Against the Tide Imperial: The Struggle for Ceylon (The Usurper's War: An Alternative World War II B by James Young (classic book list .txt) 📗

vessels. A submarine or strike would have meant an immediate and likely fatal separation between the two ships. Watching the Akigumo bob next to the Akagi, Yamaguchi hoped the men involved had iron stomachs.

"Have someone go wake Commander Fuchida," Yamaguchi stated wearily.

"Already done, sir," Kaku stated solemnly.

He too knows how badly Fuchida's strike was mauled

A wave of nausea passed over Yamaguchi as he thought about the casualty report.

Three quarters of the Shidens lost due to fuel exhaustion. Half the Suiseis. Half the Tenzans.

Yamaguchi would have admired his British counterpart's masterful trap had it not all but emasculated his force's striking power. Instead, he struggled to control his rage lest it lead to him doing something foolish.

It is most fortunate for that man, whomever he may be, that the Americans are bearing down on me. I would love nothing more than to take the aircraft remaining from my strike at Fletcher to truly end the Royal Navy's presence in the Indian Ocean.

His temples started to throw to throb as he considered his current impotence.

"Sir, Vice Admiral Ozawa has responded to our message," Kaku stated. "He cannot come south more than 100 miles. The damnable army is behind on their timelines, as the British are resisting almost fanatically."

Gee, perhaps our treatment of prisoners in the Dutch East Indies has something to do with that? Or maybe the fact those Army barbarians raped almost every woman under sixty in the Chinese quarter of Singapore, so the natives on Ceylon have no idea what to expect?

Allegedly Admiral Yamamoto had personally told the Imperial Army General Staff that the Navy would leave their troops to rot on Ceylon if similar atrocities took place. While that might have been apocryphal, Yamaguchi doubted the British had received the memo.

"Then we will fight Fletcher as best we can with what we have remaining," Yamaguchi said, hoping his words conveyed more confidence than fatalism.

"Hai," Kaku responded.

Regardless, we will die like samurai. If only we had a report from the strike against Fletcher's surface vessels. Commander Sadamu's last transmission had been that he was initiating an attack and that the escorting fighters had eliminated the CAP over the battleships. The ominous silence led Yamaguchi to believe that Hiryu would need a new commander air group.

"Sir!" one of the staff officers shouted, rushing in. "The Shokaku! Her fires are out!"

"What?" Yamaguchi asked, looking at Kaku. The two men both rushed outside to look towards the Akagi's stern. In the distance, they could see that the report was mostly correct. Defying all odds, the Shokaku continued to stream only a slight bit of white smoke rather than the dark stream that had been pouring from her almost non-stop for several hours. Yamaguchi brought up his binoculars to further assess the carrier’s damage.

Her deck is a ruin. But she continues to sail, thankfully.

"If the American torpedoes worked…" Kaku began.

"If the American torpedoes worked, Shokaku would have died with her sister at Hawaii," Yamaguchi cut him off. "Let us hope they never fix those problems."

"Sir, you asked to see me?" a familiar, if much frailer, voice said from the compartment's hatch.

Yamaguchi turned to look at the Akagi’s CAG, fighting to keep a frown off of his face.

Fuchida must rest if we survive this. I should have stuck with my original thought there was no way he should be flying today.

The Akagi's CAG had insisted he should fly to coordinate the Kido Butai’s strike. The man was pale from blood loss, an evasive maneuver and flak having reopened his wounds. He had required an emergency transfusion upon landing on the Akagi and been confined to the sick bay until summoned.

"Yes," Yamaguchi said. "Someone find Commander Fuchida a chair."

The staff sprang to his orders, and Fuchida sunk into the furniture without protest.

The fact Fuchida is willing to accept a chair tells me just how badly hurt he is.

"Sir, when will we launch our strike against the American carriers?" Fuchida asked, his voice just loud enough for Yamaguchi to hear.

"You will not be leading it, Commander," Yamaguchi stated, his tone brooking no argument. "We will assess what damage we've done to their battleships first."

Fuchida looked like he wanted to argue, but lacked sufficient energy.

"The strike group is in sight!"

Kaku and Yamaguchi looked at one another, then moved as one to the bridge wing once more. Both men braced themselves as the Akagi began to turn into the wind.

Captain Aoki is apparently trying to minimize the carrier's predictability, Yamaguchi thought, struggling to retain his footing as the Akagi heeled over. He reflexively glanced to where the Akigumo had been and was relieved to see the destroyer had already begun transitioning to a station on the outside of the Kido Butai's screen.

The destroyers will have to refuel. Especially with the screen spread…shit.

"Rear Admiral Kaku, what vessels did we leave with the Soryu?" Yamaguchi asked, narrowing his eyes as he quickly swiveled around the screen.

"The Agano, Chikuma, and four destroyers," Kaku stated. The Chikuma is preparing to launch her next search to try and find the American carriers."

Yamaguchi nodded, then brought up his binoculars.

"Well, looks like some of the squadrons are coming back sooner than others," he stated. Kaku murmured his agreement, also scanning the returning group.

It was only after fifteen minutes passed that Yamaguchi’s pulse began to race. As the first Tenzan lined up "into the slot," he turned to Kaku. His chief of staff's face reflected the worry that was almost surely on his own.

"Where is the rest of the strike force?" he asked. "Did Soryu recover some aircraft?"

"We will find out immediately," Kaku said, his voice strained. He strode into the bridge, shouting as Yamaguchi turned back to watch the torpedo bomber, slightly weaving, line up on the Akagi's deck lights.

He's too low.

The shouts from other observers on Akagi's island told Yamaguchi several others shared in his assessment. As the landing officer began screaming below, the Tenzan pilot made a radical correction and just barely slammed his bomber down onto the Akagi's deck. The bomber's