Against the Tide Imperial: The Struggle for Ceylon (The Usurper's War: An Alternative World War II B by James Young (story reading txt) 📕

Well at least the pilots are getting some rest, Yamaguchi thought. The structure was cleared of aircraft, the prevailing winds blowing at a ninety degree angle to the Akagi’s current path of travel. Far above, gaggles of land-based interceptors, both Army and Navy, kept a watchful eye over the departing Kido Butai.

“Sir?” Rear Admiral Hara asked from beside him. Vice Admiral Yamaguchi turned to regard the man.

“Walk with me,” Yamaguchi stated. He gave both their aides a stern look that clearly indicated the invitation did not extend to them.

“I wager you cautioned against even starting a plan that did not take into account our opponents’ use of this new invention ‘radar,’ didn’t you?” Yamaguchi asked once they were halfway to Akagi’s bow.

“Hai,” Hara replied, clearly uncomfortable.

“Then why did Kaku ignore you?” Yamaguchi pressed.

“He believed, with proper timing, that we could stay outside of the enemy’s range, then close to launch a dusk strike on Ceylon,” Hara stated.

Yamaguchi turned to him, eyes wide.

“Where did he expect our pilots to land?” Yamaguchi asked, his voice rising. Hara looked at him in some shock.

“Sir, our pilots are qualified to land at night.”

While factual, surely I am not the only one who can see the debacle that would become, Yamaguchi thought, clenching his fists.

“Yes, and if I wanted to kill one out of every ten of them, it’d be much more efficient to just go belowdecks with a pistol right now,” he spat, then extended his finger. “You and Kaku-san will figure out a plan that has us striking at midday, not dusk. I do not care if we have to nearly empty the destroyers’ fuel tanks rushing in at high speed.”

Hara gave a short neck bow.

“Also, I will state this now,” Vice Admiral Yamaguchi said, suddenly having an epiphany. “If we sight enemy ships while we are attacking Ceylon, we will launch on them immediately.”

Hara nodded again, his face clearly showing his disapproval.

“Our primary targets are carriers,” Yamaguchi explained. “If we only hole their flight decks on the first strike, we can still surely launch another before they repair from that one.”

“But sir, what of the battleships reported to be with Fletcher’s force?” Hara asked.

“Even with the Sandaburo warheads that were sunk en route to Singapore, I am confident we have more than enough weapons to destroy the carriers," Yamaguchi stated. "The battleships are not going to steam over two hundred miles and attack us once we damage their carriers and remove their air cover."

Rear Admiral Hara looked as if he was considering disagreeing with his commander, but reconsidered.

Sandaburo warheads had been manufactured based on a chemical formula shared by the German Kriegsmarine with the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Germans, in turn, had obtained it from the British as part of the Treaty of Kent.

“I will inform the staff of your orders, sir,” Hara said stiffly, coming to attention and saluting.

Yamaguchi returned the salute, watching as the man moved back to the Akagi’s island. He turned back forward to see a pair of minesweepers making a depth charge attack on a suspected contact two miles off of the Haruna’s port bow. The Kido Butai’s own destroyers were not participating, the vessels’ captains adhering to their orders to save ordnance for the battle group’s journey into the Indian Ocean.

If only we could put the Sandaburo explosives on our depth charges, Yamaguchi mused. I am sure the Americans would truly be so grateful that their allies had given us the means to enhance our ordnance then. Whether something had been lost in the multiple transfers, the Germans had not shared the full formula, or a combination thereof, the Japanese ordnance factories had been unable to manufacture enough of the explosives for torpedoes and anti-submarine weapons. The maru which had been blasted into oblivion on the way to Singapore had been carrying almost two months’ worth of production.

Stupid American submarines, Yamaguchi seethed. What kind of idiot attacks a cargo ship escorted by three destroyers?

Looking out into the Strait of Malacca, the Japanese Vice Admiral took a deep breath and shook his head.

The same kind of idiot who attacks an entire task force by himself, that’s who, he thought, recalling how the Zuikaku had been lost. Which is why those minesweepers are probably busy murdering whales and fish.

Twelve hours after the Kido Butai had passed through the Straits of Malacca, in the evening’s darkness, the Strait’s waters bubbled and frothed. In the center of the maelstrom of bubbles and expelled water, a dark shape pierced the ocean’s surface. In the gloom of the darkened, cloudy sky, the hull of the H.M.C.S. Torbay was barely visible despite the glistening water pouring from the hull.

As its hatch clanged open, the Torbay’s crew rushed towards their deck gun. With her air so fouled that many of the crew had lost consciousness, the submarine’s commander was unable to even countenance attempting to flee underwater. Having waited until long after the screws of the various light craft clearing the strait had passed, the Torbay was going to go down fighting on the surface if the need arose. But first, she would transmit the news of the massive, dangerous monster that had passed overhead.

Several long, tense minutes later, her message having been transmitted three times as the submarine made her way southward under diesel power while charging her batteries, the vessel’s commander finally breathed a long, shuddering sigh of relief. Regardless of what happened, Torbay had achieved her mission. The lack of similar transmissions from her sister ship, H.M.C.S. Truculent, led the Torbay’s crew to consider their fellow sailors’ likely fate.

“Set course for Darwin,” Torbay’s skipper said. “I don’t think Ceylon would be a good place to visit anytime soon for any of Her Majesty’s Ships.”

U.S.S. Plunger

1000 Local (1600 Eastern)

Midway Island

4 August

“Sir, I’m not saying that I necessarily think what you did was wrong,” Chief Petty Officer McClaughlin said as he leaned against the Plunger’s