Kirov Saga: Armageddon (Kirov Series) (15 page)

No. The Russians would have to transit the Yellow Sea and go
further north, to the waters between Weihaiwei and Korea, which are only 200
kilometers wide. Even that much sea room would be a lot for a single ship to
patrol, but from there they could cause a great deal of trouble. If I were this
Captain I would just sit off Dailan or Port Arthur itself and challenge any
ship to come or go from those ports.

So that is where this Russian Captain is heading, and that is why
I must keep the heavy squadron, with all our remaining battleships, on the
western segment of the Tsushima Straits. If he chooses the eastern Tsushima
Strait, it will mean I am last to the fight, but I believe the pendulum will
swing west. I am certain of this. So if I cannot find or stop them there in the
straits, then I will pursue them into the Yellow Sea, where they must surely
go.

Then another thought occurred to him. The British China Station
had a decent cruiser division at Weihaiwei. The British were also their allies
at the moment. If Naval Minister Saito could be persuaded to contact the
British, those ships could prove to be very useful in this hunt.

Yes…that is what this has now become. It was a hunting expedition.
He was gathering all his available ships into two fighting groups, like the two
faithful hounds he would always take with him when he was hunting in the hills.
Only this time it will not be a pheasant or two, he thought darkly. This time the
fate of the nation is again at stake. Our ships are old, and will soon be
obsolete. It will take us time but we will build new ships like this Russian
dreadnought. I must see this ship myself! Only then can I take the full measure
of my enemy.

Tango
and
Mishima
smashed in a single blow…That news continued
to harry the Admiral.
Mikasa
was a sturdy ship. She had taken many hits
during the battle of Tsushima, and yet fought on bravely to prevail. Togo had
her sister ship
Asahi
with him, and also the battleships
Shikishima
and
Fuji
. Two other armored cruisers, nine destroyers and four torpedo
boats rounded out his squadron. Yet these few battleships were the heart of the
fleet.
Iwami
, another captured Russian Borodino class battleship, was at
Yokohama and too far away to participate in the action. The loss of
Tango
and
Mishima
was sour grapes. Those were Russian ships in the first
place, but it would be years in the shipyards before his precious capital ships
could be replaced if they were lost here.

That is my dilemma, he thought. I must be bold and aggressive
here, but also cautious. I cannot allow this fleet to be destroyed. If that
happens, the sixteen battleships of the American Great White Fleet will
overshadow Japan and relegate us to the status of a third rate power again in
the Pacific.

That thought set his mind on his last reserve, Vice Admiral Uyru’s
Squadron in the Inland Sea. It was merely a screening force of cruisers and
destroyers, no bigger than Dewa’s, and sent to show the flag to the Americans
when they arrived in Japanese waters. Let us hope Saito is very wrong and the
Americans do not have any ideas about bold action of their own. It would be
most embarrassing if we were unable to catch this renegade Russian ship, and
they came along to finish the job.

He did not know exactly where the American fleet was now, only
that it was several days at sea after leaving Hawaii on the 16th of July. It
would take them a long week to reach Yokohama and one more day to sail to Kure.
The earliest they could be a factor here would be the 24th of July. Tonight
Dewa comes south and I should have my dispositions complete by mid-day on the
22nd. If this brigand is coming, that should give me more than enough time to
sink this Russian ship and then muster the fleet for action in the event…He did
not want to think about the prospect of having to face sixteen American
battleships at sea, and there was no reason why that should happen. Even so, he
had the distinct feeling his navy was already overmatched by the Americans, and
it would be a difficult job to catch up to them, particularly with the
battleship construction program still relying on foreign ship builders for many
of its planned additions to the fleet in the years ahead.

His flagship
Mikasa
was already a wounded warrior. After
surviving the last war with Russia, the ship’s magazines had exploded while in
home port at Sasebo and the battleship wallowed in 33 feet of water, resting on
the bottom until it could be re-floated and repaired. Some of the crew on the
hard fought ship said that the spirit of the ship itself exploded in protest
over how the war ended, with the treaty of Portsmouth such a grace to Russia. This
fallen warrior has already risen from the dead, he thought. Let us hope the
Gods are not jealous of her now.

The ship was back in fighting trim again by 1908, 15,200 tons,
with her hull painted black and a white superstructure. Her bow was crested
with a gold chrysanthemum, and her twin black stacks were detailed with three
bold white stripes, just like those on the Admiral’s cuff. She was a proud
ship, and renowned in the empire now for her glorious battle history.

Behind
Mikasa
the battle line of his squadron stretched out
in a long sea train, the skies charred by the dark smoke they left in their
wake. The Oki Islands were only 400 kilometers to the northeast. If this Russian
ship made twenty knots, and it has always been reported as making at least that
speed, then it could be on his horizon in as little as ten hours. If Dewa acted
quickly, and steamed south at his best speed from Mishima, he might reach
Oshima and the colliers in four hours. Three hours to take on coal is all that
could be spared if he was to reach Iki Island and be in a position to join the
battle that would surely come the following day. It was going to be a very long
night.

Togo sent for his adjutant one more time.

“Send a second message to Vice Admiral Dewa. Tell him he must
complete his coaling operation at Oshima no later than 05:00 hours, and then
sail to the straits west of Iki Island by 08:00 hours tomorrow morning. He is
to join with Vice Admiral Kataoka there, and he must not be late.”

“Very good, sir. Baron Dewa has acknowledged your first message
and is already heading for Oshima. He inquired concerning Vice Admiral Kamimura.
Shall I relate news of that action to him, Admiral?”

“You may tell him the outcome was not to our advantage. Nothing
more. The details are not important for the moment. The only thing that is
important is that he bring his ships south at his best speed, and be here
tomorrow morning, ready for battle.”

When the man had left him Togo looked to his tea and saw that it
was cold. Here we are at the edge of what may hopefully be the final battle in these
waters for a good many years. Armageddon… Is that not the name given to a great
final battle? We come off a tremendous victory against Russia, and we will have
overwhelming odds for success here again. This should be nothing more than a
last resounding peal of thunder from that great storm cloud. But why this
darkness in my soul?

He reached for the teapot to warm his cup. At least a man should
have hot tea on the eve of Armageddon, neh?

Note: For a map of Admiral Togo’s dispositions please visit:
 
http://www.writingshop.ws/html/k-viii-maps.html

Chapter 12

They
watched the Japanese ships burning from the citadel bridge, saw
the men go into the water, silent shadows on the HD video display. Yet the crew
had seen this before, ships struck and burning, keeling over, capsized, broken
by the awesome power of
Kirov
.

“Now we know what a single missile will do to these old ships,”
said Karpov, emotionless, assessing the situation from a pure military
standpoint.

“The fuel load at that short range made for most of the damage,
said Rodenko. “A missile moving at that speed, with an armor piercing explosive
warhead and that much extra fuel behind it is like an air fuel bomb going off—truly
awesome destructive power.”

“And we still have ten Moskit IIs left,” said Karpov. “The
MOS-IIIs are even faster, though not as heavy. This is enough missiles to
destroy the entire Japanese fleet, all their battleships and armored cruisers,
though, as we have seen, it does not take a missile to deal with the cruiser
class ships. Mister Samsonov’s gunnery was more than sufficient, and
unanswerable.”

“As long as the rounds hold out in the magazine, sir. We can’t
manufacture any more, and we may be here for a good long while.”

“I am well aware of that, but once we settle accounts with the
Japanese Navy things should quiet down. I was reluctant to use the missiles,
but against their heavier armored ships they may be the better choice and do in
one blow what the deck guns might take half an hour to accomplish. That said, I
was not expecting those ships to be in firing range so I had to take quick
action.”

“The only reason they even got off a shot at us was because they
were lying in wait behind those islands, sir.”

“Yes, well I will correct that at once with the KA-40. Get it up
with an
Oko
panel and do a general survey of the region to the
southwest. I want no more surprises.”

They ordered the helo up and Karpov slowed to twenty knots,
circling in place while they investigated what had happened to the cruisers
they engaged near the main island of Dogo. The data feed came in forty minutes
later. The shattered cruiser squadron had slipped into a narrow bay behind
Dozen Island, and there they sat while the crews fought the fires and tried to
keep the vessels seaworthy. They were putting wounded men ashore, and one
cruiser was so badly damaged that the Japanese beached it to prevent it from
sinking.

The Captain ordered the helo to sweep south along the coast to see
what else might be waiting for them. It was well over the horizon for the next
two hours, and it soon found a line of eight more ships heading south at 22
knots, a fairly high speed. Karpov believed them to be cruisers or possibly
even small destroyer class ships, and gave them no more thought.

“The heading they are on will take them here,” said Rodenko.
“Oshima Island. The helo picked up several other surface contacts in that
region, presumably commercial traffic.”

“It’s these other groups that we need to focus on now,” said
Karpov pointing at the digital readout on the Plexiglas screen. There are ten
ships here near Iki Island, and eleven more in the Korea Strait west of
Tsushima.”

“Obviously they intend to try to interdict those passages.”

“So we have a choice now as to which passage to take. Opinions,
Mister Rodenko?”

Rodenko knew what he really wanted to say here, that they should
not engage at all; that they should turn and withdraw north towards Vladivostok
and then get out into the Pacific. Yes, that island Volsky had found for shore
leave sounded very good now as opposed to yet another sea battle and scenes on
the Tin Man Display like those they had just watched. Yet he knew that if he
voiced these thoughts all he would get for them was Karpov’s arguments to the
contrary, and most likely his suspicion as well. So he looked at the situation
from a purely military point of view and gave his answer.

“I would not take the passage east of Iki Island. It is too
restricted and too close to the Japanese homeland. There will be a good deal of
commercial traffic there, small fishing boats, steamers, all potential targets
if you insist on this quarantine, but also a lot of fish in the net, and not
those I think you are after here.”

“And the passage between Iki Island and Tsushima?”

“They have thirteen ships on station there now, Captain, and I
think this group of eight ships withdrawing south is going to reinforce that flotilla.
They must have received news of our recent engagement, so they are
consolidating now and this will give them quite enough to close that passage.”

“So they may believe. Then you feel that is their main body?”

“In numbers, perhaps, but not their biggest ships. I looked at the
return data, and the signal density readings are not equivalent to those we had
on the two battleships we just sunk.”

“You can determine ship type from this signal strength?”

“Of course, sir, most of the time. I believe the last of their
battleships are here.” Rodenko pointed to the Korea Strait now, between Korea
and the Tsushima Islands.

“Then their Admiral Togo will be there on the flagship
Mikasa
.
He is watching the western strait with their best ships, so that is where he
fears we will go. The channel is some 60 kilometers wide, and eleven ships
isn’t much of a force.”

“We could probably skirt north near Korea and slip right through
at thirty knots, sir.”

“Yes, but that would spoil the fun Rodenko. They would have to
follow us into the Yellow Sea, and they could only catch us if we allowed it.
There isn’t much fire for the new history books we’re about to write in a
maneuver like that. No. I think we will take our time and sail right up to that
island. Then we may choose one side or the other, and engage anything that
dares to block our path. He has fought here against the Russians before, and
like a sly old hunting dog he is going back to familiar ground. Well, we will
not disappoint him by trying to sneak through in the dark at high speed. Leave
such maneuvers to the Germans in WWII.”