This chapter jumps around a fair bit, but in my defense there's a lot going on, and I want y'alls opinion. Should we expand our horizons a bit to other ships? I've got a cruiser lined up for next chapter, and there's some new faces in this one...
Put simply, a lot is going on and I want to be sure we catch it all for your enjoyment.
Feedback is always appreciated, and I hope you enjoy- SirStonewall
Huynh, Kinh-Luyên
October 18th, 0809
Location: Hachijo-Jima
Status: Enjoying R&R
"Fucking hell tabarnak," Kinh groaned as he and his friends meandered through the floating streets of Hachijo-Jima, the sun peeking through occasional gaps in the clouds, "This is the life."
"Ostie, this is good," Al complimented his takoyaki. "At least they were nice enough to let us get shore leave after those dumb Americans got trigger happy"
"You like anything Japanese. That's not saying much." One of the torpedo officers teased Al as they walked, the Freshman dodging around a person from a cruiser anchored in the harbor.
"Their food is fucking tasty alright?" he argued before eating another takoyaki.
"Can't argue with that," Remi admitted as he ate some karaage, "Though I could use a good poutine right now."
"Shame there's no places around here that make them eh?" Kinh replied, looking around for their next stop.
"Wanna go hit up some arcades?" Al proposed. "Always wanted to try one of those."
"Sure." Victor, the torpedoman, nodded, turning to look at something that caught his eye before a siren slowly spooled up, wailing in a high-pitched tone before spooling down to a lower tone.
"What the-"
"TABARNAK! IT'S A FUCKING AIR RAID ALARM!" Kinh shouted, "We gotta get back to the sub asap! MERDE!"
All around them other students had come to the same conclusion, all of them dropping what they were doing and sprinting back towards the harbor as the siren continued its infernal wailing. As they ran, they could see police officers trying to corral panicking civilians to safety while store owners urged them to cover inside their shops.
At the same time, the crews who were on their ships were scurrying about to man their anti-aircraft stations and brace their ships against aerial bombardment. Anchored astern of the sub, the crew of the Rainbow saw the crew of the USS Quincy scramble across her deck, a large majority of them donning protective gear before manning the anti-aircraft guns the ship bristled with. A shorter woman with burn scars stood at the rail with a pair of binoculars as the 40mm mount next to her was trained skyward, the five-inch guns belching fire as three Judy dive bombers broke through the cloud layer in a shallow dive towards the island. All at once the Quincy's guns opened up, blanketing the sky with flak as a Corsair and a Sea Fury dove through the clouds behind the Judy's, too far away to catch them but trying anyway, despite little black clouds of death blooming around the dive bombers as their bomb bays opened. Tracers filled the gloomy skies as the anti-aircraft of the Submarine tender next to the Rainbow joined in, followed by a German destroyer anchored ahead of the sub.
Kinh and his friends slid down the conning tower into the sub's command post.
"Is everyone back yet?!" he shouts before looking around, "Shit Oliver's not back yet!"
"Olson's not back either!"
"Fuck!" he cursed again before trying to raise the engine room, "Justin, you there man?"
Just then, another boy slid down the conning tower ladder.
"Now I am! Sorry I was busy getting some ice cream on the far side of the shopping district with someone from the Haida the when all the alarms went off"
"Better late than never bro, get the engines warmed up ASAP." Kinh ordered, "Is Saïd back?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to get everyone on the group chat!" he shouts, "Olson's got himself a lift from a Japanese staff car so he'll be here in like 2 seconds while Oliver's next to the Hans Ludemann. Everyone's all over the place!"
"Merde!"
"Kinh! Topside, now!" Olson's voice called down from atop the conning tower, barely able to be heard over the rattling of anti-aircraft guns. The young captain scurried back up the ladder. Once there, he could see the familiar black clouds of AA shells detonating in the skies, their explosions echoing throughout the city.
"What's the situation Bob? Not everyone's back yet!"
"Cast all but two of the mooring lines and get ready to set sail." Olson ordered as the dive bombers released their payloads and pulled out of the dive, parachutes immediately deploying behind the bombs and slowing their descent to earth.
"Shit!" Both men quickly took cover behind the submarine's conning tower for an explosion that never came.
One of the planes almost immediately lost a wing from a flak burst before a large parachute deployed from the aircraft, slowing its speed so the pilot could live.
One of the bombs floated down to earth before the casing popped open, clattering to a stop at the base of the pier within sight of the submarine. Kinh and his instructor raised their heads, getting a front row seat to nearly a dozen red-striped mice scurrying out of the metal casing. Their eyes widened in horror as they realized what was going on at that moment.
"No, you gotta fucking kidding me," Olson swore as he saw the rats scattering across the pier. Kinh, on the other hand, grabbed a bullhorn.
"Raise the gangways! Raise them dammit! Before the goddamn rats get on!"
It seemed that they weren't the only ones to notice as some of the ships began raising their gangways or pushing them away from their hulls. Some of the crew of the Rainbow, led by Al rushed up the conning tower before pushing away their gangway. With a great splash, it fell in the water.
"Jump Oliver!" Kinh bellowed as he saw his first mate running on the dock. The First mate looked confused but suddenly saw a pair of rats skittering towards him. His body moved before he could think as he threw himself into the water between the Rainbow and the Quincy.
"Cut the lines! Push us away!" Olson ordered as a dockworker punted one of the rats down the dock, his comrades spread up and down the pier cutting lines free for other ships, while multiple tugs powered over, blatantly disregarding port speed as Olson opened one of the speaking tubes. "Said! Get on the radio and contact the blue mermaids! Tell them Hachijo-Jima has an infestation!"
"Yes sir!"
Al and the others threw a buoy to Oliver, dragging him to the sub while panicked shouting could be heard across the harbor.
"Flank speed and evasive maneuvers!" Kinh bellowed into the intercom, "Get us out of here Justin!"
USS Black
October 18th
33°31'20.2"N 138°50'43.2"E
0832
Escorting Blue Mermaid Ship Chiyoda
"No I-... I just…. Mom! Will you let me talk?!" Danielle snapped as she leaned against the splinter shield to a 40mm gun mount. Her hand gripped the satellite phone a little tighter as her mom's rambling tried her patience for the fifth time in one call. "All I'm saying is if the Japanese had the drydock capacity in place to outfit all their ships by themselves, we wouldn't be fighting for our lives…. No- I'm not insinuating-!"
Danielle bit back the urge to groan as her mother started up on another rant, her thumb drifting towards the 'end call' button. It was so tempting… But she knew that would only piss her mother off more. She pinched the bridge of her nose before looking abeam starboard of the Black, where Chiyoda slipped calmly through the chop of the light wind in the wake of the typhoon. It was almost peaceful, except her mother was still actively chewing her out in her right ear.
Those beeps she had been waiting for finally originated from a watch taped to the back of the satellite phone, the device mercifully telling her that her ten minutes were up.
"Captain." A voice came from her right, the redhead glancing over and nodding when she saw Mark waiting for his turn.
"Yeah, I know." She replied before adjusting the phone. "Mom- Mom! Hey I-... no, I-... Fuck it." Danielle jammed her thumb down on the button to end the call, offering it to their newly returned radio operator. "Welcome home. How was your stay on the Harekaze?"
"Pretty alright. They were all civil and courteous. I got put to work a few times, but it was interesting seeing the contrasts between the destroyers of our respective nations."
"Like what?" Danielle stretched as she started walking towards the aft, Mark chuckling.
"Well, for starters they only have one radio operator working at any time. We have three."
"That…. sounds like Hell." Danielle blinked.
"Ain't that the truth. Anyway, I gotta call mom. Talk later?"
"Sure." Danielle waved goodbye to him and made her way inside, passing through the radio room and nodding in respect to the operator that wasn't mid-message. She squeezed past and into the corridor, dodging James from Engineering. "Oop- Sorry!"
"All good Cap. Just runnin' laundry."
"Catch me up on the status of engineering later?" Dani asked as James paused in front of the door to the laundry room, opening it.
"Sure thing, as long as you catch me up on what's going on topside. I heard Chiyoda managed to get the guys off the Grilse, but that's all."
"Sure thing. Give me twenty or so-"
"Cap!" Steven from the radio room called out. "Bridge on the horn for you!"
'I really wish I could have a moment to myself…'
U-129
October 18th
33°13'21.4"N 139°49'59.9"E
0835
Escaping Hachijo-Jima
"Captain, new orders from the Blue Mermaids."
The instructor's appearance on the conning tower was a welcome surprise as the captain scanned the island on the horizon through a pair of binoculars. Her carefully cared for blonde hair gently blew in the breeze as the bow of the U-boat cut through the waves, all while seagulls flew overhead. She never lowered the binoculars as she hummed. "Let's hear it."
"These orders have been signed off by Kiel. We are to remain around Hachijo Jima with U-156 and U-2513 and turn around or sink any civilian vessels attempting to leave the island."
"They want us to fire on their own people?" The blonde lowered her binoculars as she looked back at the thin, black haired instructor.
"If that's what's necessary to enforce the quarantine, yes. This could turn into a worldwide disaster if we don't stop it here, Annette."
"I know that." She sighed. "This was not what I expected to be doing when we got sent to train with the Australians. What about U-460? We could use her radar."
"Semmler was strafed earlier this morning by aircraft. They had to retire back to Yokohama for repairs."
"Of course…" She huffed before opening the hatch to speak down into the sub. "Nicklaus! Grab me two more lookouts and have William man the radar!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Getting ready for a fight, captain?" The instructor smirked.
"Getting ready for an interception. We can't afford to slack off, Johan." The captain huffed, grabbing a crank and turning it to raise the radar mast the sub had.
Johan chuckled and nodded, leaning on the railing as he scanned. "When you petitioned for this to be a co-ed crew, I was worried there was going to be plenty of slacking off. I will admit I've been pleasantly surprised."
"I told you there would be none when I started petitioning." The moment the radar mast was fully elevated, it started turning, not even making two revolutions before the call came up from below.
"Captain! Three radar contacts, one-seven-seven, fourteen miles! Track north!"
"Hard left rudder to Eins-Sieben-Null! Deck gun crew, stand by! Nicklaus, bring me the signal lamp and tell Lina to give me full speed! Schneller!" One by one the Captain's orders were carried out, three of the crew from below climbing up. One of the lookouts followed them down to the deck to begin prepping the 10.5cm deck gun while two more lookouts finally emerged from within the sub as it made its turn, the sleek bow knifing through the slight chop with ease. "Alle Männer und Frauen zu den Kampfstationen!" (all men and women to battlestations)
Once relaxed and calm, the U-boat suddenly bustled with activity, a trio of shells being passed up the conning tower and stored on the deck as they charged ahead, the captain eventually spotting their quarry on the horizon. Moments later, the instructor also spotted the trio of vessels, peering through a high-magnification pair of binoculars. "Looks like a deep-water ferry and a pair of small boats."
"I agree. Nicklaus!"
"Ja?!"
"Send out a contact report!"
"What's your plan, Captain?"
"We get in front of them, flash for them to turn around. If they don't, we fire the two centimeter guns in front of them. If that doesn't work, we have the deck gun."
"The deck gun will demolish those small boats if we hit them directly. What's your plan for that?"
"We rescue the survivors in the water, then keep them on deck until we can transfer them to the larger vessel."
"And if the ferry doesn't comply?"
The captain paused, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants. "We'll figure it out when we cross that line."
DD-764 USS Lloyd Thomas
October 18th
0709
34°05'04.2"N 140°00'52.2"E
Escorting USS Monterey
"Mornin' cap."
The greeting met a tall teen with jet black hair as he ducked through the bulkhead into the bridge, the wind messing up those finely combed locks of hair before he managed to get the bulkhead closed.
"Good morning mister Hamilton." Captain Adams responded, turning around and meeting his helmsman's gaze "Ready for the new day?"
"Ready as I can be. Storm's supposed to be mostly passed by tonight."
"Good." He nodded "Never cared for stormy weather while on land, much less while sailing." Paul turned back to watch over the bow of the ship "Least we're not bein' thrown about, ey David?"
"There is that, but as they say, a calm sea never made for an experienced crew." The Helmsman looked down as the Bosun wrote in the ship's log.
"Are you ready for the night report, Paul?" Alexandria asked, looking up from her datapad.
"Hit me Alex." He answered, leaning over to look with her "Don't actually though." He chuckled.
"I'll spare you the boring details. As uh… eleven-ten last night, Sonar reported hearing a metallic sound akin to a submarine. At eleven thirteen, sonar attempted to locate with active sonar and could not, subsequently identifying it as nothing to note. At three-thirty, Monterey turned south at eight knots and we followed, maintaining position. Monterey has since sped up at five-thirty to twenty-five knots and has begun preparing to launch aircraft."
"Hm." He brought his hand up and ran his fingers through his hair, staring thoughtfully out at the moderate chop. "That sound, could it just have been equipment acting up and do you have any estimates for when that aircraft will launch?"
"I thought the same thing. Norwood said everything was working as expected." She hummed, flicking through her pages. "As for the launch schedule…"
"They're fifteen minutes late." The First Mate replied as he stepped in from the restroom at the rear of the bridge. "Morning."
Paul sighed again "Good morning James." He said, not pulling his eyes away from their current view "There's not much we can do at the moment can we? Have Norwood keep a close eye, rather ear to that sonar."
"He advised us he was going to rest while he couldn't hear. Sonar is manned by one of the girls from the galley."
"Well just make sure she's been informed, I don't want anything sneaking up on us." He started to bite his thumbnail, a habit he hadn't been able to break since he got it as a young boy "Fifteen minutes late you said?"
"Yeah. Looks like the first plane is finally launching."
"First air patrol of the day is usually on the dot, something could be wrong with the Monterey. Ready our anti-aircraft armament."
"General quarters?" The first mate asked, glancing back at him to make sure.
"Aye. General quarters. I'd rather be ready and have nothing happen than the opposite."
Alexandria moved towards the rear of the bridge as a hellcat took off from the Monterey, loaded for bear with bombs and rockets. She pulled a whistle out of her shirt and quickly turned on the ship's PA system, blowing a low note, then a high one. "General quarters! General quarters! All hands man your battlestations! Set material condition Zebra throughout the ship! Traffic route, up and forward to starboard; aft and down to port. Now General quarters!"
"And away we go." Paul said to himself while mentally picturing how this could play out. The moment the PA system turned off, the sandy blonde bosun reached up and hit the general quarters alarm, everyone scrambling to don their protective equipment.
"Signal the Monterey and ask for a weather report." The First Mate ordered as he donned his ballistic vest.
"On it."
The bosun quickly left the bridge, bound for a signal lamp on the bridge wing.
"Monterey's launching her entire air wing." Brandy, the brunette gunnery officer, informed them all from her place at a window.
Paul nodded and began to slip on his own vest too. Grabbing his binoculars he watched the fighters launch from the deck of the Monterey, "What are we looking at armament wise."
"Tiny tim rockets, HVAR's, bombs of various sizes, and air-dropped torpedoes." Alexandria replied, looking down at her datapad as a flight of torpedo bombers dropped slightly off the end of the carrier, lumbering up into the sky. More aircraft motored off the deck as they waited in tense silence, the drone of engines starting to drown out the sound of the waves against the hull. "Message sent. No acknowledgement received."
"Flank speed." James ordered before Alexandria spoke up again, speaking over the helmsman's reply.
"Anti-aircraft battery reports manned and ready. Main battery reports manned and ready. Engineering Officer of the Watch reports Engineering manned and ready. Zebra set. Four boilers online, max speed 35 knots. Electric plant split, all fire pumps online."
"Very well. Captain has the conn."
Paul bit on his thumb and eagerly waited for the battle to unfold. He started running more scenarios through his head but that only served to worry him even more.
{Bridge, starboard lookout! Rocket-armed Hellcats circling us, range two thousand yards!}
"Helm." Paul spoke up as he drummed his fingers on the map table in the corner. "Right sharply, twenty degrees, get us some evasive maneuvers started. Those planes get any closer, I want AA to open up on them." He paced to the other side of the bridge, watching through the windows.
"Right sharply, twenty degrees, aye sir."
"Anti-air standing by."
"Message from Mack astern, radio is inoperable, rat interference, suspect from Monterey."
"Of course it is." Paul sighed as he opened a speaking tube to the observation deck. "Lookout, those fighters looking like they're getting ready to do anything?"
"Still circling. Probably waiting to rally up with another flight."
"Get me a count of them, please." He asked, "And flash the Mack to prepare to take evasive maneuvers if those fighters dog them." Paul looked out onto the sea, "Come on, let's get this over with." He muttered to himself.
"Just three, with another four over by the Winslow. Multiple Avengers and Dauntless ascending and circling around us at various angles."
"Flashing the Mack and other destroyers now."
"Incoming, incoming, incoming! Port side ahead!" A lookout called out as a flight of hellcats swooped towards them, the fencepost-sized rockets dropping away from their fuselages.
Paul's heart sank to his stomach, he couldn't freeze up, that's how battles would go horribly wrong. "Brace for impact and light up 'em up with AA!" Paul responded, bracing for the impact of rockets. The ship shook once from an impact as the rest of the rockets either splashed short or zipped past, sending columns of water pluming around them.
"All batteries, engage any approaching aircraft! Commence fire!" Brandy ordered through her radio moments before the air itself seemed to vibrate from the gunfire. Flak bursts bloomed around the incoming fighters as more aircraft swooped in.
"Captain, we keep turning like this and we'll have to avoid the Mack." James advised him, all while Alexandra looked at her tablet.
"No fire, no flooding. Unknown impact location!"
"No flooding or fire. Lady Luck smiled upon us, let's not keep testing her." He smiled a little, though nervously, "Alter course to avoid hitting the Mack, maintain AA fire."
"Helm, hard left rudder! Gunnery, defensive fire, melt the barrels if you have to!" James ordered sharply, a hint of agitation in his voice.
"Hard left rudder, aye!"
"All guns, defensive fire! Disregard conservation!" The gunnery officer shouted shivered visibly with excitement before the din outside kicked up to a whole new level, tracers bracketing the inbound aircraft before several impacts were scored.
"Mccall and Winslow report they're breaking off from escorting Monterey."
James watched in awe of the cacophony of tracer fire, there was something…beautiful about it. Somehow the deafening sounds of all their AA batteries firing at once brought a sense of calm. He brought his binoculars up to his eyes and began to get a count of the remaining aircraft. "How many more planes?" He asked, wanting a second opinion to verify his count. It quickly began to seem that everywhere he looked there were more planes, some climbing, others making attack runs on the other ships in the formation.
"Captain!" The first mate finally snapped at him. "Are we disengaging with the others or weathering the storm?"
His head jerked towards the voice "Huh? Yes! Disengage!" Paul answered, not wanting to stray from the group. Safety in numbers and such.
"I have the conn. Hard left rudder to zero-three-six! Flash for the others to follow us and continue zigzag procedures!"
"Hard left rudder to zero-three six, aye!"
"Torpedo bombers inbound, port side aft!"