Thor's Anvil (Kirov Series Book 26)

by John Schettler

  “And if I chose to use two carrier divisions here in the south? What then?”

  “Operate together in one group. Only then can we provide you with the defense you need. Our missiles, while they last, can strongly augment your own fighter defenses, though we would have to discuss how to coordinate that. Your fighters would have to be held back until our missile defense was expended, so as to minimize the risk of hitting our own aircraft by mistake.”

  “Of course,” said Yamamoto. “And which of these operations do you deem the most important, the most decisive?”

  Harada raised his eyebrows. “Getting Kirov—Mizuchi—would certainly be decisive if it could be accomplished. Without that ship there can be no further operations supported against Sakhalin. It would basically shut down that northern front, because your naval air power could then stop any replenishment effort for troops the Siberians have already landed. Then again, breaking the last of the American carrier capability in the south, and becoming masters of the waters around Fiji, could be equally decisive. Your control of that island goes a long way towards isolating Australia, and if you do sink those remaining enemy carriers, it will be a good long while before the Americans can do anything more offensively in the Pacific.”

  “My thoughts exactly, “said Yamamoto. “Karafuto is a nuisance at the moment. The enemy has a foothold in the north, but we have sent the remainder of the 7th Division from Hokkaido, and the 54th and 53th Divisions are still available on northern Honshu. Those forces can easily create a stalemate there, but driving off or destroying the American carriers produces a rather dramatic shift in the balance of power now being contested.”

  “Sir,” said Fukada. “You said there were three operations earlier. May I ask what the third is?”

  “The British,” said Yamamoto. “The Indian Ocean. We had planned a raid there, to strike the British fleet at Colombo. The eruption of the volcano that preceded your arrival here put an end to those plans, but that ceded control of the entire Indian Ocean to the British. They are fighting us in Burma, and the Army wants support. In effect, they want us to become masters of the Indian Ocean as well.”

  “How big is the British naval presence there?”

  “They have two aircraft carriers, possibly three by now, and a number of surface ships. I was considering sending Carrier Division 3 there, well supported with surface ships, to see about this problem.”

  “Then you want Takami in the Indian Ocean?” said Harada. “And where might you elect to campaign?”

  “Against the American concentration around Fiji. I deem it the most strategic sector of the front. However, what you have just said concerning our chances of dealing with this Mizuchi is most sobering. It is obvious that a single carrier division cannot do the job. It is also apparent to me that as long as this ship remains at large, we can pose no real threat to the enemy lines of communications back to their northern port at Magadan. But soon it will be winter again, and that front will freeze over and become dormant. The ice will prevent Siberian ships from landing at Okha in the north, and they will have only their airship fleet to deliver supplies. Given that we have already stopped their attempt to push into southern Karafuto, I believe that front will soon become stagnant, allowing me to safely proceed with operations in the South Pacific.”

  “A wise course,” said Harada. “Now sir, how can we assist you?”

  Chapter 3

  “Colombo,” said Yamamoto. “I want that base neutralized. To do so would not only serve to support our troops in Burma, but also cut British communications with India, and further isolate Australia by preventing any supply convoys from reaching it via the Indian Ocean.”

  “That is a taller order than it may seem,” said Harada. “This attack you speak of was made in the history we know, but it was only a raid if I am not mistaken.” He looked at Fukada now.

  “Yes sir, the Indian Ocean Raid. It should have already happened by now, a raid led by Admiral Nagumo, and with six carriers, three fleet carriers, and three lighter carriers. The battle was not a strategic victory for Japan, as no effort was ever made to occupy Ceylon. Doing that would have removed two vital British bases from the theater, Colombo and Trincomalee, and also put the Indian port of Madras under Japanese airpower from those same bases. It never happened, and the carrier duels and surface actions were inconsequential. The British fell back on Madagascar temporarily, which they had already taken from the French, and then built up again on Ceylon, remaining masters of the Indian Ocean for the remainder of the war. If you are going to do this, sir, may I respectfully suggest a full hearted commitment of the resources necessary to win?”

  Yamamoto nodded. “Given the heavy losses to our carriers, that may not be easy—a tall order as you say. It was my plan to use Carrier Division 3, and then combine Carrier Divisions 1 and 2 for operations around Fiji. As for any invasion and subsequent occupation of Ceylon, that will depend greatly on the Army’s cooperation. Troop commitments are already strained, but something might be found. At the moment, your orders will be to sail for Singapore and rendezvous with Carrier Division 3. That group will be composed of the new fleet carrier Taiho, and light carriers Hiyo and Junyo. Between the three, there will be a little over 150 planes at Admiral Hara’s disposal, and he will be your commanding officer. Taiho is a new direction in carrier design. It has armored flight decks, and side armor as well. Our carriers are fast and efficient, but fragile. Taiho will correct that deficiency.”

  “It was sunk by a single torpedo fired by an American submarine,” said Fukada, which gave Yamamoto pause.

  “It is frustrating to hear such a thing,” he said. “The futility of everything I do now is made apparent to me each time you open your mouth!”

  “Forgive me, sir. I say this only by way of warning, and in the hope that it will be something we can prevent. Taiho had a design flaw that failed to properly vent fumes from aviation gas. Her bomb and torpedo magazines were well protected, but there were empty spaces around the aviation gas bunkers, and fumes built up in those spaces. They should be filled with sand or concrete immediately. That would help eliminate the problem and also provide a splinter shield for those bunkers. Beyond that, damage control failures were the real reason for the carrier’s demise. A few of our engineers might be posted to that ship and help with that training. And with Takami present, our sonar will assure that submarine attack never takes place. Forewarned is forearmed, sir. That is all I was trying to convey.”

  “Very well,” said Yamamoto, “as your foresight is so keen, then let me ask you another question. It concerns access to materials in your library.”

  Harada did not know why, but that put him just a little on edge.

  “What would you need, sir?”

  “There is a program underway in certain research centers involving the use of these rocket motors. When you made that little demonstration off Davao, I was quite surprised, initially thinking it to be the fruits of this research. Surprise was not half a word for what I felt when you revealed the truth of your identity to me. You have showed me the end of the road we now walk with this war, and all in an effort to persuade me not to undertake this journey. As we have seen, events had a gravity of their own, and here we are. I do not think it will ever be possible to undo the steps we have already taken on this path. Once the order was given to Climb Mount Niitaka, our course was set. Yet the end I saw in the photographs from your library is too dark to contemplate. No sane man would ever wish to lead his nation to such a disaster. So now I ask you to help me reach a different end, and one that preserves the integrity of our nation, and spares our people the horrors I saw in your books and photographs.”

  “We are willing to help in any way we can,” said Harada. It was a case of in for a penny, in for a pound, as the British might say.

  “These rocket weapons you possess,” said Yamamoto, “are they clearly the future in terms of the projection of military power at sea?”

  “A place remains for the aircraft
carrier. That was proved here, and the United States continues to rely on carrier based air power even in our time. They use those planes to protect their ships, just as you do now, but if ant get through, then medium to close range air defense is largely a case of missiles against planes, or other missiles, and certain powers now also see the missile as the only foil to carrier based naval supremacy.”

  “Then you may already know that both Germany and Japan are working on these weapons now.”

  “Yes sir, and we know the outcome of that research as well.”

  Yamamoto nodded, a wry smile on his face. “How strange to think I hesitate briefly here to reveal what is now a military secret, for you are men who have seen the end of all these events. So you must certainly know that we have a weapon in development, a rocket powered craft we call the Okha.”

  “Yes sir,” said Fukada. “However, it did not reach deployment until it was too late to make much difference in the outcome of the war. By then, the American carriers had decided the issue, and it was only a matter of time.”

  “Time and that other terror weapon I saw images of over Hiroshima,” said Yamamoto. “Knowing that, I wish to find a way for our carriers to decide the issue here before that weapon makes the outcome of this war inevitable.”

  “The American project that delivered that weapon is only now beginning in earnest,” said Fukada. “If the history we know is any guide, it will take them three years.”

  Yamamoto considered that. “But if we achieve a decisive outcome here before that, perhaps the negotiated settlement you suggested to me might be possible.”

  “That gets more and more unlikely with each battle fought,” said Harada.

  “Then you believe there is no hope? How can I proceed here knowing that the sum of everything I do leads to defeat and the destruction of our nation?”

  “Sir,” said the Captain, “Mister Fukada has just explained how the fate of the Taiho could be brightened considerably. In the same way, the future you saw in our library might still be avoided. Negotiations may still be possible, but to force the Americans to the table, we would have to demonstrate that a military victory would be impossible for the them to achieve.”

  “Winning the battles we have just discussed would be a necessary first step,” said Fukada. “Yes, dominate the Indian Ocean, defeat the Americans on Fiji, occupy Samoa, destroy the last of the American fleet carriers. These things are still within your grasp now. You can still prevail, and we can help you. We could not defeat our enemy, but our ship can still tip the balance decisively in one more key engagement. Given that, it may be wise to consider another attack on Mizuchi.”

  “But you have just told me you have no further offensive capability.”

  “But you do, sir. Your carriers do, and if enough of them were grouped in one massive attack, you might get hits, and it will only take one or two to cause significant damage. Modern ships are not well armored. Their defense relies on missiles.”

  “I see,” said Yamamoto. “Yet that would put every carrier I might assign to such a mission at risk. Surely that is the case in every operation of war, but Mizuchi seems to hit anything it fires at. Nagumo’s description of the death of Hiryu was none too pleasant.”

  “They failed to hit Takami,” said Fukada. “And they tried thirteen times. In the same way, the missiles we still have could protect your carriers, and then it would be simply a matter of swarming the defender with as many planes as possible.”

  “You are forgetting the speed demons,” said Harada, prompting Yamamoto to give him a quizzical look. “I’m sorry sir, but the last missile Mizuchi fired at us, the one I mentioned earlier, was very fast—twice the speed of the first twelve we defeated. The missiles we fired at it failed to acquire the target, and it was only our last ditch inner defense that scored the lucky hit. Yet if it had failed to do so, Takami would most likely have been sunk. If the enemy has more of these fast missiles, then our ability to defend your carriers may not be absolute.”

  “True,” said Fukada, “but if we do not attack, and Takami expends its remaining missiles in other operations, then your chances of killing Mizuchi diminish considerably.”

  “So you are saying we may have only one last chance,” said Yamamoto. “I understand. And if the enemy has more missiles than you believe, and they are these speed demons, as Captain Harada describes them, then what?”

  Before Fukada could argue that away, Harada spoke up first. “If they were to fire a salvo of four or five such missiles, assuming they still had them, then we might get one of them, two at the most. The others would reach a target. And one thing more. This ship also carries torpedoes—533mm with a 300kg warhead capable of ranging out 50 kilometers. It also has another model that is one part rocket, and one part torpedo. It fires into the water, ignites its rocket engine while submerged, then emerges from the sea to approach the target. It can then deploy as a torpedo, or a depth charge in the sea, and that rocket extends the range to 120 kilometers.”

  “Quite sobering,” said Yamamoto. “That is three times the maximum range of our Type 93 torpedoes. Hopefully it would miss at such a range. Our own units do not fire the Type 93 at its maximum range for that same reason.”

  “Unfortunately, this torpedo will be much more accurate than your Type 93. It uses what we call inertial guidance, not the best way to find a target, but much better than anything used in this war. The fact that it closes most of the range as a rocket in the sky, is also a factor. Hopefully we might be able to shoot one down, unless it deploys into the sea again as a torpedo.”

  Yamamoto nodded. “I will consider what you have said here. Risking the carriers also gambles with the edge we presently have relative to the Americans. They are the real enemy. I do not think Mizuchi could ever win the war against us, or that the Siberians could ever successfully invade Japan. As for the Americans….”

  “Agreed, sir.” Harada decided not to speak of the possibility that Kirov harbored nuclear weapons. Instead he focused on the battle against the United States. “The next six to eight months will be decisive. Mizuchi certainly remains a threat, but for now, at this moment, the carriers still rule the Pacific. So fight your war as you would if our ship were never here, Admiral. Fight your war with those carriers, and win.”

  Yamamoto nodded. “I thank you for your cooperation, and your enthusiasm, in spite of the recent setbacks. In considering that, I wish to ask one more thing. We know the Americans are building a new class of aircraft carrier. What can you tell me about this?”

  “The Essex Class,” said Fukada. “Those ships will form the heart of the US naval force in this war. They are over 60 feet longer and wider abeam than the Yorktown Class, and much heavier at nearly 37,000 tons, full load. Later models will get even heavier, but they are still every bit as fast as Yorktown was at 32 knots. They will also have much better anti-aircraft defense, and over 60mm of armor on the main flight deck. These were fairly durable ships, with 100mm side armor as well. They also have an interesting innovation in the deployment of a deck-edge elevator in addition to two inboard elevators. But their real virtue is the air wing, at least 90 planes, and the Yorktown carried up to 110.”

  “Yorktown? We sunk that ship.”

  “They will rename many of their new Essex Class carriers after the ships they lost early in the war—Yorktown, Lexington, and Hornet will all sail again as new Essex Class carriers, and I suppose the Wasp, if you manage to sink that one.”

  “All of them? How many of these carriers will they build?” asked Yamamoto.

  “The first arrives this year, the Essex. In 1943, six more join the fleet, and in 1944 they will commission another seven, with at least three more ready in 1945…. Before the war ends, if it does end the way it did before.”

  “Then they are presently building more carriers than we started the war with,” said Yamamoto.

  “And that is just the Essex Class,” said Fukada.

  “They will also deploy a light carrier, the In
dependence Class, ships that were converted from their Cleveland Class Cruisers. They will carry only 33 aircraft, but they will commission at least nine of those ships in 1943.”

  “Bringing nearly 300 more enemy planes to sea,” said Yamamoto, somewhat discouraged. “This was my greatest fear, that tremendous industrial might of the United States. They will build new carriers faster than we can sink them!”

  “Unfortunately, sir, I must regretfully report that not one of the Essex Class Carriers were sunk in the war. Many were hit and damaged, but none sunk.”

  “Yet that history may not repeat,” said Harada. “You have already inflicted more losses on the American Carrier fleet than occurred in the history we know. At the moment, the Americans remain very vulnerable.”

  “But six months from now they should have at least three new Essex Class carriers,” Fukada warned, “and five of the smaller Independence Class.” He wanted no misunderstanding as to what may be coming.

  “So in that time they will replace all their losses,” said Yamamoto, “and they will match our fleet carrier for carrier, including the ships we presently have nearing completion. This is exactly what I feared, and why I had to go to the Emperor to request we activate the emergency fleet expansion program. We call it the shadow fleet, and phase one of this program was already activated in 1940, for many of our own carriers were converted from battlecruisers, seaplane tenders and even fast tankers or ocean liners. All three ships in the Tosa Class were once battlecruisers, and now I must share yet another state secret with you. The Tosa Class battlecruisers were not the only hulls completed for new ships of that nature. Four hulls were laid down in our Amagi Class, and two hulls in the Kii Class. Only two of those six ships were ever commissioned as actual battlecruisers, our Amagi and Kagami, but the other hulls have been fitted out with propulsion systems, and all the interior spaces are completed—except they were not designed as battlecruisers, but carriers.”