With Georgia:

"She's right! Enemy vessels approaching, they must be using the Vàm Nao River to cut us off!" Lao yelled worriedly. She looked to Chitose. "We'll have to peel off the majority of the CAP to deal with them."

Hakone had stopped hauling the car ferry, coming over to take part in our little pow-wow, and I could see human faces start to peer out of the glass windows in confusion, fingers were pointing in our direction, and I saw one or two haul out phones or disposable camera's that should have been left behind. "Do we know what we're dealing with here?" I asked.

"Only one big signature in the group looks like a capital ship. The rest are below Cruiser's in size. They were probably going for speed with this force, expect PT's and Destroyers." Lao looked at the stranded ferry briefly, the worried crease to her forehead only deepening. "We don't have the TIME for this! But they'll catch us if we don't face them here, um, Hakone, right?" The Ri nodded briskly. "Hual this ferry around the intersection so it's out of sight, we don't want it caught in the crossfire."

"Can do miss Fam N'goo Lowe!" The Ri left to obey as Lao sputtered a bit.

"Its Pham Ngu L- nevermind, once she finishes, we'll set up a defensive position here, Miss Georgia, you mentioned you have torpedoes, yes?" I nodded.

"Yup, they are self-homing too, in a river like this, the only real worry is wasting more than one on a single target. Mine can be wire-guided though, just be mindful, I maybe have enough for a couple volley's before I'm dry, I used up a LOT the past few days. Hakone will have more." Lao nodded.

"We'll find targets for them once we get visuals, for now, we have to take positions. Chitose and I will stay in back-" Hakone had come back from her task, just as Lao pointed at her. "The Heavy Cruiser Hakone and... I'm sorry, I have no idea what to call you, Countess, will set up further into the river to attract fire away from the rest of us while we direct our aircraft into the enemy formation. If you two see anything packing serious AA its a priority as long as you can take it out relatively safely, understood?" The two ships looked to me, I was touched, but nodded my head in assent. Countess looked back to Lao.

"U̴n̵d̵e̴r̶s̴t̸o̴o̵d̴ ̶C̸o̵m̷m̶a̷n̶d̸e̸r̵.̷" The two without another word steamed off to their positions as Lao turned to me.

"Thanks for that, didn't think they'd actually listen to me, but in any case, do you think you'd be able to take out the large contact? With what the fleet was composed for its probably a Fast Battleship, I'm certain our 8, 6, and 5" guns could do superficial damage, but that citadel will keep her in the fight long enough to get her 15" guns to bear, and I don't think any of us can take that kind of fire particularly well." The 'especially me and you' went unsaid, Submarine and Frigate armor being virtually non-existent.

"Don't worry! I've killed, well, sank, Ta-class's in melee range before, I can do it again! Just keep her occupied with your planes and I'll shank her a few times, that'll teach her!" I took in Lao's gaping face with a smile. "But seriously, once I get the drop on her I'm going to need help, the sucker probably outweighs me by like, ten thousand tons or so. So if she grabs-hold of me I want someone there to bail me out. Preferably Countess, she may not look it but she has a fleet-Carriers displacement, she could probably pick up and throw a Ta.

"You know, when you said 'melee range' I didn't think you meant 'actual close combat.' But you know what? Fine, go for it, as long as it's effective. I'll tell Countess to set up further down and get her boilers ready for a sudden advance, you go ahead and get ready for your ambush, we'll try and focus any Destroyers first to keep them off you." I nodded, before quickly submerging.

I got into position as Chitose came over the radio, I hadn't gone dark this time, needing to know if my support would be ready when I sprang to the attack. "My Zuiuns just got visuals, Lao was right, it's a singular Ta-class flagship, aside from that it looks like a couple of squadrons of PT Imps and at least two Divisions of Ro and I-class Destroyers. Commander, should we focus the PT Imps first? torpedo's in this tight a space-" Said Frigate interrupted.

"Don't worry about them Captain Chitose, PT Imps in this region had their torpedo racks taken out, instead they have heavier AA guns as well as turret-mounted flamethrowers, just stay more than 120 meters and it won't immolate you. That said, Countess, Hakone, target the PT imps with your guns, a single hit will likely destroy one completely. While you suppress their main AA capability Chitose and I will focus our air-power on the Destroyers, they are slower and have less AA protection to ward off our planes."

I cruised at an easy 15 knots, not really feeling like straining myself going full-speed, the river was shallower here, only a good thirty-feet of water separating the surface from the muddy bottom, probably due to it merely being a connection between the Song and Mekong rivers.

Now, I'd SOUNDED confidant when I'd bragged about taking on the Ta, but I honestly wasn't looking forward to it, the last time I'd taken one out at close range she'd been poorly constructed, probably hand-made by some hick-Hime from the open ocean, and I'd peeled her citadel open like a banana. This one was probably factory-fresh, no fractures or defects to take advantage of, I'd have to get creative, and me getting creative had the chance to hurt like a mother-frigger.

I cast my mind toward my Captain, begging for ideas. She didn't have any that didn't involve 'shoot it with torpedo's till it died' and I sighed in frustration, those were needed for the smaller ships, and I didn't have many left regardless. Then one of my other crew, one of the beefier girls I'd taken to be my Marines- "OW my ears! OK OK you're not Marines! Jeez!" Spoke up...

Oh, wow.

That sounded bad-ass, I'm in.

It was about then that I got visuals, I slowly maneuvered myself into position as I began to spot the splashes from bracket-fire from Hakone and Countess, the enemy ships hadn't expected serious resistance most likely, and scrambled into position to return fire as I swam silently under them. after all that depth-charge nonsense in the minefield, looking at the underside of a Destroyer gave me a certain small feeling of anxiety. But these ones had no idea I was here, and I'm fairly certain I'd be able to surface and rip them to shreds with my bare hands before they could accurately target me anyway.

Well, if it weren't for little miss Big-Chungus over there anyway, those 15" guns meantbusiness, even as I watched she let off two half-salvo's of her own. "I'm being bracketed! Changing position!" That was Hakone, I'd better get this started, sow some panic before one of my girls got damage she couldn't cruise away from. I lined up for a torpedo launch, the buzz of aircraft and the barks of AA fire letting me know that the Seaplane Tenders were beginning their runs, I was tempted to target the Destroyers, because FRIG Destroyers, but those planes were taking care of them, they'd need the enemy AA guns screwed-up to do their work properly. So I retargeted onto the PT Imps, and fired.

As the four torps sped off into four different Imps I called out to Countess. "I'm going for the Ta! get ready to cover me if I mess this up!" I got an Affirmation, which took a bit of weight off my shoulders. And I reached my main run-up point just as my torps impacted, practically disintegrating the small boats and sending the rest into a wild frenzy of evasive maneuvers while the Destroyers tried to find the cause. Simultaneously trading fire with my girls and dodging Dive-Bombers, I doubt they would have even found an old Diesel sub, they weren't very effective at multi-tasking, it seemed.

I lined up with the Ta, who seemed to have turned her attention to the Dive bombers, her limited AA firing as she sent a salvo of 15" fire down-range, I didn't hear anyone call out, so I assumed (and hoped) she hadn't hit anyone. I sped up to my maximum speed, bending my knee's down and getting my feet planted on Scooters hull in anticipation of a jump.

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I came out of the water at nearly 23 knots, breaching the water completely as I jumped off of Scooter, suppressing my weight to be only a bit above that of a regular human girl, I was able to catch enough air to slap against the Ta's shoulder blades like a wet towel, I immediately crossed my arms and legs around the startled woman's torso in a tight bear hug as I leaned as far forward as I could, my head passing the crook of her neck as I made eye contact with the surprised Ta for a brief moment.

"Yo."

I swung my entire body backward as hard as I could, letting my displacement go completely, and while the Ta-class still out-weighed me by a good ten-thousand tons, I still weighed a good 17 000 (give or take a few hundred) and I was wrapped almost completely around her bridge, leverage and momentum did the work for me. It wasn't quite a suplex, as I was situated too high on her body, and I hit the 'ground' first. but the result was largely what I'd been going for.

We both went under, the large ship capsizing as her top became too heavy to keep upright, I didn't let go, even as the panicking woman started to try and peel me off of her, Scooter and the twins joined me again, and I freed my legs to put them into Scooters 'cockpit'.
I bit into the crook of her neck for a better grip in what was probably the most gnarly hickey ever as Scooter began to haul-arse in a cylindrical fashion on her side. Twisting our bodies underwater and causing us to enter a spin as the twins assisted, grabbing-hold of the Ta's arms with their jaws to try and keep her from tearing my face off.

Due to her trapped air and buoyancy, she wasn't fully underwater. The Fast-Battleship's keel (IE her legs) sticking out of the water, flailing about with her pointy-feet in what I'm sure was a hilarious single-woman spinning synchronized swimming display. But she didn't need to be fully submerged when I had her body up to her mid-thighs underwater.

The spin kept the Ta from getting a proper-hold on me, and as the circumferential force began to build up my teeth started to tear a great gash into her collarbone, letting water in as giant bubbles of air streamed out, her struggles began to slow as her bridge started to flood, a great burst of bubbles came from the Ta's mouth as her mouth was finally forced open in an underwater scream.

By the time Countess reached me to help and the Destroyers had been dealt with via-judicious use of 8" shells and aircraft, it was all over.

...


SSBN-743, otherwise known as USS Louisiana, would be both proud as F#$% and mad as hell that she didn't get to do the alligator 'Death Roll' first.
And it was totally one of Georgia's Navy Seal's that gave her the idea, it seems bored Navy Seals love coming up with inventive ways for their anthropomorphic ship to kill things, who knew?

Once again, I love reading reviews, so don't be shy! If you want replies, I'm usually active on my SpaceBattles thread.