by gerald hall
“Ollie, I’ve got one of those Jap carriers in my sights. It looks like one of the ships that tried to hit Derby a few months ago.” Toby radioed as he began his dive.
“I see her too. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was one of those ships. We should have sunk it before when we had the chance. I’m going in now to try to finish the job.” Oliver answered as he banked into a diving attack behind Toby.
As Toby and Oliver rapidly dove upon their target, over thirty Zero fighters appeared below. But the Japanese fighters were racing down towards the Barracudas that were attempting to make torpedo runs against the Japanese carriers instead of focusing on the dive bombers.
The Commonwealth torpedo bombers were all targeting the big Japanese fleet carriers instead of the lighter carriers. The Commonwealth pilots all wanted a chance to sink a fleet carrier. The Barracudas pushed onward despite the wall of fire coming from the fleet carriers IJN Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiryu and Soryu. The carriers’ defenses were quickly supplemented by agile Zeros who made strafing runs on the attacking torpedo bombers in spite of the bursting shells of their own ships’ antiaircraft guns.
Toby and Oliver continued to focus on their attack upon the light carrier Shoho in spite of hearing calls for assistance from the torpedo bombers. The Dragonflies couldn’t break off their bombing attack to help with the Zeros yet.
Finally, Toby was able to release his bomb, with Oliver quickly following suit. They both quickly pulled up and climbed back up at maximum speed. They didn’t even look back to see if their bombs had hit. They were too busy trying to get back into a position to engage the enemy Zeros instead.
One by one, the lumbering torpedo bombers fell burning into the sea. But a handful of Barracudas did get close enough to drop their Mark XIX torpedoes. One Coalition torpedo hit and damaged Shokaku while a second torpedo hit struck Hiryu’s aft engine room. Only five of the torpedo bombers survived to return to their carriers after launching their attacks. However, the Zero defenders had to quickly peel away to face another threat to their home ships.
The bomb-armed Barracudas began their dive-bombing attacks slightly later than they had anticipated. So they came screaming down upon the Japanese fleet carriers several critical minutes after the torpedo bombers began their runs rather than making a coordinated strike. This meant that the dive bombers would make their attacks largely unopposed by the Zeros however.
The Barracudas each carried a pair of five-hundred pound semi-armor piercing bombs or a single sixteen-hundred pound armor-piercing bomb. The latter weapons were intended for use against Japanese battleships. However, none of the bombers held back their attacks, regardless of the weapons that they carried. They all attacked the fleet carriers.
While not every bomb hit its target, more than enough hit to devastate all four of the Japanese fleet carriers. Shokaku and Hiryu were particularly hard hit after being badly damaged by the earlier torpedo hits. The Barracudas that still had bombs then joined the Dragonflies in attacking the three Japanese light carriers as well. Shoho, Zuiho and Ryuho were soon hit and burning as well.
The skies above the Japanese carriers were full of swirling dogfights. Toby and Ollie were up there in the middle of the fight as the attack aircraft from the Commonwealth carriers continued to make their attacks on the Japanese armada. The Dragonflies and other Allied fighters were struggling mightily to fend off an increasing number of Japanese fighters.
“Where the hell did all of these Zeros show up from, Toby?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they were the ones chasing the Cassowary’s earlier?”
“Whoever they are, they are certainly playing for keeps.” Toby quickly replied as he struggled to evade the fire from a pair of Zeros.
“Well, their bloody carriers are on fire and sinking right now. I suppose that they would be a wee bit put off by that. But there are still fewer Zeros here than I would have thought for seven carriers.
Anyway, there’s one of the bastards off of your back, mate.” Oliver radioed just after his heavy machine guns tore apart one of Toby’s pursuers.
“Thanks, mate. I’m quite happy not to have quite so many of the buggers around to shoot at me, I have to admit.” Toby replied with a sigh of relief as the second Zero turned away to evade Oliver’s guns.
“We’re going to have to get back to Melbourne and reload. I’m almost out of ammunition.”
“Same here. Incidentally, did you see any bombers on their flight decks when you attacked?” Toby asked.
“Only a few. I was a little busy dodging ‘ack-ack’ though to notice much else.” Oliver wryly replied.
“I didn’t see many there either. Where are they, I wonder?”
Most of them were actually on the way towards Admiral Phillips’ task force. But first, the Japanese bombers had to get through the Coalition cruiser and destroyer screen. Alarms and klaxons of all types started going off on the various Coalition ships as the first Japanese carrier planes appeared.
The cruisers and destroyers began to put up a hail of antiaircraft fire in between themselves and the Japanese bombers. Flaming planes continually fell from the sky as Admiral Phillips’ ships furiously fired all of their antiaircraft guns at their attackers. While the vast majority of the Japanese planes were shot down before they could do any significant damage, some of the Japanese pilots managed to score some telling hits.
Admiral Phillips grimaced as he saw columns of smoke rising from the positions of several Coalition ships.
“I need a battle damage report from our ships as quickly as possible.” Phillips ordered.
What the Coalition fleet commander learned was certainly not what he wanted to hear. The cruisers USS Marblehead, HMS Cornwall, HNLMS de Ruyler and HMAS Perth had all been hit by aerial torpedoes. None had been sunk yet, but all had been badly damaged. Six other cruisers and destroyers had also been hit by dive bombers. Two destroyers, HNLMS Kortaener and USS Stewart, had both been sunk by Japanese Aichi Type 99 dive bombers.
But the vast majority of the Japanese bomber force had been destroyed or driven off before they could reach Admiral Phillips’ capital ships.
The Japanese surface force was continuing to rapidly close with the Coalition fleet even as Japanese bombers made their attack. At its head were nearly twenty cruisers and destroyers.
One ship in the Japanese force that had gone unnoticed by the Coalition was the light cruiser Oi. It had slipped in among the destroyers moving towards the Coalition fleet. Oi and her sister ship Kitakami had been heavily modified prior to the war to carry very heavy batteries of Type 93 torpedoes. Kitakami had been sunk by Coalition submarine attack several months earlier. But Oi was there to try to bolster the torpedo salvoes of the rest of the Japanese fleet.
As soon as the Japanese lead elements got into torpedo range, they began to turn starboard to present their torpedo broadsides. Halfway through the turn, the first of the Coalition land-based aircraft were detected by the Japanese. This added even more urgency to getting the first torpedo strike launched. Among the Coalition aircraft, were Pappy Gunn and dozens of heavily modified bomber aircraft to conduct devastating strafing attacks upon land and naval targets.
Before Pappy’s strafers could get to Oi and her consorts, the torpedo cruiser managed to launch her portside torpedo tubes. This meant that twenty of the massive Type 93 torpedoes that the Allies had nicknamed the ‘Long Lance’ were on the way towards the Coalition battle line. Oi’s torpedoes joined many dozens more that the Japanese destroyers and other cruisers had also fired.
Then the entire formation of destroyers and cruisers began to make a hard turn to port. The cruisers were preparing to fire the torpedo tubes on the disengaged side while the destroyers were moving away to safety and reload their own torpedo tubes. But before the Japanese van could complete its turn, three squadrons of modified light and medium bombers finally got into their own firing range.
Two squadrons of Pappy Gunn’s modified bombers had been armed with eight or more fifty-ca
liber heavy machine guns facing forward. But the most recent aircraft to be modified each received one of the new five-barrel gatling automatic cannons. These aircraft all roared in at low altitude and attacked. The bombers were also escorted by a squadron of modified Whirlwind twin-engine fighter-bombers.
As one of the larger warships in the van of the Japanese naval formation, Oi immediately received some of the heaviest fire from the strafers. A stream of tracers suddenly erupted from Pappy’s own modified medium bomber. Even though it was only one tracer round per every five round fired, it appeared that a continuous line of light joined the nose of the bomber with the frantically turning Japanese light cruiser.
A series of explosions erupted on Oi’s deck from stem to stern as the cannon shells began to strike her. Oi’s remaining Type 93’s then began to detonate under the hammering of the incoming bomber’s twenty-five millimeter gatling gun. The exploding torpedo warheads set numerous fires, riddled the cruiser’s upperworks and left her decks awash in blood from all of the wounded and dead crewmen.
Not only were Pappy’s specially modified aircraft capable of inflicting devastating damage with their guns, but they still retained the ability to carry bombs and torpedoes on external hardpoints. The bombers continued to press their attacks, dropping torpedoes and skipping bombs into the sides of the Japanese destroyers and cruisers before roaring over the tops of their targets at masthead height.
By the time that Pappy’s men had finished their attacks, they left behind five cruisers and nine destroyers either sinking or badly damaged. Pappy lost four bombers, but the price that they paid paled in comparison to the damage that they inflicted upon the Japanese vanguard.
The Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima were not far behind their fleet’s vanguard. Even while the massive salvo of torpedoes raced towards the Coalition force, the two fast battleships opened fire with their fourteen-inch caliber main guns. Their intent was not only to inflict damage upon the Coalition force, but also to distract them from the underwater threat approaching.
“It appears that the Japanese battleships are both targeting Repulse, Sir.” Captain Leach reported after over a dozen splashes from heavy caliber shells suddenly erupted all around the British battle cruiser.
“Then we should return the favor, shouldn’t we? Send orders for our battle line to concentrate fire on the lead Kongo.” Admiral Phillips calmly ordered.
Less than twenty seconds later, Prince of Wales’ nine fifteen-inch main guns fired their first salvoes, followed shortly by the firing of Repulse and Strasbourg’s main batteries. The fire control radars on the Coalition capital ships allowed them to quickly find the range to Hiei and begin to score multiple hits on her. All three Coalition capital ships rapidly began to score devastating hits upon Hiei. Explosions and fires erupted all over the Japanese fast battleship. The other Coalition ships drew into range and also began to focus their fire upon the now burning Japanese battleship.
Tall fountains of water continuously erupted around Repulse from falling enemy shells as she fired her guns and maneuvered to confuse Japanese gunners. But the sheer number of shells being fired at the British battle cruiser by all of the Japanese ships in range meant that some would eventually strike her.
Two fourteen-inch armor-piercing shells soon hit Repulse in rapid succession. She had already been earlier several times by lighter rounds that had done little damage. But the latest hits did significant damage to the battle cruiser.
“Sir, Repulse has reported heavy damage from two major caliber hits. The first struck near her starboard secondary battery and started a heavy fire. The second round punched through Repulse’s stern armor just below the waterline causing several compartments to flood. This hit also has damaged Repulse’s rudder. She has lost effective helm control as a result.” Prince of Wales’ communications officer reported to Admiral Phillips.
But before the British admiral could issue a new order, four ships of the Coalition force’s lead element were suddenly hit by Japanese torpedoes. At the same time, Repulse’s rudder damage caused her to swing out of formation, forcing Strasbourg to make a sharp turn to avoid a collision. Both battle cruisers ended up turning right into the path of the massive Japanese torpedo salvo.
A pair of massive fountains of water erupted against the port side of Repulse as the massive warheads of two Type 93’s detonated there. One hit abreast X Turret while the other torpedo punched a large hole through the battle cruiser’s side into her forward engine room. A few moments later, another Type 93 struck and detonated against the starboard side of Strasbourg forward of her main battery.
Scores of crewmen onboard the warships closest to Repulse looked in horror as they saw the massive British battle cruiser now listing heavily to the port side. She was still ablaze from earlier Japanese hits while even more Japanese shells rained upon her.
Repulse’s commander, Captain William Tennant soon realized that his command was doomed and gave the order to abandon ship.
Even while Repulse’s crew struggled to leave their sinking ship, the rest of the Coalition force was taking their revenge upon the battle cruiser’s tormentors.
Hiei, like all of the ships of the Kongo class, had been designed as a battle cruiser. She had sacrificed armor protection in order to have both heavy guns and high speed. One of Prince of Wales’ fifteen-inch shells pierced Hiei’s eight-inch thick belt armor and exploded in the midst of the battered Japanese battleship’s forward magazine. A towering jet of flame shot skyward from just forward of Hiei’s pagoda bridge structure. The next thing that everyone saw was Hiei breaking in half as a result of the tremendous magazine explosion. The two halves of the stricken warship pointed up above the surface of the water for perhaps a minute before sinking.
The rest of the Coalition fleet paused for a moment before shifting fire to the remaining Japanese battleship and her consorts. Even Strasbourg continued to fight in spite of the damage that she suffered from the torpedo hit. The Free French battle cruiser was down by the bows and had a slight list to starboard but was still underway.
Now it was Kirishima’s turn to be the focus of the Coalition force’s gunfire. She immediately focused her fire on the damaged Strasbourg to try to finish the battle cruiser off. Unfortunately, both Prince of Wales and Strasbourg quickly found Kirishima’s range and began hitting her with multiple heavy shells. The Japanese fast battleship’s armor was no match for the radar-guided fire of the Coalition big ships. Within five minutes, Kirishima had been hit more than a dozen times by fifteen and thirteen-inch armor piercing shells and was ablaze from stem to stern before she could land a single hit on Strasbourg.
Upon the loss of both Japanese battleships, the surviving ships of the Japanese force quickly made a hard turn towards the north and away from the Coalition formation. The Japanese had taken a very heavy beating and wanted nothing more than to escape to fight another day, it appeared.
“How much speed can you make, Strasbourg?” Prince of Wales asked via signal lamp.
“We can make twenty knots if necessary, though eighteen knots is much better for us. The torpedo hit us in a location that was relatively well protected with ‘Ebonite Mousse’ to reduce flooding. But we have received considerable damage forward.” Came the reply from the damaged Free French battle cruiser.
“Then, I don’t think that we will attempt to pursue what is left of the Japanese force at this time. They appear to be heading back to their base in Subic Bay now.” Admiral Phillips asked to have signaled to Strasbourg.
“Sir, we have a report of a third battleship approaching, this time from the northwest. It must be the ship that survived the Cassowary bombing attack.” A lieutenant from the wireless room quickly said after running onto Prince of Wales’ flag bridge.
“I am surprised that she is still coming here, especially after what happened to the two Kongos. Are there any ships with her?” Admiral Phillips asked.
“Maybe the Japanese have had a problem with their communicati
ons. The incoming battleship has two cruisers and eight destroyers with her, Sir. Our scouts also report that the battleship is a Nagato-class and that she appeared to have been significantly damaged.” Captain Leach noted after reading a second report that had just arrived.
“Gentlemen, we cannot afford to let this battleship get away, especially since she is coming to us. Even with the damage that we have taken, we can defeat this force. Have the fleet prepare to turn and engage the incoming enemy force.”
The Japanese screening force moved ahead of the damaged Nagato and took position to fire their torpedo tubes. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Coalition force was fully aware of this and timed their maneuvers to avoid the incoming Type 93’s. Long range shell fire from the various Coalition cruisers began to rain down upon the two Japanese heavy cruisers that accompanied Nagato.
Coalition destroyers then took advantage of the covering fire to make torpedo runs of their own against the two heavy cruisers and the Japanese destroyers that remained with them. Within fifteen minutes, both cruisers were dead in the water and sinking while two Japanese destroyers joined them.
Then the surviving destroyers on both sides, their torpedo tubes empty, withdrew while the capital ships closed within range of their main batteries.
A few moments later, Prince of Wales turned to bring all nine of her fifteen-inch guns to bear upon the incoming Japanese battleship. Strasbourg was able to keep her bow pointed more directly towards the Nagato while still keeping all eight of her main guns on target. Then both Coalition capital ships fired almost at once at the Nagato.
Even as the shells from Strasbourg and Prince of Wales were on the way to their target, Nagato turned and fired a salvo of her own. One heavy shell hit Nagato from the initial Coalition salvo, causing moderate damage but not greatly imparing Nagato’s fighting power. Eight huge fountains of water erupted a few seconds later on either side of Strasbourg as Nagato’s first salvo straddled her. High velocity splinters from the exploding shells flew across the battle cruiser’s decks, killing and wounding dozens of her crewmen.