" Nina said out of nowhere, popping into existence right beside Kennedy. "Gwen is a pretty name, but I really like Nina! That's why I chose it!"
I started. "Gah! Bloody hell, give a girl some warning before you do that."
"What, like this?" Nina asked, before teleporting to my side just as quickly.
I gave the PT a deadpan glare. "Very funny."
Kennedy chuckled, "That's Nina for you."
The small boat just beamed. I could only hope the two would make it through their baptism of fire in the coming weeks.
But in that time I would have bigger fish to fry, as it were…
Here is an Omake of my OC from the ocean liner Omake, Anneleen Water or HNLMS O-23. IRL the submarine survived the war. I could have used another submarine, but I already had an OC for the spirit of O-23, so in this AU she didn't survive the war (or at least her hull didn't).
________________________________________
2010 local time, October eleventh, 1942
Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste klasse* Anneleen Waters knew her hull wasn't going to make it. But she sure as hell would get as many of her crew to safety as she could. First of all, she was getting her chief engineer, the stubborn bastard was pointlessly trying to save her hull.
"Mister Van Brabant", Waters addressed the man where he and a few of the other engineers were keeping the pumps manned, "I thank you for the effort, but there is nothing you can do for me anymore, except one thing: live."
Waters herself took over the pumps, gaining time for her crew members to get out.
Shortly after her last surviving crewmember had left her hull, Waters' engine failed. The heavily damaged submarine started going down one last time. One moment Waters was still manning the pumps, the next she was outside her hull and watching it go down, taking the 9 dead crew members with it. At that moment, Anneleen Waters promised herself she would return to give her respect, she noted down her present coordinates in her logbook before surfacing next to her lifeboats.
Being between Timor and Australia there were no landmarks. She had had to use her earlier dead reckoning coordinates, especially with there being no moon and it being 3 AM, ensuring there was no visible horizon. Waters was confident she and her crew had done a good job but it still grated not to have as accurate a position as she wanted. "We are between 300 and 310 nautical miles from Darwin. I'm going to tow us at 15 knots to the south east. Conserve the water, we will be in Australia in little over 20 hours."
Her crew tied the lifeboats behind one another, before passing the towing line to Anneleen Waters.
Martijn Van Brabant would never forget that night and day. How he and his fellow crew members felt disappointed not to spot an allied ship or plane when morning came (but at least there was no Japanese seen either). It was hot in the lifeboats, water was nearly depleted. But discipline held.
On October 12th at 12:43, a passing RAF patrol noticed the lifeboats and contacted Darwin. Three hours later, HMAS Vendetta arrived and took Waters and her crew onboard.
_________________________________
* the Dutch rank equivalent to lieutenant-commander. OF-3 for NATO
Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste Klasse Anneleen Waters: spirit and CO of HNLMS O-23
Martijn van Brabant: Chief Engineer on O-23
Anneleen Waters will join the intelligence operations in the DEI after some training for covert operations, if I have inspiration, I might even write about some of it.
________________________________________
2010 local time, October eleventh, 1942
Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste klasse* Anneleen Waters knew her hull wasn't going to make it. But she sure as hell would get as many of her crew to safety as she could. First of all, she was getting her chief engineer, the stubborn bastard was pointlessly trying to save her hull.
"Mister Van Brabant", Waters addressed the man where he and a few of the other engineers were keeping the pumps manned, "I thank you for the effort, but there is nothing you can do for me anymore, except one thing: live."
Waters herself took over the pumps, gaining time for her crew members to get out.
Shortly after her last surviving crewmember had left her hull, Waters' engine failed. The heavily damaged submarine started going down one last time. One moment Waters was still manning the pumps, the next she was outside her hull and watching it go down, taking the 9 dead crew members with it. At that moment, Anneleen Waters promised herself she would return to give her respect, she noted down her present coordinates in her logbook before surfacing next to her lifeboats.
Being between Timor and Australia there were no landmarks. She had had to use her earlier dead reckoning coordinates, especially with there being no moon and it being 3 AM, ensuring there was no visible horizon. Waters was confident she and her crew had done a good job but it still grated not to have as accurate a position as she wanted. "We are between 300 and 310 nautical miles from Darwin. I'm going to tow us at 15 knots to the south east. Conserve the water, we will be in Australia in little over 20 hours."
Her crew tied the lifeboats behind one another, before passing the towing line to Anneleen Waters.
Martijn Van Brabant would never forget that night and day. How he and his fellow crew members felt disappointed not to spot an allied ship or plane when morning came (but at least there was no Japanese seen either). It was hot in the lifeboats, water was nearly depleted. But discipline held.
On October 12th at 12:43, a passing RAF patrol noticed the lifeboats and contacted Darwin. Three hours later, HMAS Vendetta arrived and took Waters and her crew onboard.
In 1946, Waters and her surviving crew returned to the Timor Sea, back to where her hull had gone down, the family of her nine dead sailors accompanying them. Anneleen Waters dove down carrying a plate with the names of the fallen engraved on it into the water as deep as she could go before dropping it to go the final part without her. She watched as the plate slowly sank into the deep.
Year after year, Waters and her crew would hold their reunion on October 11th. The last time in 1997. A mere two weeks later Martijn van Brabant's health dropped and he was hospitalized. Dying on November 2nd 1997. The last of her crew.
Year after year, Waters and her crew would hold their reunion on October 11th. The last time in 1997. A mere two weeks later Martijn van Brabant's health dropped and he was hospitalized. Dying on November 2nd 1997. The last of her crew.
_________________________________
* the Dutch rank equivalent to lieutenant-commander. OF-3 for NATO
Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste Klasse Anneleen Waters: spirit and CO of HNLMS O-23
Martijn van Brabant: Chief Engineer on O-23
Anneleen Waters will join the intelligence operations in the DEI after some training for covert operations, if I have inspiration, I might even write about some of it.
KongouBongo
Always got to make time for tea-time!
- Location
- 26°9'1"N 121°22'57"E
Good Omake,
Why hello Jack, not that I would expect Gwen to remember the history of JFK to give the old girl a warning, but hopfully there have been enough butterflies otherwise PT109 is going to have a bad day in the near future.
Why hello Jack, not that I would expect Gwen to remember the history of JFK to give the old girl a warning, but hopfully there have been enough butterflies otherwise PT109 is going to have a bad day in the near future.
Chapter 58: The Battle of New Georgia Sound
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 58: The Battle of New Georgia Sound
Meeting JFK was a surprise, and little did I know he and Nina would be seeing action with us within a week. The Tokyo Express didn't rest, so neither did we. I just wish things had turned out better.
OCTOBER 28 1942
D+49
1034 HOURS
"Morning, John." I spoke as I entered the Commodore's dugout. John was at his desk, as always.
"Morning Wales."
It'd been a few days since we'd met Nina and Kennedy. Perth, Hammann and Andie were still stuck in the bath, but the rest of us were operational again. The American cruisers who'd been covering for us would be withdrawing today, leaving the night shift to us once more.
"Sleep well?" I asked, stepping over to check the map for any additions, as I always did.
"As well as can be expected." He replied, not looking up from his paperwork. "You?"
"The same." I muttered. I bit my lip. Did I tell him? Why not. I trusted him implicitly. "I've been having nightmares."
That got his attention, his head coming up. "Denmark Strait?" He asked, concerned.
"Rarely." I admitted, "Lately it's been about the last few battles."
"Involving the girls?" He gently prodded.
I gave a weak nod. "I… I'm so scared. This fighting… We're usually at point blank range. If I make one mistake, one bad order… I could get them all killed."
He nodded, a faraway look crossing his face briefly. "I know how you feel. Hell knows I should never have agreed to Admiral Philips plan. But that's what it is to be an officer. We're people. We make mistakes. You just have to learn from them."
"I know." I muttered. "I do my best…"
"You're a capable officer Wales." He said, "And a hell of a warship. Just keep doing what you're doing, and everything will work out. Eventually the nightmares will pass, as will the war."
"I… Thank you, John." I said, with a small smile. "I-"
"Sir!" The shout made us both pause, and a moment later a young Leading Seaman entered. I recognized him as one of John's aides. He had a slip of paper in hand. "We just received a contact report, Sir."
"Give it here." John replied, standing and reaching over his desk. One he had it in hand he began reading. His lips pursed, and then he was off to the map table. I followed. The moment he reached it he began glancing back and forth between it and the message. Finally he found what he was looking for, and pointed to a spot on the map, a couple hundred nautical miles north of Bougainville Island. "There."
I cocked my head to the side. "What's there, Sir?"
He glanced over at me, as if suddenly realising he hadn't explained anything yet. He held up the paper. "It's a contact report from an American submarine." He brought it up and read; "Four destroyers approximate heading one-seven-zero, speed twenty knots."
I glanced back at the map. "Another Tokyo Express then. From Truk you think?"
"Yes." He nodded, placing down the paper. "Here, help me work out when they'll arrive."
I grinned, and pulled out my navigation tools from my plot. It took us a few minutes, and a lot of math, but eventually we had a course and time of arrival determined. They'd arrive just after midnight most likely, as they always did.
The two of us mulled over the map for a few seconds more. Finally John spoke, "The Slot. It's much more open. More room to maneuver. Less radar interference."
"More room for them to slip by us too." I muttered.
He nodded, "But radar should render that a moot issue, will it not?"
"Most likely." I nodded.
"Perfect. In that case, we'll sail out to intercept them. Hit them before they expect us." He proposed.
I raised a brow. "We?"
He smiled, "I'll be coming with you this time."
I blinked. Did he expect me to carry him? "How?
"I'll get one of the PTs. We can follow your formation." He explained.
I was stunned. "Why? Those girls are hopelessly outtonned! They'd get in our way more than help. Do you not trust me to command?"
John's eyes widened, realising the misunderstanding. "No no no no. I'm not taking over for you Wales. Nor taking her into battle. I just wish to observe. I've never seen Seven-Niner in action before. I need a better understanding of how you ladies fight, so I can do my job better."
I gave him a skeptical look, "And it's not because you've been stuck behind a desk since the DEI and want to see some action?"
"I-! Ah-! No! Of course not!" He sputtered indignantly.
I believe this is where I mention that John Leach always has been and always will be a terrible liar. I didn't believe him for a second. "Suuuuuuure. Look, with all due respect, this is a bad idea. What happens if a stray shell hits the boat? You could be killed!"
John scoffed, "Come now Wales. We'll keep our distance. I may not be a nigh unkillable ship spirit like you, but the odds of us being hit are slim, unless we wade into the fight. Besides, If one of you ladies gets too damaged, we can have the PT swing in to pick you from the water."
He had a point. But I still felt as if the risk was too high. "Sir, please, this is unnecessary. You're safe here. You do your duties well. No, extremely well. You don't need to do this."
His face darkened. "I have to. What kind of officer isn't willing to share the risks of his me-... subordinates."
I was pleading now. I couldn't lose him. Not like Hood. "Please, reconsider John."
John gave me a stern look, "I am going, and that's final, Captain."
I slumped. When John used ranks, it was an order. "Aye. Sir."
As a ship, reputation was a big thing. There were two aspects to mine. Firstly, I was the Iron Princess. The battleship who wouldn't die, now matter what the IJN threw at her. But I also had a reputation as an unlucky boat. Bad luck always followed me around. I had very few sorties where everything didn't go to hell.
I just hoped tonight wouldn't be one of those.
2120 HOURS
I should have been surprised when the PT boat assigned to carry John was 109, but I really wasn't. Hell, he'd likely requested them specifically. Either way, I found myself standing aboard Nina's deck as we sailed toward the southern Savo Strait.
The small boat was being towed by Electra to save fuel. Despite the short distance of our journey, small boats of her type were not built with range in mind. The rest of my girls were sailing in column just to port, while I came aboard to speak with Nina and her Captain.
"So, what do you want us to do if we get engaged, Captain." Lieutenant Kennedy had just asked.
"Stay clear." I replied, "This fight will most likely be out of your class. If you are engaged directly, make evasive maneuvers and open the range. That said, the best outcome is not to be engaged at all." I glanced at John, "The Commodore wants to observe. So you observe. Stay back well behind our battleline, and watch. Do not engage, or put yourself at any risk whatsoever. Understood?"
Kennedy and Nina nodded. "Aye aye, ma'am." "You got it!"
I couldn't help but smile at the PT's enthusiasm. She was very excited to see combat for the first time, even if just watching. "Then let's get to it. Keep an ear to the radio, Nina. If we report contact, Electra will cut you loose."
She nodded. "Got it."
"Right then. Anything else?" I asked.
"I think that is all." John spoke up. "Thank you, Wales."
"Sir." I gave a salute, then made my way to Nina's stern to hop onto the waves.
I'd just reached her stern and sat with my legs dangling over the water, when I knocked on the wood of the deck. "Nina, I'd like a private word with you. Don't tell the others." I spoke quietly.
I waited maybe half a minute before the spirit was able to slip away from the two now chatting officers. She popped into existence already sitting beside me, "Hey. What is it?"
I gave a worried look back at John. "Keep him safe for me. I don't think he should be here, but he insisted. Don't let him order you too close, please?"
She gave me a serious nod. "I promise. I gotta keep Jack alive too."
"Then you know how I feel." I whispered back. "I'm counting on you, Nina."
"I won't let you down."
Three hours later we were well out into The Slot. We'd passed Pavuvu Island half an hour ago and entered the large open expanse of water between that island, and the islands of Santa Isabel and New Georgia. Like John had said, plenty of room to maneuver.
Now we just needed to find the Tokyo Express.
I'd ordered the fleet to slow to fifteen knots ten minutes before. No need to make ourselves easier to spot with a large wake. The night was very dark, cloudcover having hid the moon. Still too bloody hot though.
I was sailing at the head of our battleline, as usual, Jup was screening ahead, while Sims, and the E's screened out flanks. I was really beginning to miss Andie and Hammann. We only had seven destroyers total. It was difficult to screen two capitals and two cruisers with only five destroyers.
It was an hour before midnight that Jup broke the silence. "This is Sketch! ASDIC contact, bearing three-five-zero, two thousand yards!"
My eyes widened. A submarine!? "Battleline and portside screen, hard to port and make twenty seven knots! Lightning, cut Nina loose and persecute that contact! Ju- Sketch, join her!"
Even as I spoke I was pushing my own engines to flank and throwing my rudder hard over. As one, two battleships, two cruisers and two destroyers swung about, putting the sub on our stern.
As we began to sail away, Electra and Jup did the opposite, turning and running down the sub. Soon, the muffled detonations of depth charges became audible. I could barely make out the two destroyers as they did their ASW work.
After a few minutes, I judged we were safe, and ordered another turn to port, reversing our former course, Boise, who'd been astern, now in the lead. Then I jolted in realization. I swung my eyes around, looking for a small boat. "Nina? Nina? Where are you?!"
"Calm down Princess." The PT's voice came, "I'm just astern of your formation."
I glanced back, eyes landing on the dark shape of the PT boat. "Understood." I replied, "Just stay there, okay?"
"You got it."
I turned my attention back to the destroyers. Things had gone quiet to our north. "Sketch. Status?"
Electra took a moment to reply. "We, ahhh… Killed it?"
I blinked. "Already?"
"I… uhhh… Yup. It's uhhhhh… It wasn't a sub."
"What do you mean it wasn't a sub?" I asked, very confused.
"It was… Well, it was a whale. I kinda feel bad now." The E-class muttered, a bit ashamed. "'e's floating on the surface now. It's not pretty."
"Oh." I muttered, suddenly feeling a bit sad. "That's unfortunate."
Jup's reaction was much more emotional. "Nooooo. Poor mister whale. He was just swimming along," She wasn't crying, but it was clear the J-class was feeling very guilty. "Damnit! I could have sworn it was a sub. Bollocks."
"Well, what's done is done." I replied. It was a shame. Whales were such magnificent creatures. "Get back into formation then. We've still got a Japanese Express to catch.
It took a few minutes of maneuvering, but soon we were all back in formation, and set a slow cruise north across the Sound.
After a few minutes of silence, Express spoke up. "'ey, Sketch. 'ow the 'ell do you mis-ID a whale as a submarine?"
"I was on active okay." Jup shot back, referring to sending out active pings. "They sound the same!"
"No they don't!" Express yelled. "Come on, you know the difference."
There was silence for a few moments before Jup replied, "Okay fine, I panicked. Are you happy?"
"Yup!" Express chirped. And that was the end of that.
Twenty minutes passed as we slowly cruised north. We were approaching the predicted intercept time. Everyone began to tense up, ready for a sudden fight. One never knew when the fight would begin, in these horrid night battles. Another minute passed. Two. Then five. Where were they? They had to be around here, somewhere.
"Radar contact!" Houston suddenly barked. I nearly jumped in surprise at the sudden noise. "Zero-one-zero, nine thousand yards! They've gotten past us!"
I didn't give myself time to think, rapid firing orders. "Formation, in line, come right to zero-nine-zero, make twenty nine knots, Standby surface action port. Destroyers, I want a full portside screen. Nina, I need you heading starboard and getting clear!"
A chorus of affirmatives met my ears as I turned hard starboard, while running my guns around to port. I'd already been at action stations for an hour, so loading my rifles and preparing to engage took mere moments. However, swinging my main guns around took forever, as usual.
The rest of 79 was still swinging around behind me as I issued my next orders. "Standard targets everyone. Destroyers, two volleys starshells, then one every fifth salvo. Standby to open fire!"
Satisfied my orders would be carried out, I glanced back to check on Nina. The PT was quickly planing across the waves to get some distance and place us between her and the enemy.
Good, John was safe. With that, I turned my attention to the battle at hand.
I could tell on my radar that everyone had now completed the turn. The only one I could see directly in the dark was Howe, directly behind me and her guns were already oriented port, towards the enemy.
"Here we go again." I muttered to myself. Then, on the radio, "Princess to all vessels. Fire at will."
Almost immediately there was a rippling boardside as everyone opened fire on the enemy ships. None of us could even see them in the dark, but everyone had their radar integrated to their FCS. It may not have been as accurate as having a dedicated fire control radar, but it would do.
Howe's and my 14-inch shells arrived first, throwing up huge bioluminescent plumes of water, visible even in this darkness. A moment later they were joined by Houston's eight inches and Boise's sixes. A moment after that the destroyers' star shells burst, bathing five Japanese destroyers in light.
They were caught completely by surprise. As shells from Howe's and my secondaries began to pelt the sea around them, all five turned away, smoke screens curling in their wake. They were already trying to run.
I wasn't generally an aggressive commander. In fact, I'd been called cautious on more than one occasion. But even I wasn't going to let them get away that easily. "Simultaneous turn to port on my mark… Mark. Keep the fire up!" I ordered.
We swung left, our battleline becoming line abreast as we charged towards the smoke. None of us stopped firing. Smoke did little to stop radar. But it was far less accurate than if we'd been able to use our optics.
I kept firing as we approached the slowly dissipating screen. The range was closing, as the destroyers had turned west and were trying to disengage, temporarily crossing our T.
Another order, and we were paralleling them if falling behind. Finally we emerged from the smoke, and my eyes landed on our foe.
Our destroyers had kept up their starshells, so the enemy flotilla was well illuminated, and I got my first good look at them. They were old. Very old. I couldn't make out the exact class, but I could see open mounts on all of them. Mounts which now opened fire.
They were welcome to try.
The range was only seven thousand yards as we began to trade fire. Shells flew overhead, and smashed into the sea around us. None of us even flinched. They were only four-inchers. Little threat, even to the destroyers.
Howe's guns were the first to draw blood. A salvo from her main battery straddled one of the destroyers, a shell smashing into her amidships. The poor ship immediately slammed to a halt as the engines that allowed her to overcome water's immense resistance died.
One down, four to go.
Hou got lucky next, a eight-incher finding it's mark on the destroyer's stern. Her target, the 2nd in line, caught fire astern and began circling, rudder obviously jammed.
Boise's target was the next to be crippled, her furious barrage of six-inch fire smashing shell after shell into her target until she was nothing more than a blazing wreck, dead in the water.
I was the last to get lucky. My first shell had holed her funnel, but the destroyer had kept going. The second hit plunged through the water, just short, met her hull near the bow, punched through the unarmoured structural steel, and touched off her forward magazine.
The final of the five met her fate at the hands of Electra, Jup and Sims. The three battered her down with hit after hit, before Electra closed in and finished her off with a single torpedo.
It was a slaughter. The 'battle' lasted a mere twenty minutes. The poor destroyer-transports never stood a chance.
But as always my horrid luck just had to show its face.
It was just after I'd blown up my target. Howe's destroyer was dead in the water, but still returning fire at us, as was Hou's circling target. I'd just ordered the destroyers to close and finish off the crippled boats when a shell from one of the two came flying through the night sky, aimed at me. I didn't even duck, it went so far over my head, and thought no more of it.
Until Nina let out a pained scream.
I froze. I'd honestly forgotten about the boat in the rush of battle. I was half expecting her to be on fire and going down as I spun around.
But no, there she was, undamaged as far as I could tell in the light of the starshells. "Nina? Are you alright?"
"Oh god! Oh my god!" The PT was panicking. "Jesus! Ah, I!? Uhhh!? Do any of you have a doctor aboard!?"
My veins ran with ice. I changed course and began to rush towards the boat at flank. Please let John be alright. "Yes! What's wrong!?"
"The Commodore's wounded!"
My heart dropped. "No. No. Nononono! Stop the boat!" I yelled. "I have medical fairies!" Please no!
Nina slowed to a halt, and I bounded aboard as quickly as possible. John was laying just aft of the con, one of Nina's crew doing his best to stop the bleeding. And oh god oh dear lord there was so much blood. "Here!" I hurriedly shouted, my ship's doctor and two of my medical fairies jumping down. I quickly leaned over him and prepared to do as my fairies instructed. Oh god please let me save him.
"Wales?" John muttered weakly, pain clear in his voice.
"It's me John." I replied, tears running down my face.
"How bad is it?" He groaned.
I glanced down. It was his leg. By which I meant where was his leg!?
I met his eyes, and gave the most reassuring smile I could through the tears. "You'll live." Please let him live.
My head snapped down as my doctor spouted a string of 'Ois'. I nodded, and pulled a tourniquet from my medbay. I had to do this. I had to. I had to have John. Had to had to had to.
And yet, as I began to try and tie the knot, my hands were shaking. I tried to slip it through, and missed. I tried again. It slipped. On the third try, a second pair of hands reached in, taking the cloth.
My eyes snapped up, and met the gray eyes of JFK. They were wide, and scared, but far calmer than mine. I idly noted he was wounded too, a small gash on his right cheek bled down his face. "I've got it."
I hesitated, then let go. The young officer quickly got to work, and far faster than I could with my shaking hands, the tourniquet was tied.
Oh god please let him live.
Hou had taken over for me when I'd gone aboard Nina, and we'd set course back for Guadalcanal. I'd sat, and watched as my fairies and a couple of Nina's sailors patched up not just John, but three of Nina's own crew.
When I'd asked, the PT had recounted what had happened. The salvo that had been aimed at me had gone long, and landed right near Nina where she'd been loitering three thousand yards further on. The shell splitters had smacked into the poor boat, doing minimal damage, only poking a few holes in her. But one had struck John, and taken his right leg clean off just above the knee. Another had nearly disemboweled one of her gunners, while the third man wounded had been her 2nd officer. He'd lost a hand.
A few other crewman had taken minor splinter and shrapnel wounds, including Kennedy. He had a gash on his face running from just under his left eye down to his mouth. He'd joked about it when Nina had mentioned it. "Well, chicks dig scars, right ladies?"
In the end, John was going to live. They'd stabilised him, and stopped the bleeding.
But he'd never walk again.
I was sitting on Nina's stern again, watching the sun rise as we passed Savo. Nina soon joined me.
"I'm sorry." She immediately spoke.
I glanced at her. "For what?"
"I promised you I'd protect him." She muttered, eyes downcast. "I failed. Fuck, I almost got Jack killed too."
I shook my head, "It's not your fault. You did everything right. You couldn't have done anything differently. That was just bad luck you were where you were." I sighed, tears pricking at my eyes. "No, it's my damn fault. I considered that destroyer out of the fight, when she was anything but. I should have sunk her five minutes before."
Now it was Nina's time to scoff, "And how could you know?"
"I couldn't," I admitted, "But that isn't the issue. I'm just…" I felt the tears begin to run as my voice cracked, "I'm too kind. I'm too damn merciful. I'm not made for this. I'm not a soldier. I'm just a bloody civvie that doesn't know what she's doing."
"Yeah." The PT's voice was challenging, "Then where's the Iron Princess I've heard stories about?"
"She never existed." I spoke through tear filled eyes. "I'm a bloody fake."
The PT scoffed, "Then who beat the Japs at Makassar Strait and Java Sea?"
She paused, and I realised she was waiting for an answer. "Repulse and I." I muttered.
She nodded, "Who beat the shit out of those bastards a month ago, and sent three cruisers to the bottom."
"Me and my girls…"
The girl gave a cynical laugh, "You're my fucking idol. I've looked up to that mighty battleship who's been kicking the Japs asses back and forth across the Pacific, and gone 'I want to be like her. I want to be a hero.' Fake? Are you fucken' kidding me!? You're the furthest thing from fake! You're the most famous fucking ship in the entire world, with a battle record to match! Fucking act like it!"
At that moment, I was struck by the sheer absurdity of the situation. Here was an apparent twelve year old, going full drill sergeant on someone who looked three times her age, both of whom were essentially magical boat spirits fighting in World War bloody Two.
I laughed. Nina joined in. And we laughed and laughed, at the sheer ridiculousness of the world we lived in.
Oh dear lord, I needed that laugh.
Meeting JFK was a surprise, and little did I know he and Nina would be seeing action with us within a week. The Tokyo Express didn't rest, so neither did we. I just wish things had turned out better.
OCTOBER 28 1942
D+49
1034 HOURS
"Morning, John." I spoke as I entered the Commodore's dugout. John was at his desk, as always.
"Morning Wales."
It'd been a few days since we'd met Nina and Kennedy. Perth, Hammann and Andie were still stuck in the bath, but the rest of us were operational again. The American cruisers who'd been covering for us would be withdrawing today, leaving the night shift to us once more.
"Sleep well?" I asked, stepping over to check the map for any additions, as I always did.
"As well as can be expected." He replied, not looking up from his paperwork. "You?"
"The same." I muttered. I bit my lip. Did I tell him? Why not. I trusted him implicitly. "I've been having nightmares."
That got his attention, his head coming up. "Denmark Strait?" He asked, concerned.
"Rarely." I admitted, "Lately it's been about the last few battles."
"Involving the girls?" He gently prodded.
I gave a weak nod. "I… I'm so scared. This fighting… We're usually at point blank range. If I make one mistake, one bad order… I could get them all killed."
He nodded, a faraway look crossing his face briefly. "I know how you feel. Hell knows I should never have agreed to Admiral Philips plan. But that's what it is to be an officer. We're people. We make mistakes. You just have to learn from them."
"I know." I muttered. "I do my best…"
"You're a capable officer Wales." He said, "And a hell of a warship. Just keep doing what you're doing, and everything will work out. Eventually the nightmares will pass, as will the war."
"I… Thank you, John." I said, with a small smile. "I-"
"Sir!" The shout made us both pause, and a moment later a young Leading Seaman entered. I recognized him as one of John's aides. He had a slip of paper in hand. "We just received a contact report, Sir."
"Give it here." John replied, standing and reaching over his desk. One he had it in hand he began reading. His lips pursed, and then he was off to the map table. I followed. The moment he reached it he began glancing back and forth between it and the message. Finally he found what he was looking for, and pointed to a spot on the map, a couple hundred nautical miles north of Bougainville Island. "There."
I cocked my head to the side. "What's there, Sir?"
He glanced over at me, as if suddenly realising he hadn't explained anything yet. He held up the paper. "It's a contact report from an American submarine." He brought it up and read; "Four destroyers approximate heading one-seven-zero, speed twenty knots."
I glanced back at the map. "Another Tokyo Express then. From Truk you think?"
"Yes." He nodded, placing down the paper. "Here, help me work out when they'll arrive."
I grinned, and pulled out my navigation tools from my plot. It took us a few minutes, and a lot of math, but eventually we had a course and time of arrival determined. They'd arrive just after midnight most likely, as they always did.
The two of us mulled over the map for a few seconds more. Finally John spoke, "The Slot. It's much more open. More room to maneuver. Less radar interference."
"More room for them to slip by us too." I muttered.
He nodded, "But radar should render that a moot issue, will it not?"
"Most likely." I nodded.
"Perfect. In that case, we'll sail out to intercept them. Hit them before they expect us." He proposed.
I raised a brow. "We?"
He smiled, "I'll be coming with you this time."
I blinked. Did he expect me to carry him? "How?
"I'll get one of the PTs. We can follow your formation." He explained.
I was stunned. "Why? Those girls are hopelessly outtonned! They'd get in our way more than help. Do you not trust me to command?"
John's eyes widened, realising the misunderstanding. "No no no no. I'm not taking over for you Wales. Nor taking her into battle. I just wish to observe. I've never seen Seven-Niner in action before. I need a better understanding of how you ladies fight, so I can do my job better."
I gave him a skeptical look, "And it's not because you've been stuck behind a desk since the DEI and want to see some action?"
"I-! Ah-! No! Of course not!" He sputtered indignantly.
I believe this is where I mention that John Leach always has been and always will be a terrible liar. I didn't believe him for a second. "Suuuuuuure. Look, with all due respect, this is a bad idea. What happens if a stray shell hits the boat? You could be killed!"
John scoffed, "Come now Wales. We'll keep our distance. I may not be a nigh unkillable ship spirit like you, but the odds of us being hit are slim, unless we wade into the fight. Besides, If one of you ladies gets too damaged, we can have the PT swing in to pick you from the water."
He had a point. But I still felt as if the risk was too high. "Sir, please, this is unnecessary. You're safe here. You do your duties well. No, extremely well. You don't need to do this."
His face darkened. "I have to. What kind of officer isn't willing to share the risks of his me-... subordinates."
I was pleading now. I couldn't lose him. Not like Hood. "Please, reconsider John."
John gave me a stern look, "I am going, and that's final, Captain."
I slumped. When John used ranks, it was an order. "Aye. Sir."
As a ship, reputation was a big thing. There were two aspects to mine. Firstly, I was the Iron Princess. The battleship who wouldn't die, now matter what the IJN threw at her. But I also had a reputation as an unlucky boat. Bad luck always followed me around. I had very few sorties where everything didn't go to hell.
I just hoped tonight wouldn't be one of those.
2120 HOURS
I should have been surprised when the PT boat assigned to carry John was 109, but I really wasn't. Hell, he'd likely requested them specifically. Either way, I found myself standing aboard Nina's deck as we sailed toward the southern Savo Strait.
The small boat was being towed by Electra to save fuel. Despite the short distance of our journey, small boats of her type were not built with range in mind. The rest of my girls were sailing in column just to port, while I came aboard to speak with Nina and her Captain.
"So, what do you want us to do if we get engaged, Captain." Lieutenant Kennedy had just asked.
"Stay clear." I replied, "This fight will most likely be out of your class. If you are engaged directly, make evasive maneuvers and open the range. That said, the best outcome is not to be engaged at all." I glanced at John, "The Commodore wants to observe. So you observe. Stay back well behind our battleline, and watch. Do not engage, or put yourself at any risk whatsoever. Understood?"
Kennedy and Nina nodded. "Aye aye, ma'am." "You got it!"
I couldn't help but smile at the PT's enthusiasm. She was very excited to see combat for the first time, even if just watching. "Then let's get to it. Keep an ear to the radio, Nina. If we report contact, Electra will cut you loose."
She nodded. "Got it."
"Right then. Anything else?" I asked.
"I think that is all." John spoke up. "Thank you, Wales."
"Sir." I gave a salute, then made my way to Nina's stern to hop onto the waves.
I'd just reached her stern and sat with my legs dangling over the water, when I knocked on the wood of the deck. "Nina, I'd like a private word with you. Don't tell the others." I spoke quietly.
I waited maybe half a minute before the spirit was able to slip away from the two now chatting officers. She popped into existence already sitting beside me, "Hey. What is it?"
I gave a worried look back at John. "Keep him safe for me. I don't think he should be here, but he insisted. Don't let him order you too close, please?"
She gave me a serious nod. "I promise. I gotta keep Jack alive too."
"Then you know how I feel." I whispered back. "I'm counting on you, Nina."
"I won't let you down."
Three hours later we were well out into The Slot. We'd passed Pavuvu Island half an hour ago and entered the large open expanse of water between that island, and the islands of Santa Isabel and New Georgia. Like John had said, plenty of room to maneuver.
Now we just needed to find the Tokyo Express.
I'd ordered the fleet to slow to fifteen knots ten minutes before. No need to make ourselves easier to spot with a large wake. The night was very dark, cloudcover having hid the moon. Still too bloody hot though.
I was sailing at the head of our battleline, as usual, Jup was screening ahead, while Sims, and the E's screened out flanks. I was really beginning to miss Andie and Hammann. We only had seven destroyers total. It was difficult to screen two capitals and two cruisers with only five destroyers.
It was an hour before midnight that Jup broke the silence. "This is Sketch! ASDIC contact, bearing three-five-zero, two thousand yards!"
My eyes widened. A submarine!? "Battleline and portside screen, hard to port and make twenty seven knots! Lightning, cut Nina loose and persecute that contact! Ju- Sketch, join her!"
Even as I spoke I was pushing my own engines to flank and throwing my rudder hard over. As one, two battleships, two cruisers and two destroyers swung about, putting the sub on our stern.
As we began to sail away, Electra and Jup did the opposite, turning and running down the sub. Soon, the muffled detonations of depth charges became audible. I could barely make out the two destroyers as they did their ASW work.
After a few minutes, I judged we were safe, and ordered another turn to port, reversing our former course, Boise, who'd been astern, now in the lead. Then I jolted in realization. I swung my eyes around, looking for a small boat. "Nina? Nina? Where are you?!"
"Calm down Princess." The PT's voice came, "I'm just astern of your formation."
I glanced back, eyes landing on the dark shape of the PT boat. "Understood." I replied, "Just stay there, okay?"
"You got it."
I turned my attention back to the destroyers. Things had gone quiet to our north. "Sketch. Status?"
Electra took a moment to reply. "We, ahhh… Killed it?"
I blinked. "Already?"
"I… uhhh… Yup. It's uhhhhh… It wasn't a sub."
"What do you mean it wasn't a sub?" I asked, very confused.
"It was… Well, it was a whale. I kinda feel bad now." The E-class muttered, a bit ashamed. "'e's floating on the surface now. It's not pretty."
"Oh." I muttered, suddenly feeling a bit sad. "That's unfortunate."
Jup's reaction was much more emotional. "Nooooo. Poor mister whale. He was just swimming along," She wasn't crying, but it was clear the J-class was feeling very guilty. "Damnit! I could have sworn it was a sub. Bollocks."
"Well, what's done is done." I replied. It was a shame. Whales were such magnificent creatures. "Get back into formation then. We've still got a Japanese Express to catch.
It took a few minutes of maneuvering, but soon we were all back in formation, and set a slow cruise north across the Sound.
After a few minutes of silence, Express spoke up. "'ey, Sketch. 'ow the 'ell do you mis-ID a whale as a submarine?"
"I was on active okay." Jup shot back, referring to sending out active pings. "They sound the same!"
"No they don't!" Express yelled. "Come on, you know the difference."
There was silence for a few moments before Jup replied, "Okay fine, I panicked. Are you happy?"
"Yup!" Express chirped. And that was the end of that.
Twenty minutes passed as we slowly cruised north. We were approaching the predicted intercept time. Everyone began to tense up, ready for a sudden fight. One never knew when the fight would begin, in these horrid night battles. Another minute passed. Two. Then five. Where were they? They had to be around here, somewhere.
"Radar contact!" Houston suddenly barked. I nearly jumped in surprise at the sudden noise. "Zero-one-zero, nine thousand yards! They've gotten past us!"
I didn't give myself time to think, rapid firing orders. "Formation, in line, come right to zero-nine-zero, make twenty nine knots, Standby surface action port. Destroyers, I want a full portside screen. Nina, I need you heading starboard and getting clear!"
A chorus of affirmatives met my ears as I turned hard starboard, while running my guns around to port. I'd already been at action stations for an hour, so loading my rifles and preparing to engage took mere moments. However, swinging my main guns around took forever, as usual.
The rest of 79 was still swinging around behind me as I issued my next orders. "Standard targets everyone. Destroyers, two volleys starshells, then one every fifth salvo. Standby to open fire!"
Satisfied my orders would be carried out, I glanced back to check on Nina. The PT was quickly planing across the waves to get some distance and place us between her and the enemy.
Good, John was safe. With that, I turned my attention to the battle at hand.
I could tell on my radar that everyone had now completed the turn. The only one I could see directly in the dark was Howe, directly behind me and her guns were already oriented port, towards the enemy.
"Here we go again." I muttered to myself. Then, on the radio, "Princess to all vessels. Fire at will."
Almost immediately there was a rippling boardside as everyone opened fire on the enemy ships. None of us could even see them in the dark, but everyone had their radar integrated to their FCS. It may not have been as accurate as having a dedicated fire control radar, but it would do.
Howe's and my 14-inch shells arrived first, throwing up huge bioluminescent plumes of water, visible even in this darkness. A moment later they were joined by Houston's eight inches and Boise's sixes. A moment after that the destroyers' star shells burst, bathing five Japanese destroyers in light.
They were caught completely by surprise. As shells from Howe's and my secondaries began to pelt the sea around them, all five turned away, smoke screens curling in their wake. They were already trying to run.
I wasn't generally an aggressive commander. In fact, I'd been called cautious on more than one occasion. But even I wasn't going to let them get away that easily. "Simultaneous turn to port on my mark… Mark. Keep the fire up!" I ordered.
We swung left, our battleline becoming line abreast as we charged towards the smoke. None of us stopped firing. Smoke did little to stop radar. But it was far less accurate than if we'd been able to use our optics.
I kept firing as we approached the slowly dissipating screen. The range was closing, as the destroyers had turned west and were trying to disengage, temporarily crossing our T.
Another order, and we were paralleling them if falling behind. Finally we emerged from the smoke, and my eyes landed on our foe.
Our destroyers had kept up their starshells, so the enemy flotilla was well illuminated, and I got my first good look at them. They were old. Very old. I couldn't make out the exact class, but I could see open mounts on all of them. Mounts which now opened fire.
They were welcome to try.
The range was only seven thousand yards as we began to trade fire. Shells flew overhead, and smashed into the sea around us. None of us even flinched. They were only four-inchers. Little threat, even to the destroyers.
Howe's guns were the first to draw blood. A salvo from her main battery straddled one of the destroyers, a shell smashing into her amidships. The poor ship immediately slammed to a halt as the engines that allowed her to overcome water's immense resistance died.
One down, four to go.
Hou got lucky next, a eight-incher finding it's mark on the destroyer's stern. Her target, the 2nd in line, caught fire astern and began circling, rudder obviously jammed.
Boise's target was the next to be crippled, her furious barrage of six-inch fire smashing shell after shell into her target until she was nothing more than a blazing wreck, dead in the water.
I was the last to get lucky. My first shell had holed her funnel, but the destroyer had kept going. The second hit plunged through the water, just short, met her hull near the bow, punched through the unarmoured structural steel, and touched off her forward magazine.
The final of the five met her fate at the hands of Electra, Jup and Sims. The three battered her down with hit after hit, before Electra closed in and finished her off with a single torpedo.
It was a slaughter. The 'battle' lasted a mere twenty minutes. The poor destroyer-transports never stood a chance.
But as always my horrid luck just had to show its face.
It was just after I'd blown up my target. Howe's destroyer was dead in the water, but still returning fire at us, as was Hou's circling target. I'd just ordered the destroyers to close and finish off the crippled boats when a shell from one of the two came flying through the night sky, aimed at me. I didn't even duck, it went so far over my head, and thought no more of it.
Until Nina let out a pained scream.
I froze. I'd honestly forgotten about the boat in the rush of battle. I was half expecting her to be on fire and going down as I spun around.
But no, there she was, undamaged as far as I could tell in the light of the starshells. "Nina? Are you alright?"
"Oh god! Oh my god!" The PT was panicking. "Jesus! Ah, I!? Uhhh!? Do any of you have a doctor aboard!?"
My veins ran with ice. I changed course and began to rush towards the boat at flank. Please let John be alright. "Yes! What's wrong!?"
"The Commodore's wounded!"
My heart dropped. "No. No. Nononono! Stop the boat!" I yelled. "I have medical fairies!" Please no!
Nina slowed to a halt, and I bounded aboard as quickly as possible. John was laying just aft of the con, one of Nina's crew doing his best to stop the bleeding. And oh god oh dear lord there was so much blood. "Here!" I hurriedly shouted, my ship's doctor and two of my medical fairies jumping down. I quickly leaned over him and prepared to do as my fairies instructed. Oh god please let me save him.
"Wales?" John muttered weakly, pain clear in his voice.
"It's me John." I replied, tears running down my face.
"How bad is it?" He groaned.
I glanced down. It was his leg. By which I meant where was his leg!?
I met his eyes, and gave the most reassuring smile I could through the tears. "You'll live." Please let him live.
My head snapped down as my doctor spouted a string of 'Ois'. I nodded, and pulled a tourniquet from my medbay. I had to do this. I had to. I had to have John. Had to had to had to.
And yet, as I began to try and tie the knot, my hands were shaking. I tried to slip it through, and missed. I tried again. It slipped. On the third try, a second pair of hands reached in, taking the cloth.
My eyes snapped up, and met the gray eyes of JFK. They were wide, and scared, but far calmer than mine. I idly noted he was wounded too, a small gash on his right cheek bled down his face. "I've got it."
I hesitated, then let go. The young officer quickly got to work, and far faster than I could with my shaking hands, the tourniquet was tied.
Oh god please let him live.
Hou had taken over for me when I'd gone aboard Nina, and we'd set course back for Guadalcanal. I'd sat, and watched as my fairies and a couple of Nina's sailors patched up not just John, but three of Nina's own crew.
When I'd asked, the PT had recounted what had happened. The salvo that had been aimed at me had gone long, and landed right near Nina where she'd been loitering three thousand yards further on. The shell splitters had smacked into the poor boat, doing minimal damage, only poking a few holes in her. But one had struck John, and taken his right leg clean off just above the knee. Another had nearly disemboweled one of her gunners, while the third man wounded had been her 2nd officer. He'd lost a hand.
A few other crewman had taken minor splinter and shrapnel wounds, including Kennedy. He had a gash on his face running from just under his left eye down to his mouth. He'd joked about it when Nina had mentioned it. "Well, chicks dig scars, right ladies?"
In the end, John was going to live. They'd stabilised him, and stopped the bleeding.
But he'd never walk again.
I was sitting on Nina's stern again, watching the sun rise as we passed Savo. Nina soon joined me.
"I'm sorry." She immediately spoke.
I glanced at her. "For what?"
"I promised you I'd protect him." She muttered, eyes downcast. "I failed. Fuck, I almost got Jack killed too."
I shook my head, "It's not your fault. You did everything right. You couldn't have done anything differently. That was just bad luck you were where you were." I sighed, tears pricking at my eyes. "No, it's my damn fault. I considered that destroyer out of the fight, when she was anything but. I should have sunk her five minutes before."
Now it was Nina's time to scoff, "And how could you know?"
"I couldn't," I admitted, "But that isn't the issue. I'm just…" I felt the tears begin to run as my voice cracked, "I'm too kind. I'm too damn merciful. I'm not made for this. I'm not a soldier. I'm just a bloody civvie that doesn't know what she's doing."
"Yeah." The PT's voice was challenging, "Then where's the Iron Princess I've heard stories about?"
"She never existed." I spoke through tear filled eyes. "I'm a bloody fake."
The PT scoffed, "Then who beat the Japs at Makassar Strait and Java Sea?"
She paused, and I realised she was waiting for an answer. "Repulse and I." I muttered.
She nodded, "Who beat the shit out of those bastards a month ago, and sent three cruisers to the bottom."
"Me and my girls…"
The girl gave a cynical laugh, "You're my fucking idol. I've looked up to that mighty battleship who's been kicking the Japs asses back and forth across the Pacific, and gone 'I want to be like her. I want to be a hero.' Fake? Are you fucken' kidding me!? You're the furthest thing from fake! You're the most famous fucking ship in the entire world, with a battle record to match! Fucking act like it!"
At that moment, I was struck by the sheer absurdity of the situation. Here was an apparent twelve year old, going full drill sergeant on someone who looked three times her age, both of whom were essentially magical boat spirits fighting in World War bloody Two.
I laughed. Nina joined in. And we laughed and laughed, at the sheer ridiculousness of the world we lived in.
Oh dear lord, I needed that laugh.
Chapter 59: Family
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
AN: Bit of a shorter, fluffier one today.
Chapter 59: Family
The moment we returned to Guadalcanal, John was rushed to the newly arrived field hospital near the Henderson field. We'd smashed the Tokyo Express, sinking all five destroyers we'd encountered. We should have been celebrating. Instead, all I could feel was a sense of failure.
OCTOBER 29 1942
D+50
1056 HOURS
I'd desperately wanted to go with John to the field hospital, where he was undergoing emergency surgery, but the medical staff had kindly told me to bugger off. Further, Lieutenant Anderson soon arrived. With John out, the post battle paperwork and reports all fell to me.
Going was slow. All I could think of was John. Was he okay? Would he survive?
I'd been at it for about four hours when Anderson ran into the dugout. "He's awake!"
Never in my life have I moved as quickly as I did in that moment. I all but sprinted back to the field hospital. I was panting as I reached the front. A surprised orderly was there, at a table just outside the tents. "Where's Commodore Leach?" I hurriedly asked.
He didn't even ask who I was. He simply stood, "Follow me."
He led me into the maze of tents. Almost immediately I gagged at the strong smell of antiseptics. We began to pass stretchers with wounded Marines, most with visible bandages or stitches. These men had already been treated it seemed. Finally we reached a full size tent.
"He's in here." The orderly explained, "He's awake, but still a bit woozy from the anesthetic. You have ten minutes. He needs rest."
I nodded, "Understood."
He grunted, and left. For my part, I turned back around, and entered the tent.
My eyes immediately landed on the bed that held my wounded CO. He was clad in what were essentially pajamas, and his eyes were squarely focused on me. "Wales?"
"I-" I froze. He was alright. For a second, I didn't know what to do. Then the tears began flowing and I rushed forward, "John!"
He grunted a bit as I hugged him as best I could while he was laying down, tears streaming down my face. "Oh god, I thought I'd lost you!"
"I-" He seemed stunned for a moment, before his arms wrapped around me. "I'm alright Wales. I'm alright."
I pulled back, tears still streaming, "You damn fool. I told you it was too dangerous!"
He sat up, resting his back against the metal at the head of the bed. His eyes flicked to his left leg. I followed his gaze. It now ended just above the knee. "Yes. You were right." He teared up, "Oh god you were right. I- The Doctors… They told me I was never going to walk again."
I pulled him into another hug. "It'll be alright John. You're alive. That's all that matters." I gave a fragile but hopeful grin, "And you don't need a leg to do what you've been doing the last five months."
I was surprised when, instead of brightening, he gave a broken hollow laugh. "Are you kidding? Wales, I've lost a leg. I'll be medically discharged, and they'll give you someone new."
My eyes widened. "They can't! You're… But you can still do your job just fine!" I protested.
He waved me off, wiping some tears away, "It is how it is Wales."
"I- They can't! I-" I stuttered, "They- I-"
"Wales." He fixed me with a stare. "Calm down."
I paused. Took a deep breath. And organized my thoughts. Why was I so against John leaving us? Oh, right. "John. I- In my first life, I didn't really have a father. He'd gone to war just before I was born, and came back a broken man. He was never home. And when I did see him he was always drunk. My mother raised me. I- I've never really had a father." I met his eyes. "Until you." I was tearing up again, "You are the closest thing I've ever had to a real father. I love you. I can't lose you."
John looked stunned. Tears welled in his own eyes. "Wales… I- I didn't realise that's how you felt. I love you too. Daughter." For the first time, he was the one that opened his arms for a hug. I was all too happy to receive it as we both cried.
After a few moments he spoke quietly into my ear. "We can't let this get out, it's against regs to serve with close family, even if it's not official."
"I know." I muttered. "I'm going to write to the Admiralty, advocating they keep you on. Your role is effectively a desk job. There's no reason you can't do it, even missing a leg."
"Feel free, Wales." He said as we finally separated, "But I wouldn't expect much."
"I know."
He smiled genuinely for the first time since I'd entered the tent. "Tell you what. Once I am officially discharged, I'll get the paperwork started to formally adopt you. Evelyn always wanted a girl after all."
My eyes widened. "Really?" I didn't know much of his wife, but that would likely change.
He smiled. "I think 'Captain Gwendolyn Leach-Windsor, DSC and Bar' has a nice ring to it, does it not?"
"Thank you!" I burst, hugging him again. "Father."
He gave me a fond smile, "Anytime Wales." We separated and he met my eyes. "I am so proud of you, Wales. You're an incredible woman, and a hell of a battleship. Especially how you've grown into command these last months. Your ships respect you, and believe in you. They know they can trust you with their lives. I've no doubt they'd follow you straight through hell itself if you asked them too. Bugger what you think about your luck. You're a capable officer, and a damn fine warship."
How many times was I going to tear up today? "Thank you, Father." I did my best to fight back the tears as I wiped them away. Hearing the man I considered a father say that… It gave me some sorely needed confidence. "Will you be staying?"
He shook his head. "I'm on the next convoy out. I'll be taken back to Australia for a few more surgeries and to recover."
I sighed, I'd expected it, but didn't like it. "Who will be replacing you then?"
"Well, the a\Admiralty won't let anyone but a RN officer act as your direct superior, even if we are under American command." He began. "And considering our severe lack of other British officers about… Well, you're second in command for a reason."
"Me!?" I burst. "But, what about all the logistics? The communication with Nimitz? I don't know how to do any of that!"
"Ah, but Leftenant Anderson does." He replied, "He's been assisting me since he joined us back in Perth, and knows my job nearly as well as I. He can take over the paperwork and communications, so you can focus on fighting."
"I see." I muttered. In that case, it was much more doable. "I'm still writing to the Admiralty."
John rolled his eyes at my stubbornness. "By all means, I suppose."
NOVEMBER 2 1942
D+52
0844 HOURS
Two days later, the whole of 79 showed up to see Father off. We didn't exactly have any wheelchairs on Guadalcanal, so he was resting on a stretcher, waiting for the troopship he would depart on to finish unloading its cargo of US Army Soldiers.
"It was a pleasure working with you, Sir." Howe was saying as they shook.
"Likewise," He replied, "Keep an eye on Wales for me? Don't let her do anything I would do."
My little sister giggled. "Don't worry Sir, I won't."
Hou was next. "Best of luck Commodore." She drawled, "It was good to serve under you."
"And it was a pleasure to command you, Commander. You're a fine officer. You'll do well as a task force commander one day."
"Thank you, Sir."
"You were a breath of fresh air." Perth spoke next, offering her left hand. The one not swaddled in a cast from her damage. "I've met too many Brit officers who've looked down on us 'colonials'. But you're alright, Sir."
"We're all in this war together." He smiled, "You've fought just as well as any member of the Royal Navy. Keep keeping the destroyers honest Perth. I hope you're combat capable again soon."
Boise was next. "It was an honour, Sir. Thanks for handling all that backline bullshit so we can do our thing."
"Anytime Boise."
Then Jup and the E's glomped him, though careful not to touch his leg. I smiled as they all started speaking at once. They had a special relationship with dad. He'd been their division CO though most of the DEI battles. It was clear he cared for them, and they for him.
The three Sims girls were last, Andie and Hammann having to be supported by Sims due to their own injuries.
Suddenly, there was a loud blast from the troopship's horn. The signal to begin loading. A pair of USN Corpsmen soon appeared to take John's stretcher. Before they picked him up, my adopted father turned back to all of us one last time. "It was an honour to serve with all of you. Stay safe. I'll see you all again."
In reply, he received a dozen 'goodbyes'. For my part, as was tradition. I started playing a certain record over my tannoy.
"We'll meet again~"
NOVEMBER 5 1942
D+55
0814 HOURS
"Request for you, ma'am." Lieutenant Anderson spoke as he placed a note on my desk. I'd taken over father's desk in his dugout, while Anderson and somehow scrounged up another for himself. As father had said, the young American had managed to take over most of his duties, though some of the more important paperwork still fell to me. I got on well with the young man. He was capable and diligent.
With a sigh I picked up the note and had a quick read. Then I hit my radio. "Boise."
"Yup?"
"Take Electra and report to the Marines' command post in an hour." I ordered, "Vandegrift needs you for something."
"Aye aye, ma'am."
Oh how I hated sending those two to fight on land. But the results couldn't be argued with. The Japanese didn't have much left on the island. If they didn't do something drastic, Guadalcanal was as good as ours. And what could they do? Every attempt to wrest away naval superiority from us had failed? Honestly, in my eyes, the campaign was as good as won.
Finishing the report I was working on, I stood up with a stretch and a yawn. As usual I'd been up since the prior evening, and spent the night on Savo with everyone else.
"Tired, ma'am?" Anderson asked.
"Yes." I muttered, still stretching.
"I'm sure we'll be sent back to Sydney soon enough." He replied. An officer of his rank normally wouldn't have access to the big picture, but due to his role, Anderson had a much higher clearance than most Lieutenants. Which reminded me.
"Ah, right. Stand up Leftenant." He blinked, but did so. "Come here." He strode over to stand before me, still confused. "At attention." He snapped to.
I handed him a slip of paper I'd received an hour before from our signaller, and a pair of epaulettes. "Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Commander Anderson."
His eyes lit up as he took his new rank. "Thank you, Ma'am!"
We exchanged salutes. "Don't thank me, thank Nimitz." I replied, "I'm just passing it down."
"Right." He muttered, looking over his new rank. "I must write to Emma. She'll be over the moon with the extra pay."
I chuckled at his excitement. It was infectious. "Before you do…" I spoke, catching his attention. I then placed two shot glasses on my desk, and produced a bottle of navy rum. "It's tradition in the Royal Navy to toast a rum ration when someone is promoted." I explained. "So, what are we toasting?"
Now he was grinning. After all, the USN was a dry fleet. He raised his glass. "To my dearlings wife and daughter, to our great navies, and to victory in the Pacific."
"May it be over soon." I added, and we both drank. I was a RN ship. Navy rum was part of life. It went down smooth with a pleasant burn.
Tom Anderson was not a Royal Navy ship, nor even a member. In an instant he was coughing as the rum burned down his throat, much to my amusement. "Well, you didn't cough it up. That's already better than Hou did her first time."
"Jesus fuck that burns!" He cursed as he began to get over it. "Can I have another?"
I laughed.
Chapter 59: Family
The moment we returned to Guadalcanal, John was rushed to the newly arrived field hospital near the Henderson field. We'd smashed the Tokyo Express, sinking all five destroyers we'd encountered. We should have been celebrating. Instead, all I could feel was a sense of failure.
OCTOBER 29 1942
D+50
1056 HOURS
I'd desperately wanted to go with John to the field hospital, where he was undergoing emergency surgery, but the medical staff had kindly told me to bugger off. Further, Lieutenant Anderson soon arrived. With John out, the post battle paperwork and reports all fell to me.
Going was slow. All I could think of was John. Was he okay? Would he survive?
I'd been at it for about four hours when Anderson ran into the dugout. "He's awake!"
Never in my life have I moved as quickly as I did in that moment. I all but sprinted back to the field hospital. I was panting as I reached the front. A surprised orderly was there, at a table just outside the tents. "Where's Commodore Leach?" I hurriedly asked.
He didn't even ask who I was. He simply stood, "Follow me."
He led me into the maze of tents. Almost immediately I gagged at the strong smell of antiseptics. We began to pass stretchers with wounded Marines, most with visible bandages or stitches. These men had already been treated it seemed. Finally we reached a full size tent.
"He's in here." The orderly explained, "He's awake, but still a bit woozy from the anesthetic. You have ten minutes. He needs rest."
I nodded, "Understood."
He grunted, and left. For my part, I turned back around, and entered the tent.
My eyes immediately landed on the bed that held my wounded CO. He was clad in what were essentially pajamas, and his eyes were squarely focused on me. "Wales?"
"I-" I froze. He was alright. For a second, I didn't know what to do. Then the tears began flowing and I rushed forward, "John!"
He grunted a bit as I hugged him as best I could while he was laying down, tears streaming down my face. "Oh god, I thought I'd lost you!"
"I-" He seemed stunned for a moment, before his arms wrapped around me. "I'm alright Wales. I'm alright."
I pulled back, tears still streaming, "You damn fool. I told you it was too dangerous!"
He sat up, resting his back against the metal at the head of the bed. His eyes flicked to his left leg. I followed his gaze. It now ended just above the knee. "Yes. You were right." He teared up, "Oh god you were right. I- The Doctors… They told me I was never going to walk again."
I pulled him into another hug. "It'll be alright John. You're alive. That's all that matters." I gave a fragile but hopeful grin, "And you don't need a leg to do what you've been doing the last five months."
I was surprised when, instead of brightening, he gave a broken hollow laugh. "Are you kidding? Wales, I've lost a leg. I'll be medically discharged, and they'll give you someone new."
My eyes widened. "They can't! You're… But you can still do your job just fine!" I protested.
He waved me off, wiping some tears away, "It is how it is Wales."
"I- They can't! I-" I stuttered, "They- I-"
"Wales." He fixed me with a stare. "Calm down."
I paused. Took a deep breath. And organized my thoughts. Why was I so against John leaving us? Oh, right. "John. I- In my first life, I didn't really have a father. He'd gone to war just before I was born, and came back a broken man. He was never home. And when I did see him he was always drunk. My mother raised me. I- I've never really had a father." I met his eyes. "Until you." I was tearing up again, "You are the closest thing I've ever had to a real father. I love you. I can't lose you."
John looked stunned. Tears welled in his own eyes. "Wales… I- I didn't realise that's how you felt. I love you too. Daughter." For the first time, he was the one that opened his arms for a hug. I was all too happy to receive it as we both cried.
After a few moments he spoke quietly into my ear. "We can't let this get out, it's against regs to serve with close family, even if it's not official."
"I know." I muttered. "I'm going to write to the Admiralty, advocating they keep you on. Your role is effectively a desk job. There's no reason you can't do it, even missing a leg."
"Feel free, Wales." He said as we finally separated, "But I wouldn't expect much."
"I know."
He smiled genuinely for the first time since I'd entered the tent. "Tell you what. Once I am officially discharged, I'll get the paperwork started to formally adopt you. Evelyn always wanted a girl after all."
My eyes widened. "Really?" I didn't know much of his wife, but that would likely change.
He smiled. "I think 'Captain Gwendolyn Leach-Windsor, DSC and Bar' has a nice ring to it, does it not?"
"Thank you!" I burst, hugging him again. "Father."
He gave me a fond smile, "Anytime Wales." We separated and he met my eyes. "I am so proud of you, Wales. You're an incredible woman, and a hell of a battleship. Especially how you've grown into command these last months. Your ships respect you, and believe in you. They know they can trust you with their lives. I've no doubt they'd follow you straight through hell itself if you asked them too. Bugger what you think about your luck. You're a capable officer, and a damn fine warship."
How many times was I going to tear up today? "Thank you, Father." I did my best to fight back the tears as I wiped them away. Hearing the man I considered a father say that… It gave me some sorely needed confidence. "Will you be staying?"
He shook his head. "I'm on the next convoy out. I'll be taken back to Australia for a few more surgeries and to recover."
I sighed, I'd expected it, but didn't like it. "Who will be replacing you then?"
"Well, the a\Admiralty won't let anyone but a RN officer act as your direct superior, even if we are under American command." He began. "And considering our severe lack of other British officers about… Well, you're second in command for a reason."
"Me!?" I burst. "But, what about all the logistics? The communication with Nimitz? I don't know how to do any of that!"
"Ah, but Leftenant Anderson does." He replied, "He's been assisting me since he joined us back in Perth, and knows my job nearly as well as I. He can take over the paperwork and communications, so you can focus on fighting."
"I see." I muttered. In that case, it was much more doable. "I'm still writing to the Admiralty."
John rolled his eyes at my stubbornness. "By all means, I suppose."
NOVEMBER 2 1942
D+52
0844 HOURS
Two days later, the whole of 79 showed up to see Father off. We didn't exactly have any wheelchairs on Guadalcanal, so he was resting on a stretcher, waiting for the troopship he would depart on to finish unloading its cargo of US Army Soldiers.
"It was a pleasure working with you, Sir." Howe was saying as they shook.
"Likewise," He replied, "Keep an eye on Wales for me? Don't let her do anything I would do."
My little sister giggled. "Don't worry Sir, I won't."
Hou was next. "Best of luck Commodore." She drawled, "It was good to serve under you."
"And it was a pleasure to command you, Commander. You're a fine officer. You'll do well as a task force commander one day."
"Thank you, Sir."
"You were a breath of fresh air." Perth spoke next, offering her left hand. The one not swaddled in a cast from her damage. "I've met too many Brit officers who've looked down on us 'colonials'. But you're alright, Sir."
"We're all in this war together." He smiled, "You've fought just as well as any member of the Royal Navy. Keep keeping the destroyers honest Perth. I hope you're combat capable again soon."
Boise was next. "It was an honour, Sir. Thanks for handling all that backline bullshit so we can do our thing."
"Anytime Boise."
Then Jup and the E's glomped him, though careful not to touch his leg. I smiled as they all started speaking at once. They had a special relationship with dad. He'd been their division CO though most of the DEI battles. It was clear he cared for them, and they for him.
The three Sims girls were last, Andie and Hammann having to be supported by Sims due to their own injuries.
Suddenly, there was a loud blast from the troopship's horn. The signal to begin loading. A pair of USN Corpsmen soon appeared to take John's stretcher. Before they picked him up, my adopted father turned back to all of us one last time. "It was an honour to serve with all of you. Stay safe. I'll see you all again."
In reply, he received a dozen 'goodbyes'. For my part, as was tradition. I started playing a certain record over my tannoy.
"We'll meet again~"
NOVEMBER 5 1942
D+55
0814 HOURS
"Request for you, ma'am." Lieutenant Anderson spoke as he placed a note on my desk. I'd taken over father's desk in his dugout, while Anderson and somehow scrounged up another for himself. As father had said, the young American had managed to take over most of his duties, though some of the more important paperwork still fell to me. I got on well with the young man. He was capable and diligent.
With a sigh I picked up the note and had a quick read. Then I hit my radio. "Boise."
"Yup?"
"Take Electra and report to the Marines' command post in an hour." I ordered, "Vandegrift needs you for something."
"Aye aye, ma'am."
Oh how I hated sending those two to fight on land. But the results couldn't be argued with. The Japanese didn't have much left on the island. If they didn't do something drastic, Guadalcanal was as good as ours. And what could they do? Every attempt to wrest away naval superiority from us had failed? Honestly, in my eyes, the campaign was as good as won.
Finishing the report I was working on, I stood up with a stretch and a yawn. As usual I'd been up since the prior evening, and spent the night on Savo with everyone else.
"Tired, ma'am?" Anderson asked.
"Yes." I muttered, still stretching.
"I'm sure we'll be sent back to Sydney soon enough." He replied. An officer of his rank normally wouldn't have access to the big picture, but due to his role, Anderson had a much higher clearance than most Lieutenants. Which reminded me.
"Ah, right. Stand up Leftenant." He blinked, but did so. "Come here." He strode over to stand before me, still confused. "At attention." He snapped to.
I handed him a slip of paper I'd received an hour before from our signaller, and a pair of epaulettes. "Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Commander Anderson."
His eyes lit up as he took his new rank. "Thank you, Ma'am!"
We exchanged salutes. "Don't thank me, thank Nimitz." I replied, "I'm just passing it down."
"Right." He muttered, looking over his new rank. "I must write to Emma. She'll be over the moon with the extra pay."
I chuckled at his excitement. It was infectious. "Before you do…" I spoke, catching his attention. I then placed two shot glasses on my desk, and produced a bottle of navy rum. "It's tradition in the Royal Navy to toast a rum ration when someone is promoted." I explained. "So, what are we toasting?"
Now he was grinning. After all, the USN was a dry fleet. He raised his glass. "To my dearlings wife and daughter, to our great navies, and to victory in the Pacific."
"May it be over soon." I added, and we both drank. I was a RN ship. Navy rum was part of life. It went down smooth with a pleasant burn.
Tom Anderson was not a Royal Navy ship, nor even a member. In an instant he was coughing as the rum burned down his throat, much to my amusement. "Well, you didn't cough it up. That's already better than Hou did her first time."
"Jesus fuck that burns!" He cursed as he began to get over it. "Can I have another?"
I laughed.
Chapter 60: Ruse
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 60: Ruse
By November, it had begun to feel like the Guadalcanal campaign was winding down. The IJN had lost several cruisers, and a significant number of destroyers, and with Boise and Electra helping the Marines, the remainder of the IJA on the island was close to being wiped out. Unless the Japanese did something desperate, we'd won. Of course, this was the Imperial Japanese. Of course they were going to do something desperate. But I don't think anyone expected that it would actually end up working, even if only for a short time. And so began the Fourth and Fifth Battles of Savo Island.
NOVEMBER 10 1942
D+60
1647 HOURS
If there was one thing I hated most about this damn war, it was the nightmares. It was rare I didn't wake up at least once, sweaty and wondering why I felt terrified. Usually I had no recollection beyond the feelings of terror or fear. Sometimes I didn't even get back to sleep.
Such was the case on this fine Guadalcanal evening. I'd been up since fourteen hundred, and after laying in bed for over an hour and failing to get back to sleep, I'd instead gotten up. I'd had to be careful not to wake my sleeping sister as I got dressed.
So here I was, four hours later, sitting in my 'office' dugout, and pouring over the latest intelligence reports.
It was honestly fascinating stuff. One of the latest was an analysis of the IJN's I-boats, no doubt courtesy of the testing Iku had undergone in Melbourne. She was a solid sub design, with a rather extreme range. Something no doubt required for operating in the vast Pacific.
But what had really caught my eye was an analysis of Japan's oil and naval fuel reserves. In a phrase, they were buggered. The USN's Office of Naval Intelligence, who'd made the report, estimated the Japanese had enough fuel for maybe another two years at the rate they were using it, and that was factoring in the oil fields in the DEI. I had no idea how accurate that assessment was, but with the last few reports from ONI being spot on, I was starting to trust the American's intelligence a bit more. They were starting to get their act together after Coral Sea.
It partially explained why we hadn't seen any capital ships off Guadalcanal. Perhaps they simply didn't see the fuel expenditure as being worth it? Or perhaps it was their whole decisive battle doctrine? I'd read a report on that a month ago. Did they not realise this was the decisive battle? It wasn't as if we were going to form up all the battleships in the Pacific just to go fight them. If they wanted to take a swing at a couple of capitals, Guadalcanal was their best chance, as far as I was concerned.
Oh well, as Napoleon said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. If they were happy to throw away the initiative in this war, who was I to complain?
The sound of feet made me glance up from the papers, to see Tom Anderson entering the dugout, more papers in hand. "Leftenant Commander." I greeted.
He nodded back, "Captain." And proceeded over to his own desk that had joined mine on the dirt.
Satisfied he had nothing for me, I turned back to my reports. Things were going well. Electra and Boise were out helping the Marines again today. The soldiers' recent reports indicated there were under a thousand Japanese left on the island, at best. On top of that, two more Marine squadrons had arrived at Henderson bringing the total to three fighter and three dive bomber squadrons.
Honestly, I thought, we'd probably already won this campaign.
And then my American liaison cursed. "Ah fuck."
I glanced over at him. "Something wrong?"
"No, ma'am." He replied. "Just a contact report. Looks like you're going to be shootin' up some more Japs tonight."
"Bugger. And here I was hoping they'd realise they'd lost." I muttered, "Alright what have we got?"
"Sub and aerial sightings." He spoke, standing and bringing the paper over, "The sub's report claims a battleship, while the report from Lieutenant Briggs claims several heavy cruisers. Both up north of Santa Isabel Island. Course easterly, twenty knots."
"What are our orders?"
He glanced up at me, blinking in confusion. "What?"
"Have we been ordered to engage them?" I asked, clarifying.
His face lit up in realisation, "Oh, you think… John never told you?"
My brow furrowed. "Told me what?"
"He was the one giving sortie orders and the like." He explained. "Halsey generally just sends us reports and all. We're free to act based on our standing orders."
"Standing orders?" I muttered, before it clicked, "Oh, defend Henderson and maintain Naval superiority around Guadalcanal."
Anderson nodded, "Yup. You're free to do whatever you think necessary to complete those objectives."
I gave that a moment of thought, then stood and headed to the map table in the middle of the room. "Right, let's see."
A few of my navigation fairies quickly appeared, standing on the map with tools in hand. One of them handed me a ruler and a pencil. I made a dot at their reported position, and got to work.
"So if they're going to take a run at us, they'll have to come down here past Florida." I muttered, drawing an approximate course. "At twenty knots, and then thirty for the run in… Midnight."
Anderson had moved over to join me as I drew. "Seems about right. That's been their usual strategy. Means we don't need to try anything fancy. You can just go wait out in the Northern Savo Strait to ambush them."
"Maybe…" I muttered, looking over the map, "But they'll expect that."
"So?" He asked, "What does it matter? You and Howe are battleships, they're just heavy cruisers. You'll wipe the floor with them."
"Or get unlucky and catch a torpedo." I shot back. "So, maybe we go out and intercept them. Surprise them, and make them fight on our terms."
His brow furrowed. "Why?"
"Well, I already mentioned surprise." I explained, "We both know how crucial getting the drop on the bastards is. If we fought them, say… Out off northwest the Florida Islands, we'd have far more room to maneuver in the open water. That helps our radars too, less ground clutter."
He hummed as he examined the map. "What about a daylight engagement?"
I blinked. I hadn't even considered that. "Huh. Maybe." I mulled it over in my head.
Anderson spoke again. "Well, if they are heavies, and you catch them before dark, they'll probably just turn and run once they lay eyes on two battleships. It'd be what I'd do if I realised I was outmatched. But at night, you could sneak up and hammer 'em."
I rubbed my chin, "Yes… Radar does turn the tables…" I nodded, "Yes, here's what we'll do. A bit of a combination. We'll try and catch them just after full dark, and close on them with radar. Then we can open up at say… ten thousand yards. Close enough to do damage, but not so close they can immediately turn on us. We'll give them a thrashing, then once they realise we're a pair of battleships, they'll likely run. That way we can do some damage, without putting ourselves at too much risk."
Anderson's brow furrowed. "And what if they slip by?" He said, tracing a line with his finger around our planned track.
"Hmmmm. Who's on station right now?" I asked. Since 3rd Savo, several cruiser forces had been taking rotating watches to augment us in Iron Bottom Sound.
He blinked, and turned to his desk to grab a folder, leafing through it. "Ummmm. Looks like TF31. Flag is Salt Lake City, backed up by two Brooklyns; Helena and Honolulu, and six destroyers to screen."
"Okay." I muttered, mind still going. "In that case, I'll round up the girls. We have to stortie soon to make that intercept. I'll go out to Salt Lake and speak with her Admiral… Who's in command?"
He glanced back down. "Um. Ah. Admiral Norman Scott."
I blinked. "Scott? I thought Atlanta was his flag?"
He nodded. "Until she got shot to bits at 3rd Savo. Looks like he's been reassigned while she';s in the yards."
I grimaced. So he'd been there for me to directly countermand orders. "Hopefully he doesn't have any hard feelings about that."
The Lieutenant Commander bit his lip, obviously trying not to grin.
I gave him a glare. "What's so bloody funny?"
Now he grinned, "Well, according to the reports I've gotten my hands on, Scott took his division out of formation only two minutes after you did. And his report after the battle was… Well, he was extremely mad at Callaghan."
"Really?" I asked, "I honestly expected quite a bit more political fallout from that."
"Ha! John didn't tell you?" I laughed, "Oh there was. Old Man King's been on your case since the President and Prime Minister made the deal about you and Howe. That was a lot of ammo for him. Callaghan was pretty damn mad too. Wrote a report, and it was… I think the words he used for you were 'soft hearted, unreliable loose cannon.' Unluckily for him, Scott backed you up. And Nimitz trusts Scott more than Callaghan."
I rolled my eyes. "Bloody muppet."
"Yeah…" He nodded, "There's still a shitshow going on, but King's the least of our concerns."
"Good. That means we can do our job." I replied, standing and turning for the door. "I'll go get everyone ready to sortie. Call up Halsey and let him know what's going on. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good luck, Ma'am."
Thirty minutes later, the nine operational SHIPs of TF79 put to sea, myself in the lead. We immediately turned for TF31, cruising out in Iron Bottom, just off Henderson.
I quickly checked my list of callsigns, finally finding Salt Lake's. "Princess to Swayback."
It only took the heavy cruiser a moment to reply, "Swayback to Princess. I see you over there. Nice of you to join us. What can I do for ya?"
"Well, if you could let the Admiral know, I'd like to have my girls pull into formation, while I come aboard to discuss something briefly with him."
"Sure!" She chirped, "Just gimme a sec."
"Much obliged."
A few minutes passed as we approached the three cruisers and their escorts. I had our column begin maneuvering onto a parallel track.
Then Salt Lake came back on the radio. "Swayback to Princess. Admiral says just pull in parallel, and can come aboard."
"Rodger. See you in a couple minutes."
Salt Lake wasn't a ship I'd made an acquaintance of so far in the war, but she seemed a surprisingly upbeat girl. She was grinning at me as I climbed aboard. Her steel gray hair was striking, framing her green eyes.
I quickly noted the Commander's rank on her adopted khaki uniform's shoulders. "Permission to come aboard?"
She smiled. "Granted, ma'am."
"Welcome aboard Captain Windsor." A male voice spoke.
I spun and snapped a salute at Admiral Norman Scott. "Sir."
He returned it, "As you were. So, what can I do for you Captain?"
"I just wished to discuss some operational matters, Sir. In private, preferably." I replied.
"Alright." He said, turning, "To my wardroom then. Follow me." Then turning to Salt Lake, "Commander. Let Captain Small know the fleet is to maintain course and speed unless changes are absolutely necessary."
"Aye aye." She said, immediately teleporting away.
As we began to enter the superstructure I couldn't help but strike up conversation. "What role does the Commander fill?"
"Currently?" He began, "She's the SO. Ship's Officer, we call it. It's becoming a relatively widely adopted practice."
Now that was interesting, "What's that mean?"
"Well, the SO is always the ship spirit herself, and replaces the XO as 2nd in command." He began to explain. They basically act as a maintenance officer, and when not making sure the crew is taking care of her hull, she's assisting the XO. That way we can still use the XO role to get future Captains experience, while doing the same for the ship herself. And in combat of course, the SO's usually on the bridge, streamlining communication."
"Smart." I muttered. "Do you think spirits themselves will ever be their own Captains?"
He shrugged, "I can see it. Probably when someone thinks a spirit has enough experience." He blinked, "Actually, wasn't one of your cruisers in that position?"
I blinked, jogging my memory. "Oh, yes, that's right. Exeter. Her Captain got… Well… Splattered all over the bridge at Java Sea, and her XO was wounded. She was acting Captain for a while. I don't know if she still is."
"It'll be fascinating to see where this all goes." Scott muttered, "We're here."
With a shove, the older man opened a steel door, and we both stepped into his wardroom. "So, what is it, Captain?"
"I'm sure you've seen the most recent contact report, up north, Sir?" I asked.
He nodded. "I have."
"Well, I thought it prudent to let you know I'm going to take seven-niner up north and intercept them off the Florida Islands. It gives us more room to maneuver, less radar interference, and we'll hopefully take them by surprise." I explained.
"Hmmm." He vocalised, before turning to his own map table. "So somewhere up here then. That could work. I assume you want me to hold down the fort while you're out."
"Yes." I nodded, "Worst case, they could slip by us. More likely, there's going to be a Tokyo Express run in concert."
"Agreed." He spoke. "Alright, go get the glory Captain. We'll backstop you."
"Thank you, Sir. Good luck."
"Likewise."
It took a couple minutes to return to the deck, but the moment I resummoned my rigging and stepped onto the water, all the radio traffic surged to the fore. I was surprised for a moment before I realised what it was. My girls, and especially Boise, were chatting with the girls of thirty-one.
"-I'm just saying, maybe tone it down a bit sis." I caught someone saying, "Hell knows if you get yourself killed doing something stupid, I'll go down there and kill you again myself."
"Awwww. I love you too, Lulu." Boise replied, sarcastically.
I chuckled. Sisters will be sisters. "Care to introduce me, Boise?"
The Brooklyn's head snapped around to me, "Oh, hey Wales. Sure. You already met Helena, third in line there is another of my sisters, Honolulu. Lulu, this is my boss, Prince of Wales."
"Aloha, Wales! Nice to meet you. Please, everyone calls me Lulu. If you could keep Boise from doing anything too stupid and getting herself killed, I'd really appreciate that."
I chuckled. "It's nice to meet you too, Lulu. I will do my best. I too prefer her alive and above water. And hello again Helena."
"Hi Wales."
"Alright." I spoke up loudly as I slotted back into the lead of 79's formation. "Cut the chatter everyone, it's time to get going."
2146 HOURS
The journey north was rather boring, as sailing in radio silence always was. We couldn't chat, just sail and hold formation. The sun had set two hours ago as we'd passed Savo. And with the clouds covering the moon, it was virtually pitch black. I had to rely on the small navigation light on Jup's projection's stern to stay in formation.
It was almost 2200 when I finally broke the silence. If my intercept was correct, we'd be so close to contact it wouldn't matter. "Princess to all. Standby girls Should make contact any second now."
A minute passed… Two… Then five. Then ten. Nothing on the scope. Another twenty minutes passed. Still, nothing. Perhaps they'd just slowed down? Nothing to it but to keep going. An hour passed. Two hours. By now we were just off the south-eastern tip of Santa Isabel Island.
"Where the hell are the Japs?" Hou finally broke the silence.
"I don't know." I muttered. "They couldn't have slipped by us."
"Maybe the report was erroneous?" Howe posited.
"Could be." I sighed, "Right, standby to-"
The beeping of morse through my radio cut me off. I paused, and quickly used my huff-duff set to get a bearing. It was coming from Guadalcanal…
With all the speed they could muster, I had my signal fairies copy the message down and quickly begin decoding it.
When they finished a minute later, I swore. "Oh, fuck! Seven-niner, come hard left to two-zero-zero, make speed twenty-nine knots!"
Jup, who was in the lead screening ahead of the column, replied first, "Left to two-zero-zero, twenty-nine knots, aye!"
"What's going on, Wales?!" Hou spoke a moment later.
I sighed, "Message is as follows: Jap battleships shelling Henderson, where is 31 and 79?"
Hou paused for a second. Then, "Oh, fuck!"
"An adequate sentiment." I replied, "Here's the plan, we'll head for Savo at flank, and hopefully catch them exiting Iron Bottom. If they really have deployed battleships, this is a big one girls. Let's go show them who the queens of surface action are!"
0803 HOURS
I stood at the edge of the clearing that Henderson field sat in, and stared. It was a mess. Both runways were cratered, most of the groundcrews' equipment was smashed or flipped over, and worst of all, several dozen planes lay in their revetments either burnt or currently burning.
It looked like the aftermath of the Apocalypse.
"Fuck." I muttered.
Anderson nodded where he stood beside me. "Fuck."
"How bad?" I asked.
He checked his papers, "Initial reports… Ohhhhh we're fucked. Two operational aircraft, both Dauntlesses. Of the rest, half assumed damaged, the other half total losses."
"Make sure Halsey knows." I muttered, "We're going to need his carriers again."
"Aye aye."
Just as Anderson replied, Hou walked up. I'd asked her to figure out what had happened to TF31.
"What happened Hou?"
She sighed, "According to Swayback, there was a Tokyo Express run last night. Scott went to intercept it. They were about to engage when Anderson's message went out, so the turned around and rushed back."
"They engaged?" I asked.
She nodded. "Ran into the Japs in the southern strait as they began to withdraw. Apparently both sides spotted each other and opened up around the same time. It was a fair fight in that regard," She turned to our liaison, "Except you were right, Lieutenant Commander. They had two Kongos and cruisers to back them up. Scott did his best but he was outgunned and outnumbered."
I grimaced. "Losses?"
"Not as bad as it could be." Hou spoke, "Lulu went down, but she and Buchanan were the only total losses. Japs were more concerned about getting away clean than sinking thirty-one. Swayback got a bit shot up, but Helena got away clean again. They're also claiming nearly a dozen hits on the lead Kongo-class, and several more on the cruisers, so they didn't just get stomped."
That… was actually a bit of a relief. "They got off light then. Thank God for small blessings."
"Eeyup." My XO nodded. "Also, we have a slight problem. The southern lighthouse has stopped responding." She explained, referring to the Savo radars.
I groaned. "Bloody great. We'll go check on them later today."
Another nod, "Also, I'm putting Hammann and Andie up for medals. You should do the same for Perth."
I blinked. "What? Why? Are they alright?"
"When the shelling started, all three of them climbed out of the baths and went up to the beach. They then pulled their rigging and did their best coastal artillery impressions. Japs only took a few shots at them and missed. But that took some bravery from them. We all know how much it hurts for all three of them to walk right now."
"They what?!" I burst. "What the hell, they could have been killed!"
"Sure." Hou shrugged, "But I think they also saved men's lives."
"I'll have to have a talk with those three." I muttered.
"And then give them medals." The cruiser snarked.
"Yes, and then put them up for medals." I groaned, "Bloody Japs. They've already lost. If they want to turn this around they'll have to land two or three damn divisions. And that is not happening."
Hou raised one eyebrow, "And when has impossibility ever stopped the Japs from doing something stupid?"
"I hate that you're right."
By November, it had begun to feel like the Guadalcanal campaign was winding down. The IJN had lost several cruisers, and a significant number of destroyers, and with Boise and Electra helping the Marines, the remainder of the IJA on the island was close to being wiped out. Unless the Japanese did something desperate, we'd won. Of course, this was the Imperial Japanese. Of course they were going to do something desperate. But I don't think anyone expected that it would actually end up working, even if only for a short time. And so began the Fourth and Fifth Battles of Savo Island.
NOVEMBER 10 1942
D+60
1647 HOURS
If there was one thing I hated most about this damn war, it was the nightmares. It was rare I didn't wake up at least once, sweaty and wondering why I felt terrified. Usually I had no recollection beyond the feelings of terror or fear. Sometimes I didn't even get back to sleep.
Such was the case on this fine Guadalcanal evening. I'd been up since fourteen hundred, and after laying in bed for over an hour and failing to get back to sleep, I'd instead gotten up. I'd had to be careful not to wake my sleeping sister as I got dressed.
So here I was, four hours later, sitting in my 'office' dugout, and pouring over the latest intelligence reports.
It was honestly fascinating stuff. One of the latest was an analysis of the IJN's I-boats, no doubt courtesy of the testing Iku had undergone in Melbourne. She was a solid sub design, with a rather extreme range. Something no doubt required for operating in the vast Pacific.
But what had really caught my eye was an analysis of Japan's oil and naval fuel reserves. In a phrase, they were buggered. The USN's Office of Naval Intelligence, who'd made the report, estimated the Japanese had enough fuel for maybe another two years at the rate they were using it, and that was factoring in the oil fields in the DEI. I had no idea how accurate that assessment was, but with the last few reports from ONI being spot on, I was starting to trust the American's intelligence a bit more. They were starting to get their act together after Coral Sea.
It partially explained why we hadn't seen any capital ships off Guadalcanal. Perhaps they simply didn't see the fuel expenditure as being worth it? Or perhaps it was their whole decisive battle doctrine? I'd read a report on that a month ago. Did they not realise this was the decisive battle? It wasn't as if we were going to form up all the battleships in the Pacific just to go fight them. If they wanted to take a swing at a couple of capitals, Guadalcanal was their best chance, as far as I was concerned.
Oh well, as Napoleon said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. If they were happy to throw away the initiative in this war, who was I to complain?
The sound of feet made me glance up from the papers, to see Tom Anderson entering the dugout, more papers in hand. "Leftenant Commander." I greeted.
He nodded back, "Captain." And proceeded over to his own desk that had joined mine on the dirt.
Satisfied he had nothing for me, I turned back to my reports. Things were going well. Electra and Boise were out helping the Marines again today. The soldiers' recent reports indicated there were under a thousand Japanese left on the island, at best. On top of that, two more Marine squadrons had arrived at Henderson bringing the total to three fighter and three dive bomber squadrons.
Honestly, I thought, we'd probably already won this campaign.
And then my American liaison cursed. "Ah fuck."
I glanced over at him. "Something wrong?"
"No, ma'am." He replied. "Just a contact report. Looks like you're going to be shootin' up some more Japs tonight."
"Bugger. And here I was hoping they'd realise they'd lost." I muttered, "Alright what have we got?"
"Sub and aerial sightings." He spoke, standing and bringing the paper over, "The sub's report claims a battleship, while the report from Lieutenant Briggs claims several heavy cruisers. Both up north of Santa Isabel Island. Course easterly, twenty knots."
"What are our orders?"
He glanced up at me, blinking in confusion. "What?"
"Have we been ordered to engage them?" I asked, clarifying.
His face lit up in realisation, "Oh, you think… John never told you?"
My brow furrowed. "Told me what?"
"He was the one giving sortie orders and the like." He explained. "Halsey generally just sends us reports and all. We're free to act based on our standing orders."
"Standing orders?" I muttered, before it clicked, "Oh, defend Henderson and maintain Naval superiority around Guadalcanal."
Anderson nodded, "Yup. You're free to do whatever you think necessary to complete those objectives."
I gave that a moment of thought, then stood and headed to the map table in the middle of the room. "Right, let's see."
A few of my navigation fairies quickly appeared, standing on the map with tools in hand. One of them handed me a ruler and a pencil. I made a dot at their reported position, and got to work.
"So if they're going to take a run at us, they'll have to come down here past Florida." I muttered, drawing an approximate course. "At twenty knots, and then thirty for the run in… Midnight."
Anderson had moved over to join me as I drew. "Seems about right. That's been their usual strategy. Means we don't need to try anything fancy. You can just go wait out in the Northern Savo Strait to ambush them."
"Maybe…" I muttered, looking over the map, "But they'll expect that."
"So?" He asked, "What does it matter? You and Howe are battleships, they're just heavy cruisers. You'll wipe the floor with them."
"Or get unlucky and catch a torpedo." I shot back. "So, maybe we go out and intercept them. Surprise them, and make them fight on our terms."
His brow furrowed. "Why?"
"Well, I already mentioned surprise." I explained, "We both know how crucial getting the drop on the bastards is. If we fought them, say… Out off northwest the Florida Islands, we'd have far more room to maneuver in the open water. That helps our radars too, less ground clutter."
He hummed as he examined the map. "What about a daylight engagement?"
I blinked. I hadn't even considered that. "Huh. Maybe." I mulled it over in my head.
Anderson spoke again. "Well, if they are heavies, and you catch them before dark, they'll probably just turn and run once they lay eyes on two battleships. It'd be what I'd do if I realised I was outmatched. But at night, you could sneak up and hammer 'em."
I rubbed my chin, "Yes… Radar does turn the tables…" I nodded, "Yes, here's what we'll do. A bit of a combination. We'll try and catch them just after full dark, and close on them with radar. Then we can open up at say… ten thousand yards. Close enough to do damage, but not so close they can immediately turn on us. We'll give them a thrashing, then once they realise we're a pair of battleships, they'll likely run. That way we can do some damage, without putting ourselves at too much risk."
Anderson's brow furrowed. "And what if they slip by?" He said, tracing a line with his finger around our planned track.
"Hmmmm. Who's on station right now?" I asked. Since 3rd Savo, several cruiser forces had been taking rotating watches to augment us in Iron Bottom Sound.
He blinked, and turned to his desk to grab a folder, leafing through it. "Ummmm. Looks like TF31. Flag is Salt Lake City, backed up by two Brooklyns; Helena and Honolulu, and six destroyers to screen."
"Okay." I muttered, mind still going. "In that case, I'll round up the girls. We have to stortie soon to make that intercept. I'll go out to Salt Lake and speak with her Admiral… Who's in command?"
He glanced back down. "Um. Ah. Admiral Norman Scott."
I blinked. "Scott? I thought Atlanta was his flag?"
He nodded. "Until she got shot to bits at 3rd Savo. Looks like he's been reassigned while she';s in the yards."
I grimaced. So he'd been there for me to directly countermand orders. "Hopefully he doesn't have any hard feelings about that."
The Lieutenant Commander bit his lip, obviously trying not to grin.
I gave him a glare. "What's so bloody funny?"
Now he grinned, "Well, according to the reports I've gotten my hands on, Scott took his division out of formation only two minutes after you did. And his report after the battle was… Well, he was extremely mad at Callaghan."
"Really?" I asked, "I honestly expected quite a bit more political fallout from that."
"Ha! John didn't tell you?" I laughed, "Oh there was. Old Man King's been on your case since the President and Prime Minister made the deal about you and Howe. That was a lot of ammo for him. Callaghan was pretty damn mad too. Wrote a report, and it was… I think the words he used for you were 'soft hearted, unreliable loose cannon.' Unluckily for him, Scott backed you up. And Nimitz trusts Scott more than Callaghan."
I rolled my eyes. "Bloody muppet."
"Yeah…" He nodded, "There's still a shitshow going on, but King's the least of our concerns."
"Good. That means we can do our job." I replied, standing and turning for the door. "I'll go get everyone ready to sortie. Call up Halsey and let him know what's going on. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good luck, Ma'am."
Thirty minutes later, the nine operational SHIPs of TF79 put to sea, myself in the lead. We immediately turned for TF31, cruising out in Iron Bottom, just off Henderson.
I quickly checked my list of callsigns, finally finding Salt Lake's. "Princess to Swayback."
It only took the heavy cruiser a moment to reply, "Swayback to Princess. I see you over there. Nice of you to join us. What can I do for ya?"
"Well, if you could let the Admiral know, I'd like to have my girls pull into formation, while I come aboard to discuss something briefly with him."
"Sure!" She chirped, "Just gimme a sec."
"Much obliged."
A few minutes passed as we approached the three cruisers and their escorts. I had our column begin maneuvering onto a parallel track.
Then Salt Lake came back on the radio. "Swayback to Princess. Admiral says just pull in parallel, and can come aboard."
"Rodger. See you in a couple minutes."
Salt Lake wasn't a ship I'd made an acquaintance of so far in the war, but she seemed a surprisingly upbeat girl. She was grinning at me as I climbed aboard. Her steel gray hair was striking, framing her green eyes.
I quickly noted the Commander's rank on her adopted khaki uniform's shoulders. "Permission to come aboard?"
She smiled. "Granted, ma'am."
"Welcome aboard Captain Windsor." A male voice spoke.
I spun and snapped a salute at Admiral Norman Scott. "Sir."
He returned it, "As you were. So, what can I do for you Captain?"
"I just wished to discuss some operational matters, Sir. In private, preferably." I replied.
"Alright." He said, turning, "To my wardroom then. Follow me." Then turning to Salt Lake, "Commander. Let Captain Small know the fleet is to maintain course and speed unless changes are absolutely necessary."
"Aye aye." She said, immediately teleporting away.
As we began to enter the superstructure I couldn't help but strike up conversation. "What role does the Commander fill?"
"Currently?" He began, "She's the SO. Ship's Officer, we call it. It's becoming a relatively widely adopted practice."
Now that was interesting, "What's that mean?"
"Well, the SO is always the ship spirit herself, and replaces the XO as 2nd in command." He began to explain. They basically act as a maintenance officer, and when not making sure the crew is taking care of her hull, she's assisting the XO. That way we can still use the XO role to get future Captains experience, while doing the same for the ship herself. And in combat of course, the SO's usually on the bridge, streamlining communication."
"Smart." I muttered. "Do you think spirits themselves will ever be their own Captains?"
He shrugged, "I can see it. Probably when someone thinks a spirit has enough experience." He blinked, "Actually, wasn't one of your cruisers in that position?"
I blinked, jogging my memory. "Oh, yes, that's right. Exeter. Her Captain got… Well… Splattered all over the bridge at Java Sea, and her XO was wounded. She was acting Captain for a while. I don't know if she still is."
"It'll be fascinating to see where this all goes." Scott muttered, "We're here."
With a shove, the older man opened a steel door, and we both stepped into his wardroom. "So, what is it, Captain?"
"I'm sure you've seen the most recent contact report, up north, Sir?" I asked.
He nodded. "I have."
"Well, I thought it prudent to let you know I'm going to take seven-niner up north and intercept them off the Florida Islands. It gives us more room to maneuver, less radar interference, and we'll hopefully take them by surprise." I explained.
"Hmmm." He vocalised, before turning to his own map table. "So somewhere up here then. That could work. I assume you want me to hold down the fort while you're out."
"Yes." I nodded, "Worst case, they could slip by us. More likely, there's going to be a Tokyo Express run in concert."
"Agreed." He spoke. "Alright, go get the glory Captain. We'll backstop you."
"Thank you, Sir. Good luck."
"Likewise."
It took a couple minutes to return to the deck, but the moment I resummoned my rigging and stepped onto the water, all the radio traffic surged to the fore. I was surprised for a moment before I realised what it was. My girls, and especially Boise, were chatting with the girls of thirty-one.
"-I'm just saying, maybe tone it down a bit sis." I caught someone saying, "Hell knows if you get yourself killed doing something stupid, I'll go down there and kill you again myself."
"Awwww. I love you too, Lulu." Boise replied, sarcastically.
I chuckled. Sisters will be sisters. "Care to introduce me, Boise?"
The Brooklyn's head snapped around to me, "Oh, hey Wales. Sure. You already met Helena, third in line there is another of my sisters, Honolulu. Lulu, this is my boss, Prince of Wales."
"Aloha, Wales! Nice to meet you. Please, everyone calls me Lulu. If you could keep Boise from doing anything too stupid and getting herself killed, I'd really appreciate that."
I chuckled. "It's nice to meet you too, Lulu. I will do my best. I too prefer her alive and above water. And hello again Helena."
"Hi Wales."
"Alright." I spoke up loudly as I slotted back into the lead of 79's formation. "Cut the chatter everyone, it's time to get going."
2146 HOURS
The journey north was rather boring, as sailing in radio silence always was. We couldn't chat, just sail and hold formation. The sun had set two hours ago as we'd passed Savo. And with the clouds covering the moon, it was virtually pitch black. I had to rely on the small navigation light on Jup's projection's stern to stay in formation.
It was almost 2200 when I finally broke the silence. If my intercept was correct, we'd be so close to contact it wouldn't matter. "Princess to all. Standby girls Should make contact any second now."
A minute passed… Two… Then five. Then ten. Nothing on the scope. Another twenty minutes passed. Still, nothing. Perhaps they'd just slowed down? Nothing to it but to keep going. An hour passed. Two hours. By now we were just off the south-eastern tip of Santa Isabel Island.
"Where the hell are the Japs?" Hou finally broke the silence.
"I don't know." I muttered. "They couldn't have slipped by us."
"Maybe the report was erroneous?" Howe posited.
"Could be." I sighed, "Right, standby to-"
The beeping of morse through my radio cut me off. I paused, and quickly used my huff-duff set to get a bearing. It was coming from Guadalcanal…
With all the speed they could muster, I had my signal fairies copy the message down and quickly begin decoding it.
When they finished a minute later, I swore. "Oh, fuck! Seven-niner, come hard left to two-zero-zero, make speed twenty-nine knots!"
Jup, who was in the lead screening ahead of the column, replied first, "Left to two-zero-zero, twenty-nine knots, aye!"
"What's going on, Wales?!" Hou spoke a moment later.
I sighed, "Message is as follows: Jap battleships shelling Henderson, where is 31 and 79?"
Hou paused for a second. Then, "Oh, fuck!"
"An adequate sentiment." I replied, "Here's the plan, we'll head for Savo at flank, and hopefully catch them exiting Iron Bottom. If they really have deployed battleships, this is a big one girls. Let's go show them who the queens of surface action are!"
0803 HOURS
I stood at the edge of the clearing that Henderson field sat in, and stared. It was a mess. Both runways were cratered, most of the groundcrews' equipment was smashed or flipped over, and worst of all, several dozen planes lay in their revetments either burnt or currently burning.
It looked like the aftermath of the Apocalypse.
"Fuck." I muttered.
Anderson nodded where he stood beside me. "Fuck."
"How bad?" I asked.
He checked his papers, "Initial reports… Ohhhhh we're fucked. Two operational aircraft, both Dauntlesses. Of the rest, half assumed damaged, the other half total losses."
"Make sure Halsey knows." I muttered, "We're going to need his carriers again."
"Aye aye."
Just as Anderson replied, Hou walked up. I'd asked her to figure out what had happened to TF31.
"What happened Hou?"
She sighed, "According to Swayback, there was a Tokyo Express run last night. Scott went to intercept it. They were about to engage when Anderson's message went out, so the turned around and rushed back."
"They engaged?" I asked.
She nodded. "Ran into the Japs in the southern strait as they began to withdraw. Apparently both sides spotted each other and opened up around the same time. It was a fair fight in that regard," She turned to our liaison, "Except you were right, Lieutenant Commander. They had two Kongos and cruisers to back them up. Scott did his best but he was outgunned and outnumbered."
I grimaced. "Losses?"
"Not as bad as it could be." Hou spoke, "Lulu went down, but she and Buchanan were the only total losses. Japs were more concerned about getting away clean than sinking thirty-one. Swayback got a bit shot up, but Helena got away clean again. They're also claiming nearly a dozen hits on the lead Kongo-class, and several more on the cruisers, so they didn't just get stomped."
That… was actually a bit of a relief. "They got off light then. Thank God for small blessings."
"Eeyup." My XO nodded. "Also, we have a slight problem. The southern lighthouse has stopped responding." She explained, referring to the Savo radars.
I groaned. "Bloody great. We'll go check on them later today."
Another nod, "Also, I'm putting Hammann and Andie up for medals. You should do the same for Perth."
I blinked. "What? Why? Are they alright?"
"When the shelling started, all three of them climbed out of the baths and went up to the beach. They then pulled their rigging and did their best coastal artillery impressions. Japs only took a few shots at them and missed. But that took some bravery from them. We all know how much it hurts for all three of them to walk right now."
"They what?!" I burst. "What the hell, they could have been killed!"
"Sure." Hou shrugged, "But I think they also saved men's lives."
"I'll have to have a talk with those three." I muttered.
"And then give them medals." The cruiser snarked.
"Yes, and then put them up for medals." I groaned, "Bloody Japs. They've already lost. If they want to turn this around they'll have to land two or three damn divisions. And that is not happening."
Hou raised one eyebrow, "And when has impossibility ever stopped the Japs from doing something stupid?"
"I hate that you're right."
KongouBongo
Always got to make time for tea-time!
- Location
- 26°9'1"N 121°22'57"E
Brilliant as always, thanks for the chapter. I imagine that was Hiei and Kirishima, perhaps unless Kongo and Haruna had spent enough time to get repaired from their little shindig with Wales earlier.
Last edited:
- Location
- Frozen Winterland
Kongo and Kirishima are still in drydock or working up after repairs.
Kongo got the crap whacked out of her at Java Sea, while Haruna took fewer hits due to tangling with Repulse at the same time. By sheer number of hits, Kongo was in repair for almost 8 months.
So, rough summary from the Slugging match between Wales and "Old Bones", the reigning gunnery champion of the Japanese Navy 30 years running.
Wales got generally tenderized all over and lost her B-turret to internal powder detonation. IIRC, she was in the repair bath for near a month.
Kongou, as shown, Tanked between 16 and 20 hits, lost her Y turret, and only turned away after her engine rooms were hit.
Kirishima ended up very nearly getting beaten to death at Bali when Wales snuck up in a rainstorm and plunked 8 of her 10 shots into Kiri's guts, blowing out half her engines and both aft turrets, one of which, based on the description, only narrowly avoided a catastrophic ammunition explosion.
So, yeah. Hiei and Haruna are the two Kongo-class that could take potshots at Guadalcanal, even as far along as November. Kongou would still be working up after completion of repairs, and Kirishima would still be in drydock with a month left on the lock.
Kongo got the crap whacked out of her at Java Sea, while Haruna took fewer hits due to tangling with Repulse at the same time. By sheer number of hits, Kongo was in repair for almost 8 months.
Kongou at Java said:
So, rough summary from the Slugging match between Wales and "Old Bones", the reigning gunnery champion of the Japanese Navy 30 years running.
Wales got generally tenderized all over and lost her B-turret to internal powder detonation. IIRC, she was in the repair bath for near a month.
Kongou, as shown, Tanked between 16 and 20 hits, lost her Y turret, and only turned away after her engine rooms were hit.
Kirishima ended up very nearly getting beaten to death at Bali when Wales snuck up in a rainstorm and plunked 8 of her 10 shots into Kiri's guts, blowing out half her engines and both aft turrets, one of which, based on the description, only narrowly avoided a catastrophic ammunition explosion.
Kirishima at Bali said:
So, yeah. Hiei and Haruna are the two Kongo-class that could take potshots at Guadalcanal, even as far along as November. Kongou would still be working up after completion of repairs, and Kirishima would still be in drydock with a month left on the lock.
Chapter 61: Suspense
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 61: Suspense
"Naval Warfare is all pure dumb luck. You just try to stack the odds in your favor as much as you can." I never thought others would quote me, but that line is easily the one I hear quoted the most. On the strategic level, I believe the fourth Battle of Savo, brief as it was, epitomized that. It was just down to pure luck that everything went wrong, and Henderson got flattened by Japanese naval rifles. Buoyed on by their success, the Japanese would return less than a week later to finish the job. Unfortunately for them, we knew they were coming.
NOVEMBER 11 1942
D+61
0960 HOURS
"You okay Captain?" Lieutenant Commander Anderson's voice broke me from my brooding where I sat at my desk in our command dugout. I glanced up as the young man placed a mug of tea down before me.
"Thanks." I muttered, taking it and sipping.
"Anytime." He replied, his own coffee mug in hand. We stayed like that for a few minutes, sipping away.
Finally I sighed. "Bugger."
"Ma'am?"
Another sigh. "I should have just stayed to cover the damn Strait." I muttered, metally kicking myself. "Instead I went chasing a Phantom contact, or decoy or whatever-the-hell-it-was, and left the bloody airfield completely open."
"It was the right call at the time." Anderson replied, "I'm not going to say it wasn't a mistake, but I would have done the same thing."
I blew out a frustrated breath, "You said they likely came through the northern strait?"
He nodded, "As far as we know."
"Did the northern radar not pick them up?" I questioned.
He nodded, "It did. But they were having radio troubles. They weren't able to make the call until two hours later. Which was when thirty-one was already getting hammered in the southern strait as the Japs withdrew."
I groaned, "I swear I'm a bad luck charm. First Hood, then Myself, my fire director at Java Sea, I got hit in the face at Bali bloody Strait, the entirety of Coral Sea, First Savo, John losing a leg thanks to a stray shell, and now this!"
I sighed. "Anything else?"
"Just the issue with the southern radar." He replied.
"Right." I muttered, standing up, "I'll get some of the girls and go check."
It was two hours later that I found myself stepping ashore on Savo, just down the beach from where Jintsu and Yukikaze were still beached. Howe, Electra and Jup followed me ashore, all of us quickly changing out of our bright rigging outfits into khakis and drawing small arms. It always paid to be prepared.
Without a word, we all set off for the trailhead that led up the mountain to the radar. Luckily neither of the Japanese spirits made an appearance, and we were soon hiking up through the jungle.
After a short time, my sister's voice broke the silence. "Wales?"
I glanced back at Howe. She was in Khakis, the same as me, and had her blond hair pulled into a bun under the helmet she wore. "Yes, sis?"
"I… was just thinking about Jintsu…" She quirked her head to the side, "Why do the Japanese hate us so much?"
"You don't know?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No."
I blew out a breath, "Well… That's a long story. What do you know of the history of the British Empire?"
"Not much." She muttered, "Just the naval history. My Captain had a lot of books…"
"Right, well…" I began, trying to figure out how to explain such a complicated and long winded topic. "We have long mistreated virtually everyone who isn't us. Mostly natives of the colonies, mostly non-whites. And we've long tried to get a foothold in East Asia. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Australia. And the Empire always had ambitions in China."
I myself hadn't known most of this, but I'd had plenty of time to brush up on my history while sitting in the repair baths for two months back in Perth. I also found it useful to know the background of the conflict in which I fought. Howe seemed extremely interested, so I continued.
"Japan is very much the same as us, in regards to Imperial ambitions. After the Americans forced them to end their isolation in the mid 1800s, they rapidly industrialised, and began building an empire. You've heard of the Russo-Japanese War?"
My little sister nodded, "Tsushima."
I nodded, "They got Korea out of that. We were allies then. Have you met Illustrious or Indomitable?"
Howe nodded, "I met Indomitable in Scapa, once."
"The two of them were built at the yards in Barrow-in-Furness. So was Mikasa, the Japanese Flagship at Tsushima. So was Kongo, who I had the pleasure of dueling at Java Sea." I sighed, "But we never treated them right. As far as I know it was common for European Powers to say 'Oh, no, you can't colonise that,' kick the Japanese out, and then colonise it themselves. But they did well for themselves. In the twenties they were a relatively stable democracy. But I think the resentment at how we Europeans treated them never really went away. And they still wanted an Empire. I think that's what led them down the route of Facism. Then they invaded China, Nanjing happened, and the US put an oil embargo on them. They needed that oil for their war, so they had two choices. Withdraw from China, or attack us to get the oil from the DEI."
My sister's brow furrowed, "But why do they hate us? What were we supposed to do after they razed a whole city? We're in the right."
I nodded, "We are. But no one ever thinks of themselves as evil. As far as they're concerned, they're fighting against 'Western Imperialists' who want to conquer them, wipe out Japanese culture, and make Japan a colony."
She frowned, "But that's not true!"
I shrugged, "That's how facism works. Lies and twisted truths. But what does it matter? Let them tell their people their lies about how they're winning the war, and how in just one more year the pampered soft westerners will be begging for peace. War doesn't care for lies. They'll see the truth when we sail into Tokyo Bay to accept their surrender."
When we finally reached the radar after the hour-long hike, it became almost immediately obvious something was wrong. It was clear my fairies had done some work since the last time I'd been here. A few small fairy sized trenches had been dug covering the path up. The one on the right had several craters around it, and the nearby trees had obvious bullet holes. Worse, was the dried blood and spent bullet casings that littered the ground around them.
"The hell happened here?" Jup muttered, crouching down to examine the trench.
"Looks like there was a firefight." Howe replied, picking up a spent casing and examining it.
I came to stand beside her, both of us peering at the brass trying to find answers in it. "What caliber is that?"
"Three-oh-three." She replied, before blowing on the bottom of the case to clear some dirt. "GB 1940 VII." She read.
My brow furrowed, and I quickly produced a loaded .303 cartridge from my armoury. I flipped it around. "Same mark." I observed.
"Your fairies then." My sister replied.
Electra gave us a look, "I've got a bad feeling abou' this."
So did I. It was quite clear my fairies had been attacked. Was it by the Japanese? It had to, but how had they known about the radar?
I wasn't going to find out by standing here, so Tommy Gun in hand, I returned to the trail and moved on.
It wasn't much further to the radar itself. But when we arrived, all of my worst fears were realised. The radar itself- A big green box housing with the antenna out the top -had been destroyed. A huge chunk of the antenna had been blasted apart, and the internals of the housing were blasted, blackened, and exposed to the elements.
To make it worse, there were signs of fighting here too. There were more than a few tiny craters on the ground, characteristic of grenades, and there was even more dried blood and brass casings scattered about. At the sight of the radar, I'd half thought a stray shell from the battle last night had hit the position. That would have been just typical of my luck. But the rest?
Someone had assaulted this position, with infantry. They'd dug out my fairies, blown the radar, and then taken all the bodies with them.
Was it the Japanese?
Then Jintsu and Yukikaze teleported in, both sitting on the blasted housing of the radar with the most smug looks I'd ever seen. They didn't even say anything. They just sat there and looked smug.
Definitely the Japanese.
I was still confused as to how they'd learned about the radar. I knew Jintsu and Yukikaze were still incorporeal, and therefore couldn't share. Why bother with an infantry assault if they weren't? Just hand them the explosives, and let them teleport up to plant it. Perhaps a passing plane had just gotten lucky. Or maybe they did in fact have some sort or radar warning receiver.
But attacking it? I knew how I'd have done it: Load up some marines on a destroyer, drop them on the beach, give them a couple hours to do their job, then pick them up and leave before the sun came up.
I could even understand why. Hitting something as small as this radar position in the dark with a naval bombardment? Not much point in even trying. Likewise with level bombers, those being the only Japanese aircraft able to make the flight from Rabaul.
"Bugger it all." I muttered. This was going to make our lives a hell of a lot harder.
I turned back to see my girls curiously poking around, seemingly just as confused as I was. Just as I opened my mouth however, I was cut off by a surprised "Oi?"
I blinked, spinning around, head snapping back and forth. "Up here, ma'am." (I do not normally translate fairy-speak, but I feel the need to make an exception just this once)
I glanced up. There, perched on a tree branch, was a Marine Fairy. She was in full kit, rifle clutched in hand (nub?). I glanced at her rank. "Corporal? What happened here?"
She sighed, "What does it look like, ma'am? We got attacked. Didn't realise the Nips were there until they started shooting."
"Japanese Marines? How many?" I asked.
She nodded her chibi head, "Aye. Those SNLF bastards we'd heard about. Three platoons, easy. Most of us were still asleep. By the time we were up and got our gear, First Section had been overrun at the trenches, and they were on us. We did our best, but there were too damn many. When there were only three of us left, I realised we were fucked, so I climbed this tree to hide."
My face fell. "Did anyone else survive?"
She shook her head, "I'm it."
I sighed, "Damn. Alright. Hop aboard. Let's head back."
AN: This chapter... This fucking chapter, really did not want to be written, so after three weeks I finally said fuck it, and just forced it out. I'll fix it when I rewrite this whole bloody story. Besides, next chapter is one of those ones that's been in my head since I started, and I really wanted to get to it already. Because believe me, next chapter? Oh it's reeeeealllllly good.
"Naval Warfare is all pure dumb luck. You just try to stack the odds in your favor as much as you can." I never thought others would quote me, but that line is easily the one I hear quoted the most. On the strategic level, I believe the fourth Battle of Savo, brief as it was, epitomized that. It was just down to pure luck that everything went wrong, and Henderson got flattened by Japanese naval rifles. Buoyed on by their success, the Japanese would return less than a week later to finish the job. Unfortunately for them, we knew they were coming.
NOVEMBER 11 1942
D+61
0960 HOURS
"You okay Captain?" Lieutenant Commander Anderson's voice broke me from my brooding where I sat at my desk in our command dugout. I glanced up as the young man placed a mug of tea down before me.
"Thanks." I muttered, taking it and sipping.
"Anytime." He replied, his own coffee mug in hand. We stayed like that for a few minutes, sipping away.
Finally I sighed. "Bugger."
"Ma'am?"
Another sigh. "I should have just stayed to cover the damn Strait." I muttered, metally kicking myself. "Instead I went chasing a Phantom contact, or decoy or whatever-the-hell-it-was, and left the bloody airfield completely open."
"It was the right call at the time." Anderson replied, "I'm not going to say it wasn't a mistake, but I would have done the same thing."
I blew out a frustrated breath, "You said they likely came through the northern strait?"
He nodded, "As far as we know."
"Did the northern radar not pick them up?" I questioned.
He nodded, "It did. But they were having radio troubles. They weren't able to make the call until two hours later. Which was when thirty-one was already getting hammered in the southern strait as the Japs withdrew."
I groaned, "I swear I'm a bad luck charm. First Hood, then Myself, my fire director at Java Sea, I got hit in the face at Bali bloody Strait, the entirety of Coral Sea, First Savo, John losing a leg thanks to a stray shell, and now this!"
I sighed. "Anything else?"
"Just the issue with the southern radar." He replied.
"Right." I muttered, standing up, "I'll get some of the girls and go check."
It was two hours later that I found myself stepping ashore on Savo, just down the beach from where Jintsu and Yukikaze were still beached. Howe, Electra and Jup followed me ashore, all of us quickly changing out of our bright rigging outfits into khakis and drawing small arms. It always paid to be prepared.
Without a word, we all set off for the trailhead that led up the mountain to the radar. Luckily neither of the Japanese spirits made an appearance, and we were soon hiking up through the jungle.
After a short time, my sister's voice broke the silence. "Wales?"
I glanced back at Howe. She was in Khakis, the same as me, and had her blond hair pulled into a bun under the helmet she wore. "Yes, sis?"
"I… was just thinking about Jintsu…" She quirked her head to the side, "Why do the Japanese hate us so much?"
"You don't know?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No."
I blew out a breath, "Well… That's a long story. What do you know of the history of the British Empire?"
"Not much." She muttered, "Just the naval history. My Captain had a lot of books…"
"Right, well…" I began, trying to figure out how to explain such a complicated and long winded topic. "We have long mistreated virtually everyone who isn't us. Mostly natives of the colonies, mostly non-whites. And we've long tried to get a foothold in East Asia. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Australia. And the Empire always had ambitions in China."
I myself hadn't known most of this, but I'd had plenty of time to brush up on my history while sitting in the repair baths for two months back in Perth. I also found it useful to know the background of the conflict in which I fought. Howe seemed extremely interested, so I continued.
"Japan is very much the same as us, in regards to Imperial ambitions. After the Americans forced them to end their isolation in the mid 1800s, they rapidly industrialised, and began building an empire. You've heard of the Russo-Japanese War?"
My little sister nodded, "Tsushima."
I nodded, "They got Korea out of that. We were allies then. Have you met Illustrious or Indomitable?"
Howe nodded, "I met Indomitable in Scapa, once."
"The two of them were built at the yards in Barrow-in-Furness. So was Mikasa, the Japanese Flagship at Tsushima. So was Kongo, who I had the pleasure of dueling at Java Sea." I sighed, "But we never treated them right. As far as I know it was common for European Powers to say 'Oh, no, you can't colonise that,' kick the Japanese out, and then colonise it themselves. But they did well for themselves. In the twenties they were a relatively stable democracy. But I think the resentment at how we Europeans treated them never really went away. And they still wanted an Empire. I think that's what led them down the route of Facism. Then they invaded China, Nanjing happened, and the US put an oil embargo on them. They needed that oil for their war, so they had two choices. Withdraw from China, or attack us to get the oil from the DEI."
My sister's brow furrowed, "But why do they hate us? What were we supposed to do after they razed a whole city? We're in the right."
I nodded, "We are. But no one ever thinks of themselves as evil. As far as they're concerned, they're fighting against 'Western Imperialists' who want to conquer them, wipe out Japanese culture, and make Japan a colony."
She frowned, "But that's not true!"
I shrugged, "That's how facism works. Lies and twisted truths. But what does it matter? Let them tell their people their lies about how they're winning the war, and how in just one more year the pampered soft westerners will be begging for peace. War doesn't care for lies. They'll see the truth when we sail into Tokyo Bay to accept their surrender."
When we finally reached the radar after the hour-long hike, it became almost immediately obvious something was wrong. It was clear my fairies had done some work since the last time I'd been here. A few small fairy sized trenches had been dug covering the path up. The one on the right had several craters around it, and the nearby trees had obvious bullet holes. Worse, was the dried blood and spent bullet casings that littered the ground around them.
"The hell happened here?" Jup muttered, crouching down to examine the trench.
"Looks like there was a firefight." Howe replied, picking up a spent casing and examining it.
I came to stand beside her, both of us peering at the brass trying to find answers in it. "What caliber is that?"
"Three-oh-three." She replied, before blowing on the bottom of the case to clear some dirt. "GB 1940 VII." She read.
My brow furrowed, and I quickly produced a loaded .303 cartridge from my armoury. I flipped it around. "Same mark." I observed.
"Your fairies then." My sister replied.
Electra gave us a look, "I've got a bad feeling abou' this."
So did I. It was quite clear my fairies had been attacked. Was it by the Japanese? It had to, but how had they known about the radar?
I wasn't going to find out by standing here, so Tommy Gun in hand, I returned to the trail and moved on.
It wasn't much further to the radar itself. But when we arrived, all of my worst fears were realised. The radar itself- A big green box housing with the antenna out the top -had been destroyed. A huge chunk of the antenna had been blasted apart, and the internals of the housing were blasted, blackened, and exposed to the elements.
To make it worse, there were signs of fighting here too. There were more than a few tiny craters on the ground, characteristic of grenades, and there was even more dried blood and brass casings scattered about. At the sight of the radar, I'd half thought a stray shell from the battle last night had hit the position. That would have been just typical of my luck. But the rest?
Someone had assaulted this position, with infantry. They'd dug out my fairies, blown the radar, and then taken all the bodies with them.
Was it the Japanese?
Then Jintsu and Yukikaze teleported in, both sitting on the blasted housing of the radar with the most smug looks I'd ever seen. They didn't even say anything. They just sat there and looked smug.
Definitely the Japanese.
I was still confused as to how they'd learned about the radar. I knew Jintsu and Yukikaze were still incorporeal, and therefore couldn't share. Why bother with an infantry assault if they weren't? Just hand them the explosives, and let them teleport up to plant it. Perhaps a passing plane had just gotten lucky. Or maybe they did in fact have some sort or radar warning receiver.
But attacking it? I knew how I'd have done it: Load up some marines on a destroyer, drop them on the beach, give them a couple hours to do their job, then pick them up and leave before the sun came up.
I could even understand why. Hitting something as small as this radar position in the dark with a naval bombardment? Not much point in even trying. Likewise with level bombers, those being the only Japanese aircraft able to make the flight from Rabaul.
"Bugger it all." I muttered. This was going to make our lives a hell of a lot harder.
I turned back to see my girls curiously poking around, seemingly just as confused as I was. Just as I opened my mouth however, I was cut off by a surprised "Oi?"
I blinked, spinning around, head snapping back and forth. "Up here, ma'am." (I do not normally translate fairy-speak, but I feel the need to make an exception just this once)
I glanced up. There, perched on a tree branch, was a Marine Fairy. She was in full kit, rifle clutched in hand (nub?). I glanced at her rank. "Corporal? What happened here?"
She sighed, "What does it look like, ma'am? We got attacked. Didn't realise the Nips were there until they started shooting."
"Japanese Marines? How many?" I asked.
She nodded her chibi head, "Aye. Those SNLF bastards we'd heard about. Three platoons, easy. Most of us were still asleep. By the time we were up and got our gear, First Section had been overrun at the trenches, and they were on us. We did our best, but there were too damn many. When there were only three of us left, I realised we were fucked, so I climbed this tree to hide."
My face fell. "Did anyone else survive?"
She shook her head, "I'm it."
I sighed, "Damn. Alright. Hop aboard. Let's head back."
AN: This chapter... This fucking chapter, really did not want to be written, so after three weeks I finally said fuck it, and just forced it out. I'll fix it when I rewrite this whole bloody story. Besides, next chapter is one of those ones that's been in my head since I started, and I really wanted to get to it already. Because believe me, next chapter? Oh it's reeeeealllllly good.
So this is what it feels like reading the receiving end of an XCOM raid.
Interlude: Truk
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Interlude: Truk
"Bloody hell."
Watching the fleet exit the Truk Lagoon one by one was quite a sight, Kongo mused. She'd sailed as part of large fleets before, but never a surface action force this large. Not into actual combat. Finally the admiralty had gotten the memo that Guadalcanal was the decisive battle.
Too little, too late.
Perhaps she was just a pessimist, but this seemed like a mistake. She and Haruna had already hit the airfield. The diversion had worked a treat, and they'd slipped right past the two KGVs that had been guarding Savo Sound since the landings. But they wouldn't fall for that again. And now that the Allies knew they were willing to commit battleships, it was likely the two British battleships would be reinforced.
But her peers and the officers were confident of victory. Japanese night fighting capability was unmatched. Nevermind that the Allies now had two months of experience, and many ships who now were likely more experienced than most of their Japanese counterparts. And nevermind that they'd lost as many battles as they'd won.
Blind fools.
But that was something her countrymen had become so very good at, deluding themselves. To believe they could defeat the American and British Navies at the same time was the height of foolishness.
'Defeatist' Nagato always called her whenever they came to verbal blows. 'Pessimist', Musashi always said. Even Fuso, her old friend who remembered the better times, before the warmongering fools took control and dragged Japan into the mud, had lapped up the propaganda bullshit, and called her a 'British Traitor'. And that wasn't even getting to all the newer ships, built in the last ten years who only knew a militarist Japan that happily murdered its way across Asia.
She sighed. Just her lot that she was stuck on her hull, along for the ride. Until finally the tide turned and they all drowned in American steel.
It wasn't her fault she had been born British-Japanese. That she had just a slightly different perspective of the world that let her see through her fellow's delusions of superiority.
"Sis?" The sudden voice of Haruna broke the old Battlecruiser-turned-battleship from her musing. "Are you being sad again?"
Her little sister never failed to bring a smile to her face. "You know me too well, Haruna."
"Are you… Worried?"
"When am I not?" The elder sighed, "Someone is going to sink tonight."
Haruna's hand landed on her shoulder. "So we do our best, and what happens happens."
Kongo smiled. "You're often a wiser woman than I, Little sis. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you."
"And I'm proud to be your sister too."
AN: Canon, but not part of Wales book. Nice short look at what Dessboat is up to. One more interlude after this, then the fun one.
"Bloody hell."
Watching the fleet exit the Truk Lagoon one by one was quite a sight, Kongo mused. She'd sailed as part of large fleets before, but never a surface action force this large. Not into actual combat. Finally the admiralty had gotten the memo that Guadalcanal was the decisive battle.
Too little, too late.
Perhaps she was just a pessimist, but this seemed like a mistake. She and Haruna had already hit the airfield. The diversion had worked a treat, and they'd slipped right past the two KGVs that had been guarding Savo Sound since the landings. But they wouldn't fall for that again. And now that the Allies knew they were willing to commit battleships, it was likely the two British battleships would be reinforced.
But her peers and the officers were confident of victory. Japanese night fighting capability was unmatched. Nevermind that the Allies now had two months of experience, and many ships who now were likely more experienced than most of their Japanese counterparts. And nevermind that they'd lost as many battles as they'd won.
Blind fools.
But that was something her countrymen had become so very good at, deluding themselves. To believe they could defeat the American and British Navies at the same time was the height of foolishness.
'Defeatist' Nagato always called her whenever they came to verbal blows. 'Pessimist', Musashi always said. Even Fuso, her old friend who remembered the better times, before the warmongering fools took control and dragged Japan into the mud, had lapped up the propaganda bullshit, and called her a 'British Traitor'. And that wasn't even getting to all the newer ships, built in the last ten years who only knew a militarist Japan that happily murdered its way across Asia.
She sighed. Just her lot that she was stuck on her hull, along for the ride. Until finally the tide turned and they all drowned in American steel.
It wasn't her fault she had been born British-Japanese. That she had just a slightly different perspective of the world that let her see through her fellow's delusions of superiority.
"Sis?" The sudden voice of Haruna broke the old Battlecruiser-turned-battleship from her musing. "Are you being sad again?"
Her little sister never failed to bring a smile to her face. "You know me too well, Haruna."
"Are you… Worried?"
"When am I not?" The elder sighed, "Someone is going to sink tonight."
Haruna's hand landed on her shoulder. "So we do our best, and what happens happens."
Kongo smiled. "You're often a wiser woman than I, Little sis. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you."
"And I'm proud to be your sister too."
AN: Canon, but not part of Wales book. Nice short look at what Dessboat is up to. One more interlude after this, then the fun one.
KongouBongo
Always got to make time for tea-time!
- Location
- 26°9'1"N 121°22'57"E
Nice chapter, always happy to hear about what Kongou and her sisters are doing desu
That feeling when you almost miss the decisive battle because you slept in...
Interlude: TF61
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Interlude: TF61
It'd been almost ten months, and Admiral William Halsey still didn't know what to think about the newly visible ship spirits. Oh sure, he was a sailor, had been his whole life, and like many old sea dogs, the revelation that their ships really were alive was less surprising than it probably should have been.
But by god had they shaken up the Navy. Between the war and the girls, so much had changed in a mere half year. He'd be lying if he didn't feel somewhat overwhelmed. He was right at home commanding men and ship. But dealing with the spirits? He had never felt a very good father to his own daughter, always away at sea as he was. So when it came to the girls who were his ships, he felt thoroughly out of his depth.
Except for one. His eyes landed on the blond with a high ponytail who stood across the map from him. She noticed his gaze a moment later, and gray-green eyes met his. "Penny for your thoughts, sir?" Enterprise asked.
"Just thinking about how much has changed since Pearl." He replied, gruffly.
She gave a rare smile. "For the better, I think."
"In some ways." He agreed, turning back to the map. "Now we just need the bastards to come out and fight again."
E's face went back to a serious deadpan. "Next time." She muttered, "They won't get lucky again."
The side of Halsey's mouth turned up in a tiny grin. She really did take after him. Serious, hard charging, aggressive, confident. She was far from the nervous girl he'd met when she first became visible a couple weeks after Pearl Harbour. War always seemed to do that to people.
So much change in just ten months…
Then someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
The steel door swung open to admit another tall blond woman. Her gray eyes glanced around, lingering on him, and then Enterprise. She grinned, "E. Admiral."
If there was one thing that still got a consistent smile out of E, it was her sisters. "Hey Hornet."
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" The youngest Yorktown asked with her characteristic poise, as she joined them at the map table.
"Nope." Enterprise chirped, so much like her old self, if only briefly.
And if it wasn't obvious the two were siblings, it was glaring when they stood side by side. Hornet wore her blond hair long and loose, falling over the navy blue jacket that covered her shoulders. Under the jacket was a white dress shirt and tie, while a skirt that matched her jacket hung down to her knees.
For all that Hornet was prim and proper, E was very much not. She wore the same dress shirt, skirt and jacket, and even had the same hair. But she wore her hair up in a high ponytail, the jacket hung loose over her shoulders, her shirt's collar was popped, and her tie was instead tied as a loose neckerchief.
"Just talking about what the Japs 'll do next." E finished.
"Any new intel?" Hornet asked.
Before Enterprise could respond, the door to the flag bridge snapped open again. Halsey's head snapped around to see a hurried looking signaler enter, sealed envelope in hand. He snapped to. "Sir! Message from Pearl, marked for your eyes only."
The Admiral's brow furrowed, "Give it here." The young man quickly handed the envelope over, and a dismissive gesture sent him back out the door.
Halsey quickly set to ripping the envelope open, and began to read.
FROM: CINCPAC
TO: CINCSOUPAC
JAPANESE CARRIERS TRANSPORTS AND HEAVY SURFACE FORCE DEPARTING TRUK LIKELY ALL OUT EFFORT AGAINST GUADALCANAL. GOOD LUCK
"Finally." He muttered. Then turning to Enterprise, "My staff still in the mess?"
E's eyes went glassy for a moment, as she used her omniscience to check. "Aye, Sir."
"Go down there, and tell them I need everyone up here, ASAP." He ordered.
"Yes, sir!" She saluted, and teleported away.
Over the next ten minutes, Halsey's command staff trickled onto the flag bridge, some still polishing off their lunch.
Finally the last man entered, and Halsey began. "Alright! Japs are coming to have another go at us. I need three things: first, Jim, better intel. What are we fighting, where are they, when, do your thing."
The intel officer nodded, "Aye Sir."
"Second, I need two messages sent. I want Spruance's TF62 forming up on us, ready to take on those carriers. And I need Lee's TF49 heading down to Iron Bottom Sound to reinforce TF79."
His signals officer nodded, "Yes sir."
"Third, we need a plan, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get to it!"
AN: Canon, but not part of Wales' book. Figured since Wales hasn't met the Gray Ghost yet, I'd give her and Halsey a short interlude. As for the next chapter, it's one of those that's been floating around my head since I started this story, here's hoping I can bang it out for this weekend, but no promises. It's a very looooooooong one.
It'd been almost ten months, and Admiral William Halsey still didn't know what to think about the newly visible ship spirits. Oh sure, he was a sailor, had been his whole life, and like many old sea dogs, the revelation that their ships really were alive was less surprising than it probably should have been.
But by god had they shaken up the Navy. Between the war and the girls, so much had changed in a mere half year. He'd be lying if he didn't feel somewhat overwhelmed. He was right at home commanding men and ship. But dealing with the spirits? He had never felt a very good father to his own daughter, always away at sea as he was. So when it came to the girls who were his ships, he felt thoroughly out of his depth.
Except for one. His eyes landed on the blond with a high ponytail who stood across the map from him. She noticed his gaze a moment later, and gray-green eyes met his. "Penny for your thoughts, sir?" Enterprise asked.
"Just thinking about how much has changed since Pearl." He replied, gruffly.
She gave a rare smile. "For the better, I think."
"In some ways." He agreed, turning back to the map. "Now we just need the bastards to come out and fight again."
E's face went back to a serious deadpan. "Next time." She muttered, "They won't get lucky again."
The side of Halsey's mouth turned up in a tiny grin. She really did take after him. Serious, hard charging, aggressive, confident. She was far from the nervous girl he'd met when she first became visible a couple weeks after Pearl Harbour. War always seemed to do that to people.
So much change in just ten months…
Then someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
The steel door swung open to admit another tall blond woman. Her gray eyes glanced around, lingering on him, and then Enterprise. She grinned, "E. Admiral."
If there was one thing that still got a consistent smile out of E, it was her sisters. "Hey Hornet."
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" The youngest Yorktown asked with her characteristic poise, as she joined them at the map table.
"Nope." Enterprise chirped, so much like her old self, if only briefly.
And if it wasn't obvious the two were siblings, it was glaring when they stood side by side. Hornet wore her blond hair long and loose, falling over the navy blue jacket that covered her shoulders. Under the jacket was a white dress shirt and tie, while a skirt that matched her jacket hung down to her knees.
For all that Hornet was prim and proper, E was very much not. She wore the same dress shirt, skirt and jacket, and even had the same hair. But she wore her hair up in a high ponytail, the jacket hung loose over her shoulders, her shirt's collar was popped, and her tie was instead tied as a loose neckerchief.
"Just talking about what the Japs 'll do next." E finished.
"Any new intel?" Hornet asked.
Before Enterprise could respond, the door to the flag bridge snapped open again. Halsey's head snapped around to see a hurried looking signaler enter, sealed envelope in hand. He snapped to. "Sir! Message from Pearl, marked for your eyes only."
The Admiral's brow furrowed, "Give it here." The young man quickly handed the envelope over, and a dismissive gesture sent him back out the door.
Halsey quickly set to ripping the envelope open, and began to read.
FROM: CINCPAC
TO: CINCSOUPAC
JAPANESE CARRIERS TRANSPORTS AND HEAVY SURFACE FORCE DEPARTING TRUK LIKELY ALL OUT EFFORT AGAINST GUADALCANAL. GOOD LUCK
"Finally." He muttered. Then turning to Enterprise, "My staff still in the mess?"
E's eyes went glassy for a moment, as she used her omniscience to check. "Aye, Sir."
"Go down there, and tell them I need everyone up here, ASAP." He ordered.
"Yes, sir!" She saluted, and teleported away.
Over the next ten minutes, Halsey's command staff trickled onto the flag bridge, some still polishing off their lunch.
Finally the last man entered, and Halsey began. "Alright! Japs are coming to have another go at us. I need three things: first, Jim, better intel. What are we fighting, where are they, when, do your thing."
The intel officer nodded, "Aye Sir."
"Second, I need two messages sent. I want Spruance's TF62 forming up on us, ready to take on those carriers. And I need Lee's TF49 heading down to Iron Bottom Sound to reinforce TF79."
His signals officer nodded, "Yes sir."
"Third, we need a plan, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get to it!"
AN: Canon, but not part of Wales' book. Figured since Wales hasn't met the Gray Ghost yet, I'd give her and Halsey a short interlude. As for the next chapter, it's one of those that's been floating around my head since I started this story, here's hoping I can bang it out for this weekend, but no promises. It's a very looooooooong one.
Chapter 62: The Fifth Battle of Savo Island
LtRainbowSlash
Is just here for Botegirls
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 62: The Fifth Battle of Savo Island
Sometimes described as 'the barroom brawl with the lights and windows shot out in the middle of a thunderstorm'. The Fifth Battle of Savo Island is easily the most chaotic and frantic battle I have ever been a part of, not to mention one of the largest. The Japanese had finally gotten serious, and actually committed to a large battle. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have a very accurate forecast of the weather off Savo that night, and unfortunately for us, a little inclement weather wasn't going to stop them from flattening the marines with naval gunfire, and landing the better part of a division to try and retake the island. So began the wettest battle of my career.
NOVEMBER 16 1942
D+66
0910 HOURS
It was starting to get late in the day (Our day at least. We were nocturnal again) when I sat down on a nice plush chair in our small living space, a cup of tea in one hand, and a book in the other. We'd returned from Savo a few hours prior, had dinner, and then I'd had a quick shower. My hair was still a bit wet, actually, but I'd give it a good comb before bed. For now, book.
Speaking of wet, it seemed the rainy season was approaching. Most days it rained now, with even a few thunderstorms here and there. Almost reminded me of old England with how wet it was.
I was a few chapters into the book when Jup, Sims, and Howe climbed up from downstairs. The three were happily chatting as I watched them enter our small kitchen area, and I idly noted their hair was also wet, no doubt from their own showers. My sister briefly met my eyes and gave a small smile and wave, before turning back to the destroyers.
What were they up to? I considered asking, but thought better of it. I'd find out soon enough, so I went back to my book. Fifteen minutes and a chapter later, I glanced up again, just out of curiosity. To my surprise, the two were instructing my little sister as she mixed a bowl. Were they teaching her to cook?
It was honestly quite cute as the two younger looking girls taught Howe. Especially when one realised the older looking battleship was in fact the youngest of the three. And then she smiled, and my heart melted.
She really was the best little sister I could ask for.
Finally, I spoke up. "What are you making, girls?"
All three paused and glanced over at me. Then Jup beamed, "We're making cookies! Howe has never cooked or baked before, and she asked us to teach her!"
I blinked, "Oh, really?" At Howe's nod I stood, and continued, "Well, I used to bake with my mother when I was young the last time around. It's been a while, but mind if I chip in?"
I didn't think it was possible, but my little sister's grin got even wider. "Of course!"
I'd soon borrowed an apron from my cook fairies, and joined the three in the small kitchen. Though it quickly became clear there wasn't enough room for all of us, I ended up mixing ingredients from the other side of the small counter that divided the kitchen and our living space.
The moment the first batch was done in the oven and had cooled off a bit, Howe took one.
The look of pure joy on her face after her first bite made everything worthwhile. I'd give everything just to see my sister smile. And at that moment, that meant helping her make more cookies.
We ended up making far too many cookies.
1800 HOURS
I was munching on another cookie that evening as I waited atop the bunker. We'd ended up baking for a few hours and all going to bed far too late. Despite that, I'd managed to get a good night's (day's?) sleep for once, unbothered by nightmares as I usually was.
Now I was waiting for everyone so we could head out to Savo for the night. Just an hour earlier I'd received a message from my current boss, Admiral Halsey, about the incoming Japanese fleet. Apparently they were to arrive tomorrow night. Somewhat uncharacteristically, the report had also come with orders beyond the usual 'deal with it'.
So, here I was, waiting for my girls. I'd give a short brief, and then we'd head out for the night.
Our resident Brooklyn-class was the first to climb from the bunker, looking eager as ever. "Evening, Wales."
I swallowed the last bite of cookie. "Evening, Boise."
"So what's all the hush hush bullshit about? We expecting the Japs tonight?" She asked.
"No." I replied, "Supposed to be quiet."
"Damn." She muttered, face darkening, "I was hoping for another swing at the bastards after what they did to Lulu."
I sighed. I probably should have expected that. Like any ship, Boise cared for her sisters. She hadn't taken Honolulu's sinking in the last battle very well, even if the girl herself was alive and well. Just now as a SHIP. "Revenge gets you nowhere, Boise."
"Sure." The cruiser replied, "But it sure does feel good. Not like the bastards don't deserve it."
I shook my head. "Fine. As long as your little quest for revenge doesn't result in you ignoring my orders, putting yourself in unnecessary risk, or shooting surrendering soldiers, knock yourself out."
I immediately noticed the way her eyes slightly widened. She bit her lip too. Was that one of her tells? Either way, I was immediately concerned. She'd been fighting with the Marines on and off for nearly a month now. "Boise? Please tell me you haven't been shooting surrendering Japanese."
Now she couldn't even meet my eyes.
"Boise?"
She sighed, looked me in the eye, and straightened up, "I have seen five Japs throw their hands up and surrender." She spoke, a haunted look in her eyes, "The first one pulled a grenade from his pocket and blew up himself and two marines. The second one pulled a pistol, and gunned down one marine before I blew him apart with forty-mil. By the third, I stopped accepting surrenders."
I was aghast, "You just shoot them?"
"Yes." She replied, "Safer for everyone that way."
"Why not take them prisoner yourself?" I asked, a bit desperately, "You're a SHIP. Small arms and grenades don't do a thing. You'll save his life, and maybe the intel lads can get something from him."
Boise broke out into a full belly laugh. "Fuckin' A, Wales. You really think I give a shit about the damn yellow monkey's lives?" Levity over, her face twisted into something much more ugly. "The Japanese are nothing but a buncha fanatical dishonest backstabbing fucks! They know if they fight us face to face we'll kill 'em in droves, so they look for every goddamned opportunity they can get to stab us in the back. That's why they didn't declare war until after they'd blown up battleship row! That's why they fake surrender so they can get close and kill a few more of us! Every one of the bastards needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot like the rabid dogs they are."
I was honestly speechless. This was Boise, one of my friends. Sure, I wasn't as close to her as I was with Perth and Hou, but she was still a friend. To hear such… horrible things coming out of her mouth…
I really should have expected it, really. I knew most of the USN thought the same, but I'd never expected one of my girls to believe it. The worst part was, I could absolutely understand it. Hell, I'd felt the same way about the Germans until recently.
As much as it hurt to see my friend so full of hatred, I didn't want to start an argument, so instead I said, "Just… Promise me Boise, the next time a Jap throws his hands up, try and take him prisoner? Have the marines keep their distance, so whatever you need to. Just please, don't just shoot them. They're people too."
Her face scrunched up, "Is that an order, Ma'am?"
I shook my head, "No, just a request from a friend who doesn't want you to have too many regrets twenty years down the line."
She sighed, face relaxing, "You are such a bleeding heart. Fine. I'll try. But if it's them or American lives, I'm killing them."
"That's all I can ask for." I replied.
"Evening." A Texan drawl drew both of our attentions, as Hou climbed the stairs from the bunker. She took one look at us, and her brow furrowed. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No." "Nope."
"Well, alrighty then."
I produced another cookie to munch on as we fell back into silence. Over the next few minutes the rest of my uninjured girls began to join us, minus Perth, Hammann and Andie, as was now unfortunately usual.
Finally, everyone was assembled, and I began. "Alright girls. It's supposed to be a quiet night, but we all know not to take it for granted. Jup, you'll be on picket duty in the southern strait. Everyone else, we'll be at the usual spot. TF51 will be patrolling in Iron Bottom Sound to back us up if we do get engaged. Tonight should be a normal night."
I glanced across my girls' faces. I was honestly terrified of what I was about to explain. I wasn't sure we'd all survive it. "Tomorrow night, not so much. The Japanese are sending their carriers and a heavy surface force at us. All five of the American Carriers in the Pacific will be on station to engage their counterparts, which means we're going to be up against the battleships."
I bit my lip. "We're looking at somewhere between two and four Japanese battlewagons. Likely Kongo-class, possibly the same ones who hit the airfield a week ago, possibly with Nagatos, or maybe those new Yamato-class fast battleships. No doubt they'll have cruisers and destroyers with them. Our orders are, come sunup, to sail east and rendezvous with TF49, under the command of an Admiral Lee. We're to be under his command. It is my understanding that forty-nine includes the battleships Washington and South Dakota. We'll likely have more cruisers as backup too."
I paused, to gauge everyone's reactions. As expected, Boise, Electra and Express all looked eager. Hou and Sims looked ready. Howe, Jup and Encounter all wore determined but worried looks. I took a deep breath, and blew it out. To say I wasn't nervous myself would be a huge lie. "This is the big one, girls. We'll do our best. Everyone comes home alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
NOVEMBER 17 1942
D+67
0608 HOURS
After another quiet night on Savo, we'd set out well before first light for our rendezvous. It wasn't a long way. The Solomons wasn't a large island chain, only being about five hundred nautical miles from the northwestern end to the southeast end. We were to meet TF49 just north of San Cristobal, the easternmost island in the chain, at 1400.
But we needed sleep and rest, nocturnal as we were, so I'd had us head out early. We'd reach the rendezvous point at 0900. According to my charts, there were a few small islands with some nice beaches nearby. A perfect spot to go ashore, sling our hammocks, and get a few hours of R&R so we'd be fresh for the big battle.
The journey east was fortunately quiet. No subs, no aircraft, just us and a nice morning for sailing. The day dawned mostly clear, with a few squalls about, and even a few distant thunderheads making their way down the chain. It was good sailing weather.
Poi Island was a small island just north of San Cristobal, and also the nearest to our rendezvous. It also had beautiful beaches, and was uninhabited. Perfect for our intentions.
We were maybe twenty minutes away from the island when something made a splash in the water alongside Jup.
The destroyer had been minding her own business screening for subs just off to my port, and startled at the splash. "Huh!? What was…"
"Jup? What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"There's something in the wat-" She cut off again as something splashed again. But before I could ask again, she broke into a huge smile. "Dolphins!"
My eyes widened, and I smiled. I loved dolphins! My mom had gotten me a plushy when I was young, which had led to watching all kinds of documentaries. It'd been a bit of a phase to be honest. "Formation, reduce speed to fifteen knots." I ordered. Twenty would be a bit fast for the marine mammals. Then I remembered something from one of the films. "And for god's sake, keep your ASDIC on passive! If you ping you could kill the poor things."
"Yes Ma'am!" Jup responded for the DDs.
Over the next few minutes more dolphins seemed to arrive, playing in Jup's bow waves. I couldn't help but look down, hoping one would come over to me.
Before long, I got my wish, and I caught sight of a gray shape zip into my bow wave. A moment later it gave a little jump from the water, before splashing back down. I'd managed to get a good look, and smiled. "Bottlenose Dolphins!" I laughed, watching as my new friend just broke the surface to take a breath.
Within a few minutes, my new little buddy had seemed to call his friends, and three more joined him (or her, I was assuming), realising I had a bigger bow wave to play in. It was honestly magical watching the four swim along, riding my bow wave. All right at my feet.
But soon, we approached the island. And I expected the dolphins would swim off. But they didn't, sticking with us as we slowed and approached the beach. As our speed slowed, they too slowed, less playing, and more cruising. Even as I looked down, one of my new friends made a lazy roll, and stuck his left eye above the water. I couldn't help but smile and give him a little wave.
What did they see, I wondered? The Ship, or the person? Or perhaps they perceived us the same way we did. After all, they were among the smartest creatures on the planet. Who's to say they couldn't perceive us as either at will, like any person could?
Again, as we finally approached the beach, I expected the marine mammals to swim off. But again, the pod didn't. And it was clear we'd caught the attention of a whole pod, there had to be a dozen Bottlenose dolphins swimming with us. Much to my surprise, they followed up right up to the beach.
The four swimming with me startled when I dropped my rigging in the waist deep waves to walk up onto the beach, swimming off. I smiled. How had they perceived my switch from ship to human? With a chuckle I began to walk up out of the surf, the rest of my girls mimicking me.
"Well that was neat!" Jup exclaimed, a huge smile on her face, "They're so cute!"
I nodded, turning back as I reached the waters edge. "It was…" I trailed off, as my eyes landed on one of the dolphins. It was maybe twenty yards offshore, head fully above water, and very obviously looking at us with undisguised curiosity. A moment later a second head joined it. Then a third.
I made a decision, and quickly started changing out of my red uniform.
Everyone gave me a funny look. "What are you doing Wales?" Hou asked.
I gestured out at the dolphins. "How many opportunities do you get to swim with wild dolphins?"
Jup, Sims, and Ennie exchanged looks, and simultaneously began to get changed too.
I laughed.
Before I knew it I was wading back into the surf, though calling it such was a bit of exaggeration. The sea was relatively calm, and the waves small.
The moment I was out far enough to be submerged up to my chest, one of the gray mammals swam over, doing a lazy circle around me. I had to imagine it was curiously examining me. So, I produced a pair of goggles, put them on, took a deep breath, and dropped below the water.
SINKI-
I quickly clamped down on the surface ship instincts screaming about sinking. Then, I opened my eyes.
Cute! Was my first thought as I realised the dolphin had stopped right in front of me. His head was quirked cutely to the side in curiosity, almost humanlike.
A moment later, two more joined in, swimming around me as their friend had at first. I smiled, and came up for air. It also gave me time to think, what was the easiest way to make friends?
Oh, that was easy, actually. I reached behind my back and grabbed a sardine from my kitchen. Then, I dove again. The three dolphins were still there, watching me curiously. So, I held out the fish.
The first dolphin perked up immediately on sighting the prospective food, and made several audible clicks. I held the fish out. He gave me another indecipherable look, before slowly approaching. Then, cautiously, snapped up the fish and backed off, happily eating it.
Oh yes, this could work.
It took only an hour to get the cute sea creatures comfortable with me, and before I knew it, I was swimming a few dozen yards offshore as the dolphins frolicked around me, occasionally giving me a push or boop, part of whatever indecipherable game they were playing.
It was just like what I'd seen some divers do in those documentaries so long ago. Though I'm sure the steady supply of fish I offered helped.
Bribery or not, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. Especially once I had the idea of grabbing a beach ball. Watching them bump the floating ball around was so cute. I even ended up playing fetch with one, throwing the ball a good distance, only for the dolphin to rush off and push it all the way back.
Eventually though, the fun had to end. My arms and legs were exhausted from swimming when I finally returned to the beach after over two hours.
But, somewhat to my surprise, I wasn't the only one that had befriended a dolphin. As I returned to the beach I spotted Encounter. She was kneeling just off the beach, the water up to her neck, and a… Fin poking out of the water just in front of her. I approached, curious. Then I realised what was happening.
"Are you petting a dolphin!?" I burst, disbelieving.
The pinkette destroyer grinned. "Yup!"
It was honestly one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen. The dolphin had its blowhole and fin poking above the water, essentially sitting in Ennie's lap as she ran her hand gently down its back, a massive happy grin on her face. At my approach, the dolphin poked an eye above water, gave me a glance, and then went back to enjoying the girl's petting.
I laughed, sitting down in the water nearby. "That's incredible."
"They're so smart." Ennie mused, watching as another of the pod swam by. Only to pause, then swim over to me. Before I knew it, she was booping my empty hand, obviously wanting more food. Ennie laughed again, "Like that!"
I smiled too when the dolphin poked her head above water to look me in the eye. "You are such a little glutton." I said, immediately caving to the cute and handing over another fish.
Before I knew it, I too had a dolphin floating in my lap, enjoying being pet. And maybe some free food too.
"Hey Wales?" Ennie caught my attention a few moments later. "Why did you tell us not to use ASDIC after we spotted the dolphins?"
"Because it can hurt them." I replied easily, "You know how sound behaves differently underwater?" She nodded, "Well imagine if there was a person right below you and you pinged. What would happen?"
Her face scrunched up in thought. "You'd probably blow out their ears…"
I nodded, "I don't know how powerful your set is, but it may even kill them." I pointed to the mammal in my lap, "They have their own ASDIC. They use echolocation the same way you do, making clicks and understanding the echoes. That means they have sensitive hearing. If you turned on your set while they were anywhere nearby, you could easily kill them."
The E-class frowned. "Oh." She blinked, "How do you know so much about dolphins?"
I couldn't help my nostalgic smile, "In my first life, when I was a child, I had a bit of a dolphin phase. Watched all kinds of documentaries."
"Oh, okay." Ennie replied, and went back to petting.
I couldn't help my massive grin as I went back to petting my own friend.
Oh my dear lord I love dolphins so much, they're so cuuuuute!
1409 HOURS
I managed to get a few hours of sleep in my hammock before we had to leave Poi Island and our new friends. Part of me wanted to stay, and spend more time with the cute marine mammals. It was a far more appealing choice, when the other was to sail off back to the war.
But as always, duty called.
We reached the rendezvous just after two in the afternoon, on schedule. It wasn't far, just fifteen nautical miles north of Poi Island. But we spotted our new friends long before we actually reached the designated spot.
Washington and South Dakota cut striking figures as they sailed in column, backed up by no less than five cruisers and a dozen destroyers. It seemed Halsey had finally stopped faffing about, and sent us some real backup.
As we approached, I checked my callsign list, and triggered my radio. "Princess to Deadeye."
"Deadeye to Princess. Pleasure to see you. The Admiral says to bring everyone aboard." Washington's somewhat familiar voice replied.
"Copy. We'll be there promptly." I reported.
The first person I saw when I climbed aboard the American battleship's deck fifteen minutes later was Wash herself. The silver haired battleship was the same as I remembered her from our first meeting at Fiji, though she'd swapped her outfit for USN officer's summer khakis. Her boards labeled her as a Commander.
But, unsurprisingly she wasn't alone. Standing nearby were over thirty ship spirits.
But before I could get a good look, she drew up into a salute. "Prince of Wales."
"Washington. Good to see you again." I said, returning the salute. "Our first meeting was cut a bit short."
She grimaced, looking a little embarrassed. "Yeah. Again, sorry about SoDak."
"I heard that!"
Wash sighed, "Speak of the devil."
SoDak- for who else had literally star spangled hair? -Emerged from the crowd of spirits, glowering. She opened her mouth, but Wash immediately cut her off, "Don't fucking start, SoDak. The Admiral is about to arrive."
The other battleship's face scrunched up, but she didn't speak. Sure enough a moment later, a small group of men all wearing officer's khakis emerged from Wash's superstructure.
"Admiral on deck!" The battleship barked.
"As you were." The man in the lead spoke, returning his flagship's salute. Then he turned to me holding out a hand. "Captain Windsor?"
I nodded, shaking, "Yes, Sir."
"Admiral Lee. A pleasure." He introduced himself. He was a tall man, which was a bit of a change. I'd been getting used to always being the tallest in the room, but Lee had an inch on me. Like most higher officers, he was getting into middle age, with a slightly rounded face and serious bespectacled brown eyes that matched his mostly hat hidden hair.
"Likewise, Sir."
He glanced around at the assembled girls, and a small smile appeared on his face. "Well, I'll let you get to know your new task force mates. Commander Norden, show Captain Windsor up to the flag bridge in an hour."
Wash saluted again. "Yes Sir!"
And with that, my first very short meeting with Admiral 'Ching' Lee ended as he walked off, staff in tow.
I turned to Washington. "Is he always so brief?"
She shrugged, "Depends. He's very good at reading the room."
"Reading the…" I muttered, turning to look at the assembled spirits. Most of whom were looking at me mostly with undisguised curiosity, and a few almost looked starstruck.
I was confused for a moment, but then a sudden memory of the then Lieutenant Anderson suddenly popped into my head.
'I don't think you realise how famous you are, Captain Windsor. Or at least, your ship self is.'
"Oh."
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to see that Hou had come up behind me. "Don't worry, I'll introduce you to the girls."
And with that, she dragged me straight towards the group. "Hey! NOboat!"
The brown haired girl Hou was leading me towards grinned. "Hey Hou. Been a while. How you been?"
"In the thick of it, as usual." My second replied, "Wales here is a bit of an action magnet." She smiled back at me, "Wales, this is an old friend of mine, New Orleans. No, this is my current CO, Prince of Wales, but you knew that already."
"Good to meet you, Wales." New Orleans said as we shook. She was wearing a white sailor suit with green highlights and skirt, her brown hair in braided twintails. "Been keeping Hou from doing anything too stupid?"
"Of course." I replied, "It wouldn't do to lose such a capable second-in-command after all."
"Ha!" She laughed and clapped Hou on the back, hard. "Well shit. The Limey's actually impressed with you, Hou. Must be doing something right."
Hou poked her fellow cruiser with an elbow, "Damn right I am. I've got more battlestars than you."
"Yeah, well, now I've got a chance to get caught up, don't I?" She shot back.
"Good luck with that," Hou ribbed sarcastically.
"Well, I do believe I have the most battle honours of anyone here…" I couldn't help but snark.
Hou immediately shot down my smug look with a glance that told me she knew something I didn't. "Yeah, you do. Which means I can throw you at them."
I paused, and turned to look at where she was pointing. A gaggle of destroyers with near worshipful looks in their eyes greeted me.
"Oh bugger."
"Hello again Wales."
The young but refined voice pulled me from my musing by the rail. I'd managed to escape the fangirling destroyers a few minutes before, after nearly a quarter of an hour of their excited yammering.
At the words I glanced left to see a familiar young blonde in a blue outfit. "Oh. Hello there Fletcher."
She gave an amused smile as she joined me by the rail. "I see you escaped the others?"
"Yes." I muttered. "They were… Rather excited to meet me."
She chuckled. "You'll have to forgive them. They're just excited. They were the same way with me after the last battle. None of that group have seen action yet, so they're excited to pick the brain of anyone who has."
"Are any your sisters?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. There's only a few of us in commission right now. We're brand new."
"Right." I spoke. "How many sisters do you have?"
"Right now?" She put a hand to her chin, "Well, I can't say for certain. A lot of my sisters are still on the slips and haven't been born yet. But in a few years when all the orders come through? 176."
I blinked. I blinked again. "Sorry, I must've misheard. Seventy-six?"
"No, a hundred and seventy-six."
"I guess I did hear you right." I replied, "In which case: What the hell!? That's bloody insane!"
And it was. I had four sisters. To me, that was a lot. But I knew of bigger. The E's consisted of nine sisters, with another nine half-sisters in the F-class. And Jup had even more, with seven sisters and sixteen half sisters.
But over a hundred siblings!? That was crazy! How could you remember them all?
"I don't know." Fletcher replied, and I realised I'd said that last bit out loud. "But every sister I meet… Well, I don't know how I remember them all so well. I just do."
"Huh." I muttered. "Interesting."
"Yup." The destroyer replied, "And what about you? Hanging in there?"
I shrugged, "As well as I can. I must admit, we're all getting tired. Hopefully we can finish this bloody campaign off soon and get some R&R back in Sydney."
"You came in with the first wave right?" She asked.
I nodded, "Yes, We've been here since the end of August."
"Must've been hard."
"Somewhat." I muttered, "It's just been battle after battle. The Nips just keep coming at us."
She smiled, "Well, that's why everyone looks up to you, Wales. You've fought more battles than anyone and you just keep going."
"Still bloody weird."
We fell into silence for a few moments, and I took the time to look over all the girls scattered around. I quickly spotted my sister talking to Wash. There was Hou, catching up with No, Boise seemed to have found a pair of her own sisters, one of whom I recognized as Helena. Jup was chatting with… Was that Australia and Canberra? I'd have to go talk to them. The Electra and Express had found SoDak, who to my surprise, actually seemed to be getting along with them. And finally, Sims was introducing Ennie to several of the American destroyers, several of whom seemed to be her sisters.
I tilted my head towards Fletcher, "So, who are all the ships here?"
She perked up, and starting at the left, pointed at a group of three destroyers, "Well, that's my desdiv there, Perkins," A raven haired girl, "We call her Perky. Beside her is Maury," A strawberry blonde, "And Drayton." A young girl wearing a summer dress.
She moved on to the group Hou was chatting with, "Houston's chatting with No, who you already met, and those are her sisters, Quincy who's a SHIP…"
I nodded, "We've met. And that's Astoria beside her right?"
"Yup!" Fletcher chirped, "And the other two are Minneapolis and Vincennes. The only sisters missing are Tuscaloosa, and Frisco."
"Both of whom I have also met." I chuckled.
"Really?"
I nodded, "Tuscaloosa was at the Atlantic Conference, and San Francisco was there for First Savo."
"Huh." The destroyer muttered, a bit surprised. "Anyway, over there, you remember Juneau, she's a SHIP now. Beside her is her sister, San Jaun. Beside them is the all-SHIP Desdiv5, Cushing, Barton, Sterret and Laffy. And beside them are Pensacola and San Diego."
"Alright." I muttered trying to remember faces and names, but at this point, my brain was starting to melt. How Fletcher could remember everyone was a mystery.
She then pointed to the gaggle that included Sims and Ennie. "Chatting with Sims are her sisters, Morris, Houghs, and Mustin, along with Duncan, McCalla and Farenholt." Another point, "And you already know the Aussies over there."
"I do." I muttered, mind still spinning. Talk about information overload.
She then seemed to glance around, "Hmmm, where did the other girls get off to? Odd, Desdiv 18 seems to have run off."
"It's fine, Fletcher." I replied. "It's going to be hard to keep track of everyone anyway."
"Okay!"
A few minutes later I found myself approaching three familiar Australians. "Canberra, Aussie!"
The two heavy cruisers spun at my call, both breaking into big smiles. "Ah, the Iron Princess had graced us with her presence!" Aussie spoke in a faux English accent, and a surprisingly good if sarcastic curtsy, "You honour us, your highness!"
Hobart playfully bopped the larger cruiser, "Oi. Stop that Aussie."
Australia rolled her eyes, "Oh, common 'Bart, you're no fun."
Canberra chuckled, "Never mind these two, Wales. How've you been? Held down the fort while we got trained up?"
"More or less," I replied as we shook, "They actually have a training program for SHIPs now?"
"Yea," The cruiser nodded, "They've got a two month long course, first half is officer training, second half is… well, ship stuff. Pretty specialized for us SHIPs. Pretty sure you came up with a few of the tricks they teach us."
"Really?" I asked, "Though, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. 'Pulse and I were really making it up as we went along for the first few months there."
"I'm just looking forward to paying the Nips back for sinking me and killing my lads." Aussie butted in.
Canberra gave her older sister an annoyed look, "Revenge isn't everything sis."
"Yeah, yeah." Aussie blew her off.
I was about to give my two pence when Wash appeared, "Prince of Wales? Hobart? It's time for the meeting with the Admiral."
I dipped my head, "Of course." Then, turning back to the two, "It was good to see you again, Canberra, Australia."
"You two." Aussie smiled back, "Maybe this time around you can fight with us, rather than being late."
"Indeed." I turned back to Wash. "Lead the way, my Yank friend."
With a nod, Wash set off into her superstructure, Hobart and I in tow. We immediately began making our way upwards towards the flag plot. "So, why're you along?" I asked the Aussie as we walked.
"Well, Aussie and 'Berra are both SHIPs now." She began, falling in behind me in the tight corridors and ladders. "And Admiral Crutchley needs someone to carry his flag."
"He's still in command?"
"Aye. They kept him on. Though Admiral Lee has overall command this time around."
"Huh." I muttered, turning back forward. "Speaking of the Admiral. What do you think of your CO, Washington?"
The grey haired battleship chuckled as she continued to lead us. "Best damn officer I've ever met. You wouldn't believe how good of an officer he is. Did you know he won five gold medals in sport shooting at the 1920 Olympics?"
I blinked, "He was an Olympic Athlete?"
"Yeah, I know right?" She was beaming now, "Turns out, being good with a rifle also translated to being good with naval rifles too. BuOrd," She spat the name, "gave me faulty range tables. He noticed immediately, and drew up new ones on his own."
I blinked, "That's your USN Bureau of Ordinance right? The same one my American destroyers curse for their faulty torpedoes? They gave you faulty range tables?"
"Yup."
"How come the whole lot haven't been fired?" I asked, incredulous. If something like that had happened in the RN, heads would roll.
"Fuck if I know." My fellow battleship replied, "Either way, he's a hell of an officer. Knows his upper rank politics too."
I had to admit, after the last few battles, I didn't much trust the Admirals that got sent our way. Clutchly had messed up. Callaghan was an idiot. Scott was the only one I'd willingly put 79 under. "We'll see."
Finally, we reached the flag plot, high in the superstructure. The two Admirals, Lee and Crutchly both glanced up as we entered. Wash saluted.
"Reporting as ordered, Sir."
Admiral Lee returned it. "Thank you, Commander. Captain Windsor. Lieutenant Commander Leander."
"Sir."
"Sir!"
He gestured to the large map table in the middle of the room. "Here, join us." The moment we'd gathered around the table, he began, "Admiral, Ladies. Welcome to Task Force Forty-Nine. You've all received the intel reports, I assume?" A round of nods, "Then you know what we're facing. We need a plan. So let's start with the most experienced officer in the room." He said, eyes meeting mine. "How would you set this up, Captain Windsor?"
I froze for a second, not expecting him to put me on the spot. But, then my brain started up, and I leaned over the table. My confidence in myself was often my greatest weakness, but at this point Iron Bottom Sound may as well have been my backyard, and the Japanese my intruder neighbors. I was more than confident in my ability to plan a naval engagement off Savo Island.
"Well, the most important thing we've learned fighting here, is that in night engagements, whoever spots the foe first usually wins." I began to explain, "Locating the Japanese before they locate us should be priority one. In that regard, Radar is our biggest advantage. We still have the set on the northern side of Savo, so that is covered. But we've lost the southern radar, so we should probably have some radar-equipped destroyers as picket ships northwest of Savo."
I pointed on the map to the southern channel. "I would have the fleet loiter here, just south of Savo. That way, if somehow the Japs slip past the destroyers, we'll be ready to block them. And from here, we can easily steam up north if the northern radar picks up contacts. Other than that, we hope we get lucky."
"Formation?" Lee asked.
"Depends on how good your spirits are at communication and situational awareness." I replied, "Are you willing to risk friendly fire by allowing multiple battlelines or not? Because, if it were me, I'd have us four battleships in line, with the cruisers behind broken into two divisions. I'd put them under the command of someone I trust and give them orders to maneuver independently once we know where the enemy is. With the amount of ships we have, leaving them all in line is just too unwieldy and difficult to control."
As I finished, the room stayed silent as the two Admirals and my two fellow ship spirits examined my plan. Lee turned to Clutchly, "Your thoughts Admiral?"
"It's sound." My fellow countryman replied, "I don't fully agree about the cruisers, too much risk of friendly fire in my eyes, but the rest should work well."
Lee hummed, "Well, I also agree. It's quite close to my own plan." His eyes met mine, "But some improvements I hadn't thought of. Your experience does you credit, Captain."
"Thank you, Sir." It felt good to be acknowledged.
"Alright, so here's what we're going to do…"
2352 HOURS
Between Lee's tactically adept mind, and my own experience, we'd hashed out a solid plan in my eyes.
As I'd proposed, we were sailing a racetrack pattern just south of Savo, Wash in the lead, followed by SoDak, myself, and then Howe, with a screen of American destroyers. But, unlike my plan, the cruisers were not in line, ready to break off. Instead, Lee had organized two cruiser divisions. One made up of steel hulls commanded by Crutchly, and the other of SHIPs the command of which had been given, much to my surprise, to Hou. Though she absolutely deserved it in my opinion.
Both of the cruiser forces had their own escorting destroyers, and were making their own racetrack patterns just east of us.
It was almost perfect, but for one problem.
It was a dark and stormy night...
I always wanted to write that, but jokes aside, it was actually dark and stormy that night. A thunderstorm had rolled in sometime in the evening before we'd arrived.
Annoyingly the damn things were not uncommon in the Solomons at this time of year. We'd seen it approaching Savo as the sun set, the giant thunderhead filling the evening sky. The moment we neared Savo the heavens had opened, and it began to absolutely pour. Between the rain, and the clouds blocking the moon, it was the kind of night where you couldn't even see your hand right in front of your face. Pitch. Black.
I was having a devil of a time, keeping vision on SoDak's stern navigation light, and staying in formation. The winds had kicked the sea into a rolling froth. It wasn't the worst I'd ever seen. Not much could top the twenty-five foot tall waves one often encountered in the North Atlantic. But ten foot whitecaps that just barely didn't reach my deck sure made for a rough ride. I honestly pitied the poor destroyers, they must've been rolling like mad.
"Battleline, check in." My radio squawked with Wash's voice.
"What, worried about a few waves, Wash?" SoDak snarked.
I rolled my eyes, but ignored her lack of professionalism. "This is Princess. Staying in formation is a challenge, and I'm a mite bit wet, but nothing Duchess and I haven't handled back home."
"What she said." Howe agreed.
"Copy." Wash replied, and the freq went quiet again. One eye glued on SoDak's navigation light, and the other on my radar, we kept going.
Ten minutes later we'd reached the southernmost point of our pattern, and turned north again. The moment Howe'd formed up again behind me, the radio lit up again. "Trips to all." Fletcher's voice came. "I just had a single phantom radar contact about… Three-five-eight, ten thousand yards. Contact faded."
"Copy." Wash replied a moment later, "Keep an eye on it."
I narrowed my eyes and quickly swept my radar across that bearing several times. Nothing. Curious.
Another few minutes passed. Then the silence was broken again, this time by my sister. "Duchess to all. Huff Duff intercept." She spoke, referring to the High Frequency Direction finding gear we both carried, that allowed us to pick up radio transmissions and what direction they were coming from. "Unknown transmissions at zero-zero-nine, very strong."
Now that was curious. Wash was immediately on the line. "Deadeye to Princess, flag wants to know your assessment."
My assessment? Well, we had no radar contact, despite the huge number of sets we had, which meant there wasn't likely to be contacts within line of sight. The transmission had come from the direction of Savo. "Princess to Deadeye. I suspect the hostiles are passing through the northern strait."
"Understood." There was silence for a moment as Wash spoke with Admiral Lee, then, "Deadeye to Gunslinger and Downer, bring it in and form up, we're heading North."
"Copy, moving." That was Houston.
"On the way." Hobart also affirmed.
Within ten minutes the two cruiser formations had joined us in two parallel columns both to our port, and we'd turned to head around Savo.
To be honest, as we sailed, I was miserable. On the ship side, my engines were having to run at higher power than usual to maintain speed in the rough seas, and water was all over my upper decks. My bridge had even sprung a leak.
On the human side, I was soaked to the bone, and more than a little scared I'd accidentally ram someone. That wasn't even mentioning how anxious I was about the coming battle. How the hell were we going to fight in this!?
We were just about to begin passing Savo when Fletcher came on the radio again, "Uhhhh, Trips to all, phantom radar contact again? Two-six-five at a thousand yards?"
I blinked, "What."
Then a searchlight split the darkness, painting the destroyer in bright light. She reacted with a speed only a SHIP could, her own searchlights snapping on to illuminate whoever was shining a light at her.
For a split second, I froze. The destroyer's light had silluatted a massive ship that could only be a battleship. It was honestly impossible to get a good look, as I was easily still five thousand yards away and the driving rain diffused the light into a bright haze, but of that much I was certain.
Then a dozen more searchlights blazed on, both from more unknown ships, as well as the other destroyers, Wash and SoDak. My heart stopped.
Four big ships that had to be battlewagons, and they were crossing our T. But it'd been so dark, we hadn't spotted them until Fletcher was already through their line. That was our saving grace. They hadn't spotted us either, and Wash was about to sail straight through their line too, as was Hou and Hobart off to our left as they led their own lines of cruisers in parallel with us.
I was suddenly reminded of another time the Royal Navy had sent three columns hurtling through an enemy battleline. And like Admiral Nelson, I too was confident my girls were experienced enough to break the line and win one-one-one duels. And if we didn't, the Japs would tear us apart.
So, when Wash remained mute for thirty seconds too long, I took the initiative. "All ships! Ahead flank! Break formation and break their line!"
I pushed my boilers and engines to the metaphorical redline, turned just slightly to get out from behind SoDak, and barreled straight into the enemy.
Star shells began to burst, and the first shots began to ring out as both equally surprised sides recovered from their shock. Night became day and I finally got a good look at our foe. Two utterly massive battleships led the line, followed by two smaller. Behind them came the cruisers, and destroyers screened the whole formation.
I plunged forward, my two forward turrets coming to bear on the third battleship in line as I angled to pass ahead of her and behind the second. My secondaries, along with my Bofors and Oerlikons swung around rapidly and began blasting away at whatever they could target, port and starboard. Then the breaches of my main battery slammed closed, and I properly opened fire at a mere one-thousand and five hundred yards.
My first six gun slavo went a bit high, the waves throwing off my aim, but all six still smashed through the battleship's superstructure. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing. I immediately began to swing my guns right.
A moment later I crossed her bow, my hail of automatic cannonfire being returned by her own secondaries and AA guns. This close, I was finally able to identify her. A Kongo-class.
The moment I'd passed her bow I threw my rudder hard to starboard, Guns traversing right to get on target as she crossed my stern and I came around broadside. She too had maneuvered at my approach trying to avoid a collision, and now we straightened out, broadside to broadside. We were so very close I could easily see all her crew operating her AA guns on deck. I almost made a mental doubletake when I read the range my radar was giving me.
A mere five-hundred yards.
The air between us was full of thousands of glowing tracers as our AA gun crews did their damnedest to kill each other. Five- and six-inch secondaries added to the chaos, rounds blasting holes in upperworks or blowing away entire exposed gun crews.
And then there were our main batteries. Despite being nearly thirty years newer than my opponent, my designers had not only retained her 3 degree per second traverse rate, but decided 2 degrees per second would be adequate. After all, I was going to be fighting at very long ranges, right?
Oh how I was cursing my limitations in that moment. Luckily, I'd begun turning my guns sooner, and my guns got on target first.
In the driving rain and darkness, the flash of my guns was even more blinding than usual. But at this range, how could I miss?
My forward guns fired first, followed a few seconds later by my aft. Ten shells bored straight through the Kongo-class's armour, the bursting charges detonating well inside her hull. Her A and Y turret went up as shell's detonated whatever ammunition and propellant was being readied to load into the guns.
But then it was her turn. Her two still intact turrets returned the favor a few seconds later. For all the fighting I'd done in the last year and a half, I'd never suffered the penetrating hit into my heavily armoured citadel. I was, to my knowledge at the time, the most heavily armoured class of battleship ever built. The last time I'd fought a Kongo-class they'd been completely unable to penetrate my armour.
But that was at almost twenty thousand yards. Here, I had no benefit of range and air resistance. Her four shells went through nearly fifteen-inches of steel as if it wasn't even there.
One of her turrets had fired at my A turret. Both shells easily penetrated the turret face, and blinding pain shot up my left arm as the crew was torn to bits and the next salvo's worth of propellant and shells exploded. The other two shells went straight through my belt amidships, entered my No.4 boiler room just below the ceiling, and exploded, which in turn led to the boiler rupturing, and itself exploding. I immediately lost some steam, slowing.
And that was just the first round.
She wouldn't survive the second. I didn't even bother salvoing, simply firing each gun as it was loaded. Most of my gunnery fairies were extremely experienced by now, and they were rapid. The breach of No.3 gun in my Y turret slammed shut a mere twenty-four seconds after my first slavo, and I let rip, the shell smashing into the barbette of the Japanese battleship's X turret, no doubt destroying her ammunition hoists. Another shot from my B turret smashed into her B turret, easily penetrating and fully declawing her. My next four rounds, I all aimed into her belt, amidships, and she began to burn.
She immediately lost steam, rapidly slowing. I was preparing another barrage when two waterspouts burst from the water on her opposite side, and she ground to a halt. Jup suddenly emerged from behind the crippled ship. "I got your back Wales!"
"My thanks!" I replied. Only now was I able to take stock for the first time since I'd engaged. My adrenaline was up, heart racing. As I looked around, I was greeted by utter chaos. Both formations had completely disintegrated, much like third Savo. But this time there were far more ships involved.
The battle had devolved into a chaotic fight, more akin to an aerial dogfight than an organized naval battle. Destroyers dashed to and fro, maneuvering wildly around one another as they traded shells. I spotted Sims helping Fletcher nearby with hammering a Japanese destroyer, despite Fletch's entire midships being ablaze. Further back I spotted Hou through the driving rain as she traded fire with what appeared to be a Japanese light cruiser.
But who drew most of my attention was Howe. She was only a few thousand yards away, dueling the other Kongo-class. I was about to rush over when I realised. She was winning. And handily at that. As I watched she slammed a slavo into the Nip's amidships leaving her dead in the water.
I was about to shout words of encouragement to her when a battleship caliber shell smashed into my bridge.
This time, it didn't kill my whole bridge crew, only half. Now, luckily, that meant I wasn't immediately knocked unconscious as I was at Bali Strait. Unluckily, it gave me the ship equivalent of a really bad concussion. For a minute my world became ringing ears and blurry vision as I stumbled, nearly dumb, deaf and blind. Luckily I still had the mental fortitude to order my XO to take command while I recovered. For a couple minutes my body operated on autopilot as I recovered, though I still felt more shells begin to hammer me.
Finally, replacement bridge crew fairies trickled in and the fog lifted from my mind. I blinked as I became fully lucid again, and took sto-
Oh. That's a rather large battleship.
I was just passing her broadside to broadside in opposite directions at about two thousand yards, and all her guns were pointed at me.
At the time, we didn't know much about the Yamato-class. Just that they existed, were large, and were believed to have sixteen-inch guns. The six shells that slammed into me at two thousand yards, were definitely not sixteen-inch shells.
Four of my remaining six boilers immediately detonated as the shells ruptured them. Another two shells utterly demolished my Y turret, and the rest ripped gaping holes in my waterline. My main belt may as well have not existed. Shells from her secondaries ripped into my upper works, starting a not-so-merry blaze.
I staggered away, letting off a retaliatory shot from my remaining B turret through the rain, the shells striking her superstructure and doing almost nothing.
"Fuck!" I cursed. I was in trouble.
And then she was gone as a familiar ship steamed by, guns blazing. "Get clear Wales!" Boise yelled over the radio, guns blazing away at the monster battleship. My sister was right on her heels too.
"Give her hell, girls!" I yelled back.
Within moments, they'd been swallowed by the rain, which had only gotten worse since the start of the battle. Between the cacophony of gunfire and thunder, it was hard to tell what was man made, and what was mother nature losing her wrath.
I slowly limped away from the duel towards Savo, down to only eight knots thanks to running on just one remaining boiler room. All around me the battle raged in the storm. I focused on dissuading the curious, firing away at any destroyer that even so much as looked at me funny. I was out of the fight. I just needed to make it ashore. Then I'd be safe. I keyed my radio. "Princess to all. I'm down to two guns and eight knots. I am heading for Savo Island. Seven-niner, I'll see you ashore." With that, I cut my radio.
My heart nearly stopped when the dark shape emerged from the rain, glowing from fires amidships. I was about to open up when I realised it was the Kongo-class I'd hammered earlier. She was already getting low in the water, slightly bow up, but she was resting on an even keel. Otherwise, she was dead in the water, her guns silent and destroyed.
With a sigh, I turned to sail around her port side, and make for Savo. As I began to pass the crippled ship, a shape emerged from behind her stern. Now my heart did stop, as the Japanese destroyer opened fire with guns and torpedoes. I opened up with every gun I had, splashes erupting around the smaller ship. I threw my rudder hard to starboard to hopefully avoid the torpedoes, for all the good it would do at eight knots.
Only a few seconds later as the destroyer turned away and made smoke did I realise my mistake. I was now about to ram the sinking Japanese battleship. At two hundred yards and closing, I didn't have the engine power to stop in time. My legs were literally shot to bits, so were my arms. I was not confident in my ability to stay afloat, nor avoid bleeding out in the water. And if I rammed the other ship, I would sink. So for a brief moment I accepted it. This was it. I was about to die. Two torpedoes slammed into my side. Pain.
And then, I swear, Repulse shouted in my ear.
Stop thinkin' like a ship an' start thinking like a shipgirl, you daft bint!
My eyes widened, my adrenaline surged, and I knew what I was going to do. At the last second, I pulled back on myself, forcing my human side to the fore as much as I could with my rigging on. And right before impact, I jumped.
My still-mostly-good left hand met the structural steel with nearly forty thousand tons and twenty-five thousand horsepower behind it. The moment I felt my fist punch through, I dropped my rigging.
CLUNK
My face and body met metal, and I saw stars.
It took me a moment to catch my wits as I hung there fist embedded in the structural steel of the battleship's bow. But eventually I gathered myself, and with the help of a grappling hook, began to climb up to the deck.
It took me nearly ten exhausting and painful minutes to reach her deserted deck, with only one good limb. But I made it, soaked to the bone and with everything hurting. Luckily my adrenaline hadn't worn off yet, so I climbed to my feet, and slowly made my way over to her forward turrets. Her A turret had been turned out to port to engage me when I'd destroyed it, and the back hung out over the deck providing some cover from the driving rain.
With a groan, I sent myself down under the overhang, back against the cold steel of the barbette. My eyes wandered back out over the sea. They were still going at it, though things seemed to be winding down.
My first thought was to key my radio to check on my girls, but I suddenly realised the destroyer had destroyed it with her gunfire. "Fuck."
Nothing for it then, I'd have to wait for things to wind down, then head for Savo. "Might as well make a cup." I muttered, producing an electric kettle and setting it to boil.
Then, I leaned back against the steel, and closed my eyes. My adrenaline was finally beginning to calm, and with it the pain was returning. And oh dear lord, was I hurt. My upper works, radar, directors were all blown off, I had two functioning secondaries, my B turret was the only one still functional, I had a single operational boiler room, and I had major flooding from torpedoes and penetrating shell hits. I was going to need months of yard time if I survived this.
And then I heard footsteps.
I froze. So far the ship's deck had been mostly deserted. When I'd been boarding I'd seen most of her crew gathering on the stern, apparently preparing to abandon ship. Had someone seen me?
I produced my tommy gun, already loaded. I braced it under my left shoulder so I could one hand it, and aimed.
The person that came around the barbette was not the Japanese sailor I expected, but a woman. The moment the brunette spotted me, she froze but not in surprise. After all, she had to be the spirit. And this was her hull. She knew all.
We stayed like that for a few seconds, before I stowed my gun. I don't know what I expected the Jap to do next, but it wasn't to speak in a fluent Northern English accent.
"Prince of Wales, I presume?"
Well, that narrowed down who it could be. "Kongo."
She gestured at my slowly boiling kettle. "Mind if I join you?"
I shrugged, "Not like I could stop you."
"True." She muttered, striding forward and taking a seat next to me.
We sat in silence for a moment. And I took a second to look her over. She was wearing some kind of white and red traditional Japanese outfit, her brown hair done up in a pair of buns on the side of her head while it fell long in the back. But like me, her clothes were torn and stained red by the myriad of wounds she had.
Then she spoke again. "Apologies, for all of this." She gestured out at the slowly ending battle. "My countrymen have collectively lost their minds over the last thirty years. None of this should have happened."
I glanced at her, a bit surprised. Sure she'd spoken like this over the radio at Java Sea, but every Japanese ship I'd met since was adamant that they were in the right. "Why?" I asked, "Every other Japanese I've spoken to has been all for it."
"Look at me." She said by way of reply. I did. "You see it, don't you. I'm half European. I was built at the Vickers yard in Barrow-in-Furness. I've always had just a slightly different perspective than my fellows. I'm Japanese first, but I'm also British. Early on, I wasn't completely against it, you know. Other than how our democracy was eroding a bit. But the people were happy, so who was I to get mad? There's nothing wrong with Imperialism, per se, as long as you take care of those you rule. Britain had been getting much better at that since the turn of the century. I figured Japan could follow in their wake."
She sighed, "Then Nanking happened. I was in Sasebo at the time, wandering the town. And I saw a newspaper, 'Nanking had been liberated!' and on the front page were two army officers. So I made myself a copy, and had a read."
Her face darkened, "Do you know what the caption of that picture was? 'Captain Tanaka and Major Sazuki pose for the camera after taking part in a beheading competition. Captain Tanaka took the win with a time of four minutes and forty-four seconds'."
Now her face was thunderous. "A beheading competition! On the front page! Noone bats an eye! Can you imagine that!? Lining up a hundred innocent civilians, and racing to see who can behead them the fastest! The Army wasn't helping them or taking care of them, they were exterminating them! What they do is barbaric! I thought just maybe the Navy would speak up, say 'this isn't right', but those Army bastards dragged us into the mud. They had Kaga and Akagi bombing Civilian targets for fucks sake!"
"And in the end, all it resulted in was us starting a war we cannot win." Here purple eyes met mine, "I realised my country had lost its mind, and at this point, it's over. The US will roll us back, one island at a time. We'll lose, and because of that stupid revision of the bushido code everyone is living by, they won't even consider surrender. The home islands will be bombed into the ground, the islands overrun. Half the population may be wiped out before they finally surrender. Those idiotic militarists have ensured Japan will be burned to the ground."
Wow. That was… Heavy. I blew out a breath, "And I thought I had it rough."
Kongo laughed, "No, you do. You shouldn't have to fight this war, no more than I should. But it is rough, watching my friends gobbling up the propaganda, slowly turning into idiot fanatics. And now, all of it… I'm about to die." Tears pricked her eyes, as she gazed off at the water. She pointed, "And Haruna with me."
I followed her finger. There several thousand yards away, and lit by her own fire, was another Kongo-class. "I swore I'd protect them." She almost whispered.
But she didn't have to die here, did she? And now that I'd realised that, my conscience would never let me leave her to die, would it?
I sighed, and looked at her. "What would you have done, if you could make your own choices?"
She glanced at me, still teary. "I would have surrendered, and brought my sisters with me. You could fight the rest."
My kettle finally started whistling. I produced two cups, and poured. "How do you like yours?"
"One cream, two sugar." She replied, wiping her tears. I quickly made the two cups, then turned to her, both in hand.
"Well, do you, the Japanese Battleship Kongo, Surrender to me, HMS Prince of Wales?"
She blinked at me, "Uhh, I'd love to, but-"
"Do you surrender?" I pressured.
She looked very confused. "Uhhh. Yes? But why does that-"
I shoved the cup in her hand, "Here you go."
She blinked, but took the cup. The moment she took a sip, her eyes lit up. "What. It tastes like…"
"Tea." I smiled at her, "Not unflavored spirit-stuff. Because you're activated now. So when your hull sinks, you'll be like me. Free of your hull."
"You… I…" She was actually speechless. Tears again ran down her face, but this time of joy. "Thank you. Thank you!" Then her eyes widened. "Haruna! You have to save her too!"
"Is she going to fight me?" I asked.
The brunette battleship shook her head, "No, my sisters feel the same way I do. She'll surrender, same as me."
"Let's go then."
AN: This one has been in my head from the start, You can even see a bit of the setup back at Java Sea with dess boat. and who boy, it turned out great. Next chapter is the last one of Part 4.
Sometimes described as 'the barroom brawl with the lights and windows shot out in the middle of a thunderstorm'. The Fifth Battle of Savo Island is easily the most chaotic and frantic battle I have ever been a part of, not to mention one of the largest. The Japanese had finally gotten serious, and actually committed to a large battle. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have a very accurate forecast of the weather off Savo that night, and unfortunately for us, a little inclement weather wasn't going to stop them from flattening the marines with naval gunfire, and landing the better part of a division to try and retake the island. So began the wettest battle of my career.
NOVEMBER 16 1942
D+66
0910 HOURS
It was starting to get late in the day (Our day at least. We were nocturnal again) when I sat down on a nice plush chair in our small living space, a cup of tea in one hand, and a book in the other. We'd returned from Savo a few hours prior, had dinner, and then I'd had a quick shower. My hair was still a bit wet, actually, but I'd give it a good comb before bed. For now, book.
Speaking of wet, it seemed the rainy season was approaching. Most days it rained now, with even a few thunderstorms here and there. Almost reminded me of old England with how wet it was.
I was a few chapters into the book when Jup, Sims, and Howe climbed up from downstairs. The three were happily chatting as I watched them enter our small kitchen area, and I idly noted their hair was also wet, no doubt from their own showers. My sister briefly met my eyes and gave a small smile and wave, before turning back to the destroyers.
What were they up to? I considered asking, but thought better of it. I'd find out soon enough, so I went back to my book. Fifteen minutes and a chapter later, I glanced up again, just out of curiosity. To my surprise, the two were instructing my little sister as she mixed a bowl. Were they teaching her to cook?
It was honestly quite cute as the two younger looking girls taught Howe. Especially when one realised the older looking battleship was in fact the youngest of the three. And then she smiled, and my heart melted.
She really was the best little sister I could ask for.
Finally, I spoke up. "What are you making, girls?"
All three paused and glanced over at me. Then Jup beamed, "We're making cookies! Howe has never cooked or baked before, and she asked us to teach her!"
I blinked, "Oh, really?" At Howe's nod I stood, and continued, "Well, I used to bake with my mother when I was young the last time around. It's been a while, but mind if I chip in?"
I didn't think it was possible, but my little sister's grin got even wider. "Of course!"
I'd soon borrowed an apron from my cook fairies, and joined the three in the small kitchen. Though it quickly became clear there wasn't enough room for all of us, I ended up mixing ingredients from the other side of the small counter that divided the kitchen and our living space.
The moment the first batch was done in the oven and had cooled off a bit, Howe took one.
The look of pure joy on her face after her first bite made everything worthwhile. I'd give everything just to see my sister smile. And at that moment, that meant helping her make more cookies.
We ended up making far too many cookies.
1800 HOURS
I was munching on another cookie that evening as I waited atop the bunker. We'd ended up baking for a few hours and all going to bed far too late. Despite that, I'd managed to get a good night's (day's?) sleep for once, unbothered by nightmares as I usually was.
Now I was waiting for everyone so we could head out to Savo for the night. Just an hour earlier I'd received a message from my current boss, Admiral Halsey, about the incoming Japanese fleet. Apparently they were to arrive tomorrow night. Somewhat uncharacteristically, the report had also come with orders beyond the usual 'deal with it'.
So, here I was, waiting for my girls. I'd give a short brief, and then we'd head out for the night.
Our resident Brooklyn-class was the first to climb from the bunker, looking eager as ever. "Evening, Wales."
I swallowed the last bite of cookie. "Evening, Boise."
"So what's all the hush hush bullshit about? We expecting the Japs tonight?" She asked.
"No." I replied, "Supposed to be quiet."
"Damn." She muttered, face darkening, "I was hoping for another swing at the bastards after what they did to Lulu."
I sighed. I probably should have expected that. Like any ship, Boise cared for her sisters. She hadn't taken Honolulu's sinking in the last battle very well, even if the girl herself was alive and well. Just now as a SHIP. "Revenge gets you nowhere, Boise."
"Sure." The cruiser replied, "But it sure does feel good. Not like the bastards don't deserve it."
I shook my head. "Fine. As long as your little quest for revenge doesn't result in you ignoring my orders, putting yourself in unnecessary risk, or shooting surrendering soldiers, knock yourself out."
I immediately noticed the way her eyes slightly widened. She bit her lip too. Was that one of her tells? Either way, I was immediately concerned. She'd been fighting with the Marines on and off for nearly a month now. "Boise? Please tell me you haven't been shooting surrendering Japanese."
Now she couldn't even meet my eyes.
"Boise?"
She sighed, looked me in the eye, and straightened up, "I have seen five Japs throw their hands up and surrender." She spoke, a haunted look in her eyes, "The first one pulled a grenade from his pocket and blew up himself and two marines. The second one pulled a pistol, and gunned down one marine before I blew him apart with forty-mil. By the third, I stopped accepting surrenders."
I was aghast, "You just shoot them?"
"Yes." She replied, "Safer for everyone that way."
"Why not take them prisoner yourself?" I asked, a bit desperately, "You're a SHIP. Small arms and grenades don't do a thing. You'll save his life, and maybe the intel lads can get something from him."
Boise broke out into a full belly laugh. "Fuckin' A, Wales. You really think I give a shit about the damn yellow monkey's lives?" Levity over, her face twisted into something much more ugly. "The Japanese are nothing but a buncha fanatical dishonest backstabbing fucks! They know if they fight us face to face we'll kill 'em in droves, so they look for every goddamned opportunity they can get to stab us in the back. That's why they didn't declare war until after they'd blown up battleship row! That's why they fake surrender so they can get close and kill a few more of us! Every one of the bastards needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot like the rabid dogs they are."
I was honestly speechless. This was Boise, one of my friends. Sure, I wasn't as close to her as I was with Perth and Hou, but she was still a friend. To hear such… horrible things coming out of her mouth…
I really should have expected it, really. I knew most of the USN thought the same, but I'd never expected one of my girls to believe it. The worst part was, I could absolutely understand it. Hell, I'd felt the same way about the Germans until recently.
As much as it hurt to see my friend so full of hatred, I didn't want to start an argument, so instead I said, "Just… Promise me Boise, the next time a Jap throws his hands up, try and take him prisoner? Have the marines keep their distance, so whatever you need to. Just please, don't just shoot them. They're people too."
Her face scrunched up, "Is that an order, Ma'am?"
I shook my head, "No, just a request from a friend who doesn't want you to have too many regrets twenty years down the line."
She sighed, face relaxing, "You are such a bleeding heart. Fine. I'll try. But if it's them or American lives, I'm killing them."
"That's all I can ask for." I replied.
"Evening." A Texan drawl drew both of our attentions, as Hou climbed the stairs from the bunker. She took one look at us, and her brow furrowed. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No." "Nope."
"Well, alrighty then."
I produced another cookie to munch on as we fell back into silence. Over the next few minutes the rest of my uninjured girls began to join us, minus Perth, Hammann and Andie, as was now unfortunately usual.
Finally, everyone was assembled, and I began. "Alright girls. It's supposed to be a quiet night, but we all know not to take it for granted. Jup, you'll be on picket duty in the southern strait. Everyone else, we'll be at the usual spot. TF51 will be patrolling in Iron Bottom Sound to back us up if we do get engaged. Tonight should be a normal night."
I glanced across my girls' faces. I was honestly terrified of what I was about to explain. I wasn't sure we'd all survive it. "Tomorrow night, not so much. The Japanese are sending their carriers and a heavy surface force at us. All five of the American Carriers in the Pacific will be on station to engage their counterparts, which means we're going to be up against the battleships."
I bit my lip. "We're looking at somewhere between two and four Japanese battlewagons. Likely Kongo-class, possibly the same ones who hit the airfield a week ago, possibly with Nagatos, or maybe those new Yamato-class fast battleships. No doubt they'll have cruisers and destroyers with them. Our orders are, come sunup, to sail east and rendezvous with TF49, under the command of an Admiral Lee. We're to be under his command. It is my understanding that forty-nine includes the battleships Washington and South Dakota. We'll likely have more cruisers as backup too."
I paused, to gauge everyone's reactions. As expected, Boise, Electra and Express all looked eager. Hou and Sims looked ready. Howe, Jup and Encounter all wore determined but worried looks. I took a deep breath, and blew it out. To say I wasn't nervous myself would be a huge lie. "This is the big one, girls. We'll do our best. Everyone comes home alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
NOVEMBER 17 1942
D+67
0608 HOURS
After another quiet night on Savo, we'd set out well before first light for our rendezvous. It wasn't a long way. The Solomons wasn't a large island chain, only being about five hundred nautical miles from the northwestern end to the southeast end. We were to meet TF49 just north of San Cristobal, the easternmost island in the chain, at 1400.
But we needed sleep and rest, nocturnal as we were, so I'd had us head out early. We'd reach the rendezvous point at 0900. According to my charts, there were a few small islands with some nice beaches nearby. A perfect spot to go ashore, sling our hammocks, and get a few hours of R&R so we'd be fresh for the big battle.
The journey east was fortunately quiet. No subs, no aircraft, just us and a nice morning for sailing. The day dawned mostly clear, with a few squalls about, and even a few distant thunderheads making their way down the chain. It was good sailing weather.
Poi Island was a small island just north of San Cristobal, and also the nearest to our rendezvous. It also had beautiful beaches, and was uninhabited. Perfect for our intentions.
We were maybe twenty minutes away from the island when something made a splash in the water alongside Jup.
The destroyer had been minding her own business screening for subs just off to my port, and startled at the splash. "Huh!? What was…"
"Jup? What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"There's something in the wat-" She cut off again as something splashed again. But before I could ask again, she broke into a huge smile. "Dolphins!"
My eyes widened, and I smiled. I loved dolphins! My mom had gotten me a plushy when I was young, which had led to watching all kinds of documentaries. It'd been a bit of a phase to be honest. "Formation, reduce speed to fifteen knots." I ordered. Twenty would be a bit fast for the marine mammals. Then I remembered something from one of the films. "And for god's sake, keep your ASDIC on passive! If you ping you could kill the poor things."
"Yes Ma'am!" Jup responded for the DDs.
Over the next few minutes more dolphins seemed to arrive, playing in Jup's bow waves. I couldn't help but look down, hoping one would come over to me.
Before long, I got my wish, and I caught sight of a gray shape zip into my bow wave. A moment later it gave a little jump from the water, before splashing back down. I'd managed to get a good look, and smiled. "Bottlenose Dolphins!" I laughed, watching as my new friend just broke the surface to take a breath.
Within a few minutes, my new little buddy had seemed to call his friends, and three more joined him (or her, I was assuming), realising I had a bigger bow wave to play in. It was honestly magical watching the four swim along, riding my bow wave. All right at my feet.
But soon, we approached the island. And I expected the dolphins would swim off. But they didn't, sticking with us as we slowed and approached the beach. As our speed slowed, they too slowed, less playing, and more cruising. Even as I looked down, one of my new friends made a lazy roll, and stuck his left eye above the water. I couldn't help but smile and give him a little wave.
What did they see, I wondered? The Ship, or the person? Or perhaps they perceived us the same way we did. After all, they were among the smartest creatures on the planet. Who's to say they couldn't perceive us as either at will, like any person could?
Again, as we finally approached the beach, I expected the marine mammals to swim off. But again, the pod didn't. And it was clear we'd caught the attention of a whole pod, there had to be a dozen Bottlenose dolphins swimming with us. Much to my surprise, they followed up right up to the beach.
The four swimming with me startled when I dropped my rigging in the waist deep waves to walk up onto the beach, swimming off. I smiled. How had they perceived my switch from ship to human? With a chuckle I began to walk up out of the surf, the rest of my girls mimicking me.
"Well that was neat!" Jup exclaimed, a huge smile on her face, "They're so cute!"
I nodded, turning back as I reached the waters edge. "It was…" I trailed off, as my eyes landed on one of the dolphins. It was maybe twenty yards offshore, head fully above water, and very obviously looking at us with undisguised curiosity. A moment later a second head joined it. Then a third.
I made a decision, and quickly started changing out of my red uniform.
Everyone gave me a funny look. "What are you doing Wales?" Hou asked.
I gestured out at the dolphins. "How many opportunities do you get to swim with wild dolphins?"
Jup, Sims, and Ennie exchanged looks, and simultaneously began to get changed too.
I laughed.
Before I knew it I was wading back into the surf, though calling it such was a bit of exaggeration. The sea was relatively calm, and the waves small.
The moment I was out far enough to be submerged up to my chest, one of the gray mammals swam over, doing a lazy circle around me. I had to imagine it was curiously examining me. So, I produced a pair of goggles, put them on, took a deep breath, and dropped below the water.
SINKI-
I quickly clamped down on the surface ship instincts screaming about sinking. Then, I opened my eyes.
Cute! Was my first thought as I realised the dolphin had stopped right in front of me. His head was quirked cutely to the side in curiosity, almost humanlike.
A moment later, two more joined in, swimming around me as their friend had at first. I smiled, and came up for air. It also gave me time to think, what was the easiest way to make friends?
Oh, that was easy, actually. I reached behind my back and grabbed a sardine from my kitchen. Then, I dove again. The three dolphins were still there, watching me curiously. So, I held out the fish.
The first dolphin perked up immediately on sighting the prospective food, and made several audible clicks. I held the fish out. He gave me another indecipherable look, before slowly approaching. Then, cautiously, snapped up the fish and backed off, happily eating it.
Oh yes, this could work.
It took only an hour to get the cute sea creatures comfortable with me, and before I knew it, I was swimming a few dozen yards offshore as the dolphins frolicked around me, occasionally giving me a push or boop, part of whatever indecipherable game they were playing.
It was just like what I'd seen some divers do in those documentaries so long ago. Though I'm sure the steady supply of fish I offered helped.
Bribery or not, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. Especially once I had the idea of grabbing a beach ball. Watching them bump the floating ball around was so cute. I even ended up playing fetch with one, throwing the ball a good distance, only for the dolphin to rush off and push it all the way back.
Eventually though, the fun had to end. My arms and legs were exhausted from swimming when I finally returned to the beach after over two hours.
But, somewhat to my surprise, I wasn't the only one that had befriended a dolphin. As I returned to the beach I spotted Encounter. She was kneeling just off the beach, the water up to her neck, and a… Fin poking out of the water just in front of her. I approached, curious. Then I realised what was happening.
"Are you petting a dolphin!?" I burst, disbelieving.
The pinkette destroyer grinned. "Yup!"
It was honestly one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen. The dolphin had its blowhole and fin poking above the water, essentially sitting in Ennie's lap as she ran her hand gently down its back, a massive happy grin on her face. At my approach, the dolphin poked an eye above water, gave me a glance, and then went back to enjoying the girl's petting.
I laughed, sitting down in the water nearby. "That's incredible."
"They're so smart." Ennie mused, watching as another of the pod swam by. Only to pause, then swim over to me. Before I knew it, she was booping my empty hand, obviously wanting more food. Ennie laughed again, "Like that!"
I smiled too when the dolphin poked her head above water to look me in the eye. "You are such a little glutton." I said, immediately caving to the cute and handing over another fish.
Before I knew it, I too had a dolphin floating in my lap, enjoying being pet. And maybe some free food too.
"Hey Wales?" Ennie caught my attention a few moments later. "Why did you tell us not to use ASDIC after we spotted the dolphins?"
"Because it can hurt them." I replied easily, "You know how sound behaves differently underwater?" She nodded, "Well imagine if there was a person right below you and you pinged. What would happen?"
Her face scrunched up in thought. "You'd probably blow out their ears…"
I nodded, "I don't know how powerful your set is, but it may even kill them." I pointed to the mammal in my lap, "They have their own ASDIC. They use echolocation the same way you do, making clicks and understanding the echoes. That means they have sensitive hearing. If you turned on your set while they were anywhere nearby, you could easily kill them."
The E-class frowned. "Oh." She blinked, "How do you know so much about dolphins?"
I couldn't help my nostalgic smile, "In my first life, when I was a child, I had a bit of a dolphin phase. Watched all kinds of documentaries."
"Oh, okay." Ennie replied, and went back to petting.
I couldn't help my massive grin as I went back to petting my own friend.
Oh my dear lord I love dolphins so much, they're so cuuuuute!
1409 HOURS
I managed to get a few hours of sleep in my hammock before we had to leave Poi Island and our new friends. Part of me wanted to stay, and spend more time with the cute marine mammals. It was a far more appealing choice, when the other was to sail off back to the war.
But as always, duty called.
We reached the rendezvous just after two in the afternoon, on schedule. It wasn't far, just fifteen nautical miles north of Poi Island. But we spotted our new friends long before we actually reached the designated spot.
Washington and South Dakota cut striking figures as they sailed in column, backed up by no less than five cruisers and a dozen destroyers. It seemed Halsey had finally stopped faffing about, and sent us some real backup.
As we approached, I checked my callsign list, and triggered my radio. "Princess to Deadeye."
"Deadeye to Princess. Pleasure to see you. The Admiral says to bring everyone aboard." Washington's somewhat familiar voice replied.
"Copy. We'll be there promptly." I reported.
The first person I saw when I climbed aboard the American battleship's deck fifteen minutes later was Wash herself. The silver haired battleship was the same as I remembered her from our first meeting at Fiji, though she'd swapped her outfit for USN officer's summer khakis. Her boards labeled her as a Commander.
But, unsurprisingly she wasn't alone. Standing nearby were over thirty ship spirits.
But before I could get a good look, she drew up into a salute. "Prince of Wales."
"Washington. Good to see you again." I said, returning the salute. "Our first meeting was cut a bit short."
She grimaced, looking a little embarrassed. "Yeah. Again, sorry about SoDak."
"I heard that!"
Wash sighed, "Speak of the devil."
SoDak- for who else had literally star spangled hair? -Emerged from the crowd of spirits, glowering. She opened her mouth, but Wash immediately cut her off, "Don't fucking start, SoDak. The Admiral is about to arrive."
The other battleship's face scrunched up, but she didn't speak. Sure enough a moment later, a small group of men all wearing officer's khakis emerged from Wash's superstructure.
"Admiral on deck!" The battleship barked.
"As you were." The man in the lead spoke, returning his flagship's salute. Then he turned to me holding out a hand. "Captain Windsor?"
I nodded, shaking, "Yes, Sir."
"Admiral Lee. A pleasure." He introduced himself. He was a tall man, which was a bit of a change. I'd been getting used to always being the tallest in the room, but Lee had an inch on me. Like most higher officers, he was getting into middle age, with a slightly rounded face and serious bespectacled brown eyes that matched his mostly hat hidden hair.
"Likewise, Sir."
He glanced around at the assembled girls, and a small smile appeared on his face. "Well, I'll let you get to know your new task force mates. Commander Norden, show Captain Windsor up to the flag bridge in an hour."
Wash saluted again. "Yes Sir!"
And with that, my first very short meeting with Admiral 'Ching' Lee ended as he walked off, staff in tow.
I turned to Washington. "Is he always so brief?"
She shrugged, "Depends. He's very good at reading the room."
"Reading the…" I muttered, turning to look at the assembled spirits. Most of whom were looking at me mostly with undisguised curiosity, and a few almost looked starstruck.
I was confused for a moment, but then a sudden memory of the then Lieutenant Anderson suddenly popped into my head.
'I don't think you realise how famous you are, Captain Windsor. Or at least, your ship self is.'
"Oh."
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to see that Hou had come up behind me. "Don't worry, I'll introduce you to the girls."
And with that, she dragged me straight towards the group. "Hey! NOboat!"
The brown haired girl Hou was leading me towards grinned. "Hey Hou. Been a while. How you been?"
"In the thick of it, as usual." My second replied, "Wales here is a bit of an action magnet." She smiled back at me, "Wales, this is an old friend of mine, New Orleans. No, this is my current CO, Prince of Wales, but you knew that already."
"Good to meet you, Wales." New Orleans said as we shook. She was wearing a white sailor suit with green highlights and skirt, her brown hair in braided twintails. "Been keeping Hou from doing anything too stupid?"
"Of course." I replied, "It wouldn't do to lose such a capable second-in-command after all."
"Ha!" She laughed and clapped Hou on the back, hard. "Well shit. The Limey's actually impressed with you, Hou. Must be doing something right."
Hou poked her fellow cruiser with an elbow, "Damn right I am. I've got more battlestars than you."
"Yeah, well, now I've got a chance to get caught up, don't I?" She shot back.
"Good luck with that," Hou ribbed sarcastically.
"Well, I do believe I have the most battle honours of anyone here…" I couldn't help but snark.
Hou immediately shot down my smug look with a glance that told me she knew something I didn't. "Yeah, you do. Which means I can throw you at them."
I paused, and turned to look at where she was pointing. A gaggle of destroyers with near worshipful looks in their eyes greeted me.
"Oh bugger."
"Hello again Wales."
The young but refined voice pulled me from my musing by the rail. I'd managed to escape the fangirling destroyers a few minutes before, after nearly a quarter of an hour of their excited yammering.
At the words I glanced left to see a familiar young blonde in a blue outfit. "Oh. Hello there Fletcher."
She gave an amused smile as she joined me by the rail. "I see you escaped the others?"
"Yes." I muttered. "They were… Rather excited to meet me."
She chuckled. "You'll have to forgive them. They're just excited. They were the same way with me after the last battle. None of that group have seen action yet, so they're excited to pick the brain of anyone who has."
"Are any your sisters?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. There's only a few of us in commission right now. We're brand new."
"Right." I spoke. "How many sisters do you have?"
"Right now?" She put a hand to her chin, "Well, I can't say for certain. A lot of my sisters are still on the slips and haven't been born yet. But in a few years when all the orders come through? 176."
I blinked. I blinked again. "Sorry, I must've misheard. Seventy-six?"
"No, a hundred and seventy-six."
"I guess I did hear you right." I replied, "In which case: What the hell!? That's bloody insane!"
And it was. I had four sisters. To me, that was a lot. But I knew of bigger. The E's consisted of nine sisters, with another nine half-sisters in the F-class. And Jup had even more, with seven sisters and sixteen half sisters.
But over a hundred siblings!? That was crazy! How could you remember them all?
"I don't know." Fletcher replied, and I realised I'd said that last bit out loud. "But every sister I meet… Well, I don't know how I remember them all so well. I just do."
"Huh." I muttered. "Interesting."
"Yup." The destroyer replied, "And what about you? Hanging in there?"
I shrugged, "As well as I can. I must admit, we're all getting tired. Hopefully we can finish this bloody campaign off soon and get some R&R back in Sydney."
"You came in with the first wave right?" She asked.
I nodded, "Yes, We've been here since the end of August."
"Must've been hard."
"Somewhat." I muttered, "It's just been battle after battle. The Nips just keep coming at us."
She smiled, "Well, that's why everyone looks up to you, Wales. You've fought more battles than anyone and you just keep going."
"Still bloody weird."
We fell into silence for a few moments, and I took the time to look over all the girls scattered around. I quickly spotted my sister talking to Wash. There was Hou, catching up with No, Boise seemed to have found a pair of her own sisters, one of whom I recognized as Helena. Jup was chatting with… Was that Australia and Canberra? I'd have to go talk to them. The Electra and Express had found SoDak, who to my surprise, actually seemed to be getting along with them. And finally, Sims was introducing Ennie to several of the American destroyers, several of whom seemed to be her sisters.
I tilted my head towards Fletcher, "So, who are all the ships here?"
She perked up, and starting at the left, pointed at a group of three destroyers, "Well, that's my desdiv there, Perkins," A raven haired girl, "We call her Perky. Beside her is Maury," A strawberry blonde, "And Drayton." A young girl wearing a summer dress.
She moved on to the group Hou was chatting with, "Houston's chatting with No, who you already met, and those are her sisters, Quincy who's a SHIP…"
I nodded, "We've met. And that's Astoria beside her right?"
"Yup!" Fletcher chirped, "And the other two are Minneapolis and Vincennes. The only sisters missing are Tuscaloosa, and Frisco."
"Both of whom I have also met." I chuckled.
"Really?"
I nodded, "Tuscaloosa was at the Atlantic Conference, and San Francisco was there for First Savo."
"Huh." The destroyer muttered, a bit surprised. "Anyway, over there, you remember Juneau, she's a SHIP now. Beside her is her sister, San Jaun. Beside them is the all-SHIP Desdiv5, Cushing, Barton, Sterret and Laffy. And beside them are Pensacola and San Diego."
"Alright." I muttered trying to remember faces and names, but at this point, my brain was starting to melt. How Fletcher could remember everyone was a mystery.
She then pointed to the gaggle that included Sims and Ennie. "Chatting with Sims are her sisters, Morris, Houghs, and Mustin, along with Duncan, McCalla and Farenholt." Another point, "And you already know the Aussies over there."
"I do." I muttered, mind still spinning. Talk about information overload.
She then seemed to glance around, "Hmmm, where did the other girls get off to? Odd, Desdiv 18 seems to have run off."
"It's fine, Fletcher." I replied. "It's going to be hard to keep track of everyone anyway."
"Okay!"
A few minutes later I found myself approaching three familiar Australians. "Canberra, Aussie!"
The two heavy cruisers spun at my call, both breaking into big smiles. "Ah, the Iron Princess had graced us with her presence!" Aussie spoke in a faux English accent, and a surprisingly good if sarcastic curtsy, "You honour us, your highness!"
Hobart playfully bopped the larger cruiser, "Oi. Stop that Aussie."
Australia rolled her eyes, "Oh, common 'Bart, you're no fun."
Canberra chuckled, "Never mind these two, Wales. How've you been? Held down the fort while we got trained up?"
"More or less," I replied as we shook, "They actually have a training program for SHIPs now?"
"Yea," The cruiser nodded, "They've got a two month long course, first half is officer training, second half is… well, ship stuff. Pretty specialized for us SHIPs. Pretty sure you came up with a few of the tricks they teach us."
"Really?" I asked, "Though, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. 'Pulse and I were really making it up as we went along for the first few months there."
"I'm just looking forward to paying the Nips back for sinking me and killing my lads." Aussie butted in.
Canberra gave her older sister an annoyed look, "Revenge isn't everything sis."
"Yeah, yeah." Aussie blew her off.
I was about to give my two pence when Wash appeared, "Prince of Wales? Hobart? It's time for the meeting with the Admiral."
I dipped my head, "Of course." Then, turning back to the two, "It was good to see you again, Canberra, Australia."
"You two." Aussie smiled back, "Maybe this time around you can fight with us, rather than being late."
"Indeed." I turned back to Wash. "Lead the way, my Yank friend."
With a nod, Wash set off into her superstructure, Hobart and I in tow. We immediately began making our way upwards towards the flag plot. "So, why're you along?" I asked the Aussie as we walked.
"Well, Aussie and 'Berra are both SHIPs now." She began, falling in behind me in the tight corridors and ladders. "And Admiral Crutchley needs someone to carry his flag."
"He's still in command?"
"Aye. They kept him on. Though Admiral Lee has overall command this time around."
"Huh." I muttered, turning back forward. "Speaking of the Admiral. What do you think of your CO, Washington?"
The grey haired battleship chuckled as she continued to lead us. "Best damn officer I've ever met. You wouldn't believe how good of an officer he is. Did you know he won five gold medals in sport shooting at the 1920 Olympics?"
I blinked, "He was an Olympic Athlete?"
"Yeah, I know right?" She was beaming now, "Turns out, being good with a rifle also translated to being good with naval rifles too. BuOrd," She spat the name, "gave me faulty range tables. He noticed immediately, and drew up new ones on his own."
I blinked, "That's your USN Bureau of Ordinance right? The same one my American destroyers curse for their faulty torpedoes? They gave you faulty range tables?"
"Yup."
"How come the whole lot haven't been fired?" I asked, incredulous. If something like that had happened in the RN, heads would roll.
"Fuck if I know." My fellow battleship replied, "Either way, he's a hell of an officer. Knows his upper rank politics too."
I had to admit, after the last few battles, I didn't much trust the Admirals that got sent our way. Clutchly had messed up. Callaghan was an idiot. Scott was the only one I'd willingly put 79 under. "We'll see."
Finally, we reached the flag plot, high in the superstructure. The two Admirals, Lee and Crutchly both glanced up as we entered. Wash saluted.
"Reporting as ordered, Sir."
Admiral Lee returned it. "Thank you, Commander. Captain Windsor. Lieutenant Commander Leander."
"Sir."
"Sir!"
He gestured to the large map table in the middle of the room. "Here, join us." The moment we'd gathered around the table, he began, "Admiral, Ladies. Welcome to Task Force Forty-Nine. You've all received the intel reports, I assume?" A round of nods, "Then you know what we're facing. We need a plan. So let's start with the most experienced officer in the room." He said, eyes meeting mine. "How would you set this up, Captain Windsor?"
I froze for a second, not expecting him to put me on the spot. But, then my brain started up, and I leaned over the table. My confidence in myself was often my greatest weakness, but at this point Iron Bottom Sound may as well have been my backyard, and the Japanese my intruder neighbors. I was more than confident in my ability to plan a naval engagement off Savo Island.
"Well, the most important thing we've learned fighting here, is that in night engagements, whoever spots the foe first usually wins." I began to explain, "Locating the Japanese before they locate us should be priority one. In that regard, Radar is our biggest advantage. We still have the set on the northern side of Savo, so that is covered. But we've lost the southern radar, so we should probably have some radar-equipped destroyers as picket ships northwest of Savo."
I pointed on the map to the southern channel. "I would have the fleet loiter here, just south of Savo. That way, if somehow the Japs slip past the destroyers, we'll be ready to block them. And from here, we can easily steam up north if the northern radar picks up contacts. Other than that, we hope we get lucky."
"Formation?" Lee asked.
"Depends on how good your spirits are at communication and situational awareness." I replied, "Are you willing to risk friendly fire by allowing multiple battlelines or not? Because, if it were me, I'd have us four battleships in line, with the cruisers behind broken into two divisions. I'd put them under the command of someone I trust and give them orders to maneuver independently once we know where the enemy is. With the amount of ships we have, leaving them all in line is just too unwieldy and difficult to control."
As I finished, the room stayed silent as the two Admirals and my two fellow ship spirits examined my plan. Lee turned to Clutchly, "Your thoughts Admiral?"
"It's sound." My fellow countryman replied, "I don't fully agree about the cruisers, too much risk of friendly fire in my eyes, but the rest should work well."
Lee hummed, "Well, I also agree. It's quite close to my own plan." His eyes met mine, "But some improvements I hadn't thought of. Your experience does you credit, Captain."
"Thank you, Sir." It felt good to be acknowledged.
"Alright, so here's what we're going to do…"
2352 HOURS
Between Lee's tactically adept mind, and my own experience, we'd hashed out a solid plan in my eyes.
As I'd proposed, we were sailing a racetrack pattern just south of Savo, Wash in the lead, followed by SoDak, myself, and then Howe, with a screen of American destroyers. But, unlike my plan, the cruisers were not in line, ready to break off. Instead, Lee had organized two cruiser divisions. One made up of steel hulls commanded by Crutchly, and the other of SHIPs the command of which had been given, much to my surprise, to Hou. Though she absolutely deserved it in my opinion.
Both of the cruiser forces had their own escorting destroyers, and were making their own racetrack patterns just east of us.
It was almost perfect, but for one problem.
It was a dark and stormy night...
I always wanted to write that, but jokes aside, it was actually dark and stormy that night. A thunderstorm had rolled in sometime in the evening before we'd arrived.
Annoyingly the damn things were not uncommon in the Solomons at this time of year. We'd seen it approaching Savo as the sun set, the giant thunderhead filling the evening sky. The moment we neared Savo the heavens had opened, and it began to absolutely pour. Between the rain, and the clouds blocking the moon, it was the kind of night where you couldn't even see your hand right in front of your face. Pitch. Black.
I was having a devil of a time, keeping vision on SoDak's stern navigation light, and staying in formation. The winds had kicked the sea into a rolling froth. It wasn't the worst I'd ever seen. Not much could top the twenty-five foot tall waves one often encountered in the North Atlantic. But ten foot whitecaps that just barely didn't reach my deck sure made for a rough ride. I honestly pitied the poor destroyers, they must've been rolling like mad.
"Battleline, check in." My radio squawked with Wash's voice.
"What, worried about a few waves, Wash?" SoDak snarked.
I rolled my eyes, but ignored her lack of professionalism. "This is Princess. Staying in formation is a challenge, and I'm a mite bit wet, but nothing Duchess and I haven't handled back home."
"What she said." Howe agreed.
"Copy." Wash replied, and the freq went quiet again. One eye glued on SoDak's navigation light, and the other on my radar, we kept going.
Ten minutes later we'd reached the southernmost point of our pattern, and turned north again. The moment Howe'd formed up again behind me, the radio lit up again. "Trips to all." Fletcher's voice came. "I just had a single phantom radar contact about… Three-five-eight, ten thousand yards. Contact faded."
"Copy." Wash replied a moment later, "Keep an eye on it."
I narrowed my eyes and quickly swept my radar across that bearing several times. Nothing. Curious.
Another few minutes passed. Then the silence was broken again, this time by my sister. "Duchess to all. Huff Duff intercept." She spoke, referring to the High Frequency Direction finding gear we both carried, that allowed us to pick up radio transmissions and what direction they were coming from. "Unknown transmissions at zero-zero-nine, very strong."
Now that was curious. Wash was immediately on the line. "Deadeye to Princess, flag wants to know your assessment."
My assessment? Well, we had no radar contact, despite the huge number of sets we had, which meant there wasn't likely to be contacts within line of sight. The transmission had come from the direction of Savo. "Princess to Deadeye. I suspect the hostiles are passing through the northern strait."
"Understood." There was silence for a moment as Wash spoke with Admiral Lee, then, "Deadeye to Gunslinger and Downer, bring it in and form up, we're heading North."
"Copy, moving." That was Houston.
"On the way." Hobart also affirmed.
Within ten minutes the two cruiser formations had joined us in two parallel columns both to our port, and we'd turned to head around Savo.
To be honest, as we sailed, I was miserable. On the ship side, my engines were having to run at higher power than usual to maintain speed in the rough seas, and water was all over my upper decks. My bridge had even sprung a leak.
On the human side, I was soaked to the bone, and more than a little scared I'd accidentally ram someone. That wasn't even mentioning how anxious I was about the coming battle. How the hell were we going to fight in this!?
We were just about to begin passing Savo when Fletcher came on the radio again, "Uhhhh, Trips to all, phantom radar contact again? Two-six-five at a thousand yards?"
I blinked, "What."
Then a searchlight split the darkness, painting the destroyer in bright light. She reacted with a speed only a SHIP could, her own searchlights snapping on to illuminate whoever was shining a light at her.
For a split second, I froze. The destroyer's light had silluatted a massive ship that could only be a battleship. It was honestly impossible to get a good look, as I was easily still five thousand yards away and the driving rain diffused the light into a bright haze, but of that much I was certain.
Then a dozen more searchlights blazed on, both from more unknown ships, as well as the other destroyers, Wash and SoDak. My heart stopped.
Four big ships that had to be battlewagons, and they were crossing our T. But it'd been so dark, we hadn't spotted them until Fletcher was already through their line. That was our saving grace. They hadn't spotted us either, and Wash was about to sail straight through their line too, as was Hou and Hobart off to our left as they led their own lines of cruisers in parallel with us.
I was suddenly reminded of another time the Royal Navy had sent three columns hurtling through an enemy battleline. And like Admiral Nelson, I too was confident my girls were experienced enough to break the line and win one-one-one duels. And if we didn't, the Japs would tear us apart.
So, when Wash remained mute for thirty seconds too long, I took the initiative. "All ships! Ahead flank! Break formation and break their line!"
I pushed my boilers and engines to the metaphorical redline, turned just slightly to get out from behind SoDak, and barreled straight into the enemy.
Star shells began to burst, and the first shots began to ring out as both equally surprised sides recovered from their shock. Night became day and I finally got a good look at our foe. Two utterly massive battleships led the line, followed by two smaller. Behind them came the cruisers, and destroyers screened the whole formation.
I plunged forward, my two forward turrets coming to bear on the third battleship in line as I angled to pass ahead of her and behind the second. My secondaries, along with my Bofors and Oerlikons swung around rapidly and began blasting away at whatever they could target, port and starboard. Then the breaches of my main battery slammed closed, and I properly opened fire at a mere one-thousand and five hundred yards.
My first six gun slavo went a bit high, the waves throwing off my aim, but all six still smashed through the battleship's superstructure. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing. I immediately began to swing my guns right.
A moment later I crossed her bow, my hail of automatic cannonfire being returned by her own secondaries and AA guns. This close, I was finally able to identify her. A Kongo-class.
The moment I'd passed her bow I threw my rudder hard to starboard, Guns traversing right to get on target as she crossed my stern and I came around broadside. She too had maneuvered at my approach trying to avoid a collision, and now we straightened out, broadside to broadside. We were so very close I could easily see all her crew operating her AA guns on deck. I almost made a mental doubletake when I read the range my radar was giving me.
A mere five-hundred yards.
The air between us was full of thousands of glowing tracers as our AA gun crews did their damnedest to kill each other. Five- and six-inch secondaries added to the chaos, rounds blasting holes in upperworks or blowing away entire exposed gun crews.
And then there were our main batteries. Despite being nearly thirty years newer than my opponent, my designers had not only retained her 3 degree per second traverse rate, but decided 2 degrees per second would be adequate. After all, I was going to be fighting at very long ranges, right?
Oh how I was cursing my limitations in that moment. Luckily, I'd begun turning my guns sooner, and my guns got on target first.
In the driving rain and darkness, the flash of my guns was even more blinding than usual. But at this range, how could I miss?
My forward guns fired first, followed a few seconds later by my aft. Ten shells bored straight through the Kongo-class's armour, the bursting charges detonating well inside her hull. Her A and Y turret went up as shell's detonated whatever ammunition and propellant was being readied to load into the guns.
But then it was her turn. Her two still intact turrets returned the favor a few seconds later. For all the fighting I'd done in the last year and a half, I'd never suffered the penetrating hit into my heavily armoured citadel. I was, to my knowledge at the time, the most heavily armoured class of battleship ever built. The last time I'd fought a Kongo-class they'd been completely unable to penetrate my armour.
But that was at almost twenty thousand yards. Here, I had no benefit of range and air resistance. Her four shells went through nearly fifteen-inches of steel as if it wasn't even there.
One of her turrets had fired at my A turret. Both shells easily penetrated the turret face, and blinding pain shot up my left arm as the crew was torn to bits and the next salvo's worth of propellant and shells exploded. The other two shells went straight through my belt amidships, entered my No.4 boiler room just below the ceiling, and exploded, which in turn led to the boiler rupturing, and itself exploding. I immediately lost some steam, slowing.
And that was just the first round.
She wouldn't survive the second. I didn't even bother salvoing, simply firing each gun as it was loaded. Most of my gunnery fairies were extremely experienced by now, and they were rapid. The breach of No.3 gun in my Y turret slammed shut a mere twenty-four seconds after my first slavo, and I let rip, the shell smashing into the barbette of the Japanese battleship's X turret, no doubt destroying her ammunition hoists. Another shot from my B turret smashed into her B turret, easily penetrating and fully declawing her. My next four rounds, I all aimed into her belt, amidships, and she began to burn.
She immediately lost steam, rapidly slowing. I was preparing another barrage when two waterspouts burst from the water on her opposite side, and she ground to a halt. Jup suddenly emerged from behind the crippled ship. "I got your back Wales!"
"My thanks!" I replied. Only now was I able to take stock for the first time since I'd engaged. My adrenaline was up, heart racing. As I looked around, I was greeted by utter chaos. Both formations had completely disintegrated, much like third Savo. But this time there were far more ships involved.
The battle had devolved into a chaotic fight, more akin to an aerial dogfight than an organized naval battle. Destroyers dashed to and fro, maneuvering wildly around one another as they traded shells. I spotted Sims helping Fletcher nearby with hammering a Japanese destroyer, despite Fletch's entire midships being ablaze. Further back I spotted Hou through the driving rain as she traded fire with what appeared to be a Japanese light cruiser.
But who drew most of my attention was Howe. She was only a few thousand yards away, dueling the other Kongo-class. I was about to rush over when I realised. She was winning. And handily at that. As I watched she slammed a slavo into the Nip's amidships leaving her dead in the water.
I was about to shout words of encouragement to her when a battleship caliber shell smashed into my bridge.
This time, it didn't kill my whole bridge crew, only half. Now, luckily, that meant I wasn't immediately knocked unconscious as I was at Bali Strait. Unluckily, it gave me the ship equivalent of a really bad concussion. For a minute my world became ringing ears and blurry vision as I stumbled, nearly dumb, deaf and blind. Luckily I still had the mental fortitude to order my XO to take command while I recovered. For a couple minutes my body operated on autopilot as I recovered, though I still felt more shells begin to hammer me.
Finally, replacement bridge crew fairies trickled in and the fog lifted from my mind. I blinked as I became fully lucid again, and took sto-
Oh. That's a rather large battleship.
I was just passing her broadside to broadside in opposite directions at about two thousand yards, and all her guns were pointed at me.
At the time, we didn't know much about the Yamato-class. Just that they existed, were large, and were believed to have sixteen-inch guns. The six shells that slammed into me at two thousand yards, were definitely not sixteen-inch shells.
Four of my remaining six boilers immediately detonated as the shells ruptured them. Another two shells utterly demolished my Y turret, and the rest ripped gaping holes in my waterline. My main belt may as well have not existed. Shells from her secondaries ripped into my upper works, starting a not-so-merry blaze.
I staggered away, letting off a retaliatory shot from my remaining B turret through the rain, the shells striking her superstructure and doing almost nothing.
"Fuck!" I cursed. I was in trouble.
And then she was gone as a familiar ship steamed by, guns blazing. "Get clear Wales!" Boise yelled over the radio, guns blazing away at the monster battleship. My sister was right on her heels too.
"Give her hell, girls!" I yelled back.
Within moments, they'd been swallowed by the rain, which had only gotten worse since the start of the battle. Between the cacophony of gunfire and thunder, it was hard to tell what was man made, and what was mother nature losing her wrath.
I slowly limped away from the duel towards Savo, down to only eight knots thanks to running on just one remaining boiler room. All around me the battle raged in the storm. I focused on dissuading the curious, firing away at any destroyer that even so much as looked at me funny. I was out of the fight. I just needed to make it ashore. Then I'd be safe. I keyed my radio. "Princess to all. I'm down to two guns and eight knots. I am heading for Savo Island. Seven-niner, I'll see you ashore." With that, I cut my radio.
My heart nearly stopped when the dark shape emerged from the rain, glowing from fires amidships. I was about to open up when I realised it was the Kongo-class I'd hammered earlier. She was already getting low in the water, slightly bow up, but she was resting on an even keel. Otherwise, she was dead in the water, her guns silent and destroyed.
With a sigh, I turned to sail around her port side, and make for Savo. As I began to pass the crippled ship, a shape emerged from behind her stern. Now my heart did stop, as the Japanese destroyer opened fire with guns and torpedoes. I opened up with every gun I had, splashes erupting around the smaller ship. I threw my rudder hard to starboard to hopefully avoid the torpedoes, for all the good it would do at eight knots.
Only a few seconds later as the destroyer turned away and made smoke did I realise my mistake. I was now about to ram the sinking Japanese battleship. At two hundred yards and closing, I didn't have the engine power to stop in time. My legs were literally shot to bits, so were my arms. I was not confident in my ability to stay afloat, nor avoid bleeding out in the water. And if I rammed the other ship, I would sink. So for a brief moment I accepted it. This was it. I was about to die. Two torpedoes slammed into my side. Pain.
And then, I swear, Repulse shouted in my ear.
Stop thinkin' like a ship an' start thinking like a shipgirl, you daft bint!
My eyes widened, my adrenaline surged, and I knew what I was going to do. At the last second, I pulled back on myself, forcing my human side to the fore as much as I could with my rigging on. And right before impact, I jumped.
My still-mostly-good left hand met the structural steel with nearly forty thousand tons and twenty-five thousand horsepower behind it. The moment I felt my fist punch through, I dropped my rigging.
CLUNK
My face and body met metal, and I saw stars.
It took me a moment to catch my wits as I hung there fist embedded in the structural steel of the battleship's bow. But eventually I gathered myself, and with the help of a grappling hook, began to climb up to the deck.
It took me nearly ten exhausting and painful minutes to reach her deserted deck, with only one good limb. But I made it, soaked to the bone and with everything hurting. Luckily my adrenaline hadn't worn off yet, so I climbed to my feet, and slowly made my way over to her forward turrets. Her A turret had been turned out to port to engage me when I'd destroyed it, and the back hung out over the deck providing some cover from the driving rain.
With a groan, I sent myself down under the overhang, back against the cold steel of the barbette. My eyes wandered back out over the sea. They were still going at it, though things seemed to be winding down.
My first thought was to key my radio to check on my girls, but I suddenly realised the destroyer had destroyed it with her gunfire. "Fuck."
Nothing for it then, I'd have to wait for things to wind down, then head for Savo. "Might as well make a cup." I muttered, producing an electric kettle and setting it to boil.
Then, I leaned back against the steel, and closed my eyes. My adrenaline was finally beginning to calm, and with it the pain was returning. And oh dear lord, was I hurt. My upper works, radar, directors were all blown off, I had two functioning secondaries, my B turret was the only one still functional, I had a single operational boiler room, and I had major flooding from torpedoes and penetrating shell hits. I was going to need months of yard time if I survived this.
And then I heard footsteps.
I froze. So far the ship's deck had been mostly deserted. When I'd been boarding I'd seen most of her crew gathering on the stern, apparently preparing to abandon ship. Had someone seen me?
I produced my tommy gun, already loaded. I braced it under my left shoulder so I could one hand it, and aimed.
The person that came around the barbette was not the Japanese sailor I expected, but a woman. The moment the brunette spotted me, she froze but not in surprise. After all, she had to be the spirit. And this was her hull. She knew all.
We stayed like that for a few seconds, before I stowed my gun. I don't know what I expected the Jap to do next, but it wasn't to speak in a fluent Northern English accent.
"Prince of Wales, I presume?"
Well, that narrowed down who it could be. "Kongo."
She gestured at my slowly boiling kettle. "Mind if I join you?"
I shrugged, "Not like I could stop you."
"True." She muttered, striding forward and taking a seat next to me.
We sat in silence for a moment. And I took a second to look her over. She was wearing some kind of white and red traditional Japanese outfit, her brown hair done up in a pair of buns on the side of her head while it fell long in the back. But like me, her clothes were torn and stained red by the myriad of wounds she had.
Then she spoke again. "Apologies, for all of this." She gestured out at the slowly ending battle. "My countrymen have collectively lost their minds over the last thirty years. None of this should have happened."
I glanced at her, a bit surprised. Sure she'd spoken like this over the radio at Java Sea, but every Japanese ship I'd met since was adamant that they were in the right. "Why?" I asked, "Every other Japanese I've spoken to has been all for it."
"Look at me." She said by way of reply. I did. "You see it, don't you. I'm half European. I was built at the Vickers yard in Barrow-in-Furness. I've always had just a slightly different perspective than my fellows. I'm Japanese first, but I'm also British. Early on, I wasn't completely against it, you know. Other than how our democracy was eroding a bit. But the people were happy, so who was I to get mad? There's nothing wrong with Imperialism, per se, as long as you take care of those you rule. Britain had been getting much better at that since the turn of the century. I figured Japan could follow in their wake."
She sighed, "Then Nanking happened. I was in Sasebo at the time, wandering the town. And I saw a newspaper, 'Nanking had been liberated!' and on the front page were two army officers. So I made myself a copy, and had a read."
Her face darkened, "Do you know what the caption of that picture was? 'Captain Tanaka and Major Sazuki pose for the camera after taking part in a beheading competition. Captain Tanaka took the win with a time of four minutes and forty-four seconds'."
Now her face was thunderous. "A beheading competition! On the front page! Noone bats an eye! Can you imagine that!? Lining up a hundred innocent civilians, and racing to see who can behead them the fastest! The Army wasn't helping them or taking care of them, they were exterminating them! What they do is barbaric! I thought just maybe the Navy would speak up, say 'this isn't right', but those Army bastards dragged us into the mud. They had Kaga and Akagi bombing Civilian targets for fucks sake!"
"And in the end, all it resulted in was us starting a war we cannot win." Here purple eyes met mine, "I realised my country had lost its mind, and at this point, it's over. The US will roll us back, one island at a time. We'll lose, and because of that stupid revision of the bushido code everyone is living by, they won't even consider surrender. The home islands will be bombed into the ground, the islands overrun. Half the population may be wiped out before they finally surrender. Those idiotic militarists have ensured Japan will be burned to the ground."
Wow. That was… Heavy. I blew out a breath, "And I thought I had it rough."
Kongo laughed, "No, you do. You shouldn't have to fight this war, no more than I should. But it is rough, watching my friends gobbling up the propaganda, slowly turning into idiot fanatics. And now, all of it… I'm about to die." Tears pricked her eyes, as she gazed off at the water. She pointed, "And Haruna with me."
I followed her finger. There several thousand yards away, and lit by her own fire, was another Kongo-class. "I swore I'd protect them." She almost whispered.
But she didn't have to die here, did she? And now that I'd realised that, my conscience would never let me leave her to die, would it?
I sighed, and looked at her. "What would you have done, if you could make your own choices?"
She glanced at me, still teary. "I would have surrendered, and brought my sisters with me. You could fight the rest."
My kettle finally started whistling. I produced two cups, and poured. "How do you like yours?"
"One cream, two sugar." She replied, wiping her tears. I quickly made the two cups, then turned to her, both in hand.
"Well, do you, the Japanese Battleship Kongo, Surrender to me, HMS Prince of Wales?"
She blinked at me, "Uhh, I'd love to, but-"
"Do you surrender?" I pressured.
She looked very confused. "Uhhh. Yes? But why does that-"
I shoved the cup in her hand, "Here you go."
She blinked, but took the cup. The moment she took a sip, her eyes lit up. "What. It tastes like…"
"Tea." I smiled at her, "Not unflavored spirit-stuff. Because you're activated now. So when your hull sinks, you'll be like me. Free of your hull."
"You… I…" She was actually speechless. Tears again ran down her face, but this time of joy. "Thank you. Thank you!" Then her eyes widened. "Haruna! You have to save her too!"
"Is she going to fight me?" I asked.
The brunette battleship shook her head, "No, my sisters feel the same way I do. She'll surrender, same as me."
"Let's go then."
AN: This one has been in my head from the start, You can even see a bit of the setup back at Java Sea with dess boat. and who boy, it turned out great. Next chapter is the last one of Part 4.
An amazing chapter with one minor area of note:
IRL, the Japanese were unwilling to even consider sending in one of the Yamatos because of concerns of them running aground. What changed?
IRL, the Japanese were unwilling to even consider sending in one of the Yamatos because of concerns of them running aground. What changed?
- Location
- Frozen Winterland
Bluntly? 4 months of a pair of King George V class battleships running roughshod over everything that tried to force their way past Savo.
If a KGV could operate in the Ironbottom Sound, then so could a Yamato; one thing you'll find about capital ships, especially battleships, is that very few of them diverged from a below-waterline depth of 30-37 feet.
If a KGV could operate in the Ironbottom Sound, then so could a Yamato; one thing you'll find about capital ships, especially battleships, is that very few of them diverged from a below-waterline depth of 30-37 feet.
Sounds like they brought both Yamatos
- Location
- Frozen Winterland
They did. Yamato, by then had been in active service for several months, while Musashi was barely three months out of commission and, in Our Timeline, still working up until January of '43.
In the PoW timeline, her completion was obviously accelerated so she was fully combat-capable in time to faceplant into the Knife Fight in a Phone Booth.
In the PoW timeline, her completion was obviously accelerated so she was fully combat-capable in time to faceplant into the Knife Fight in a Phone Booth.