Armageddon

Chapter 26

Tasarov suddenly knew what was happening. He read the text message again, eyes widening with surprise and disbelief. It read: “Admiral and Fedorov are at Vlad — Have ordered us to break off and return there! Direct order from Moscow! If not obeyed command falls on Rodenko!”

Tasarov began to text back: Does he know? He looked over at Nikolin after he sent it, waiting until the communications officer slowly shook his head in the negative. Now Nikolin was furiously typing another message and when he saw it cross his screen everything suddenly made sense to him.

“I think the Admiral is aboard a submarine!”

This was no drill, Tasarov suddenly realized. The unusual nature of Karpov’s conference with him and the questions about the submarine were most telling, and it was a riddle he now easily solved. They must have come back on a nuclear submarine! It was the only thing that united all the pieces of this puzzle together and made any sense. Yes! They came back on a submarine, and there were only a very few they might have chosen. The Captain had mentioned the most likely candidate by name- Kazan — and he told me to load that profile and listen for it. If they were on a submarine then the order to reprogram the S-400s and the Air Alert made perfect sense as a defensive measure against Kazan’s missiles, as did the order to launch the KA-40 and this undersea alert drill. This is why he ordered me to make the Shkval and RBU rocket systems ready for action. He’s afraid they are going to attack us, and if I report any contacts he might strike at Kazan too!

He suddenly realized that the instant he opened his mouth the dominoes would fall.

Karpov and Rodenko were heading for the flag briefing room, and when the hatch was sealed the Captain turned to his Starpom, a grim expression on his face, his eyes animated with urgency and an edge of fear. “The message was from Fedorov,” he said quickly. “They have come back.”

Rodenko was very surprised. “What did he want, sir?”

“He is up to his old tricks again,” said Karpov, very edgy, arms folded, eyes shifting this way and that. “He could not persuade us to sail to the Bay of Bengal to make that ridiculous rendezvous, but they managed to shift home. Now he is back again insisting we return to Vladivostok.”

“Vladivostok?”

“That is where he claimed to be.”

“Well what does he want us to do, sir?”

“Use that damn control rod again! They say they have a spare and they brought it with them. Doesn’t he realize what’s happening here? We are right at the edge of battle and now I’m supposed to rendezvous with him at Vladivostok? This is nonsense! We don’t even have Chief Dobrynin here any longer. There is no way the men we have could mount that control rod under these conditions. Even if we did this there is no way we can control where we shift without Dobrynin. What is he thinking?”

Rodenko considered a moment. “If we sail for Vladivostok conditions may be better, sir.”

“No! We cannot go north. We have come all this way, and too far to just turn tail and withdraw now after issuing an ultimatum as we did. I will not run in the face of the enemy fleet.”

Rodenko could understand why Karpov said that, but there was something more that did not make sense here. “And the orders to Tasarov and Samsonov? Why are we on air alert here? And what is the KA-40 doing with an ASW loadout? It should have an Oko panel instead, just as before.”

“Look, Rodenko. We have whole sections of the crew specializing in those areas and when they stand to battle stations they have nothing to do. That is a bad situation, so I have given these orders to keep the men sharp and involved.” Again, the well measured lie, told with a straightforward look that Karpov had honed to perfection over many years of hard trials.

“Beyond that, you saw what happened up north. We had to use the close in defense guns to engage those mines as well. Last evening I did some additional research. The Imperial Japanese Navy purchased its first submarines during the Russo-Japanese War as early as 1904. They had five Holland class boats from the Americans, and also purchased several more from the British. They will only be able to operate in littoral waters, but in battle you must be ready for any contingency. I may be maneuvering near that island to the southeast. Tasarov has just been sitting there, so I gave him something to drill on. Besides, the KA-40 can still give us eyes in the sky that could be valuable. We haven’t scouted east of the Shimonoseki Strait.”

“I see…” Rodenko nodded.

“Satisfied now? What more?” Karpov’s anger was evident as he saw his Starpom stiffen with the hard edge in his tone, the line of his jaw tightening.

“Why have we turned southeast like this? We are entering littoral waters if we stay on this course. The area ahead could be mined, and you just said yourself that we have not yet scouted the Inland Sea. If anything emerges from the strait it will block our way north should we need to maneuver in that direction.”

“Don’t be a fool. Nothing will prevent me from maneuvering in any direction I please.”

“Captain… we are now facing thirty-five enemy contacts. Things are about to get very hot out there. At least let me understand your thinking on this. Surely it’s not because you suspect something is hidden behind that island.”

“I have my reasons. We will draw the enemy out in a long line of battle with this maneuver.”

That was not why the Captain turned southeast, of course, but it would cover the real reason. What he really wanted to do was get into the shadow of Iki Island to put it between Kirov and the open waters to the north. He reasoned that Kazan was out there somewhere, and the island would serve as a shield against torpedoes coming from the north. There was a small bay at the southern end of the island where he thought Kirov might hover, safe from incoming torpedoes on all but one axis, and that is where he would post his KA-40. The island would also prevent Kazan’s Klub P-900s from coming in at low elevation on a high speed terminal run. In effect, Karpov was maneuvering to fight Kazan more than Togo’s fleet, and the turn southeast also gave him the added benefit of buying time with the Japanese. He explained that much to Rodenko, hoping it would quell his irritating resistance.

“We’ll buy ourselves a little time on this course and extend their line of battle before we turn west again.”

Rodenko was ready to say something more, but he stopped himself. “Very well, sir.”

“Good. Now just listen for a change before you open your mouth and don’t give me that stupid look every time I issue an order. Must I explain all my tactics? You are Starpom. Act like it!”

There was sting in Karpov’s words, but Rodenko kept his cool. “I’m sorry, Captain. I just wanted to be informed as to your intentions.”

“My intentions? I’ve explained that many times. I intend to smash the rest of the Japanese fleet and change everything here. Understood?”

Rodenko hesitated, his features taut, eyes hard. It wasn’t the sting of the Captain’s words, but the long held reservations that had been building like a storm front within him, and now the thunder rolled.

“Captain,” he said sharply, “on that I disagree.”

“What’s that? You disagree? Yes, you have held doubts about this course of action all along, haven’t you. Well, you can disagree with me in private-in the officer’s mess or briefing room-but not here, not on the bridge, and not in front of the men! So now you are informed as to my intentions. You’ve stuck your opinion in the borscht and expressed your vote of no confidence, but I have vetoed it. That’s the end of it! If you have any further reservations then look at my cuff and note the thickness of the stripe there. How many stars do you see on my shoulder?” He stared at Rodenko, angry and perturbed. “Now enough of this. Let’s get back out there. We have a battle to fight.”

Togo stared at the flag plot, noting the positions of the ships assigned to their long battle lines. Dewa was to the south with four cruisers and four destroyers. He should have come further north by this time. What was he doing? Just north of him was Kataoka with five cruisers, four destroyers and the ponderous old Chinese battleship Chinyen. It was his intention that those two groups unite as one, but Dewa was still too far south. The Admiral’ squadron was still close by the southern tip of Tsushima Island with four battleships, two cruisers and five destroyers.

Now he had yet another squadron to note. An officer of the watch reported a column of smoke in the skies to the west, and he knew without asking what this must be. Naval Minister Saito’s call for support from the British must have been well heeded. These can only be the ships from the China Station out of Weihaiwei. Good. We are reinforced with another six cruisers if they have brought their best ships. This balances our loss of Kamimura’s strong division up north. But will the British fight here, or simply observe? And what about the Americans?

He had received a coded message sent by Admiral Uryu via the new undersea cable to their base on Tsushima Island. It was relayed to his ship by wireless and read simply: Thunder on Mount Adachi. That was a high mountain just south of the Shimonoseki Strait that connected the Inland Sea to the Sea of Japan. It meant that from that promontory, looking east, the smoke of the American Great White Fleet could now be seen darkening the sky in the Inland Sea. They had hastened here from Hawaii in just eight days, a remarkable pace. Even now he knew that Admiral Uyru was steaming in the van of that fleet, waving the flag of Imperial Japan.

Uryu was ordered to delay the Americans. His English was very good, and he was to invite them to drop anchor there in the Inland Sea and take tea with the local ministers of Nagasaki Prefecture. But the offer was politely declined. It seemed the American Admiral Sperry had other orders that compelled him to sail to the Sea of Japan at once. So be it…

“Admiral, sir! The enemy has been sighted!”

Togo turned to regard his watch officer, his face stolid and unrevealing of any emotion. He stepped deliberately to the weather bridge, an open area outside the armored conning tower and looked in the direction the watchman pointed. Now he slowly raised his odd looking binoculars, the Marine-Glasmit Revolver, a German made field glass by Carl Zeiss Jena. It had four eyepieces instead of two, with two mounted on each ocular section that could be rotated to select one of the two eyepieces. Depending on how they were paired, the Admiral could get different magnification settings.

He stared through the glasses for some time, noting the dark silhouette of the enemy ship and seeing it turn to his starboard as if to present its broadside. It was true, he thought. There is no smoke! How does it make way without charring the sky as we do? Could it be using some new means of heating its boilers that does not produce smoke? And yes, it looks to be a massive ship, even at this range.

Now his gaze turned to the ships ahead of him in two long battle lines. Dewa was in the lead, and undoubtedly getting a much better view of the enemy ship, and chafing at the bit to attack. But we are much too far away to engage. The range looks to be over 18,000 meters, even in the van. If I point the fleet at this beast to close that range, the enemy will be able to fire all their guns at each ship in the line, smashing them one by one as they present themselves. They would be crossing the T. This I cannot allow, but it does not look like we will have the speed to gain the advantage of position here. Look at that bow creaming the sea. It is completely different from any ship I have seen!

He turned, seeking Captain Hikojiro. “The fleet will turn all lines to a heading of 140,” he said firmly. He intended to run on a converging parallel course to the enemy that would allow his ships to also fire from broadside. He could then slowly close the range by making five point turns to port. This maneuver would see his ships trail out from Dewa’s leading cruiser and stretch back like a net to the tail of his own formation near Tsushima Island. Should the enemy turn to starboard, they would be aiming to pierce that net and break through his battle line. So he must close the range with us now, or else he must turn away to the north, or east toward our home islands where many torpedo boats wait in the shallow waters. There lies Iki Island, and the minefields we have moored in the dark between that place and Kabe Island to the southeast. If he goes there, he must either turn and fight, or else wallow among my iron puffer fish.

Seconds later the flag men were signaling, and he saw the tail ship in Vice Admiral Kataoka’s battle line passing the message forward. It would ripple ahead, stiffening in the breeze flag to flag, until it was spotted by Admiral Dewa’s watchmen aboard Kasagi, the flagship of the leading 3rd Cruiser Division.

“At last,” said Vice Admiral Dewa. “Look! The enemy has turned south towards Iki Island. This means they will be heading in our direction, and the course Admiral Togo now orders will put us in the vanguard instead of the tail of the action. Make ready all guns and torpedoes. This will be a glorious day!”

Officers scrambled to obey his directive as Dewa held up a long telescope, studying the dark shape on the far horizon. So this is the ship that defeated Kamimura, he thought, and he had at least two battleships. I still do not believe it. We will soon see what my cruisers can do. I will form them into a tight fist to concentrate all their guns along the same axis. Then I will send my destroyers forward to harass and distract the enemy to weaken their counter fire against us. We will not need Kataoka and Togo here. I will settle things easily enough, and they will be watching behind me as I have the honor of engaging first!

He smiled, snapping the glass shut and stepping back into the conning tower to check with his fire control officers. At that moment there came a distinct crack, crack, crack as naval guns punctuated the noise with their fire. He stopped, his head jerked around again to see the enemy ship in the distance, and then, to his amazement geysers of sea spray dolloped up just ahead of his cruiser, wetting the bow there. The enemy had fired at tremendous range!

“Quickly!” he ordered. “What is the range?”

“At least 16,000 meters, Admiral!”

So it was true. The enemy had a long arm, but from the looks of that shell fall these were small caliber guns, just as he had been told. “Signal the destroyers! They will break formation and turn towards the enemy in a torpedo attack!”

Crack, crack, crack… Again the sound of enemy fire, and this time he saw the wink of red and yellow fire from the bow of the distant shadow, and spied the smoke rising from their guns. Seconds later the shock and explosion of impact shook his cruiser. Kasagi, guardian of the holy mountain it was named for, had been struck amidships by at least two of the three shells. His instinct was to immediately fire back, but he needed to wait just a little longer.

“Raise main guns to maximum elevation!” The cruiser had two 8 inch Type 41 naval guns, one each mounted fore and aft on two large turrets. They could elevate 18 degrees, and achieve a range of just over 13,000 meters at that angle, though they would rarely engage until inside 10,000 meters, with 7,000 being the norm. But something told Dewa that he was going to have to fire with everything he had, and as soon as possible. The accuracy of the enemy guns was disturbing. Crews were already fighting a small fire near his number two stack, and now he could see geysers of sea spray straddling the cruiser Chitose behind him, sister ship to his own.

If I turn slightly to port I will angle in toward this enemy ship as we approach Iki Island. This will allow me to keep my ships broadside to him if he turns in our direction, but it appears that the Russians have other ideas. They look to be steering 150, right for the island. In due course I can fire with our secondary guns as well. They are smaller but can elevate 25 degrees to reach over 9,000 meters. I will have to wait just a little longer while the enemy continues to rake his glove across my face! So this is what Kamimura endured.

The ship shuddered again, this time well aft where Dewa turned to see a fire near the main 8 inch turret there. “Five degrees to port!” he ordered, thinking to throw the enemy’s aim off. It was uncanny how they had found his ship so far off, but have they nothing bigger to sting me with?

He was about to learn yet another hard lesson.