Kirov III-Pacific Storm (Kirov Series) (16 page)

“The plan has changed, Captain,” Ono
continued. “The first wave troops out of Kupang are also experiencing high
seas. They will be delayed enough by this weather to make a rendezvous with the
second wave troops more feasible. Hara now plans to land both waves at once,
and use the ships he has for cover. We are detached to pursue this British
battleship, but the Admiral plans to operate his carriers well east of Darwin
tomorrow morning, where he can support both the landings there and our action
in the Arafura Sea.”

“Then we are to chase this
Mizuchi
and hold on to his tail,” said Iwabuchi. “So be it.” He looked darkly at the
bridge crew. “Range to target?”

“Sir, we estimate 28,000 yards, but
they are turning to Starboard now, running just north of that cape. The range
is opening. They appear to be very fast.”

Iwabuchi raised his field glasses,
eyes puckered, and finally saw the distant enemy ship himself. Hara was
probably correct not to launch now, he thought. It would be another hour before
the planes got here, and then he would be faced with a recovery operation in
high seas and gale force winds. All the better for me, he realized.

“So this ship is fast,” he said. “Then
it is not one of their old fat battleships. It must be a battlecruiser—most
likely the
Renown
. Or perhaps even one of their newest ships.”

“We still have
Nachi
and
Myoko
,
sir,” said Ono. “They have taken five or six light caliber hits each, but only
one gun has been put out of action on
Myoko
, and there is no flooding or
damage to the engines on either ship. We have the speed to keep this ship in
sight, sir, and we can run all night before the wind.”

Iwabuchi liked the sound of that, and
allowed himself a taut smile. “Gunnery officer!” Commander Kimitake Koshino was
quickly at his side, bowing respectfully. “Fire at that ship. Both forward
batteries. We will let them know we are coming.”

*
* *

The first
salvo came in short by over 1000 meters,
and well off their port quarter, but Volsky noted how tight the splash pattern
was, and the odd blue color of the water when the shells landed.

“That was typical of Japanese naval
gunnery,” said Fedorov. “Their salvos will space no more than a hundred yards
at times. It made for a lot of near misses, and fewer hits, but when they did
find the target they could often score multiple hits at one time with a shell
fall pattern that tight. That blue you see in the water splashes is dye, sir.
The
Kongo
class battleships each used a
different color dye so their spotters could distinguish which water splashes
were from their own guns,
Kongo
used red dye,
Hiei
black, and
Kirishima
used blue dye.”

 “Then they are not radar
controlled?”

“No sir, but the Japanese had superb
optics, and were excellent night fighters as well. They can put rounds on a
target at long range, though there are no recorded hits in history beyond
26,000 yards or so. That said, I suggest we maneuver a bit to make it just a
little more difficult for them to find the range.”

 “What is the caliber of the
guns?”

 “14 inches, sir. Most likely
Type 91 armor piercing rounds.”

“Not something we wish to experience
firsthand,” said Volsky. “I have no desire to be painted blue and smashed by a
14 inch wide hunk of steel! We are making thirty-two knots?”

“Yes, sir. But Byko is complaining.
That bomb hit we took aft was very near some of the hull damage we sustained in
the Med.”

“Yes we have had our backside kicked
more than once: the misfired Klinok, the helicopter incident, and those near
misses the British sent our way. Now a bomb hit there. What does Byko say about
it?”

“The hull is breeched sir, but well
above the water line. We were spared serious damage due to the angle of the
bomb, slightly off vertical, and it nearly missed us. It struck very near the
outer gunwale before it penetrated two decks and blew out a three meter hole in
the hull from the inside. It was also aft of our armor belt, sir. Most of the
explosion was directed outward, away from the ship. He is doing his best to
seal off the area and reinforce that sector with some metal work now. But
remember the engines, sir. We had a vibration on the right turbine in the Med
and there was some flooding there earlier. Byko says he has it well in hand,
but it will remain a weak point to watch closely, particularly if we are
running at full battle speed like this.”

“An Achilles heel…” Volsky folded his
arms. “Very well, Mister Fedorov. You may maneuver the ship.”

“Excuse me, sir,” said Karpov. “Shall
I return fire with the aft deck gun?”

Volsky looked at him, blinking. “No. I
think we will remain silent. He is just shaking his fist at us, Mister Karpov.
Hitting him with a 152 millimeter round or two is only likely to enrage the
man, and steel his determination. Are we opening the range, Rodenko?”

“Yes, sir. Over 30,000 yards now with
our turn east.”

There was no further fire from the
pursuing ships, but Rodenko noted that two smaller signal returns were moving
slightly ahead of the battleship now, and creeping up on them.

“Those must be the cruisers we fought
off earlier,” said Fedorov.

“I make the speed at 34 knots at the
moment,” said Rodenko.

Fedorov did a quick mental
calculation. “With a two knot speed advantage they will only gain 3,700 meters
on us per hour. That would put them at the maximum range of their guns an hour
from now. The sun is behind that storm front, and we are losing light rapidly.
Given that they must sight us optically, they probably won’t fire until they
get closer. I think we have two hours before we should be worried about them.”

Volsky was satisfied. “Then unless
that battleship persists in lobbing shells at us, we will rely on our speed for
the moment. I am going below to speak with Dr. Zolkin about the casualties.
Mister Karpov, if that battleship puts rounds close enough to pose a threat,
slap his face. Use one MOS-III, not the deck guns, and hit his superstructure.
He has fired and thrown down his gauntlet. I have heard his complaint, and I have
not answered, but I will not be goaded indefinitely.”

“Very good, sir.”

*
* *

Mizuchi
slipped away, slowly sliding beneath
the far horizon insofar as the battleship was concerned, though
Kirishima
was still pressing hard at 30 knots. Iwabuchi ordered the two cruisers to use
their superior speed and advance close enough to keep the ship in visual range,
but not so close as to provoke another engagement. The lesson learned earlier
had been a hard one. To attempt to close on this sea dragon now would mean a
slow, plodding gain, possibly under fire for hours before they could come into
effective range.

The Captain was ill tempered, pacing
the bridge at times, short with the men and in a very sour mood. When it became
clear that they could do little more now, he finally relented and turned the
bridge over to his executive officer Ono, going below for food and rest.

When the surly Captain had gone, Ono
breathed a bit easier. He turned to Lt. Commander Ikeda, in charge of the
ship’s secondary batteries with a knowing look. “It appears we have a situation
here,” he said discretely.

Ikeda raised an eyebrow. “With the
mood the Captain is in this could become something much more,” he said in a low
voice. “Vendetta would be a better word. Iwabuchi will not take the loss of
Haguro
lightly. In fact I think he will take it very personally.”

“This enemy ship is fast! It has
already slipped over the horizon.”

“The cruisers will keep hold of her,
and we will get a seaplane up at first light again.”

“What do you make of this, Ikeda?”

“Something slipped in the planning,
what else? The British had a ship at Darwin, and it is running for friendly
ports on their east coast.”

“Most likely,” said Ono. “I believe there
is a new squadron assigned to our airfield at Port Moresby, a group of G3M
Rikko
bombers. Perhaps we should notify them that
this ship appears to be heading for the Torres Strait.”

“They won’t be able to hit a ship with
this speed. That’s work for a carrier.”

“Initial reports were that a hit was
scored when the ship was first spotted, but we have heard nothing since.”

“It will take a more concentrated
strike by Hara’s carriers tomorrow,” Ikeda agreed. “Hara will get the job done.
Either that or he can slow this one down enough for us to catch him.”

“Yes, old King Kong is coming east
right behind us. But something tells me that this enemy ship is going to cause
real trouble. It may be running now, but did you hear the report from Kiyota?
He says they were taking small caliber hits at 30,000 yards!”

“He must have been mistaken,” Ikeda
said politely. “I know secondary batteries and they can’t range much beyond
15,000 to 20,000 yards.”

“Yet I saw the damage when
Nachi
and
Myoko
joined us,” said Ono. “Those were not large caliber hits. They
would have crushed those ships if they were from 14 inch guns like our main
batteries.”

“They must have misjudged the range.”

“I’m not so sure, Ikeda. Captain
Kiyota aboard
Nachi
is a skilled sea captain. He was working to get into
torpedo range and we both know he could have fired with his Type 93s if he was
inside typical secondary gun range. This ship could be something we’ve never
seen—a new ship, with all new guns.”

“What was Kiyota talking about with
this nonsense about
Raiju
? He said
Haguro
was hit by something
new, fast as lightning, and with deadly accuracy and power.”

“It was most likely a large caliber
shell from their main batteries,” said Ono. “What else could do such damage?
The ship’s bow was practically ripped apart with that hit. A lucky shot, neh?
Kiyota’s cruisers are good in a hunt, but no match for an enemy battleship. We
were wise to order him to break off and rejoin us.”

“Yes, and I fear Iwabuchi will not
rest until he brings this ship to battle.”

“Agreed,” Ono shrugged. “Get some
rest, Lieutenant. Something tells me we’re going to be very busy the next few
days, that is if these old engines can keep us in the hunt. It’s going to be a
long night.”

Chapter
11

All that night
Hara’s
Kido
Butai
carrier force ran east, skirting the northern coast of Melville Island where
Charlie One and Strangler had seen the action involving
Kirov
. But by
now the two Aborigine scouts were far to the south, well away from the
thickening squads of Japanese naval infantry from the Kure 26th SNLF that were
now landing on the island in force.

In the pre-dawn hours of August 26,
1942 the planned invasion of Port Darwin was well underway. The heavy
Bombardment Group centered on the two big battleships Admiral Hara had wrangled
away from Yamamoto were now pounding the coastal shore batteries and inland
positions where remnants of a small Australian defense force that had been
evacuated from Port Moresby now held forth.
Mutsu
and
Nagato
fired salvo after salvo, their big 16 inch guns blasting the shore and sending
huge columns of smoke into the grey dawn. Closer in, the light cruiser
Tama
and destroyers
Onami
,
Kiyonami
,
and
Okinami
used their smaller guns to good
effect as well.

Just before sunrise, the transport
fleet began to disembark wave after wave of troops from the 21st Infantry
Regiment, the Shimada Regiment from Yamashita’s 5th Division, the very same
tigers that had so baffled the British forces defending in Malaya. It was all
he would need. The Darwin garrison was no more than battalion strength, and
would be overcome by persistent Japanese attacks within a few days.

Hara was so pleased with the work done
by his battleship bombardment force, that he canceled a planned second air
strike on Darwin and thought instead of his pursuit force further east. He
turned to E-I flight leader
Masafumi
Arima
aboard
Shokaku
where he set his flag, and
asked for an update.

“Where is Iwabuchi and the pursuit
force?”

“Sir? About 250 miles northeast of our
position. The cruisers managed to shadow this enemy ship all night, but
Kirishima
slowly fell behind, even running at her very best speed, sir. The British have
edged away, but Captain Kiyota aboard
Nachi
now reports Iwabuchi is just
over twenty miles behind in the chase.”

“Amazing,” said Hara. “For that old
battleship to stay so close at high speed like that is quite a feat. We must
now think about slowing this British ship down, even if we have to disappoint
Iwabuchi by sinking it. Prepare a major air strike this time. Sakamoto should
have never sent only 9 planes with incendiaries yesterday, and I was equally
remiss by sending only twelve torpedo bombers off
Zuiho
.”