Winter Storm (34 page)

“Can
you fight a two front war?” asked Fedorov.

“It’s
barely one front now,” said Karpov. Volkov pulled most of his best troop s off
to the Volga Front. That’s where he thinks he’ll win through, and I wouldn’t
disagree with that. At the moment, I’ve sent much of my western army group to
Sergei Kirov, but there was some bad news in Nikolin’s report. Tyrenkov, my
intelligence chief, thinks a coup may be underway in Moscow. There may have
even been an attempt on Kirov’s life. We don’t have all the information yet,
but I’ll know more soon.”

Fedorov
shrugged. “That’s terrible news! Sergei Kirov was the only hope for Russia’s
future.”

“I
thought as much,” said Karpov. “But it seems the winds are rising and
everything is in play now. We all reap the whirlwind if someone got to Kirov.
It could unhinge the entire Soviet war effort, and they were already this close
to defeat as it was.” He held up two fingers to emphasize his point. “Here the
house is on fire, the German Army has kicked in the front door and stomped
right in, and now Japan is sneaking around out back. Even your British friends
are in it up to their hatbands again, as they might say. There was a big battle
in the desert, an operation Crusader. You know of this?”

“Crusader?
It was an attempt to relieve Tobruk in November of this year, but they’ve
already done that. Rommel has been sitting on the Gazala line for months.
Perhaps they’re trying to move him west and take Cyrenaica. You’re saying the
British already mounted that operation?”

“It’s
underway now,” said Karpov, “and I’m told the Germans have new tanks. They’re
starting to deploy to both the eastern front and to Rommel’s Afrika Korps.”

“That
was inevitable,” said Fedorov.

“You
mean because of the new British tank? You must have good information on that by
now.”

“Captain,”
said Fedorov with a shrug. “I think it’s time I told you what the Admiral and I
have been doing the last year or so. This one will be hard to swallow, but as
God is my witness, it’s all true.”

Part XII

Climb Mount Niitaka

“The fate of our nation
depends on this battle—All hands will exert themselves to their utmost.”

—Admiral Togo

Flag signal message from BB
Mikasa
at the outset of the Battle of Tsushima Strait. This message was repeated by CV
Akagi
, fleet flagship, as the attack on Pearl Harbor was launched.

The
Imperial Japanese Navy that would undertake this journey
was one of the largest and most professional forces in the world. The heart of
the fleet were the carriers, unsurpassed by any other navy, and there were more
available due to additions no man could read about in the older history this
world was derived from.

There
were 10 carriers Fedorov could name, with two that had originally been designed
as battlecruisers, the fleet Flagship
Akagi
, and the
Kaga
. Yet in
this world, another
Kaga
Class ship, CV
Tosa
, was also converted,
forsaking her appointment with the scrap yards. Next came the
Hiryu
and
Soryu
,
both ships built between 1934 and 1936 as full fleet size carriers, and they
were soon followed by
Zuikaku
and
Shokaku
, perhaps the finest
fleet carriers in the world. They were fast at 34 knots, well protected, with
excellent range and a compliment of 81 aircraft.

To
these seven ships, another project that was nearing completion as war broke out
was the all new
Taiho
, a ship designed with much thicker skin in its
armored belt and flight deck. It was not the same ship the Japanese would
commission in 1944 in Fedorov’s history, though it stole that name and many
design features from the old
Taiho
. The idea here was to build “battle endurance”
into a carrier, making it an armored knight and allowing it to take hits and
still survive as a battle worthy asset.

As
such,
Taiho
would get 152mm belt armor, 50% thicker than that on a
Mogami
class heavy cruiser, and a tough armored flight deck 80mm thick. It would also
bristle with a dozen 100mm AA guns, and over fifty 25mm cannons, with a
compliment of 65 aircraft. Said to be the toughest carrier in the fleet, it was
also fast, delivering an amazing 33 knots with all that armor. The Empire’s
accelerated building program saw it delivered to the fleet almost two years
early, Japan’s 8th, and newest, fleet carrier

This
same idea of creating a tougher fighting carrier had perhaps been born in the
long standing duel between the big gun advocates and the carrier faction. It
resulted in a pair of ships unlike any that had been seen before on the high
seas, when two more fast battlecruisers that had been in the shipyards were
also slated for conversion to carriers. With war on the minds of the Imperial
General Staff, and the need for carriers now taking the highest priority in the
shipyards, these two projects were put on the fast track by creating a hybrid
ship. The forward segments of the design, which had already been completed as a
battlecruiser, would be left as they were. Their two twin armored turrets
bearing 40cm guns were left in place. Everything aft of the main armored
conning tower was cancelled, and instead an armored deck occupied that entire
space, with the underdeck areas cleared for hanger storage sufficient for 24
aircraft.

It was
this same idea that had led German designers to build the fast escort carrier
Goeben
,
but the Japanese had been the first to launch such ships, commissioning both
Gozu
and
Mezu
in 1938. Like
Taiho
, they had thick skin, with 200mm
belt armor, 100mm armored deck, a sturdy conning tower protected by 200mm, and
those two heavy turrets. Weight was saved with that slightly thinner belt
armor, lighter conning tower and the removal of all the aft superstructure along
with that third aft turret. It produced an excellent, sturdy ‘battlecarrier,’ a
new class in the navy that could run at 32 knots, sting hard with those four
40cm guns, and also throw 12 fighters and 12 dive bombers into the battle. The
fleet was so pleased with the ships, that they took the third
Yamato
class battleship and ordered its immediate conversion along this same model,
designating the new design
Shinano
. This order was cut shortly after the
ship was laid down in 1940, and not after Japan’s disastrous defeat at Midway.
Thus
Shinano
, like
Taiho
, was also on the list of ships that
would make an early appearance in the war, now on schedule for completion some
time in 1942.

The
eight fleet carriers and those two hybrids would also be joined by a number of
smaller carriers, and the first of these were three converted ocean liners.
Hiyo
and
Junyo
were both liners purchased by the Empire for this purpose, and
completed before the war, a full year early, with 48 planes each. They were
hefty at over 24,000 tons, and could make only 25 knots, but added some
middleweight punch to the Navy’s carrier divisions that was very useful. A
third liner owned by the Nippon Yusen shipping line was first slated to become
a troop ship, and then reconverted to a carrier to become the 20,000 ton
Taiyo
.

In the
lightweight division, several sub tenders had been built with the deliberate
intention of converting them to aircraft carriers in time of war. One was the
Ryuho
,
at 16,700 tons, the “Great Phoenix” rising from the original design of the sub
tender
Taigei
, or “Great Whale.” Two smaller tenders were also converted
to light carriers, the
Zuiho
and
Shoho
, which were 11,000 ton
ships carrying only 30 planes, but relatively fast at 28 knots.

At the
bottom of the scale came
Ryujo
, a design that managed to squeeze 48
planes onto her small 10,000 ton frame, and could still run at 29 knots. This
ship proved to be top-heavy, and this flaw had not been corrected by the time
war broke out, and so she was dry docked in Yokohama, along with the venerable
old 7,400 ton
Hosho
, the ship laying the claim as the first aircraft carrier
ever built.

All
told, Japan would deploy eight fleet carriers, her two new hybrids, three
medium carriers converted from liners, and the three light sub tender
conversions, making the IJN unchallenged with all of 16 aircraft carriers in
late 1941. By comparison the US Navy had seven carriers, and the vaunted Royal
Navy had eight, so Japan’s Navy had more naval air power at its disposal than
both those allied nations combined. This was not something Fedorov knew at
first, though he soon discovered the changes and noted them for his report to
Karpov.

There
were also a few differences in the battleships, one prominent exception being
the second
Yamato
class ship,
Musashi,
which was also completed
in time for the show, joining the fleet nine months early. With those two
72,000 ton monsters on the sea, Japan could also claim the largest and most
powerful battleships ever built. And seeing the need for fast heavy gunned
ships capable of running with her newest carriers, the Empire was adding a pair
of excellent battleships to her list of commissioned ships, inspired by the
British design for HMS
Hood
.

The two
new ships were
Satsuma
and
Hiraga
, and at 42,000 tons they were
heavier than any of the Empire’s older battlewagons dating to the 1920s. Each
carried nine 16-inch guns on three triple turrets, and their long, sleek hull
and powerful engines saw them running at 30 knots. Nothing in the fleet
battleship division was faster, and only the super heavyweights could hit
harder, which made these ships the equal of most any other battleship then
afloat.

Japan’s
“Battleship Row” was then finished off by their older designs, ten more ships
in the 27,000 to 32,000 ton weight division.
Nagato
and
Mutsu
had
eight 16-inch guns, but could only work up to 26 knots. Next came the four
ships in the
Kongo
class,
Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna,
and
Kongo
itself.
They were a little faster at a hair under 28 knots, which was enough to see
them often working with the carriers. The last four,
Ise, Hyuga, Fuso
and
Yamashiro
were much slower at 23 knots, but had good punch with
their twelve 14-inch guns distributed over six turrets. Later in the war, those
that survived would be eyed as possible battlecarrier conversions.

Next
came the heavy cruisers, and the startling new innovation here was the B-65
Super Cruiser project, one conceived in Fedorov’s old history, but never built.
But here in these altered states, the seed of that project fell on good ground,
and the result was a superb new class of ships that embraced the idea of the ‘pocket
battleship’ first pioneered by the Germans.

There
were two completed in the class,
Amagi
, and
Kagami
, and they
featured the same long forecastle, clipper bow, and swept decks of the
Yamato
class, only with nine 12.2-inch guns. They were also well protected with 210mm
belt armor and 180mm on the conning tower, and they were very fast at nearly 34
knots, with an 8,000 nautical mile endurance. Some called them fast
battlecruisers, but the Japanese classified them as super Type A cruisers.

The
cruiser classes beneath these two fearsome leaders were among the best in the
world, with speeds pushing 36 knots, good 8-inch guns, and the world’s premier
torpedo on reloadable turrets, the dreadful Type 93, soon to be called the
‘Long Lance’ by historian Samuel Morrison. Nothing else in the world compared
to it, unless it was to be found on the new flagship of the Siberian Navy, the
battlecruiser
Kirov
.

Both on
paper, and on the wild Pacific Ocean, this was a navy that was second to none.
The British and Americans might have more destroyers, and better submarines,
but these surface ships, particularly the lavish carrier divisions, made the
Imperial Japanese Navy a dangerous and capable force, and one that now
threatened to raise havoc all throughout Southeast Asia.

Fedorov
concluded this extensive briefing with Karpov, running down the ships, their
numbers and capabilities, and making particular note of the newcomers he had
become aware of. “And let us not forget that they also have another good port
in the north.”

“Yes,”
said Karpov, “our port, Vladivostok. We shall have to do some long range
reconnaissance of the Golden Horn Bay to see what may be berthed there. We
already know they have strong air units based there, and at Port Arthur as well
on the Yellow Sea.”

“Those ports
are both real strategic assets,” said Fedorov. “Even if they do decide to
negotiate with you, I doubt if either one will ever seriously be on the
bargaining table. I think they would sooner give you back all of Kamchatka than
yield Vladivostok.”

“Then
it will have to be taken from them.”

“Most
likely,” said Fedorov, “but how? Your divisions in the east are a long way from
being in any position where they could pose a threat to that port. It’s over
2600 kilometers from your main eastern command at Irkutsk to Vladivostok, and
that is as the crow flies, cutting straight through Manchuria and the entire
Kwantung Army. The Trans-Siberian Rail line going around the Amur River route is
over 3200 kilometers. The only other way to take it by force would be by amphibious
assault, and for that you’ll need a good deal more than this ship.”

“Your
assessment is fairly grim, Fedorov.”

“But
those are the facts, sir. The Japanese certainly know all this as much as I do.
You can threaten and make demands, but I do not think you can take Vladivostok
from them by force, and they will know it.”

“Then
what do we put on the scales of war that would be heavy enough to break them?”
Karpov was pacing now, finally realizing the true scale of the foe he was
sizing up. What do they need more than anything else if they are to pursue
their war aims?”

“Those
aircraft carriers,” said Fedorov. “Without them they have some marvelous
battleships and cruisers, but they will not be able to project naval air power.
To lose them would mean they would be forced to restrict their advances to
areas where they could quickly seize land based airfields and build up air
power. If the Americans have carriers, they can establish sea dominance very
quickly, neutralize those heavy surface units, and then easily interdict
Japan’s effort to supply its overseas bases. Japanese sea power lies in the
Kido
Butai.
Take that away from them and they are a third rate navy again, still
dangerous, but manageable, and doomed to eventual defeat. They would not even
match the
Kriegsmarine
, considering that Germany’s U-boat arm is far
more potent than the Japanese submarine force, and their surface units are
every bit as good as the Japanese, except perhaps for the cruisers.”

“This
was what I came to realize,” said Karpov. “And there is the Ace I have in hand
with this ship.
Kirov
alone can emasculate this
Kido Butai.”

“But
yet,” Fedorov held up a finger, “even in defeat the Japanese remained
tenacious. They will not yield one island, let alone that port. It is too
strategic, and by this time, too much a part of their economic and military
infrastructure. They use it to supply their forces in Manchuria.”

“And on
the rail line they took from us,” said Karpov sourly. “What you say is very
sobering. Yes, I cannot push my eastern Divisions that far from Irkutsk, even
if we could defeat their Kwantung Army. Nor can I conduct an amphibious
invasion… But the Americans can.”

“Sir?
You think you can convince them to take back Vladivostok for you?”