Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
BrianShooter672: P-51s have never been operated from carriers, so no, they won't be operated by Nimitz. Nimitz may be used to transport P-51s to Europe, but they won't operate from it.
hangten33: Well, most of the crew of the Nimitz haven't been seen very much by others. Even when they have, they don't exactly have a choice but to accept it if they want the Nimitz on their side. Any attempts to bring up segregation to the Nimitz' officers have been very quickly squashed.
Chapter 25- Tarawa
(November 20, 1943)
On the bridge of the Missouri, Captain Carney stares out of his binoculars at the sight before him. Tarawa Atoll.
The United States had finally begun the Gilbert Islands campaign. Today, the operations will begin by landing the 2nd Marine Division on Tarawa and the 27th Infantry Division on Makin Island.
Missouri was, of course, assigned to the fleet. However, in an unusual move, Vice Admiral Spruance, current commander of Task Force 50, which comprised all of the available fleet and light carriers and fast battleships, had detached the Missouri from Task Force 50. For the most past, Missouri had spent her time since the end of the New Britain campaign escorting the fast carriers of the Pacific Fleet. However, for this operation, Spruance believed that Missouri, with her state of the art 1980s era fire control system and advanced radar that could guide her guns even in shore bombardment, would be much better as part of the bombardment force. Therefore, she had been reassigned to Task Force 53, the fleet specifically assigned to the landings on Tarawa. She had been made the new flagship of the fleet the day she joined the Task Force when the commanding admiral, Rear Admiral Harry Hill, transferred his flag from Maryland to Missouri.
This move was not just a spur of the moment decision by Spruance. It came after a discussion between Carney, Spruance, and Major General Holland Smith, the commander of the 2nd Marine Division. After Carney revealed what he knew from history of the Battle of Tarawa, Spruance felt that Missouri's supporting fire would be necessary to help prevent some of the slaughter known by Carney.
Now, Missouri is joining the Colorado and Maryland as they are preparing to start shelling Tarawa. The main concern is the island's four 8 inch naval guns. However, Admiral Hill has decided to keep that duty to the Colorado and Maryland, and has ordered the Missouri to immediately begin shelling other Japanese targets on the atoll.
Missouri had launched a Pioneer drone a few hours earlier to take pictures of the Japanese positions on Tarawa. Given there weren't satellites like in the 80s, the drone couldn't beem back footage to the ship directly. Instead, it had to take normal pictures and fly back to the ship for the pictures to be downloaded. It had taken some time, but now the pictures were downloaded. The Missouri now had very good intel on the position of Japanese forces. In particular, Carney now knows exactly where all 14 of the Japanese garrison's tanks are, as well as most of their artillery pieces. And those will be his top targets.
As Carney lowers his binoculars, he hears a booming sound, and turns his head in the direction of the Colorado, situated hundreds of yards away, and sees the clouds of flame and smoke indicating that she has just fired her main guns. Only a second later, there's a splash about a hundred yards from her. This indicates to Carney that she has begun an artillery duel with one of the 8 inch guns on the atoll.
"Admiral?" Carney asks.
"Yes, Captain. You're cleared to open fire," Hill responds.
The order is quickly relayed to the gun plot. Second later, Missouri fires a single shell from the middle gun of her number 2 turret, aiming towards a Japanese tank on the atoll. As the shell streaks towards it's target, the ship's radar tracks the shell, calculates its exact impact spot, calculates the windspeed, then readjusts the guns. The remaining guns fire right as the first shell impacts the island, about a hundred yards from the targeted tank.
The first shell detonates in a massive explosion, killing several Japanese soldiers and wounding more. Then, the remaining shells hit in very close proximity to the targeted tank. The massive explosions from the impacting shells destroy the tank, as well as a Japanese gun nest, killing a dozen Japanese and wounding a few more.
On the bridge, Carney grins as he watches the shells exploding. "Tank down," he says loud enough for Admiral Hill to hear.
"Well, well. I must say I'm impressed at this ship's accuracy," Hill says. He pauses for just a second, then says, "Continue bombardment. Pick your targets at will."
Carney nods. Already, the crewmen in the main gun turrets are moving to reload the main gun turrets. The crewmen ram the high explosive shells into the barrels, then ramming the powder bags into the barrels behind the shells. In each gun room, a crewman slams the door into the barrel shut after priming the powder and locks the door.
"Sir, all guns ready to fire again!" an officer calls out to Carney.
"Fire!" Carney orders. Within seconds, the battleship fires it's main guns again, firing on a believed artillery position near the landing beach. Several of the shells ricochet off the island due to the trajectory, but others explode. They don't cause any damage to any Japanese artillery, but one Japanese soldier is wounded by shrapnel caused by the explosions.
As Carney watches the shells exploding on the atoll, he looks around at the rest of the bombardment fleet. The other two battleships, Colorado and Maryland, are continuing to exchange fire with the naval guns on the atoll.
"Open fire with secondary battery. If we want any hope of a less horrific slaughter this time around, we need to soften up those defenses as much as we can," Carney orders.
"Yes, Captain," his XO says, and relates the order to the gun plot. Within seconds, the Missouri's 5 inch guns on her port side start firing as well.
"Captain! Pillbox sighted!" A lookout calls out from his scopes just feet away.
"Relay coordinates down to CIC," Carney orders.
The lookout calls down to the CIC, relaying the exact location of the pillbox he's just sighted. The gunners train the guns of number 1 and 2 gun turrets on the spotted pillbox while the gunners race to reload the gun. It takes about 30 seconds to reload the guns. As soon as they're reloaded, the gunners fire the two forward turrets. One shell lands just yards away, and the massive explosion tears apart the pillbox, killing 8 Japanese soldiers.
The lookout who spotted the pillbox watches the spot as the flames and smoke begin to recede. As soon as he sees that the pillbox has been destroyed, he calls out, "Pillbox destroyed!"
"Good," Carney says in a low voice. With luck, Missouri may be able to help tip the scales a bit more in the Americans' favor.
(November 22, 1943)
"This is Major Schoettel, 2nd Marine Regiment! We're taking heavy fire! Casualties running high! Requesting immediate supporting fire!"
In the CIC, Carney gets on the radio and says, "Copy that, Major." He then looks at the gunners and says, "Maintain 5 inch fire on that area, and fire all main guns!"
In the 5 inch turrets on the ship's port side, crewmen race furiously to reload the guns, with the guns firing every 5 seconds. They've been doing this constantly for the last two days, providing continuous naval bombardment support for the Marines on the atoll. Japanese forces had been badly hit before the troops landed, but the fighting has still been very bloody.
The 5 inch turrets shift their fire to the position requested by Schoettel. As the 5 inch guns continue firing, the crewmen in the main gun turrets hurry to reload the guns with more high explosive rounds. As soon as the guns are loaded, they begin firing, one gun at a time, one round fired ever two seconds.
As the last shell strikes the Japanese position, Major Schoettel pops his head up. He can tell immediately that the Missouri's shells have killed many of the Japanese soldiers that had been firing on his men. "Charge!" Schoettel orders, and the Marines around him charge on the position.
Back on the Missouri, Carney is watching the charge with his binoculars, smiling a bit as he sees that the Marines are managing to advance with dropping from enemy fire. For the last two days, he and the crew of the Missouri have been running themselves ragged, with almost no sleep, providing fire support for the Marines ashore. It's been very tough on the crew, but has saved many Marines lives so far.
"Captain! Magazine crews report down to 20 percent ammunition stores left for the secondary battery, and 42 percent for the main battery," the XO says.
"Copy that," Carney says. He then turns to Admiral Hill and says, "We may need to cut down on the use of our 5 inch guns."
"I don't think that will be much of a problem. With any luck, what ammunition we have left should be enough to carry us through the rest of the operation," Hill says.
Carney nods and looks back out at Tarawa, and the explosions and smoke rising over the atoll. Some of the scenes he's seen through his binoculars have been gruesome and horrifying to watch. Hopefully, the fighting on Tarawa will end before too long.
And I'll end there. Hope you liked this chapter. Thought it was finally get back to what Missouri has been doing.
Alright. Next chapter will begin the lead up to his WWII's version of the Battle of Midway, which will be much larger than it was in real life. The lead up will take 4 chapters before we begin the battle itself. The first of them should be up soon. Until it's up, please leave a review and stay tuned!