The little ship that could.

[PaxMondo]

I thought the J7W was a single engine plane? Or am I confusing planes here?

[1275psi]

hello pax

MY BAD!!

yes, it does only have one engine, no idea where I got the idea from

more on her to come!

[PaxMondo]

Whew! Worried my last marble had been lost! [;)]

[1275psi]

1 Nov 1945

Boilers are faithful servants
But I often thought of them as jealous mistresses......ready to strike you with spite
if you should ever neglect them.

The Damage to Musashi has not penetrated into her bowels, so Tan has taken full advantage of
the long period of inactivity.
The Kapong boiler is notorious for clagging up, for splaying around the burners, for terrible losses of
efficiency.

Cleans are absolutely essential

So, while we wait for the electricians to run the cables to the Gun directors, lets
do one, yes?
(After all, no director is worth crap, if it can'r be carried to sea)

Let the boiler go cold, then run all those precious gallons of feed run down to bilge, draining her
life blood.
While we are doing that, lets open up the furnace door, remove the great big brick.
And while we are at that, lets swing the burners out too

A dozen hands will be busy removing all the casing doors (some the size and weight of a dining room table), stripping of the gaskets, and we have to kick
in the water drum and steam drum doors too.

WAIT!!!!

This boiler was hot yesterday, kick in the steam drum one first, if you do the water one first,
you are going to receive a nasty burst of steam and heat in your face.

Now Hirate will get to work......he will wriggle into that steam drum, and personally
plug the down comers with wooden DC plugs, and make damn sure they are numbered and counted too
The boiler internals must come out (a prig of a job that!)
The space I/C and his boys will now set to work doing the real work -the cleans


When they are done, ( the benefits of now being a Chief) Hirate will climb back in, and inspect
the clean.
Now for what Tan has needed him for.
Carefully he will inspect the tubes, will use mirrors to look carefully in every hand hold door,
look carefully at the internal gear nuts and bolts.

All inside a tube barely 4 feet in diameter, or from underneath the boiler , where space is measured
in inches

The work, obviously is hard, heavy, a real barsted......

Now the doors go back on, the boiler is filled, and the space reverbs to the
PFFFT< PFFT< PFFT of the air pump , and Hirate will watch like a hawk to see if the pressure can be maintained.

First time, frequently, it is not, and the ring of sledge hammers on spanner will ring its own
unique symphony

Once done, dump, fill, refill, treat, and light off......
3 days per boiler
Musashi has many of them.

Hirate does not mind the grime, the dirt, the hard work
It beats doing those endless forms..........

[1275psi]

They arrive, ingloriously, by truck

Only three today, drawing the crowds about them
Diogowa circles the first bird, the pusher propeller, the weird canard wings, the almost stork like undercart

"A stubby little thing" Ogowa comments
'A bloody flying engine" Diogowa replies, 'Do you think it is going to be stable?"

Ogowa smiles, no, a devilish grin breaks across his face...'Who cares.....a flying engine
wrapped around a gun.......they say it is fast. Terrifyingly fast "
He punches Diogowa lightly on the shoulder "Do you think you can handle it my friend?"

[1275psi]

2 Nov

3 more shindens, but it will take 4 days before the first is ready to fly. They have time, winter
storms and rain sweeps Japan, early bad weather.
Hirate and Okano fret, home so close, yet so far away
And the thought that no fishing is possible.


Musashi advances

She will be ready, it is said , by years end.

[1275psi]

3 Nov

The siege at Genzan has settled in, a quarter of a million Russians pound the perimeter of the 100000
plus Japanese that are trapped there.

It is a situation Japan has allowed.

The Korean peninsula is rapidly being lost, it could never be held, not in detail anyhow.
But concentrated like this, they are a force that has to be eliminated if the Russians are to secure their
supply lines, or the entire country, for all of that.

So, the siege will continue.

Genzan has ben selected because it has a good port (now)
A good proportion of what remains of Japans merchant marine now tries to supply it.

Yamato, Musashi have dealt the killer blow to the Russian Cruisers that could threaten them,
but three Russian destroyers apparently remain
Today, they try to catch a small Japanese convoy

6 rusty AKs
1 destroyer to escort, DD Shigure

The Russians are spotted steaming in at 20000 yards
Shigure responds as only true destroyer men can .
Turn towards the enemy, ahead Flank!

This is a quick action, a brutal, how dare you try to deal with me action
Hardened battle refined men against those yet to pass an appreticship

Two Russians reel away, ablaze, the third turns for home
Shigure takes knocks, true, but her flock will make it in.....

The Russian guns pound again today

The Japanese dig

[1275psi]

9 Shindens now available

The crew Chief has good news

Tomorrow three will be ready
Ogowa,as he walks around this strange new bird, feels something he has not felt
for many, many years

Nervous excitement

[1275psi]

November 4th

Somewhere over Hiroshima

30000 feet

A small, delta winged beast screams across the sky, wheeling, twisting, a bullet of a plane
splitting the sky at 460 knots

We cannot, of course, hear inside the cockpit

But if we could:



YEEEHAHHHHHH!!!!

Diogowa , on the edge, and living every second of it

[1275psi]

A tanker sails proudly into Kagoshima

In her hold, 6150 tons of pure Palembang liquid gold

Japans merchant marine scores another small victory, as good as any the "real" Navy can achieve

Well done, my unsung heroes!

[1275psi]

5/11/45

"What do you think?"
Admiral Cunningham raises his glasses again, and tries to focus upon the vague shapes
hard against the coast some 5 miles away.
It is no easy task, there is the usual early morning mist, the targets are small, the coast green,
matching them
Exasperated, he lowers them.. "Guns?"
"15 of them sir..... hard on the coast, parallel course"

"Thankyou"
Japanese barges....running supplies from Palembang most likely to Bengalis

"We will engage....signal Jean bart.........this will make perfect practice Guns"

Singapore only 5 hours away
A grand fleet itching for action, men desperate to see action, any action, to break the monotony
of the bay of Bengal.
A good chance to shake the cobwebs of Renowns guns

Great guns swing
Renown, Jean bart, 10 cruisers, 11 destroyers, line ahead, open fire.



Over the straights, the thunder booms, fading slowly across the miles

A great drum, sending another Message to Japan
The british Fleet, carriers, battleships.....returning to Singapore, returning to the war

[1275psi]

Russian bombers, nearly a dozen strong, come south, probing Japans defences

The Japanese population are never even aware that the home land has been attacked by the bear
itself.

The Russians will gain no knowledge either
No bombers return to give it

[1275psi]

Ogowa calls his pilots together.
They fill the mess, 46 strong at the moment, 36 of them aces.
The squadron has 5 Shindens ready now, 4 in the hangers, and a promise of a steady stream
to come.
His briefing is sharp.


The Shinden is good. Brilliantly fast. A terrible punch in its nose.
But no dog fighter.
Each pilot in turn will soon get to fly, to try out this new beast.

'But we must change our thinking.......we must become bomber killers...we must create new tactics"
It seems obvious
The georges will rumble against the Mustangs, the hellcats that must come

They, as their name suggested, must strike from above, swiftly and terribly
Like lightning

[1275psi]

With the exception of the Kaga (still 36 days away) the entire Japanese Navy , destroyers upwards,
now swings at anchor in Hiroshima bay.
Autumn winds beat against them, the white caps slap steel sides.

We wait, and wait, and wait.........will the enemy ever come?




(cantona sent a message, challenging Musashi and Yamato "to come out and play against the british fleet"
I politely declined

When Musashi is repaired, I will have enough force to smash one last invasion fleet.
(I have smashed enough this war)
And I think cantona knows it.

[1275psi]

6/11/45

well, that WAS ALMOST DAMN NEAR INCONVIENIENT, 24 hours before Yamato sail day almost carted off to
Hospital with horrible respiratory problems

Uuugh..........
recovering..........


Cantona is moving house, and school, so turns a bit slow, a few in the bank thankfully, so we have a
little to write about.




At genzan, the Russian AV is 15000, mine 4000, the bombardments just go on, and on, and on
I hit play, fast fwd, and go and have dinner,,,,,,,,,,,,,[8|]


Also for about 30 minutes allied bombers pound isolated base, after base, after unit, after unit
I am losing easily 1000 men a day merely from this.
The term, the dying times, is not exaggerated
However, 4 more Tankers slip into Japan, full of oil, how they slip through from Miri is beyond me, but
they do!

Other than the bombing, allied mopping up ops in Luzon, around soerabaya, and the Russians, the war is quiet

No sign or indication that an invasion of the inner ring is even being contemplated.

[1275psi]

meanwhile, Yamato awaits for the Americans to come [:D]

[Major Shane]

Wow, what a wonderful ship. If the photo was in black and white, with just a hint of grainy texture you would easily assume it was taken during the war.

How long were you able to sail her for?

[Long pig]

I agree she is beautiful and Herbisan I thank you for bringing her to life.
Seeing your ship on the water is magnificent, I feel so lucky to have seen her once in the flesh &#128512;

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: Long pig

I agree she is beautiful and Herbisan I thank you for bringing her to life.
Seeing your ship on the water is magnificent, I feel so lucky to have seen her once in the flesh &#128512;

You saw her naked?

[zuluhour]

She is riding high, on the way to Okinawa?