Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

Post descriptions of your brilliant successes and unfortunate demises.

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kaleun
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by kaleun »

This is sooo good!
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Cuttlefish
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

April 21, 1945

Location: Ominato
Course: None
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Proceed south and raid enemy shipping

---

Lieutenant Miharu is glad for the small stool someone has placed near the phone in the hallway at the naval headquarters building in Omami. As a military man he is capable of standing for long periods of time without strain but he has been on the phone for three hours now and it is good to be able to sit.

Three fruitless hours. All he hears, all he has heard since first placing the call, are hollow sounds of static punctuated by occasional clicks and pops and faint snatches of ghostly conversation from calls that are not his. He is trying to reach his wife, Kojima, and get news about her and his little daughter, who is now around six months old.

Getting to Kanazawa and back in one day is not possible. It would be difficult even in peacetime but too many rail lines in central Honshu have been severed by enemy bombs. Any express train he might take would route him through either Osaka or Nagoya and that is where the damage is worst.

Suddenly the line clears a bit, at least as much as it ever does, and a woman’s voice is heard. “This is the Kanazawa telephone exchange, how may I be of help to you?”

“Thank you for your help,” says the Lieutenant. “This is Lieutenant Miharu Sakamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy. I would like to place a call to my wife.” He gives the phone number. The lieutenant was careful to stress his status as a military officer because civilian calls are not permitted. Few enough private residences have a telephone in any event, but Miharu comes from a wealthy family.

“Is this regarding official military business?” the woman asks. Her tone is helpful and efficient.

“No, it is a personal call,” Lieutenant Miharu says.

“I am truly very sorry, but we can no longer connect personal calls even for officers,” says the operator. “The phone system may now only be used for official military traffic.”

“I see,” says the lieutenant slowly. “I did not know. I have been away, you see.” Perhaps something of the sadness of his tone penetrates the static because there is a pause on the other end.

“Please wait,” says the operator. The sound on the line becomes hollow once again. Perhaps fifteen minutes pass.

“Thank you for waiting, Lieutenant Miharu,” says the operator, coming back on the line. “I very deeply regret not being able to connect you. But one of the women here knows your wife and saw her at the fish market a few days ago. She says your family is fine. Your daughter is starting to crawl.”

The lieutenant’s throat tightens. “Thank you very much for that news,” he manages to say. “You are very kind.” He bids her farewell and hangs up. It takes a moment before he can compose himself enough to turn and stride out of the building and into the daylight with the proper commanding bearing an officer should at all times possess.

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MrPlow9
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by MrPlow9 »

Amazing! After lots of enjoyable reading, I have finally caught up in your great novel! I very much look forward to future entries!

Thanks!

-A fanatic fan
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ckammp
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by ckammp »

I started playing WitP around the time this AAR was started. Back then I didn't have a lot of spare time, so when I ventured into the AAR threads, I looked for the more "daily results-type" AARs, in order to pick up tips and hints to apply to my games. This AAR seemed more the "story-type"; interesting, but one which lack of time prevented me from reading. A month ago, I found myself rather unexpectantly with a lot of time; time which, I deceided, I would spend seeing what I had missed.

I missed a lot!

This AAR is, IMHO, the best-written AAR I have ever read. That is saying a lot - I am sure I'm not alone in stating that there are many, many excellant AARs in this forum. But the drama, details, and creativity of "Hibiki" are simply unsurpassed![&o]

Thank you, Cuttlefish, for writing this epic; let me add my voice to others in requesting you find a way to print this in book form when you are finished.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

ORIGINAL: MrPlow9

Amazing! After lots of enjoyable reading, I have finally caught up in your great novel! I very much look forward to future entries!

Thanks!
ORIGINAL: ckammp

I started playing WitP around the time this AAR was started. Back then I didn't have a lot of spare time, so when I ventured into the AAR threads, I looked for the more "daily results-type" AARs, in order to pick up tips and hints to apply to my games. This AAR seemed more the "story-type"; interesting, but one which lack of time prevented me from reading. A month ago, I found myself rather unexpectantly with a lot of time; time which, I deceided, I would spend seeing what I had missed.

I missed a lot!

This AAR is, IMHO, the best-written AAR I have ever read. That is saying a lot - I am sure I'm not alone in stating that there are many, many excellant AARs in this forum. But the drama, details, and creativity of "Hibiki" are simply unsurpassed!

Thank you, Cuttlefish, for writing this epic; let me add my voice to others in requesting you find a way to print this in book form when you are finished.

Lots of new readers these days, it seems. I'm glad you both have enjoyed it so far.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

April 22, 1945

Location: Ominato
Course: None
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Proceed south and raid enemy shipping

---

Shiro Kuramata sits in a movie theater in Aomori. It has been a long time since he has watched a movie. The feature tonight is the recent feature Kancho: Umi no bara*. Shiro hopes it will be good. It is not as though he has many choices, though; there is one movie theater in Aomori still running and this is what is playing.

The lights go down and the movie begins. The plot unfolds swiftly: the United States, having lost their main spy base on Corrigedor, are reduced to running spies into Japan using the submarine Sea Rose. Shiro notes with wry interest that in the movie America is portrayed as facing ultimate defeat and is grasping at straws to find a way to strike back at Japan.

The spies are hunted with heroic efficiency by the leading man, who plays a Kempeitai officer. Most of the enemy agents are rounded up. One ring remains at large, however. From information gathered via careless Japanese citizens these spies are able to relay information that results in a large Japanese convoy being destroyed. Many lives are lost.

The Kempeitai officer pursues one of the spies, a woman. During the chase the woman is struck by a car. As she lies dying she is comforted by the Kempei. Moved by his kindness towards an enemy she tells him that she has seen the error of her ways and now understands the true meaning of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. With her last breaths she gives him the secret codes that enable him to track down and break the rest of the spy ring.

But the Kempaitai officer knows his job is not done yet. He works with the Imperial Japanese Navy to lay a trap that sinks Sea Rose, putting an end to the spy threat once and for all. Noble words are said about victory and the movie ends.

Shiro leaves the theater deep in thought. The movie was well made but it did not depict the war with which Shiro is all too familiar. Shiro would like to live in the Japan where Kempeitai officers are heroic and kind and Japan is always victorious. Alas, he does not.

Shiro walks out into the night and back to the ferry that will return him to the war he knows.

---

*The Sea Rose Spy. An actual film made in Japan in late 1944, with a plot as described.
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BigBadWolf
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by BigBadWolf »

"Are you trying to say that Kempetai officers are not heroic and kind? Surely a misunderstanding on my part, comrade." - he replied, while trying to remember the phone number of local Kempetai office. This defeatists and even treacherous talk must not be tolerated.

"Shiro walks out into the night and back to the ferry that will return him to the war he knows."

Excellent as always, CF.
[8D]
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Alikchi2
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Alikchi2 »

I'm consistently impressed by the amount of research you've done into Japanese wartime life. I wonder if there's some place I can download Sea Rose..
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tocaff
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by tocaff »

Me too.  I think that to have a good AAR told in this fashion one must do his homework.  When one is playing as the Japanese the amount of research needed is magnified because of it's everything being so unfamiliar.  Kudos as usual CF.  If I ever want to know something about Japan during the war I know who to contact.
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Capt. Harlock
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Capt. Harlock »

now understands the true meaning of the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

The true meaning of the Co-Prosperity Sphere involved Unit 731 and other details that even Shiro is probably not aware of. I once saw a Japanese wartime animated film about a boy and his cute talking animal friends who decide to volunteer to become paratroopers. After showing what they can do unofficially, they are formally accepted into the training school. The last triumphant scene is of the gang practicing landings by jumping off a six-foot ledge--onto a map of the United States. It made the hair on my neck rise up.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

April 23, 1945

Location: Ominato
Course: None
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Proceed south and raid enemy shipping

---

Captain Ishii is ashore having lunch with the captains of two other destroyers that will participate in the foray south, Commander Teramuchi of Akiguma and Commander Shunichi of Isokaze. The three men are sitting on tatami mats around a low table. A bottle of sake sits on the table along with a number of empty bowls. The izakaya, a pub featuring both food and drink, is almost exclusively occupied at the moment by navy men.

Commander Shunichi fills his cup with sake and then looks to see if his companion’s cups need filling. He pauses and stares at the small glass in front of Hibiki’s captain.

“What the hell is that you are drinking, Ishii?” he asks.

“Goat’s milk,” says Ishii with a grimace. “This damned war has put a hole in my gut. When I drink sake it feels like I’ve swallowed a hot coal.”

Shunichi shakes his head. “You are not the only captain I know with that trouble,” he says. “But you have more cause than most, with all the action you’ve seen.”

“It isn’t the fighting,” says Ishii. “It’s the waiting and worrying. Like now. We depart tonight, and who knows what we will find?”

“Myself, I am hoping for a nice fully laden troop convoy with but little escort,” says Teramuchi expansively. “Or perhaps a nice group of tankers loaded with fuel for the thirsty enemy ships.”

“It would feel good to strike back for a change,” agrees Shunichi. “And we will have some help, have you heard? The new carrier Ikoma will follow us, to help the submarines with scouting and to pick off stragglers.”

“That is good news!” says Ishii. “Though one carrier will not be enough if we are spotted or have the bad luck to run across enemy carriers by daylight.”

“We must hope for the best,” says Shunichi. “And our fate does not matter, as long as we have the chance to deal the enemy a heavy blow first.” He holds out the bottle to Teramuchi, who shakes his head.

“That is enough for me,” he says. “At least, if I am to con my ship out of the bay tonight.” Shunichi nods, then caps the bottle. He raises his cup.

“Success and good hunting,” he says. “May the gods give us the chance to give the enemy a mighty kick in the pants.” The other two captains lift their glasses and drink. Ishii grimaces slightly at the taste of the thin, warm goat’s milk. He looks at his glass.

“Maybe we can give some enemy captain an ulcer,” he says.

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tocaff
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by tocaff »

Well in my AAR a Lt has an ulcer and he isn't even on a ship, he's in Washington DC!

Good buildup CF.  Do you give a writing course?  Have you commissioned any researchers to help you?  [;)]
Todd

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

April 24, 1945

Location: 400 miles east-southeast of Sendai
Course: South
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 432

Orders: Proceed south and raid enemy shipping

---

Twenty-one Japanese warships - four heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and fourteen destroyers - steam southward towards enemy-controlled waters. Ahead of them a dozen submarines fan out, seeking targets. Behind them comes carrier Ikoma with seven escorts.

Japanese planners believe they have found a seam in the enemy’s defenses, a narrow slot between the patrol arcs of enemy planes based on Wake and Eniwetok and those on Guam and Tinian. If the Japanese come down past Marcus Island and then angle to the southwest they might just be able to arrive in the enemy’s main shipping lane undetected.

The thousands of sailors aboard the Japanese ships hope so. They are eager, after weeks of being hunted in their own home waters, to strike back. And on this foray being detected might mean more than just having to turn back empty-handed. If they are far enough south it will give enemy carrier forces a good chance to trap and destroy them.

Still, morale is high, in a grim sort of way. More and more these sailors do not expect to survive. They only hope for a chance to take some of the enemy with them. Aboard Hibiki, however, things are a little different. Have they not sailed against the enemy time and again and come back to tell the tale? Is not Captain Ishii capable of seeing them through any situation? And is not the hand of Benzaiten poised over them, ready to fend off doom?

Though they do not know it, perhaps mercifully for at least two of Hibiki’s crew, the Japanese have picked the best possible time to strike. For the enemy is about to deal another mighty blow and their attention is at the moment focused almost entirely upon their new objective – the island of Okinawa.

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Capt. Harlock »

Japanese planners believe they have found a seam in the enemy’s defenses, a narrow slot between the patrol arcs of enemy planes based on Wake and Eniwetok and those on Guam and Tinian.

But they don't know about the American code-breaking. Another tense set-up--no wonder Ishii has an ulcer.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by tocaff »

Getting in position to strike is hard enough, but a return to safe waters?  [:(]
Todd

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cuttlefish »

April 25, 1945

Location: 280 miles north-northeast of Marcus Island
Course: South
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 389

Orders: Proceed south and raid enemy shipping

---

Nanami Ariga awakens early in the morning in her father’s cottage on Okinawa. For a moment she lies on her narrow sleeping mat, staring at the plastered ceiling. What sound has awakened her? Then she hears it again, a distant rumble of thunder.

Her grandmother enters the room, already dressed and moving briskly despite her years. “Come, child,” she says. “Get dressed quickly.”

“What is it, Grandmother?” says Nanami. There is something in her grandmother’s voice that quickly banishes her sleepiness. “I hear thunder. Is there a storm coming?”

“That is not thunder,” says Rin Shun grimly. “But there is a storm coming.”

As Nanami belts on her kimono and hurries out into the common room she hears the thunder again. It is coming from the south, she judges. But then she hears another sound, low but rapidly building in intensity. It is like nothing she has ever heard before.

Her grandmother is standing outside the front door, looking north. Nanami joins her. Already the sound, a vast droning noise, is growing quite loud. Nanami shields her eyes from the morning sunlight and follows her grandmother’s gaze. What she sees causes her to cry out in amazement and fear.

Airplanes are coming, hundreds of them. Their formations seem to cover the sky. Nanami had never imagined there were so many airplanes in all the world. Many of them are quite high, but other smaller planes are coming in ahead of them, coming in low and fast.

With a roar even above the general din two silvery fighters come in very low, following the road along the curve of the hill. They flash pass the cottage at almost eye level, close enough that Nanami can see the pilots in their cockpits. Nanami sees black bands on the fuselage behind the cockpit and between them the white American star in its circle, then the planes are gone.

Though she cannot hear them the four soldiers in their blockhouse down by the beach are all outside, pointing skyward and yelling to one another. They seem very agitated.

Slowly the planes pass, heading southward towards Kadina. As it becomes quieter Nanami hears the thunder-like rumbling again. It seems louder now. It sounds to Nanami as though it is coming from the village of Kunigami, a short ways to the south.

Her grandmother turns towards her. “Fill all the water jugs you can and take them to the root cellar,” she says. Then the old woman goes into the cottage and wrestles the old Lebel rifle down off the wall. Nanami runs to do as she is bid.

The root celler is located behind the cottage, a short ways upslope on the far side of the neat little terraced garden. Nanami struggles up the path from the pump, carrying two full jugs of water. As she does so her grandmother emerges from the back of the cottage. She has the rifle slung across her bony shoulders. Bags filled with food and other items dangle from both stock and barrel. Nanami puts down the water and runs to help her grandmother with the burden.

“Climb down and I will hand things down to you,” her grandmother says. Nanami lifts the stout wooden door and climbs down the ladder into the cool dimness below, where she is surrounded by the pleasant smells of earth and wicker and roots. This cellar was built by her father some years ago. The walls are lined with wooden planks and sturdy timbers support more planks overhead. It is by far the deepest and sturdiest such cellar Nanami knows of in the neighborhood and she has always wondered why her father built it so. Now she thinks perhaps she knows.

Nanami reaches up and takes the water jugs, the bundles of food, and the rifle. Then she climbs out and runs to fill the last two jugs of water. She pauses for just a moment to look out to sea.

Down the hill, across the road, and down past the beach with its blockhouse slow breakers roll in, sunlight glinting off the curling waves. Farther out is calm water and beyond that is the dappled water that marks the line of reef that runs offshore all along this part of the western Okinawa coast. Beyond the reef Nanami sees lean dark shapes moving slowly up from the south. She is a sailor’s daughter and knows warships when she sees them. She cannot see their flags from here but feels somehow certain they are not Japanese. As if to confirm this she sees a flash and billows of smoke from some of the ships. A moment later comes the thunder sound again.

“Quickly, Nanami!” calls her grandmother urgently. “Forget the water. Come here!” Nanami runs back up the hill as slope echoes to the sound of explosions from somewhere close by to the south.

Nanami helps her grandmother down the ladder and then follows, sliding the wooden door into place overhead. As it thunks into place the root cellar is plunged into darkness. Nanami carefully negotiates the ladder and then finds her grandmother’s hand. The two women sit against the far wall, nestled between two root bins. The faint vibration of explosions is transmitted through the earth and a little grit sifts down from between the tight-fitted boards overhead.

“I am scared, Grandmother,” whispers Nanami. And she is. Her hands will not stop trembling.

“I know, love,” says her grandmother. “Nanami, listen to me. Bad things may happen. You are going to have to be strong. Whatever happens, remember that you must live. You have a young man waiting for you and children in your future. Even if…” Her grandmother’s voice is cut off as a monstrous rumble comes through the earth. Items tumble off the shelves built into the wall on one side of the cellar and crockery shatters. The ground shakes like a wounded animal.

It is the blockhouse, Nanami thinks dazedly. They are shelling the blockhouse.

More explosions follow. The two women wrap their arms around each other and cry out, though the sound is lost amid the crash and din of the shelling. Timbers groan and earth spills down.

Then comes the mightiest blow of all. The concussion bounces the two women like rag dolls in a box. Nanami sprawls on the dirt, deafened. She tastes blood from a split lower lip. Then comes another roar, followed by the crack of breaking timbers. Something crashes into the back of her head and in the darkness of the root cellar Nanami is swallowed by an even deeper blackness.

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kaleun
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by kaleun »

Oh Sh*t!
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Cribtop »

Damn.

Great stuff as always. I think the two mercifully unaware crew members of Hibiki would be truly surprised to find they are, at least for the moment, in less danger than those on the home front.

Great move to try a rear area raid. It's amazing how many ships are left to the IJN in April '45. That said, it does remind me of how the Confederate army in Georgia, unable to stop Sherman from taking Atlanta, marched to their doom at the battle of Franklin.
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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Capt. Harlock »

The concussion bounces the two women like rag dolls in a box. Nanami sprawls on the dirt, deafened. She tastes blood from a split lower lip. Then comes another roar, followed by the crack of breaking timbers. Something crashes into the back of her head and in the darkness of the root cellar Nanami is swallowed by an even deeper blackness.

Uh-oh . . . I think Granny Shun isn't going to get a chance to use that rifle this time.[X(]
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

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RE: Small Ship, Big War

Post by Hornblower »

excellent
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