John Schettler - Ironfall

This was a major escalation of the Army’s commitment to the South Pacific, and now the Navy was directed to conduct all necessary operations to ensure the timely and safe transport of Army units to designated objectives, and to become masters of the seas in and around those objectives as required. So easily conceived and written down in a directive like this, thought Yamamoto. Yet not so easily accomplished. There is an enemy out there with both an army and navy, and clear objectives of their own.

He looked over the list of new divisions, noting that one of them was the powerful 3rd Infantry Division, a top tier veteran unit from the Nanjing area. But look at this list of new objectives! In addition to reinforcing Fiji to reverse the unfortunate situation there, the large adjacent Island of Vanua Levu has now been selected for occupation by Japanese troops, to take and hold all the airfields now being used by the Americans. They have constructed larger fields at Bua, Savu, and Lambasa, with three smaller landing strips at Baiugunu, Katherine Bay and Matei. Trying to strike them all to suppress enemy air power for the assault landings will not be easy.

The 3rd Infantry Division has been assigned to this task, and now I must find shipping to move it, and the means to control the seas. Hopefully we can retain the shipping that transports them here from China, and I will make this a personal request. The 6th and 9th Divisions come next, one for New Caledonia to begin a protracted campaign there, and the other to storm Efate and eliminate those enemy landings. After these objectives have been fulfilled, then the 15th and 17th Divisions will be released, and we are directed to begin planning for operations against ‘other targets of opportunity to be specified later.’

By all kami great and small, I might be able to get those troops to their objectives, but how in the world does Tojo think I can keep all these divisions supplied? How does he think I can defend these sea lanes over such a wide area? We simply do not have the shipping available to do this, and so it is clear to me that Admiral Nagano was bypassed in all this planning, or otherwise silenced. He would have certainly pointed this out.

Then again… The early release of the Phase II Shadow Fleet ships may have something to do with all of this. Even so, the fleet is straining just to support the few operations already underway. Now I must find the means to cover another major amphibious assault into the Fiji Group—let alone all the other things mandated in this directive.

But the Admiral would soon find out that he had more resources at his command than he realized. Takami had been ordered to Yokohama before it was sunk, summoned there by Admiral Nagano himself. It was clear the Admiral had heard enough from the rumor mill to make him very curious. When Admiral Kita learned this, he convened a meeting of his senior officers, including Harada and Fukada off the stricken Takami .

He had broken off his hunt for Kirov , content to gather his fleet and make some general determination on how they would now proceed to operate here. Kirov had run south, and he believed they might soon hear of its whereabouts. Now he had to decide how to use his task force for the mission the officers and crew had chosen. They would support Japan, though he still had reservations about that choice. Yet with the power they had, Kirov and the Russian submarine aside, he had every confidence that he could change the course of this war, and forestall the terrible end that Japan suffered in 1945.

“Gentlemen, I’ve been asked five times why we broke off that scrap with the Russians. Yes, we had them on the run, but the situation was far from resolved in our favor. We lost planes, and also saw that this Karpov was willing to stop at nothing when he resorted to the use of that nuclear warhead. We didn’t know where that damn sub was, and it already put your ship down, Captain Harada. We had the fleet too spread out, and neither the carriers, nor the replenishment group, were adequately covered. And we were burning through a limited supply of fuel at 30 knots for hours on end, while our enemy cruised off at 32 knots without using a single drop. So I elected to play it safe and pull in our horns to think this thing through. We’ve got to consider all the factors here, and logistics is front and center. They can operate out here indefinitely, and we can’t. It’s as simple as that. So I can’t get involved in a sea chase here. It’s just that simple. We would have three days to operate before every ship would be looking to Omi for fuel.”

“So then what do you propose?” asked Captain Asano from the destroyer Kongo .

“Just what Captain Harada suggested before we ran into the Russians. He said we might head southwest to find tanker support from our friends, before we tangle with our enemies. Unfortunately, we sailed right into trouble. Is that option still doable?” He looked at Harada now.

“I don’t see why not, sir, but there’s another issue we should consider. Takami is due to arrive at Yokohama today, and that isn’t going to happen. It’s going to raise eyebrows. I was told to report directly to Admiral Nagano, and he won’t be happy that I failed to do so. He’ll go right to Yamamoto to find out why, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Yamamoto is already trying to contact us.”

“Alright,” said Kita. “You say you’re on fairly good standing with Yamamoto, but Nagano is his senior commanding officer, and he still remains in the dark about all this.”

“Correct,” said Harada.

“Well should we keep that appointment?”

“It’s 2000 nautical miles to get there,” said Harada. “And we’d be making quite a revelation of ourselves when we arrived in Tokyo Bay. I say the smarter play is to continue south to Rabaul and meet with Yamamoto, or perhaps the bay at Davao. I can contact him directly, and see if I can clear things up, and then he could cover us concerning Nagano. That also puts us in Kirov’s wake, even if we don’t move to a high speed chase scenario here. This Karpov just hit Truk, and as we’ve seen, he’ll use any arrow in his quiver. If he went south, then he did so for a reason.”

“What reason?” asked Captain Ichiro Akino from Atago.

“Rabaul…. That’s the real forward base for Yamamoto now. We’ve got to stay in a position to defend it—and I don’t think we’re going to the Panama Canal, let alone those American shipyards.” He glanced at Fukada now.

“Agreed,” said Kita. “Those operations are out of the question for the time being. But how will you explain this to Yamamoto?”

“He’s already had the saké with us, and so he will not suffer quite the same shock that Nagano would to learn all of this. I think I will just come out with things as they are. I will tell him that while we were on our scheduled rendezvous at Eniwetok, we encountered an unknown task force, and then determined that they were our comrades—from our own time. How they came to be here remains a mystery to us all, but the Admiral now has two more carriers to add to his fleet.”

“Very well,” said Kita. “Then we continue south, and into dangerous waters. I’ll want an ASW helicopter watch posted at all times, Omi in tight with the two carriers and all the destroyers in a nice tight screen. We’ll have strike planes spotted and ready at a moment’s notice, and if this Karpov wants to go another round with us, so be it. We throw everything we have at him. After all, that’s our main mission here—to kill that ship.”

Fukada had been listening quietly, his wings clipped in more than one way with both the loss of Takami and his grand campaign to destroy American carrier production. Now he finally spoke.