“I think that will be sufficient,” Karpov said to Fedorov. “In fact, I do not think we will even need to send up the KA-226 for battle damage assessment. Mister Nikolin…”
“Sir?’
“I want you to closely monitor Japanese fleet radio traffic for the next two hours. Record everything and send it down for translation. I think we’ll be able to ascertain the impact of this strike easily enough from that transcript. I want it on my stateroom desk by 20:00 hours this evening. Now then… What do you think of this little demonstration, Mister Fedorov? We’ve shot our arrows into the eye of the storm. Was it worth the five missiles we expended?”
“You won’t need that transcript to know what happened,” said Fedorov. “I’d bet the P-900s probably took out fifteen or twenty bombers, and shut down that main airstrip, but only for a few hours. They’ll be operational shortly after dawn and have everything they can fly up looking for us.”
Karpov wasn’t concerned about that. He had already come about, and was heading northeast at 28 knots, with the ship at air alert two. He had determined that he would save his S-400s if any enemy planes found the ship, and just use the much more plentiful Klinoks to shoot them down.
“As for the ships,” said Fedorov, “The tanker you hit will be a total loss, and there will be severe fires at the mooring site. That was the most severe blow. You probably consumed ten to twelve thousand tons of fuel with that hit, in addition to taking out a very valuable fleet support asset. The other tanker was out in the main anchorage.”
“We’ll leave it there,” said Karpov. “I won’t waste a missile on an empty ship, but if I catch one at sea I’ll certainly sink such a ship.”
“The carrier is mission killed, which is to say I don’t think we’ll see any of its strike planes launched, to get after us. We’ll know more about that damage from Nikolin’s intercepts. As for Musashi, you’ve already heard me out on that score. You shook them up, and it was rather dramatic to put the last shot on that ship.”
“Oh, that wasn’t the last shot,” said Karpov. “And I’m sure this won’t seem anywhere as traumatic as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but I made my point. I just taught them something here—that I can go anywhere I please, even into the heart of their fleet web here to strike its very center. I intend to fire my next shot off in a signal to that headquarters, acknowledging that it was my ship that inflicted this damage and repeating my demands concerning Vladivostok.”
“That will be ignored,” said Fedorov. “In fact, I think if you had emptied the forward deck and blasted every ship in the anchorage, they would still ignore such a demand. Remember what I said about Tokyo.”
“They can ignore me at their own peril then,” said Karpov. “This was meant as a demonstration of our capability, nothing more. Now we look for some real targets. I want to find their carriers, and I will tell them that I now intend to find and sink every aircraft carrier they have. They will freeze the blood in their veins. They already have their hands full with everything the Americans can throw at them. To have Kirov here, hunting them like an unseen shark, will be most unnerving.”
“But it won’t stop them. It won’t prevent them from operating either,” said Fedorov. “When pressed heavily, the Japanese respond by attacking.”
“And I will respond by destroying anything that come near me. This will be a very good hunting ground in the days ahead. I should have taken the war here long ago, but I had to see that we established a firm hold on Northern Sakhalin. Now we have three full divisions there, and they won’t push us off. It’s also interesting that we’ve not seen or heard anything more of this guided missile destroyer. I had hoped it might be at anchor here.”
“That would have certainly spoiled your show,” said Fedorov.
“Perhaps, but I wonder where the Takami is now?”
“The last we were able to discern was that it was with Kurita again. Nikolin says there was a fleet engagement off Efate in the New Hebrides yesterday—a surface action, with no carriers involved.”
“Most likely because the Americans are still fussing about at Noumea. Yet that was a very bold operation, was it not?”
“It was,” said Fedorov. “I don’t think the Japanese expected that so soon. The Americans took losses in those recent carrier duels. In fact, I’d say they were bested again, but they did manage to hold the ground, or rather the sea around the New Hebrides. That was as much due to the need for the Japanese to replenish as anything else, but I’m a little concerned over some of the message traffic we intercepted.”
“How so?”
“It was all in code, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out when they were referring to a carrier. The thing is this: there were far too many references to carriers in that traffic. They appear to have been operating two carrier divisions, and we were able to ID most of the ships in the main body under Admiral Hara. Yet there was another division east of the New Hebrides, and we haven’t been able to determine its composition.”
“Where might it be now?” asked Karpov.
“We’re pretty sure Hara withdrew to Rabaul. So I would guess that other group might be heading for Truk. If we had held off a bit, we might have caught them here.”
“Then we’ll catch them at sea instead,” said Karpov. “Better to sink them in the deep blue than in a shallow lagoon where they might be able to refloat them again.”
“I suppose so,” said Fedorov, “but what I’m getting at is that there seems to be too many Japanese carriers in operation now. I’ve been keeping a close tab on their losses. We had at least six references to carrier capable ships in that eastern group. That’s too many. They’ve got more ships than they should be able to put to sea, and that is a gap in our intelligence that needs to be filled.”
“So we’ll have a look south and east of Truk,” said Karpov.
“There was one code phrase that was translated, and it caught my attention—Kage Kantai—shadow fleet. We also intercepted the phrase Shadō Butai.”
“Shadow fleet? Interesting. What do you make of that?”
“It could be a reference to a secret building program that resulted in the conversion of several ships to carriers. That’s well documented in the history. In fact, you just hit one of those ships. The Zuiho was commissioned as a fast oiler and submarine tender, the Takasaki. Its sister ship was the same—tender Tsurugisaki, which became the light carrier Shoho. The Japanese had a hidden program where they planned to convert fleet auxiliary ships to carriers. Perhaps these unidentified ships could be part of that, though I should be able to track most of these conversions down.”
“You forget this history is quite different now,” said Karpov. “We just wrote another chapter here with this attack on Truk. In any case, that group must be out there somewhere. Let’s see if we can find it.”
Part X
Assassin’s Creed
“If they were going to kill you, would they knock?”
Chapter 28
Word of the attack on Truk would spread like the fires ignited by those five missiles. That the enemy could strike them this way, unseen, unchallenged within 120 kilometers of Combined Fleet Headquarters, was most disturbing news to Admiral Yamamoto. He had been at Rabaul wanting to inspect the damage to the Soryu and Kaga more closely, and was pleased to see that it would be mended very quickly. Then came the news from Truk.