Kirov III: Pacific Storm k-3

by John A. Schettler

  Dobrynin sat down in his chair, closed his eyes and began to listen to the machine he had operated for so many years. The sound of the reaction was like a song in his head by now, and he knew every note, every cadence and rhythm, his highly trained ear slowly listening to the nuclear symphony.

  Sometime later he hear it, a strange note in the score, like a flute that had run off on its own, soaring above the clarinet section, a lilting phrase that remained in harmony with the overall song, but was clearly never sanctioned by the conductor.

  There it is again, he thought. Was it something in the system, the coolant flow, or perhaps in Rod 25 itself? That rod was the one common denominator in all of these strange flux events—Rod 25. He focused his mind on the wayward notes, following their rise and fall, a strange new soloist in the orchestra.

  “I think we have a little flux reading now, yes Mister Garin?”

  “Right sir, just as before, but nothing serious, sir. It is well within limits.” How could the Chief Engineer know what his gauges were reading, he wondered? He was twenty feet away with his eyes closed.

  Something was happening here that Dobrynin did not quite understand, but he knew that Admiral Volsky would soon want to know what it was. Perhaps after this I will suggest we have a look at Rod 25, he thought to himself. Then, thinking of Volsky, he opened his eyes, picked up the comm-unit, and called the bridge.

  “Dobrynin here. The procedure is now underway. Please hold at ten knots or lower for the next two hours…And tell Admiral Volsky I can hear it again. He will know what I mean.”

  Chapter 27

  Yoshida was up in his E13A, designated “Type Zero Reconnaissance Seaplane” by the navy, and called simply “Jake” by the Allies. He had been quietly shadowing the distant ship on the horizon, keeping a careful distance as ordered. He had heard the stories of sky serpents that reached for a plane and devoured it in a single bite! Now he noticed the shadow on the sea seemed to grow larger, a telltale sign that the ship was turning, briefly presenting its full silhouette. He sighed, realizing he would have to close the range now to ascertain the new heading, and fed power to his engine as he banked.

  Some minutes later he had a fairly good read on the ship’s course by again aligning his plane with the distant white wake and reading his own compass. Due north, he thought. The ship has turned. Where could it be going? Nothing north, except perhaps the last Australian outpost at Milne Bay.

  He turned to his radio man, telling him to send the new heading. “No change in speed,” he added. The ship seemed to be in no particular hurry. If it knew what was hunting it, perhaps it would be running at high speed now. Then again, every ship and plane that had ever encountered this demon had either died or sustained serious damage. He mastered his curiosity, resisting the urge to get closer and see this Mizuchi for himself. No, he thought. I have no desire for an unplanned sea landing. You may tickle this sea dragon’s tail, but don’t provoke it. Yoshida was a very wise man.

  The message was soon decoded and flashed to all surface action groups presently in the hunt. Admiral Yamamoto was informed a little after 12:40 hours by Operations Chief Kuroshima in the officer’s dining room where the fleet commander was just finishing his lunch.

  “The ship has turned on a new heading, sir. Due north.”

  Yamamoto raised an eyebrow at this. “Are you certain?” he asked setting down his chop sticks on the white linen napkin.

  “It was first reported by a seaplane off the Tone, and has been verified by search planes from the Mutsu as well, sir.”

  “North, Kuroshima? What is this ship up to?”

  “It could have spotted us as well, sir. It was obvious that we were in a favorable position to intercept if it continued on its old heading. Who knows, sir. Perhaps it is running for Milne Bay now that we have herded it away from ports on the Australian mainland. Hara has a large screening force out west with his carriers. They may have spotted it.”

  “Was there a speed indicated?”

  “The pilots estimated no more than ten or twelve knots, sir.”

  That again seemed to surprise Yamamoto, and he looked at his Operations Chief now, his lunch finished. “It does not seem that they have any fear of battle,” he said. “Ten or twelve knots?”

  “The ship could have been damaged by our air strike, sir. This is good news. I suggest we alter course to intercept at once.”

  “Give the order, Kuroshima. Yes, this is good news, though very surprising. Perhaps they do not realize we have two more battleships to their northwest. Well enough. How soon might we catch this ship?”

  “That remains to be seen, sir, but we can cut the range considerably now if we run full out.”

  “Make it so. And keep me informed if the enemy makes any further heading or speed change.”

  “Of course, sir.” Kuroshima bowed with a quick salute, and turned to send the new heading order up to the bridge.

  Yamamoto leaned back in his chair, thinking about this new development. He was immediately relieved that this ship was no longer threatening Hara’s carriers. Those ships had to be preserved at all costs. Without their strike squadrons intact, they were little more than ducks in a pond should any other American carrier be operating in these waters. Six fighters, he thought darkly. That was all Hara had left to put over his carriers, two shotai. And below decks there were no more than ten other planes, many bearing scars and shrapnel wounds from the incredible attack concluded that morning against this enemy ship. It was most unsettling; seemingly impossible! How could the seasoned pilots of Hara’s group have failed to bludgeon this ship with over ninety planes in the morning air strike? He could still not believe the results, or the baffling reports of aerial rockets that had been so deadly, intercepting and killing Hara’s planes before they ever set eyes on their target.

  If the British built this ship, he mused, then it truly is a monster. Perhaps it was a new ship, something the intelligence masters and the bright young men of the Naval General Staff had been unable to discover. After all, his own ship, the super battleship Yamato, had been shrouded in secrecy for all the many years of its construction. Virtually everything about it, its displacement, armor, the true size and caliber of its guns, had been closely guarded state secrets. Was it so difficult to believe that the British could have built a fast and deadly ship like this, and engineered these marvelous new rocket weapons?

  Thinking of Yamato again, he realized the tremendous resources it had taken to build, the seemingly endless work in the foundries and factories. Three of these superb battleships had been ordered, but only two delivered. The final ship would become a carrier instead, and that was probably very wise, he thought…unless…

  The fate of Hara’s squadrons weighed heavily in his mind now. What if this ship, these new rocket weapons, changed the delicate balance of power at sea yet again? It had been a world of dreadnaughts and battleships, with nations signing treaties to stubbornly restrict the size and power of these deadly vessels. Then the British flew a flock of outmoded planes against the Italian battle fleet at Taranto and showed what even slow, obsolete aircraft might do against the steel dragons of the sea. Three of six Italian battleships there had been either sunk or damaged so badly they had to be beached. If a few British planes could do this at Taranto, he realized, then what might the superb fast carriers and naval aviators of the Imperial Japanese Navy do against the Americans at Pearl Harbor?

  The plan was just a few months from being realized when the Germans stupidly struck the Americans in the North Atlantic, just a little over a year ago now. The Americans declared war, Japan foolishly sided with Germany instead of pursuing an independent course, and the Americans obliged by declaring hostilities against the Empire as well, on September 1, 1941. The Pearl Harbor attack plan was suddenly nothing more than stacks of useless paper!

  Yet even though his carriers did not get the chance to prove their skills at Hawaii, they had performed flawlessly ever since, screening, scouting, providing decis
ive air power when needed as Japan rolled south into the resource rich island archipelagos of the Pacific. The old American battleships that the navy planners had been so eager to kill were still largely berthed at Pearl Harbor, too fat and slow to keep up with the speedy hit and run tactics required by the carrier fleets. Now this…

  A ship that could defend itself against an entire carrier task force! A fast, deadly ship that had held Iwabuchi’s cruisers at bay, killed submarines with no destroyer escort, left the battleship Kirishima a steaming wreck in its foaming wake, and was now in a perfect place to strike at Hara’s carriers, their hangers largely empty, or at the slow transports bearing troops from the Nagoya 3rd Division. These reports of rockets that had even bloodied his ships were most confounding. His staff was of the opinion that they would have to be piloted to be so accurate. They struck targets the enemy could not even see!

  While this made some sense to him, it would be most unlike the British to produce a weapon requiring a pilot to give his life. Perhaps the pilots were ejecting once they had aimed their weapons, but no sign of this had been observed, and not a single enemy had been found in the sea. It was a profound mystery.

  Only one thing was certain, this ship changes everything, he thought. Now it will no longer be a war of carriers and planes, though they will always have their place in any well balanced navy. No. From everything he had heard, it was now the daring pilots of these rocket weapons who would decide the fate of nations, and only a ship capable of withstanding their warheads could close and engage the enemy in a gun duel…. A ship like Yamato, the largest and most heavily armored battleship ever built. If ever there was a real dragon of the sea, he was standing on its armored back at this very moment. His guns could tear any ship then known to pieces if they could get in range.

  That was another mystery. Iwabuchi’s cruisers and even the Kirishima reported being hit by small caliber deck guns, yet at ranges exceeding their own main batteries! This ship used these infernal rockets in place of the monstrous gun turrets all other big ships would carry, and it gave the enemy the ability to strike at impossible ranges. How were they seeing his ships? One report had indicated a strange aircraft was spotted. They must use seaplanes as we do on our fast cruisers and battleships. It was the only thing that made sense. So here was a battlecruiser that could fight like a carrier, and with a lethal defensive shield against his own carrier planes with these new rocket weapons. The world had changed, right beneath his nose, and he had not seen it happening. This ship was a true nightmare, a revolutionary leap in naval thinking and design.

  Then, inexplicably, this Shadow Dancer simply turns north, forsaking all the valuable targets it still had within easy reach. It was baffling, to say the least, but thankfully he could now focus his attention on finding the enemy and holding them accountable for the havoc they had caused in the seas around Australia. It may be the only one of its class, he thought. If I sink it, this would prove that the old strength of guns and steel can as yet prevail. What was it up to, he wondered?

  If this ship were still out hunting for new prey, it would not make such a sudden and stupid maneuver. Perhaps this beast is wounded, as Kuroshima suggested. Or perhaps it has limited ammunition or fuel and must now run for a friendly base. But Milne Bay? There is nothing there but a few stubborn battalions of Australian infantry. Could the ship have other intentions? Could it be planning to attack Rabaul? Would it be so daring as to sail right into the arms of our main defenses? Then again, perhaps it was only trying to escape…

  Every hunter needed good dogs to find and flush out his prey. He had three fast cruisers with him, Nagara, Yura and Jintsu, fast as the rivers they were named for at 36 knots. He could turn them loose and have them try and run this sea dragon down. The enemy seemed in no hurry, or better yet, it seemed to be limping north now, perhaps even crippled as it fled. Let them harry her, he thought, and we will see if Kuroshima is correct. Well enough. They can put their torpedoes to good use if they catch up with the enemy. If the cruisers find themselves overmatched, they can always fall off and simply shadow this beast. It seemed a good idea, and he called for an orderly, telling him to convey his wishes to Rear Admiral Takayanagi on the bridge at once.

  The chase was on, but Yamamoto reserved a measure of caution, even if he was in the most powerful ship in the world, or so he believed. A wounded animal is most dangerous, he thought. This ship has eluded our forces for days. It must be stalked carefully, professionally, and dealt with mercilessly. And I will see it at the bottom of the sea, one small flower I can take to the Emperor.

  One small flower…

  ~ ~ ~

  Captain Sanji Iwabuchi received the order with much excitement. At last, he thought. I am no longer chained to Hara’s carriers. I am free to find and kill this enemy ship again, and avenge the insult and shame I have suffered in losing command of Kirishima. Captain Okada has been more than accommodating to have me here aboard Tone, and I cannot dishonor him, or myself, any further.

  When the Kirishima struck those mines in the narrow waters of the Torres Strait, Iwabuchi had been ordered to wait and escort Hara’s carriers through the narrow passage, to sweep the channels so they could move east and do what he had abjectly failed to do.

  Yet now old King Kong knows what it feels like, neh? Hara’s neck is a red as mine! His entire carrier air wing was nearly wiped out, and now he, too, was eager for revenge. With Yamamoto’s orders to protect his carriers with everything he had left, I have little doubt he would still have his hand on my waistband, keeping me close. But with the arrival of two more light cruisers and three destroyers in the Ryuho group, he now has enough ships to screen his precious fleet carriers, and I am once again unleashed, the rabid dog set loose again.

  Tone is a good ship, fast and with good eyes in the six seaplanes she carries. True, she does not have the power I once commanded with Kirishima, but at least I can catch this Mizuchi now. It can no longer edge away in the night to set cowardly traps as it did in the straits. Yes, I can catch it, but can I kill it?

  He considered what had happened to Haguro, and the damage that had been sustained by Myoko and Nachi. The 8 inch guns he had in front of him now were much weaker than the 14 inch guns on Kirishima. No matter. He would use speed this time, get in close and run this sea dragon through with his torpedoes. It was more than duty, more than his need to stand for his comrades in arms here. Now it was personal.

  If I do not prevail, he thought, then it is very likely that I will be relieved of my command when this is all over and the children in the Naval General Staff start asking their questions about what happened here. Before I stand accused of incompetence, and endure their insults, I will first have a victory to hand them—to silence the whispers behind my back, to make an end of the sullen eyes that follow me, and most of all, to have my just vengeance.

  He had been cruising almost due east for the last hour and a half, on a course that would both screen Hara’s carriers and race to cut off the advance of the enemy. This time things are different, he thought, this time I am ahead of this beast. But soon he was disheartened to learn that one of his seaplane scouts had reported the enemy had altered course and was now steering due north. Now he was again behind the action, and forced to run at his best speed to creep up on this demon. He gave the order to swing round to a heading of five degrees north and all ahead full. In doing so he knew he would begin to outpace both Nachi and Myoko, as they could not quite match his speed. So be it.

  Somewhere to the east he knew Admiral Yamamoto was watching, and steaming even now to find and punish this interloper. Captain Iwabuchi wanted to get there first, and with a nine knot speed advantage over Yamato, he had a very good chance of doing exactly that.

  I may not be able to match this ship on my own, he thought, but I can take hold of its ankle, and sink my teeth into it nonetheless. He smiled when the bell rang out the course change, the helmsman’s voice rising and falling in echo to his own.

  Heavy cruiser To
ne turned smartly about, and surged north, her sharp bow cutting the seas with her haste and a long white wake behind her for the other cruisers to follow.

  The chase was on.

  Part X

  CLASH OF TITANS

  “Now shall I become a common tale,

  A ruin’d fragment of a worn-out world;

  Unchanging record of unceasing change.

  Eternal landmark to the tide of time.

  Swift generations, that forget each other,

  Shall still keep up the memory of my shame

  Till I am grown an unbelieved fable.”

  ~ Hartley Coleridge, Prometheus

  Chapter 28

  Rodenko watched the slow approach of the enemy, wishing he had his Fregat system to get better data, but doing what he could with the Top Mast antenna. The first two hours were the most difficult. He could see the enemy task force to the east clear enough. It had been heading about 247 degrees southwest at twenty-five knots on a course to intercept the ship, but sometime after Kirov turned north he saw it come round on 292 degrees and by 15:00 hours it had closed to a range of 125 kilometers east of their position.

  When Dobrynin reported his maintenance procedure was complete, Fedorov gave the order to go to full battle speed and turned the ship on a parallel heading, running away from the Yamato group, but the Japanese had a surprise for them.

  “My contact to the east is splitting,” he said. It looks like they are sending out a faster ships to try and run us down. He could see a group of contacts moving ahead of his primary, and to make matters worse there was a very fast contact coming up from the south as well, and moving at all of thirty-six knots.