Hey everybody! Ouch! Whoo! Hot! Fresh...Yeouch! Let me set this down for a moment...
There! Now then, fresh from the oven, the latest chapter of World Fury and let me tell you, an ill wind is blowing...not that kind of ill wind. Anyway, back on topic, latest chapter is up and here it is before I burn my hands again.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE SPYRO UNIVERSE, ONLY MY OCS. ALSO, AS AN ADDITION, I DO NOT OWN THE CONCEPT OF THE WHIRLWIND, THAT HONOR BELONGS (last time I looked) TO KOEI ENTERTAINMENT AND THEIR WARSHIP GUNNER SERIES.
BTY: Naval Ops: Warship Gunner, Naval Ops: Commander, and Warship Gunner II are Naval simulation games for the Playstation 2 system designed by KOEI. The Whirlwind is primarily featured as the first über boss the player has to defeat and is technically a cruiser, although it is referred to as 'super-dreadnaught'. Just felt I should mention it in case some of y'all have played the games before or to those wondering where the idea came from.
Chapter 8: Against the Whirlwind
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(5 miles offshore from Trident Isle, 60 miles Northwest of Kage Island, 0545hrs (5:45 A.M.))
The bell rang eight as the crew of the battleship RNV Victorious stood down from yet another long day at sea on patrol. The Captain of the ship, a young man who had earned his rank but never seen combat, paced the bridge in a anxious manner. His XO, a grizzled old Commander who had seen his share of fighting watched him with worried eyes.
"Captain, might I suggest you retire for the evening? I hear the mess chief had a special dinner planned for the crew and-"
"If you want to go eat dinner Commander, then so be it, but I am not leaving the bridge until we engage something. The reports said 'possible enemy patrol fleet in area'. If that's the case then where the hell are they?" The XO turned to him and frowned.
"Sir, the radar's been out for hours as well as our radio. Our lookouts haven't been able to stand down since you called them to stations at lunch time. In this fog, and as tired as they are, a carrier could sail right by us and we wouldn't notice it unless its fog horn was blown."
"What about our sonar?"
"Nothing but fish swimming and, according to the last report, something sounding like sea dragons mating or some sort of seismic activity. Sir...are you doing this for glory or do you believe you must prove yourself?"
The Captain gritted his teeth. It was no secret that, as the son of one of the Admiralty, he had wanted to become a hero like his father. Yet, when the fleet engaged the enemy at Kage Island, he had held his ship back and as a result, when an enemy flotilla did attack the Victorious, he was unprepared to issue orders and the battleship, Regal, beached herself trying to save them. This was in fact, his last chance to redeem his honor and he'd be damned if some whining XO or anybody else would tell him to back down. At that moment, the sonar pinged and the Captain and XO wheeled to the operator.
"What was that?!" The Captain demanded. The sonar operator stayed still for a moment then frowned.
"It sounds like a ship but, first ping ranged it at six miles out, second ping was at four miles out. If my numbers are accurate, the ship would have to be sailing close to sixty knots." The Captain frowned.
"That's absurd. Impossible. No ship is that fast." At that moment, the radar operator came running in and flipped the switch on the unit. The whole station lit up like a Yule tree. The sweeper beeping as it caught something big three and a half miles out...and closing fast. The radar operator and Captain blanched as they saw the image. The XO, pale, but still in control, turned to the Captain.
"An old man once told me: Be careful what you wish for. Captain, what are your orders?" The Captain turned and nodded, still fearful, but now aware.
"Man the guns, all hands to stations. Prepare to engage the enemy! XO, launch the scouts to report our position and the enemy data."
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(aboard the über-dreadnaught Whirlwind)
"Captain! Radar detects a ship in the fog. Judging from her size, it has to be a Syllian Royal-class battleship. Your orders?"
The Captain, a tall broad man dressed in the uniform of a Rotiart flag officer, grinned from under his black felt officer's cap and turned to the XO.
"Push the engines to full power, we shall crush the enemy in one attack."
"Aye, sir! Man battlestations, cycle all turrets to port, rely on radar for the firing angle. Ready submerged torpedoes as well."
"Firing angle set: all guns now at twenty-five degree angle, torpedoes set for maximum range, low speed, running depth is nineteen feet."
There was a low hum which built up to a roar as the Whirlwind's engines were pushed to full speed. This was the first time the new engines had been pushed to full power. Up till now they had been on standard propulsion. Yet, the build up was a time-consuming process as the engines increased speed. A process that took too long. The XO saw flashes in the distance and heard a tell-tale whistling noice pierce the sky.
"Incoming!"
The shells began to splash around the Whirlwind and at first the Captain thought they had all missed. However, there was a sudden explosion from the stern of the ship, and the bridge rattled violently as shockwave rippled along the ship's hull. The Captain struggled to keep his balance and growled.
"Fire."
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(Port of Awa, Island of Kage, 0845 hours (8:45 A.M.))
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Josh walked into the building the fleet had requisitioned to serve as headquarters for the fleet. Just through the door were junior officers running about with files, charts, and other things while a few were running about looking for a bucket or something should the roof leak. Despite appearances, Awa had suffered from enemy bombardment during the initial attack and again as the Callinar Navy tried to raze the port and town to prevent Syllia from retaking it. As he entered a room, vaguely, he heard a radio operator trying frantically to raise a ship on the radio. Outside, he heard what sounded like a scout plane landing.
Otherwise ignoring the bustle of organization, Josh continued forward and into the command room where several officers, many of whom were of equal or higher rank than him, were clustered over a chart of the waters and islands in between Kage, and the outlying islands of Kawa, Shinto, Akame of the Blue Isles and the outlying Callinar Islands of Trident, Hapro, Vadtre, and Mobine.
Between the closest islands of Kage and Trident there was sixty-five miles of open ocean. At roughly twenty-five knots, it would take the fleet some time to reach the staging point for the landing. The second fleet that had reinforced them was primarily made of light vessels: destroyer escorts, light cruisers, one or two escort carriers, and many, many landing vessels stuffed from stem to stern with Marines fresh from boot.
The one shining light was that apparently, someone in the Admiralty had pulled some strings and had gotten the Seventh Fleet assigned to the force as well. Scanning the officers, Joshua spotted the Admiral in command of the Seventh fleet speaking with the Task Force Commander, and the Marine Commander.
The Seventh Fleet was a group of vessels primarily deployed when direct sea lanes to the homeland were threatened. Among its number were destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships, two carriers, and, wonder of wonders, a dragon carrier complete with a full wing of the Dracocorps.
From what Josh had heard of Admiral Irving Reede, he was not a man to mince words with and spoke with a thick accent from Nevora. He was one of those people that if he liked you, he liked you, if he didn't, well, either you made every effort to get on his good side or made sure you avoided him, in his own words, like the ruddy plague. He was considered brash and tactless by the higher command but he was a genius with naval tactics and combat.
Josh drew closer and began to overhear snatches of what was being discussed. Admiral Reede, being the expert tactician he was, was giving his own opinion of the situation.
"Now listen here, Captain, this route is sure enough to get you and the Marines killed deader than a doornail. What you need to do is have our heaviest ships come forward, blast the holy hell out of the emplacements, have the Dracocorps support the landing forces, and soon as you can say 'Bob's your uncle', Trident will be ours and we'll have both bloodied them Callinian's noses, and kicked down their front door at the same time."
"Admiral, again I must protest. Sending our heaviest ships forward will only get them beached. You know what happened to the Regal and it will happen to each and every heavy ship you send forward. Even our destroyers are scraping the shoals. Another thing, if our ships are grounded, they will be easy pickings for the Callinar gunboats."
An officer beside Josh scoffed at this and muttered under his breath something about the enemy gunboats being little more than wooden rafts against a metal ship's guns. Apparently, the Admiral heard him and rounded on him.
"Commander Edmunds, you will do well to not underestimate the enemy. True Callinar's gunboats may date back to the eighteen sixties, but they have continuously modified and upgraded them. They can easily hold a modern vessel at bay, even your cruiser, the Cyclops, I believe?"
The Admiral looked back at the map and sighed.
"Regardless, until the Victorious returns with its report on the waters between us and them, I doubt we will be sailing anytime soon-"
The Admiral was interrupted when the doors were flung open with such force the handles left impressions in the wall behind them and in came a young ensign who blatently ignored the stares of disapproval of her seniors. The Admiral however, noted her expression and nodded.
"Ensign, report!" The Ensign snapped to attention and held a report aloft for the Admiral.
"Sir! A scout plane from the Victorious has landed. The pilot has been taken to sick bay with severe wounds. According to his report, the waters between here and Trident are clear, however, around five forty-five this morning, the Victorious was forced to engage an enemy vessel of unknown class and size...by the pilot's report, he launched at six, the Victorious was hit roughly forty-five seconds later and sank at six oh five. The pilot tried to get a look at the ship but flak forced him back. He says the ship is now making full speed towards us, intending to attack the fleet."
The news of the Victorious sinking was bad enough, but the fact that she had been sunk in less than five minutes and that the same ship was coming towards them made the officers abandon any sense of order. Commander Edmunds of the Cyclops was the loudest of the group.
"Admiral! Let me have six cruisers and I promise you we will avenge the Victorious!"
Similar pledges echoed from around the room as the Admiral listened and tried to think. Josh, however, for all his effort, did not possess the Admiral's patience.
"Everyone, QUIET!"
Quiet he got as every officer from the Captain down turned to him. Edmunds got red-faced and turned to Josh.
"Just who the bloody hell do you think you are, Lieutenant-Commander?! James de Launces' child you may be but while you wear that uniform you will show the proper respect for authority or I will have you broken!" Josh calmed down and looked at Edmunds.
"Commander, I meant no disrespect but arguing like this is pointless. At the moment, your plan for dealing with the enemy ship is just as sound as anybody else's. Still, I feel you are overlooking one important fact: the enemy sank the Victorious, a Royal-class battleship. She was state-of-the-art and yet she was sunk in less than five minutes. The enemy ship must have incredible firepower for this to be possible and must be of equal or superior size to a battleship. We cannot simply throw ships at this thing and pray that one of them sinks or disables it. A cruiser has, what, five hundred, six hundred crewmen? Do we really want to send six or seven cruisers, along with their three or four thousand combined crew against an enemy ship that we have not even seen? We have no intel on this vessel, to rush in blind would be doing our nation, our service, and the families of our crews a grave disservice and dishonor."
Edmunds backed down but his face was still red with fury. Admiral Reede nodded to him.
"Lieutenant-Commander...de Launces, was it? Do you happen to have an idea of how to deal with this threat?" Joshua looked at the map, and the report for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes, sir. At least, I have an inkling of what we could do. We have, perhaps, three or four A-class submarines, right? We also have four Auger-class escort carriers, two Arkibus IV-class fleet carriers, and one Voltaris-class dragon carrier. We could amass an airfleet with torpedo bombers, dive bombers, and fighters to attack the ship from the air. It stands to reason that this one ship must either be rogue, or the enemy is extremely confident in its capabilities." Another senior officer huffed.
"More like overconfident, if you ask me. Just like this plan. Why send our forces to them when they can come to us?" Josh sighed and looked at the officer.
"I say this because we don't know what it's full strength and capabilities are. Also, if it is rogue, they will likely send a reclaimation force to intercept and stop the vessel and attack anyone trying to sink it." This time a junior officer who stood by the Admiral spoke.
"What if it is attacking and not rogue? One ship cannot match an entire fleet."
"If it is attacking, it will have a support fleet only a short distance behind it so that if it is attacked, the support fleet can retaliate and protect the ship. A ship capable of sinking a battleship in less than five minutes must have incredibly powerful cannons or torpedoes and must also be well armored enough to withstand attacks for some time. Meanwhile, we can organize our strongest vessels into a barrier of sorts and then when the enemy is close enough, we can unleash broadside after broadside at the enemy should the planes and subs fail to sink it."
Admiral Reede, who had been standing at the maps, silent, and polite, looked upon the map and then pointed.
"If the ship is indeed as large as you think it is, and they have either a support or pursuit fleet behind them, the only place for them to move is right...here. As we discovered, Kage Island is one of three islands that make up the chain of sandbars and reefs known as Yamato's Shield. There are only two places to enter the deep water area in the middle and all three islands are large enough to hide out fleet if we scatter them. The first deep water entrance is the Shima Breach which is roughly three-hundred feet deep. The next and much larger area is the Musashi Gap which is large enough for seventeen battleships to pass through side-by-side and is seven hundred feet deep. The gap also has another name."
"Yamashiro's Abyss..." Admiral Reede and the officers turned to the young Ensign who had spoken and nodded.
Yamashiro's Abyss was considered, for the most part, a haunted place. In Blue Isles history, a fleet led by Shogun Aiche Yamashiro was caught in a storm and vanished without a trace in the year 1256. Then in 1439, a sea battle took place between two warring Shoguns. Both had a fleet and just one day into the battle, a storm rolled in and both fleets vanished. A few more occurences had happened over the centuries but nothing on the scale of the first two. The last occurance was actually fairly recent.
In 1920, the cruise ship SS Lemuria vanished along with one-thousand, nine hundred, sixty seven lives. A few lifeboats were found three days later with a few of the passengers, mostly women and children. All of them said the same exact thing: The Lemuria had sank right out from under them.
Commander Edmunds again became angry at the Ensign who spoke up and demanded to know her name.
"I am Ensign Anne Roberts, sir. I...I was one of the survivors of the Lemuria."
As quickly as he had angered, Edmund quickly paled and shrank back. Josh, sensing something, walked up to her.
"Ensign. Can you tell me about that night when the ship sank?" The Ensign nodded and looked to the map.
"I was only eleven at the time. My mother was just tucking my sister into bed when something jostled the ship. I was thrown from my bunk, as was my sister and our mother ran to the door to find out what was happening. I looked out of the porthole and saw the water bubbling. A moment later, a crewman came to us and yelled for us to get to the leftboats. By the time we reached the deck, the Lemuria was already down by the bow. The forward mast and crow's nest had broken and fallen, the wheelhouse and bridge was under, and the first funnel had snapped its lines and had fallen. A few moments later the water stopped bubbling but the ship continued to sink. The crewman, my mother, my sister and I got into one of the boats and a few more crew in the boat lowered us down. We rowed away just before the pressure breached the hull and made the ship capsize and sink. It was over in twenty minutes." Josh approached the map and looked it over.
"Bubbling water, eh? I've heard of this. Sometimes, hydrogen gas pockets trapped under the sediments underwater rupture and create a stormy sea. If enough force is applied, a ship can capsize, break apart, or simply fall through a wall of gas and be swamped in seconds. There is no telling when a gas pocket will rupture or where they are. However, it is fairly possible some of them are close to the surface." The Admiral and officers looked at him.
"What are you thinking Lieutenant-Commander?"
"The maximum depth of our depth charges is six hundred-fifty feet. If we had a large enough charge to go down to the sea floor and explode, it could possibly rupture a gas pocket large enough to create a ripple effect that could sink the enemy ship for us. The danger is that the destroyer carrying the charge would need to be sailing right into the gun muzzles of the enemy ship and that, once the sea begins heaving, there is the possibility the destroyer might suffer the same fate as the enemy ship." Edmunds looked at the map and then back to Josh.
"Why a destroyer? Why not a plane or a sub? Or for that matter a cruiser?"
"First off, we have no aircraft capable of carrying a charge big enough to reach the sea floor. Only a four engine bomber would do and plus it would have to fly at low altitude, well within range of the enemy AA system. Second, a submarine would be accepting a suicide mission as once the charge detonates and the water begins churning, any submarine caught in the wave will be crushed by the pressure of the water moving from the gas and then coming back into place. A submarine at three-hundred feet might as well be at one-thousand feet."
An officer who Josh knew had a brother in the Sub Corps blanched when he said that. Edmunds nodded, still convinced a cruiser would fare better.
"Lastly, a cruiser is a much larger target and cannot evade like a destroyer. The destroyer will come under fire from the enemy and will need to take evasive action. Furthermore, the destroyer is lighter and thus is more likely to escape the waves than a cruiser that weighs twice if not three times more."
The Admiral glanced at the map, then looked at Josh and nodded.
"If you came up with this off the top of your head, I am impressed. Hmm...just how big a charge is needed?" Josh did the math in his head.
"We would need the equivalent to a two ton bomb so...four five-hundred pound bombs...in a special container that can withstand pressures at...eight-hundred feet...also can detonate on a timed fuse." The Admiral nodded.
"I assume, Lieutenant-Commander, that you intend to have the Interceptor carry the bomb?" Josh nodded.
"Yes, sir. I could not ask anyone to perform such a dangerous and risky task if I were not ready to do so myself."
"Then, at least allow me to give you a fighting chance. I will have the heavy ships take positions on either side of the Abyss and when the ship is in sight, we will commence attack and give you time to get into position. Now then, all of you, see to your preparations. Dismissed."
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(three hours later)
Josh found himself wanting to kick himself for suggesting something so hair-brained as this in the first place. The problem hadn't been finding the five-hundred pound bombs but rather fitting them into one watertight capsule and then making a timer so that they explode after a certain time. First off the container had to be made which entitled taking a large cylinder which had been previously used as a piece of the Awa sanitation system, cutting the end off it, emptying the 'contents' and then fitting the bombs inside it and that was just the beginning.
At the request of Admiral Greene, a local chemist was employed and between the chemist, the explosives ordnance disposal officer on Reede's flagship, RNV Grand Voyager, and a little improvising with a fourteen inch cannon firing pin, a practical acid trigger was created and installed. To ensure it was fool-proof, a fail-safe was installed as well. Should the bomb reach the bottom and the timer fail, a pin would be jarred loose by the impact (in theory) and automatically set off the charge.
Josh watched a little apprehensively as the bomb was strung up on the crane usually operated to load spare torpedoes into the magazines below the tubes. As the crane stopped, Admiral Reede approached him with a worried look on his face.
"I've just ordered the ships into their positions. One of our submarines, A-22, spotted the enemy ship and engaged it as did our other subs. Their torpedoes did no noticable damage to the vessel and worst of all you were right about a support fleet. Destroyers flying Callinar colors depth charged and sank the A-15 and the A-13 and aircraft from a carrier engaged and forced the bombers and fighters to retreat. A-22 and A-7 suffered light damage but were able to escape. I've also radioed for assistance from our nearby fleets patroling the sea lanes between Avalon, Syllia, and here. I've got the Third Fleet, Eighth Fleet, and the Fifteenth Carrier Squadron due in five hours but according to the reports we don't even have one."
Josh looked to the Admiral and was stunned to see a worried expression on his face.
"Before it escaped, A-22 gave its report on the ship and you were right. It's at least forty feet longer than a Royal-class battleship and has weapons on it that make ours look like pea shooters. It was also travelling at a high rate of speed, yet...the report stated that it looked like they were trying to repair a hole on the port side of the ship. Perhaps the Victorious managed to get the last word in, eh?"
As the Admiral walked off, he stopped as if he thought of something and turned.
"By the way, one of the scouts reported another fleet in the distance flying Rotiart colors. They seemed to be pursuing the ship and support fleet but not engaging. Any ideas?"
Josh thought for a moment and looked at Reede.
"I'm probably crazy for thinking it but, perhaps the ship left Rotiart without permission, linked up with Callinar to spearhead an attack and the Rotarians want to reclaim the vessel but don't want to anger their allies?"
"That suggests our enemies aren't singing from the same song book...I wonder how can we turn this to our advantage if it's true..."
A horn blew in the distance giving the signal that the fleet was in position. Josh went to the Interceptor's bridge and gave the order to deploy and a few moments later, she was steaming for the Abyss.
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(later that day)
The storm that had rumbled so early in the morning had arrived. Rain pounded the ships, lightning arced across the sky, claps of thunder broke the monotony of waves crashing into the side of the ship and the chiming of the buoys that marked the sandbars that outlined Yamato's Shield. It was so dark out that the ships had to turn on their running lights in order to see one another. The Interceptor was no exception.
Josh checked his watch and sighed when he saw it was 1:06 in the afternoon. Once in position, he had ordered the crew to battlestations and instructed that they wait.
The seconds ticked by and became minutes which in turn became one hour, then two. Josh began to wonder about this.
(Maybe the ship stopped for repairs? Did the damage caused by the subs actually sink it? Or did the Rotiart fleet recapture it? Blast it! I wish I knew what was coming!)
At that moment, a whistling sound was heard and explosions shattered the silence on Kage Island. The radar operator turned to Josh, an expression of mixed excitement and panic on his face.
"Sir! Unknown contact bearing zero-one-zero, distance eight miles and closing...fast. Multiple contacts detected at ten miles...eight...nine...no, thirteen vessels. Air radar confirms multiple aircraft also airborne and incoming!" Josh grimaced at this.
"Flying in this weather? Are they insane?!" His XO shook his head.
"They're attacking the equivalent of three fleets with only thirteen ships not counting that monster that we're to sink somehow...I'd say it boils down to who's crazier, us or them."
"All engines ahead flank, get us into position. At the speed that thing's going it's blow through the trap in moments. XO, get to the aft bridge and tell the crane crew to prepare to drop our payload."
Josh didn't hear the affermation but he knew he'd said it as Walker had left the bridge and was running full sprint to the aft command room.
"Captain! Six-thousand yards to target destination! Enemy ship now on bearing zero-one-five, distance four miles, speed estimated at sixty-five knots!"
(Damn this thing is fast. Let's hope our battleships can actually hit the thing at that speed.)
As if answering him, the roar of cannons nearly deafened him and he saw flares of light arc through the sky, illuminating the stark white hull of the enemy ship. Cannon shells impacted the ship leaving black scorch marks on the hull, bridge, and turrets of the ship yet did nothing to slow or stop it. Sadly, more shells fell short or missed completely than what hit. In the distance, Josh could see the Cyclops breaking formation to try a running broadside on the enemy ship.
"Edmunds! That idiot, what does he think he's doing?!"
Josh could only watch as the Cyclops turned broadside to the enemy ship, aimed its turrets slightly ahead of it and fired.
Ten eleven inch shells impacted the enemy ship as they ran the gauntlet. The shells were not large enough to do more than mar the paint on the hull. Still, an attack was an attack and it had to be answered. Josh saw the number two turret rotate and lower its three guns at the Cyclops and fire.
At the last moment, the ship turned and dodged the attack. Another broadside, this time accompanied by bursts of flak and machinegun rounds pelted the enemy ship. Josh gave a small whoop when he saw one of the shells blow a hole through the ship's V shaped smokestack and another went through the window of the aft bridge. Sadly, this victory was small and it would not last.
This time, all the turrets turned and aimed at the Cyclops. An explosion from underwater marked a torpedo detonation and as the geyser fell, the cannons fired. The shells from turret one went through the anchor housing causing both port and starboard anchors to fall away, the rounds from two impacted the forward turrets and also blew a hole through the bridge of the Cyclops. Two more volleys of three shells from the aft turrets blew six holes into the hull and engine room of the cruiser.
A few moments later, an explosion bigger than any would have guessed deafened anyone near it and the Cyclops was literally ripped apart as its magazines and fuel stores ruptured and caught fire. Josh watched as the Cyclops was lifted into the air by an explosion, torn in half, and then multiple smaller explosions destroyed what remained of the turrets, fore and aft bridges, and the smokestacks. Within a minute after scoring its first hits, the Cyclops was gone along with her entire crew.
Josh quickly got a hold of himself as the enemy ship opened fire on a battleship in the formation and once again took command.
"Hard right rudder, bring us within the minimum torpedo range!" The crew looked at him as if he were crazy but they did it anyway. They knew Josh well enough now that he would never order them to do the impossible.
The Interceptor all but flew through the waves as they neared the enemy ship. Josh vaguely wondered what the enemy officers were thinking, seeing an old, beat up, obsolete destoyer coming at them. Perhaps they were laughing their asses off.
(Well, let them laugh. They can keep on laughing right up to the point where they walk up to the gates of Hell.)
"Swing the crane over the side, prepare to drop the charge!"
Josh looked back and confirmed the crane was moving over the port side. He gave the signal and heard a sound he hadn't thought of before: The sound of the old rusted crane gears grinding to a halt, the charge dangling like a wrecking ball over the side of the ship. Wasting no time, he saw Walker climb onto the crane and attempt to break the mechanism that locked the cable in place.
"Fire deck guns and torpedoes, hell, fire depth charges, machineguns, and sidearms at them!"
The torpedoes launched, the four guns that had a shot on the behemoth opened fire, the machineguns strafed the deck and took careful aim at the hole in the aft bridge the Cyclops had blasted into it. The enemy's number three turret lowered its guns and fired. Josh braced for impact but was stunned to see the shells arc over the ship and splash on the other side. The only damage done was that one shell had clipped the radio mast. The Interceptor was too close for them to lower their guns!
The sound of a cable breaking caught Josh's attention and he saw the charge along with the cable, disappear beneath the waves. If he remembered correctly, it would take five minutes for the charge to reach the ocean floor and detonate, and another two minutes for any gas pockets to rupture and churn the sea. If a big enough pocket ruptured, they could sink the enemy ship with no further losses. That is, of course, if the enemy ship didn't ecape first.
Noticing the strange look of the stern, Josh pointed it out to his gunners who were all to glad to pepper that part of the ship with rounds that, much to Josh's surprise, actually went through the ship.
"Attention all gunners! The enemy vessel has no armor on its stern section, fire torpedoes and rounds into the engine section!"
A weakness discovered, the gunners gladly targeted the stern and with accuracy to make even a sniper jealous, put one round after another right through their previous marks. A salve of torpedoes was launched and impacted the ship. Josh heard the crew give shouts and yell loudly. That was ended however, when a twelve inch shell from a bow turret that had turned nearly all the way around, fell through the aft deck, destroying turrets four and five, punching a hole clean through the hull.
Almost immediately, the Interceptor ground to a halt as the engine room flooded and began to go down by the stern. Josh flipped a switch that triggered an alarm and began to seal the watertight doors throughout the ship. Hoping against hope, Josh grabbed the PA mike and radioed the compartment hit.
"Bridge to Engine room, come in please!"
Nothing but static came through as the ship's speed dropped from thirty knots down to twelve and continued to fall. Then, a spark of hope.
"Boiler Room three to Bridge. We're all right sir but our starboard engine's shot to hell. We're down to one boiler, damage control has also restarted the port engine."
"Bridge copies, glad you're okayt down there."
"Sir...we lost a few brave souls in that attack. Please tell me we're hurting the bastards."
Josh watched as shell after shell went through the ever-growing hole in the stern and made no noticable change until something inside him, his dragon insticts, felt as if something was about to happen. Dropping the PA, he turned to the helmsman.
"Hard to Port! Get us away from the ship!" He picked the PA back up and couldn't keep the excitement from his voice.
"Boiler Room! Give me all you got to escape from the ship, I think our pinprick attack just did something."
At that moment, fire erupted from the holes in the engine room and the smokestack all but exploded sending a massive fireball high into the sky. Thick black smoke belched from the vents as the ship ground to a halt and the sound of alarms and frantic shouting reached Josh who grinned.
"Douse the lights, we're still too close and I don't want another shell hitting us."
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(on board the Whirlwind)
Alarms blared and red lights flashed across the bridge as the Captain stood there with a stunned and horrified expression. He vaguely heard his XO ask him for his orders as the little destroyer, a ship perhaps a sixth the size of the Whirlwind placed round after round through the breaches in the stern armor. Already he had men abandoning their posts and jumping into the water to try and save themselves. He took a moment and decided that he was not going to let the enemy get this ship. He turned to the XO.
"Emergency start-up of all engines, activate the Cyclonic thrusters! If we cannot win, we shall escape and I'll be damned if we lose the Whirlwind to a destroyer!"
The familiar hum of the engines began as the Cyclonic thrusters, the engines responsible for the Whirlwind's incredible speed, started up. Small fires shot from the smokestacks and from the exhaust ports of the engines but this was normal. The Captain watched as the engines climbed to the requisite start-up percentage.
Ten percent...
Twenty percent...
Thirty percent...
Forty percent...
Fifty perc-
An explosion shook the Whirlwind from stem to stern and knocked the Captain off his feet. Gazing back, he was horrified to see the smokestacks explode and also watch as the engine compartment was ripped open in an explosion. The lower hull and armored belt was forced underwater while the aft deck was lifted upwards, folded over, and came down on the aft turrets and bridge.
Sirens began wailing and the Captain felt the Whirlwind beginning to tilt backwards and he knew.
He knew he had just lost the most powerful battleship Rotiart had ever built in a battle that was unnessessary. Leaving the bridge, he walked to his cabin, ignoring the screams of the wounded or dying crewmen. Once inside, he pulled a laquered box from his sea chest and produced his service revolver.
The single gunshot that pierced the air went unheard as the Whirlwind breathed it's last.
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(back on the Interceptor)
Josh watched as the ship began to rip itself apart and gazed at the horror this thing had caused. At that moment, the sonar operator yelled that a detonation had occured underwater and that something was happening. A few moments later, the sea began to roil and writhe as hydrogen gas bubbled to the surface. The Interceptor got a few small waves over the deck but was far enough away that it wasn't hit by nothing serious.
The enemy vessel was worse off as it began to pitch and heave violently. The tower bridge actually buckled and folded in half to the shriek of metal and cries of horror from the crew. The broken smokestacks fell free from the deck and fell over the starboard side and sank in moments. More explosions echoed from inside the ship as she began to list go down by the stern.
Dislodged equipment, crew, and debris fell from the pitching deck like an odd rain. Against the light of the flares, Josh could see a name painted on the side of the ship: Whirlwind.
Another, final, explosion ripped the capsizing ship in half and blew the bow section forward some fifteen feet and the stern section completed its roll and sank. The bow section flooded, tilted, and went down a short time later. Three minutes after the explosion, the gas stopped rising and the water was again calm. Josh turned to his radar operator who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Sir! The enemy fleet is turning away! They're in full retreat!" Josh grinned and turned on the PA system to the radio room.
"Notify the Admiral, enemy ship sunk, enemy fleet in retreat." A reply was quick to follow.
"Sir...our radio...it's still out."
"Well sail over to him so that I can tell him myself!"
The Interceptor gave a lurch as it started forward, and then a loud clang reverberated throughout the ship and the destroyer ground to a halt.
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Dieter had been airborne and witnessed the destruction of the Whirlwind first hand. The clouds and storm had parted long enough for his squadron to be granted a front row seat to the ship's demise. He found himself enthralled by the ship sinking and also horrified. As the first few blasts of flak from a watchful destroyer burst around the sky, he keyed his radio.
"All planes return to the ship. The Whirlwind has been lost." At that moment, a voice came over as his squadron's newest member, Sergeant Alfred Marks, callsign Reaper.
"Captain, surely you jest?! You would leave the Whirlwind unavenged?! Our national honor wounded?!" Dieter was about to reply to that when his squadron second, Lieutenant Jyne Grant, came over the radio.
"You dare to question the orders of your commanding officer? I don't give a damn how many kills you have Reaper, or who you are 'friends' with, that kind of insubordination will see you brought low. The Captain says it's too dangerous to engage any enemy vessel at th moment and I, for one, agree with him. We're turning back and I expect you to stay glued to my tail until we land. If you deviate for any reason other than to land, you will be reprimanded upon landing, do you get me?"
There was a pause for a moment and then a grudging confirmation. Dieter turned his squadron around and retreated to the carrier. For the first time in his career, he knew failure.
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All right! Now that was a battle, am I right? Okay so, Dieter is in some hot water now eh? And what was wrong with the Interceptor? Well, that will be revealed next time. As for me, well, I have to piece together the next few chapters.
The next chapter will take place in Avalon so not to worry, I shall be back soon.
Next Time: A Gnasty Surprise