Untimely Excursions

by Hall, Gerald

  “No worries, Joe. I’m just bloody happy that we have these bombers available to provide support in case we get into a pinch.” Edward replied with a pleasant smile of his own.

  “I would have thought that you would have wanted heaps of extra warships to help support your aircraft carrier, Sir.”

  “Oh, defo. We just need someone to wake up the bloody politicians in Parliament to open up the purse strings a mite. We could certainly stand to have half a dozen more destroyers and a couple of new cruisers armed with loads of those shiny new missiles that your blokes at Cavill Industries have been building.”

  “We’re trying, Sir. Mister Cavill’s kids are definitely trying to shake up the blokes in Canberra as to the need for an enlarged and upgraded military.”

  Chapter Thirty:

  Aircraft Carrier HMAS Australia

  200 NM southeast of Hong Kong

  October 1, 1957

  It is the early evening while HMAS Australia and her escorting destroyers are cruising together for an exercise just southeast of the Dongsha Atoll.

  Without warning, a young radioman enters the bridge of the Australian aircraft carrier and quickly hands a piece of paper to the Officer of the Deck, who quickly reads it and, in turn, hands it over to Australia’s first officer.

  “You’ve got to be joking. Pirates?” Commander Simmons said to the radioman who had not yet gotten to leave the bridge.

  “Yes, Sir. We received a distress call from an Australian merchantman about five minutes ago. She said that they were stopped by what appeared to be an old Japanese cruiser, but it was flying a Chinese flag. There have been several incidents in that area during the past few months where merchant ships have been seized by armed vessels flying a Chinese flag. They either stole the ship’s cargo, held the ship and its crew for ransom or a combination of the two. So, they were considered by most accounts to be pirates. It’s just that few navies down there have the resources or inclination to do anything about piracy at this time.”

  “What was our ship doing in that area? They had to know that there was some danger sailing near China, especially with that civil war going on there.”

  “They were delivering cargo to Okinawa, I believe, Sir.”

  “Well, you better wake up the old man and let him know. I’m sure that he is going to ask for orders from the Admiralty about what to do about this matter.”

  Three minutes later, Captain Terrance Walker quickly walked onto the carrier’s bridge while still buttoning up his blouse. Captain Walker wore two hats on this particular cruise, acting both as the carrier’s captain and the entire task group with its light escort vessels.

  “What is this about an Australian merchantman being stopped by an old Jap cruiser?” The captain gruffly asked.

  Commander Simmons quickly gave the captain a detailed report of the information that the carrier had already received so far.

  “Well, that sounds like a bloody hell of a situation. We’ve received a number of reports on ships being seized along the southern Chinese coastline. But this is the first time that one of our ships has been targeted. It’s also further from the Chinese coast than anything else that we are aware of.”

  “What the hell are the Cantonese thinking? That takes a hell of a lot of logistics to operate any kind of real warship, much less something as large as a heavy cruiser. They have to know that this is going to provoke a significant response by us unless they simply hit the wrong target.” Captain Walker noted.

  “What are your orders, Sir?” Simmons asked.

  “Well, we are not going to go off half-cocked and attack that cruiser on our own, that’s for sure. I need for you to send off a signal to Admiralty House and let them know of the situation. We need to let the Chinese government, such as it is, to handle this situation as much as possible. This is already an international incident. We don’t want to make it any worse if we can bloody well help it.”

  “Aye, Sir.” Commander Simmons quickly replied.

  Five hours later, a radioman returned back to the carrier’s bridge with a response from Captain Wilkinson’s superiors in Canberra. This time, the message was handled directly to Captain Wilkinson.

  “What did they say, Sir?” Commander Simmons asked.

  “About what we would expect from our masters in Government House, Ed. The Foreign Office contacted the Chinese in Beijing. Then the Chinese government claimed that this ship had to belong to the rebels in southern China. The blokes in Beijing have said that they have had nothing to do with their cruiser attacking and seizing our ship, Ed.” Captain Walker replied before continuing.

  “In any event, the brass in Canberra has tasked us to send an aircraft to do a quick flyover to take photos of our hijacked ship and the folks who have seized her. We can make our final plans once we get those photos and see what we are up against. Until then, we have a few hours begin our preparations and hopefully catch a nap while we wait. With any luck, the diplomats can get this all resolved before we arrive.”

  “Aye, Sir. I will have cameras put on one of our Dragonfly-J’s. We will launch it at first light along with an escort fighter. That way, our aircraft will be coming out of the sun when they make their photo run.”

  “Very good, Ed.” We’ve only got an hour or so before then. I suggest that you go back and catch a nap until then. I know that you have been up all night already. Just pass the word along to the air group commander to get the planes ready.”

  Commander Simmons woke to the sound of a pair of jets being catapulted into the air from the flight deck, their jet engines roaring at full power as they climbed up into the skies. The carrier’s first officer immediately got out of his bed, quickly got cleaned up, put on a uniform and made its way back to the bridge.

  “I hope that you were able to get a little sleep, Ed. I have a feeling that we are going to have a very long day ahead of us.” Captain Walker said with a weary smile.

  “Yes, Sir. I’m sure that we will.”

  Less than an hour later, the two jets landed. Immediately after that, another pair of Dragonfly-J’s took off to fly a combat air patrol. A couple of crew on the flight deck ran to one of the recently arrived jets, opened up a panel on the side of the aircraft and pulled out a large cassette of film. He then ran with it and disappeared through a hatchway at the base of the carrier’s island.

  Thirty minutes later, someone called the bridge asking for the captain.

  “Ed, come with me to the Command Information Center. Our photo analysts have the photos developed now and are waiting for us there.”

  Lieutenant Angus Hartmann already had about thirty photos spread out on a large tabletop that was normally used to track ship positions in combat. He and the rest of the crew in the CIC quickly came to attention when the captain came in. Once Captain Walker told everyone to return to their duties, Lieutenant Hartmann began to brief the captain and first officer, pointing out several specific photos.

  “That pirate ship is an old Atago-class ship, it appears from the photos that we took. There are a few odd features to this ship that we need some additional information on, however. It appears that she is missing one of her main armament turrets, certainly.

  I knew that the Japs had a couple of cruisers that had been in port at the end of the war awaiting repairs for battle damage. I had no idea that the Chinese had the means get one of those bloody big ships operational again.” Australia’s naval intelligence analyst said after seeing the first photos of the Chinese pirate ship.

  “I was under the impression that the Chinese had purchased some incomplete destroyer hulls from the Japs, not any cruisers. I just didn’t know which factor had made the purchase. I suppose that the Cantonese cannibalized parts from other abandoned Jap warships to get this Atago running. She’s a big bastard too, I agree. The Atago’s were originally armed with ten eight-inch guns as their main armament. They also had those bloody big Long Lance torpedoes as well. I wonder if the Chinese have any of those ship-killers aboard her?”
Commander Simmons asked.

  “It is hard to say, Sir. I would imagine that her armament is probably somewhat different than what it had been while she was flying a Japanese flag. You know that the Chinese had several factories producing a variety of weapons prior to the end of the war. Our government, along with our other allies, had contracted with Cavill Industries to build the factories and provide some basic weapons design information. But we needed for the Chinese to be able to make some of their own weapons so that they could keep the Japanese from overrunning them. Most of what the Chinese produced under license were small-arms. But they also made some artillery pieces. Those could have been adapted for shipborne use.”

  “So what you are saying is that we might be facing weapons very similar to our own?” Australia’s captain asked.

  “It’s possible, Sir.” Lieutenant Hartmann admitted.

  “That’s bloody wonderful. I wonder if there are any other surprises in store for us out there. The politicians have already spoken and have issued us additional orders, of course. We and our escorts are to proceed westward, locate and retake our merchantman from these pirates. If we face any resistance, we are to eliminate them with extreme prejudice. I know what the pilots will say when they learn about this.”

  “Our blokes are not going to like that at all, Sir.”

  “I don’t like it all, myself. In any event, we will be receiving marines en route. They will be flying in via helicopter and operating from our flight deck. We will be providing temporary quarters for the incoming marines inside of the hangar deck.”

  “I hope that these ‘pirates’ don’t have any fighters protecting them. I understand that we are having one of our flying boats arriving momentarily to shadow the cargo transport and her pirate escort to keep us informed about anything that happens, Sir.”

  “I suppose that we will have to send a couple of our aircraft to provide that flying boat an escort just in case of trouble.” Captain Walker quickly replied.

  The Cavalier flying boat, radio call sign: Seahawk One, initially picked up the captive merchant ship on her surface search radar. She then flew in closer to get a visual identification on the merchant ship and the cruiser sitting next to her.

  “That looks like a heavy cruiser sitting less than a hundred meters away from that merchantman. In fact, that looks like one of the old Japanese cruisers.” The Cavalier’s pilot noted as he nosed his big flying boat downward to close within three kilometers of their objective.

  “She’s definitely an Atago, alright. But that heavy cruiser’s been modified quite a bit. I can also confirm that she’s also only got four main battery turrets. That must mean that she was Maya according to our intelligence. She was supposed to have been converted by the Japanese to a bit of an antiaircraft ship before the end of the war by replacing her number three turret with some additional antiaircraft guns. But she was stranded in the port of Xiahai at the end of the war. We thought that the Chinese were going to break her up for salvage though. I guess that somebody out there decided to put that cruiser back into service instead.” Seahawk One’s observer reported to the flying boat’s commander.

  “Still, that is a lot of work for what are supposed to be a bunch of pirates.” Flight Lieutenant Owen Cambridge replied.

  “Yes, Sir. I have to agree. Someone else has to have been involved in the refitting of that ship. But that’s not all that these bastards have done to her either. I don’t think that Maya has her Long Lance torpedo tubes any more. The openings for them appear to have been plated over. But there are half a dozen big containers sitting on her midships deck. They are sitting up on stands at an angle for some reason too.”

  Suddenly, Owen saw something flying up towards the Cavalier, actually several dozen ‘somethings’, and he immediately yanked the yoke back and turned the wheel hard to the right. The observer found himself being slammed momentarily against the side of his compartment by the radical maneuver. Those ‘somethings’ were dozens of heavy and medium-caliber tracers passing in close proximity of the flying boat.

  “What the bloody hell is going on? That damned cruiser is putting out a lot more ack-ack than any Jap cruiser that I ever dealt with during the war. I am having to keep my distance a lot more than I ordinarily would have.” Owen growled as he made another radical course change to avoid another flurry of incoming enemy fire.

  “So what are they shooting at you that is causing you so much grief, Sir?”

  “I don’t know, Lieutenant. You look down there and tell me. All I know is that I am having to dodge a lot more enemy fire than I even remotely expected.”

  “Well, for starters, those aren’t five-inchers on that cruiser’s flanks, Sir. They look like the same damned guns that an Akizuki-class carried. It looks like she has three turrets of those guns on each side too.”

  “Lieutenant, what about all of those lighter gun mounts over there? Those sure as hell aren’t the old 25mm mounts that the Japs used to use.”

  “No bloody wonder she is putting out so much flak, Sir. She’s got to have at least twelve of those 10cm guns along with a bunch of Bofors mounts. They must have installed those new guns to replace most of those useless 25mm antiaircraft guns and their old Type 89 five-incher mounts that cruiser used to be armed with. My guess is that those ‘pirates’ must have taken those Type 98 mounts off of a couple of salvaged destroyers.” Replied the flying boat’s observer from his seat behind the pilot.

  “Well, mate. You better let the folks on Australia know what we have found here. That way, they can decide what to do about these buggers. We are probably going to have to leave here before long, so the commander of our ships better think of something quick.”

  The message from Seahawk One was not the news that Australia’s commander, Captain Walker wanted to hear. He stood on the carrier’s bridge and watched several jets being prepared for launch. Commander Simmons stood next to the captain on the bridge.

  “This is one hell of a situation that the politicians have handed to us.” Captain Walker growled.

  “I know, Sir. But, I suppose we are the ones who have to implement a military solution for it, since it appears that diplomacy has failed. According to our Cavalier, that bloody cruiser is too damned close to the merchantman for our destroyers to use their new anti-ship missiles to attack her.”

  “Then we will have to do this the hard way. We are going to have our fighter-bombers have a go at that cruiser first. Once she’s out of the way, then we can send in the Marines onboard their helicopters.”

  “It’s still going to be bloody ugly for them when they make their runs on that cruiser.”

  “Perhaps so, but our people are still damned good at their job. Plus, the new jet version of the Dragonfly is nasty as hell to face. Hopefully, those pirates will get the hell out of there after the first couple of attack runs.

  Mister Seeger, it’s time for us to go ahead and move our transports in preparation to launch our Marines now. They should arrive shortly after our jets have dealt with the enemy cruiser.”

  As Flight Lieutenant spoke, HMAS Australia had already started launching an air strike consisting of twelve jet fighter-bombers. Their pilots all knew that it was an Australian crew out there who needed their help. The fliers were determined not to let those sailors down either.

  Flying Officer Nigel Powers has taken off with his Dragonfly-J from HMAS Australia’s flight deck only a few minutes earlier. Now, Nigel and his wingman F.O. Thomas Fortham joined another ten aircraft from Australia en route to the captive merchantman. Their orders were to attack the Chinese cruiser near the merchantman to clear the way for the Marines.

  “I wish that we could carry a couple of extra bombs in addition to this big rocket. I remember that those big Jap cruisers were pretty hard to kill during the last war.” Thomas radioed to his wingman.

  “I do too. But these jet versions of the Dragonfly are pretty thirsty. That’s why we are all carrying a pair of drop tanks so that can reach the target and have so
me loiter time there. You know that it is a tradeoff between fuel and ordnance.”

  Australia’s Dragonfly-J’s had replaced the original Dragonfly’s pusher radial engine with a pair of turbojets located in the rear fuselage. The new jet fighter-bomber design had a standard armament of three 25mm automatic cannons mounted in the nose. Like her piston-powered predecessor, the Dragonfly-J had three hardpoints for carrying ordnance and drop tanks, one under the centerline and one under each wing.

  For this mission, the centerline hardpoint of each of the Australian jet fighter-bombers carried a single large rocket with a two hundred and fifty kilogram armor-piercing warhead. This weapon was designed for use against large armored warships like cruisers and battleships.

  While a guided version of the weapon was still under development, the weapon’s powerful rocket motor pushed it to such a high velocity that it was nonetheless very accurate in the hands of a skilled pilot. The one drawback is that the pilot still had to get in fairly close to his target before launching the weapon. But even a single hit could be devastating to its target.

  Less than ten minutes later, Nigel heard a message come over the squadron frequency from Lieutenant Commander Arthur Cadwell, the strike commander.

  “Alpha Leader to all elements, target in sight. Prepare to attack by section. Good hunting, mates. Please make sure not to hit that merchantman though.”

  The rest of the strike group acknowledged their instructions as they sped towards their target in their jets.

  Nigel’s Alpha Three and Thomas’ Alpha Four would be among the first aircraft to make their attack runs.

  “That bugger is zig-zagging now. They must have found out that we were coming in.” Thomas commented.

  “I know. I’m going to make the first attack run. Go ahead and cover me. Hopefully, we can knock this cruiser out quickly so that we can get back to the ship.

  Diving down from an altitude of about four thousand meters, Nigel started his from abeam the enemy warship. He lined up on the bridge of the cruiser as his speed passed over five hundred knots and rising. There seemed to be hundreds of tracers coming up directly at him.