USS John Finn, only ship in the harbor that has American flag. When you were still serving as a ship, Destroyers like this were so small compared to you. You immediately recognized the Arleigh Burke-class design, very similar to the Kongō-class and Atago-class Destroyers. With almost 10000 tones displacement they are as heavy as Light Cruisers from WW2. Their armament though isn't even comparable. Even the smallest Destroyer was superior to it in terms of main guns, but normal WW2 Destroyer wouldn't even stand a chance since it has guided missiles, capable of destroying things over 2000 km away. You have some too, your two Sea Sparrow launchers can deal with anything in 20 km radius and two RAM launchers that can be fired on something 9 km away. Those two 20mm are your last hope in defending yourself with 3 km effective range. Now however dealing with planes from Zuikaku you are not sure if you'll win against them, and there is going to be a lot of them. You are also quite a big target, 345m long and 78m wide. Your maneuverability is not the best. You are pretty fast though, 33.6 knots is not considered slow by any means. You don't know how good Zuikaku is in maneuverability though but for your F-14Ds it shouldn't be a problem. You were at your starting point now so you send her a message that you are ready.
"I'm ready Zuikaku. You can start when ready."
Five seconds after you saw a flare going vertically up into the sky. You grabbed your bow and stared at the flare, waiting for it to lose its speed. Any second now… come on… now.
"All aircraft prepare to engage, all F/A-18s prepare for air-to-air combat. All F-14Ds prepare with dive bombs and EA-6Bs with anti-ship missiles. One E-2 prepare for scouting enemy aircraft. All loaded ammunition must be the practice one." You ordered and your arrows slowly started to gain their colors. Your E-2 was ready first because it only needed fuel.
"E-2 Hawkeye cleared for takeoff." You said and let go of the string. Once it got to air you have been give data of your surroundings. No enemy aircraft yet but you are sure that it won't be long until you will have a full hands of them. Your first fighter squadron was already ready for takeoff so you let them out after you checked their load out because you didn't want to have the same incident that happened on 14th January 1969 again. Once you had 3 fighter squadrons in the air when your E-2 started to send positions of enemy aircraft. 3 dive bomber squadrons of four D3As and 2 fighter squadrons of five A6M2s. All your 3 squadrons of F/A-18s engaged the targets meanwhile you send another squadron out if anything comes close. Your Hornets were superior to Zuiaku's Zeros in speed and armament. Her Zeros couldn't do anything about radar homing Sidewinders that your F/A-18s carried. Her dive bombers followed shortly after.
"You won't get through if you only send this much Zuikaku. Show me how many planes you can get into the air before I send my bombers." You said as you send another fighter squadron into the air and getting ready for your F-14Ds. Each carried four 100kg laser guided bombs. All practice of course. You send out 3 more squadrons so your first wave had 4 squadrons of dive bombers (or just bombers because these bombs didn't needed from pilot to dive on their target) and 2 fighter squadrons. She was well prepared for it, 15 Zeros were waiting for them near your target. However, since your F/A-18s carried 6 Sidewinders each they didn't proved to be a big obstacle. You don't even want to imagine how it must feel to lose all your aircraft right before your eyes, even before they could even attack. Your aircraft also proved difficult to aim at with AA guns because of their speed. Right after another your bombers dropped their payload. When your second bomber squadron signaled that they are starting to engage Zuikaku, you got a message from her.
"Stop… stop please… I… I give up… please no…more…" she said in scared voice.
"To all aircraft, abort your bombing runs or any engagements on the enemy aircraft and return to base. The enemy capitulated, we have won." You could hear cheers from your pilots.
"I hope I didn't over do it. This was very one sided battle." You said slightly worried about Zuikaku and you hurried to the base. You found her sitting on the water, she and her deck was completely covered by blue paint, signaling where those bombs hit. She had a small Zero in her hand. When she saw you, her eyes widened with horror and saw you looking at her plane.
"No… please… this is my only fighter left." She said and buried it in her chest. Looks like this was her first defeat… well for her it must have been more of humiliation than defeat.
You sailed to her and kneeled right in front of her and extended your right hand. "I'm sorry. I overdid it, didn't I?" you said and started to pet her head. She tensed and shut her eyes under your touch but then immediately looked up.
"No, it's… my fault… I underestimated you." She said as she looked down.
"Come on, let's go back." You said, stood up and extended your hand for her to help her stand up. She looked up at you again, nodded and took your hand as she stood up.
You two sailed side by side to the peer. Surprisingly, your Admiral and Captain was there too as well as someone who looked like Japanese Admiral. The crowd stayed further back from them.
"Hey Zuikaku, that is a nice camouflage, you blend well with the ocean." That Japanese looking man said with a chuckle in perfect English. Zuikaku said nothing, only crossed her arms and looked away with a pout."Hehehe, don't worry I'm just joking." He said and then looked at you. "And you must be the new American girl that is responsible for her color change." You smiled awkwardly and scratched your cheek with your index finger. "I thought so, well, my name is Takahiro Tamashi. I'm Japanese Admiral and commander of Japanese kanmusu." You immediately saluted. "No need to be so formal around me."
"Ehm" your Admiral cleared her throat and looked at you with narrowed eyes. Oh ooh, trouble. "E, care to explain why your Hornets almost destroyed all windows in our HQ?" she looked right into your eyes.
"Eehh… I don't know what are you talking about Admiral." You said nervously. Jeez, why do you lie to your Admiral?
"Of course not." She said with a sigh and Captain chuckled. "At least ask for permission next time ok?" she said and relaxed.
"Yes ma'am! It won't happen again." You said and saluted.
"Well that aside, how did your mock battle go? Although I can see the results." Your Admiral asked and Admiral Tamashi chuckled.
"Well… I…won" you simply said, trying not to embarrass Zuikaku even more.
"How many bomb hits did it take for her to admit defeat?" Admiral Tamashi asked.
"Well, I don't think it was because how many bombs she took. I think it was because those bombs are guided and very accurate. I can hit even fast and maneuvering targets like torpedo boats. You could say that there is no escape from them." You really didn't want to talk about it, especially in front of her.
"Alright, now go to the launching chamber, Yuubari will help you get off your equipment which is quite impressive." Your Admiral said.
"Yeah, Zuikaku will you show her the way?" Admiral Tamashi asked her. She only nodded.
As you were sailing there you asked Zuikaku. "Zuikaku, are you alright? You are not hurt right?" she shook her head.
"It's just…your bombers. They are even scarier then Abyssal aircraft. When I found out that those bombs can change direction and that I'm the target… I don't know… my mind flooded with fear. And when I saw your fighters, and how they easily dealt with mine… I felt so powerless. That's why, I will never fight against you again. I learned my lesson." She said and sailed further away from you, into the launching chamber.
You looked at your equipment and then on your hands. "Am I really that scary?" you couldn't help but ask yourself.
When you sailed in, you saw Zuikaku, already without her gear, as she left the building.
"Don't mind her." Yuubari said. "She will get over it. Now to your gear."
"Right, what do I need to do?"
"Just stay still until I figure out how to take it off you. Now if my theory is right, and your equipment layout is similar to the Taihou's, It should be around here?" you heard something click. "Yep, found it. Now I just need to do this." She said and you heard a sound of clashing chains. Your face paled.
"Uh… what are you going to do with those chains?"
"I need it to secure your largest parts with it. Then, I can pull it up. You see, this building has three ceilings. Under the top ceiling is our equipment storage, then bellow it are sets of cranes and mechanical arms, so when you're going to sortie, those arms put all your equipment on you again before you leave the chamber. Now I heard your equipment is quite heavy. So I'm going to use cranes that we use for Yamato sisters. I hope that it's not too heavy. You are 20000 tones heavier then them after all. Otherwise you will have to put it on yourself."
"Sorry."
"Ah it's alright. It's not your fault. Now stand still, I'm going to pull it up." Than you heard how that crane is going up with your equipment. You felt like a feather when your deck, bow, arrows and your self-defense systems on your shoulders were pulled upwards.
"Now your propulsion. Stand here." She said and pointed to a round pressure plate. Once you stepped on it, it started to glow with bright blue on the edge. Yuubari than walked to some terminal and started typing something. "Now, I have registered your equipment, I will show you how it works here in a moment." Than around the pressure plate emerged two small mechanical arms and grabbed your propulsion off your feet. "Ok now you can come out of the water and follow me, I will show you how it works here." You went out of the water and followed Yuubari to another terminal.
"Ok so when you will go on sortie, expedition or whatever, you will need to select your equipment. It's pretty easy, you just need to select your type, then your class and then find your name. Once you do that, it will tell you which launching line is yours. Let's say that you line is number 1. You go to it and up here will be your name, so you can check if you're in the right line. After that you have to step on the pressure plate and it will do the same process it did when you were getting off, except in other way around. Now if you are getting off the water, first you need to step on the pressure plate and then select yourself on the terminal. Pretty easy right?" she said with a smile.
"Oh, yeah. A lot of information to take at first though, but I got it."
"Great. Now that it's over you can leave if you want. Oh and if you'll ever need something from me, you can ask Akashi, if she won't know then ask Admiral, he always know everybody's whereabouts. Well except some destroyers like Shimakaze and certain four Battleship sisters." You looked at her questionally. "You'll find out when you meet them. Just don't ask their reasoning if you don't want to damage your brain. After one day with them, you will be happy if you will have some brain cells left. If you want to talk with at least one of them, go look for Haruna, she is the most "normal" of them."
"…Right…"
"Alright see you later." She smiled and waved as she went upstairs.
"Now what to do." Your question was answered by Enterprise waiting for you in front of the launching chamber.
"Are you free now?"
"Yeah, I think I am."
"Great. I have been told to show you where you will sleep. It's getting dark now so we should hurry before someone will claim bathroom for herself like Colorado likes to do. Follow me." She led the way, however you felt like you are being watched but that could wait, you were quite exhausted already.
"Ok this is our sleeping quarters here in Yokosuka. This one is for Heavy Cruisers, Battleships and Aircraft Carriers. The one over there is for Submarines, Destroyers, Escort Carriers and Light Cruisers and believe me, you don't want go there. Just imagine 28 kids running around and causing havoc all around. The Light Cruisers can get them into the line though. Now, come in." she said and invited you inside.
This was two floor building with wooden floor and concrete walls and ceiling. Once you stepped in you were greeted by a small hall which then continued into one corridor in the middle with rooms on both sides and bathroom on the end. Second floor had also one corridor with rooms on the sides and bathrooms on the both ends.
However as you stepped inside you were greeted by some blond long haired girl with blue eyes with yellow stars as her pupils and in very revealing outfit. She was the same height as you.
"Oh my god." Was the only thing you could say.
"What?" she asked.
"Well, you look very… American."
"Riight? I'm BB-61, USS Iowa! And you are?"
"I'm CVN-65, USS Enterprise. Nice to meet you"
"Hey, what's the fuss about?" some other girl with long black hair, blue eyes and was in long sleeved steel grey shirt with black light jacket, black skirt with three white horizontal stripes and black pantyhose asked as she went down stairs. She looked quite familiar.
"Hey Midway, sorry about that."
"You're Midway?"
"Yeah, CV-41, USS Midway, why?"
"No wonder you look familiar. I'm USS Enterprise, CVN-65. We were in the same operation, Operation Frequent Wind. I with your sister ship Coral Sea provided air support for you."
"Enterprise huh? Oh yeah, I remember. Let me catch Coral." She said and went upstairs again. After a while she came down again with another girl which looked exactly the same except hair color which was .
"Hey, I'm USS Coral Sea, CV-43. You are Enterprise right. Long time no see." She said with a cheerful smile and hugged you.
"Yeah, good to be back." You hugged her back slightly.
"So, E, you served with anyone else from WW2? I know that some of the Essex-class were serving after the war." Enterprise asked you.
"Hmm… from Essex-class I remember Oriskany, Hancock, Ticonderoga and Hornet."
"Hornet huh? We have the Yorktown-class Hornet here. But that is besides the point, I still need you to show you where you will sleep… or actually, Iowa, can show you since you will be sharing the room with them."
"Them?"
"Yep, we have two Iowa-class Battleships here, Iowa and Missouri."
"Yahii, come on I will show you" Iowa cheerfully said and motioned you to follow her. Her… Your room was on the first floor. It was a decently sized room with four beds on the sides of the room and with two closets next to them and in the middle was a small table and small dual window on the wall. Iowa with Missouri already took the beds on the left so you took one on the right. The bed seemed like it was hard enough for you so you didn't have any complains.
"Hey Iowa, is one of the bathrooms free right now?"
"Well unless you want to bath alone like Colorado, there is always a room for you. And if it isn't, just go to the other bathroom. Why? You want to take a shower?" you nodded. "Great, I will go with you."
"Kay." You said and waited for her to grab something from her closet.
"Alright, towels are in the bathrooms. Just like in the docks, the bathrooms here have an intersection where you can put your clothes. Now hurry up, I want to introduce you to Missi." She said and led you to one of the bathrooms. Once you took off your clothes and put your towel around you, both of you entered the baths. You were greeted by a huge cloud of steam which immediately cooled down and watered your face. As of right now, there were three girls except you and Iowa. One with short dark brown hair in the tub, another with long red hair and smaller build then the others and the last one had a long blond hair with a red tint. Iowa then silently got behind the last one and prepared for engage with devilish grin on her face. The girl in front of her was still oblivious to her presence.
"Hey there sis!" Iowa shouted and grabbed her breasts with her hands.
"Kyaaa" she screamed so loudly you almost had to cover your ears. "Hey, Iowa… ahh…stop that…uhh…" she said and tried to get out from her sister's grasp.
"Hahaha, Missi that was a nice face you made there." Iowa said and released her.
"Who do you think is responsible for that? Idiot. And don't call me Missi!" She said and crossed her arms.
"He he, now I want to introduce you to someone." She said and pointed at you. "This is our new roommate."
"Hi" you smiled and waved. "I'm CVN-65, USS Enterprise."
"Enterprise?... Ah, you are that nuclear monster right?" she said and you awkwardly smiled and scratched back of your neck.
"Nuclear monster?" the one in the tub asked with raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. Nuclear, because she is the first nuclear carrier. And monster because at the time, she was the heaviest carrier in the US Navy and also because she is the longest Carrier in the world." Iowa said to her. "Oh and also because she totally destroyed Zuikaku this afternoon."
"Can we not talk about that."
"Well that will be a problem because practically the whole base know about it"
"Sigh." You sighed and stepped into the free tub. It felt good, the temperature was nice but it didn't felt as good as in the docks. As you were ling in the tub you remembered that you forgot to ask something importat. "Hey, I just remembered, I don't know your names."
"Oh yeah, well this is Boston, Baltimore-class Heavy cruiser." Missouri pointed to the red head.
"Sup"
"Hi" you said with a smile.
"And in the one in the tub is Essex, Essex-class Aircraft Carrier." The Carrier in question only nodded.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Once the introductions were over, the bathroom remained silent except Iowa who was chatting with Missouri.
Once you cleaned yourself you headed back to your room to sleep, it was already 2100. As you were opening the door, someone spoke to you.
"You are Enterprise?" A girl with same height as you, blond hair tied into the ponytail, dark blue eyes and wearing dark blue long dress almost to her knees which was white from her breasts, which were even bigger than what Iowa-class had, up to her shoulders, red leggings and bark blue shoes with heels made of her rudders and two anchors on the sides.
"Uh, yeah… well actually that depends on which Enterprise you are looking for." You said to her.
"CVN-65"
"That's me."
"Well, Admiral wants to speak with you tomorrow before you go to the Mess Hall for breakfast. Now that is out of the way, my name is Arizona, BB-39. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand for a handshake which you took without hesitation. Another legend of the US Navy was in front of you after all. "Ok, because you are new here, I will inform you about that I'm Admiral's secretary ship and that means I'm third in command after Admiral of course and Captain Phillips. Also if you will ever be looking for Admiral or Captain, I will be your best bet on getting that information. I see you are quite tired so I will let you take some rest. Sleep well." She started to slowly walk away before turning to you again. "Also, I should inform you that our Admiral is quite forgiving and kind but I heard from Captain that when her flip is switched, she can make you mentally suffer, a lot." And with that she went do the floor bellow.
"Well, better not get on her bad side." You said to yourself as you shut the door and went to bed immediately. You have fallen asleep before the Iowa-class sisters returned.
