Arduous Devotion, Grim Peril: A Silent Victory Fiction/AAR

[besilarius]

Banzai, if you enjoyed Run Silent, Run Deep, you might want to find Beach's second WWII novel, Dust on the Sea.
It is about an american wolf pack attacking a Japanese convoy.  In a way, it is more detailed than the first novel.  Beach thought it a better representation of submarine combat, but the very bittersweet ending didn't make it very popular.

[BanzaiCat]

I am going to be out of town until next Sunday, but I will be able to continue this, then.

[BanzaiCat]

Sorry for the delay, anyone that was enjoying this. :)

I had to remove the last line of the last post as it didn't make much sense in the scheme of the story, and I fear that might be a recurring thing. I'm trying to write this from A to Z, though as I do, I think of something cool that I want to add, but it means going back and changing something. I did a lot of that when I was first writing out all the chapters in Word, but now that I'm posting them, I think I will avoid that re-write junk and stick with the script, as it were.

Anyway, here we go...back to it!

----------

December 23, 1941
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
0951 Local Time

In the cramped Captain's cabin aboard the Groghead, Lieutenant Commander Kadoe considered the last week or so: no enemy contact. Their transit from Pearl Harbor started on a wave of adrenaline, fear, and unleashed nervous energy, energy which Kadoe and the officers and senior NCOs channeled into drill after drill. The men were tired to the point of exhaustion. All the nervous energy they had when they first left Pearl had nowhere to manifest itself, except in the form of drilling emergency dives into the crew.

The first drills became more drills. In the middle of watches, at the change of watches, or anytime the Captain decided, the crew of the Groghead would scramble madly, pouring from the various tiny spaces aboard the submarine like roaches in the light, finding their stations, letting out choice curses as they slammed into each other like the bumper car ride at a low-rent amusement park. Captain Kadoe seemed to be everywhere, his hard stare punctuating every man's mad scramble. Even when not conducting drills, Captain Kadoe made the men start to feel like it could happen at any moment.

To help alleviate that tension, Captain Kadoe ordered yet more drills.

He was absolutely determined to get the men on the Groghead in such sharp form that they'd be able to do any of it in their sleep. Not that they got a lot of that – more than a few of them were grumbling and complaining more than usual, but that thoroughly satisfied their skipper...a grumbling crew was better than a quiet one.

It was just as well, because otherwise, nothing was happening. Their course towards the north end of the Marshall Islands, between Toongi and Bikar, took just over a week. Nothing was spotted, and nothing was encountered. It was if they were on the very edge of the world, staring into an endless void of ocean and sky.

It was difficult to maintain attention for endless hours under a beating Pacific sun, so Captain Kadoe resorted to the occasional drill to change things up. By this point, the men would never admit to it, but some of them actually looked forward to it to change things up. Though as the Marshals approached (at least, according to the navigator's plot board, it was), the men felt a bedrock of tension that would not break, no matter how they tried not to think of it.

Captain Kadoe himself, when standing watch above, in those contemplative moments while surveying his own assigned part of the sea and sky, would be reminded of famous lines from past stories and poetry. He hardly ever shared such knowledge with anyone, since it was not seen in the best of light (a Naval officer into poetry and Japanese women? A courts-martial was sure to follow). At one point, despite being in the middle of December, one had to avoid touching the metal of the bridge or otherwise risk burning oneself. An eternal summer, and an endless horizon of eternal waters. He struggled to recall a poem by Lord Byron...a side effect of a classical education before the Naval academy, one that helped stick anything sea-related to his mind.

The Wanderer was alone as heretofore,
The beings which surrounded him were gone,
Or were at war with him; he was a mark
For blight and desolation

He sighed, took a deep breath, and tried to think of something else, but it was mind-numbing. He'd been up and awake, maintaining an omnipresence pretty much the entire period they'd been at sea; his Executive Officer had hinted more in the last few days that the skipper should get some rest. Kadoe had only been in his rack perhaps two hours out of every day, probably from excitement and anticipation more than anything else, but it was starting to catch up with him. The sounds of the sea and the gentle rocking didn't help; that was the other odd thing, he thought, that they'd been blessed with calm seas thus far, all the way here.

Which meant, of course, they'd probably hit a typhoon on the way back.

If we make it back, his mind warned.

Captain Kadoe shook his head, as if wiping away the thought. Getting into that rut could be dangerous.

Now, a bit later, he'd just gotten up after yet another solid hours of sleep and looked at the old clock on his narrow desk, next to his bunk – 0954. He was taking the watch over at 11, but he went ahead and got up; it would be pointless to toss and turn. Two hours would have to do, yet again.

He ran a small amount of tinny water from his sawed-off sink to splash on his face, do a quick shave, then donned his uniform and grabbed his binoculars – a present from Sachiko before he last left, bringing a flood of memories from those moments which caused him to hesitate with a smile on his face, then fixedly opening and stepping out of the hatch to his small cabin. One of the things she'd found endearing about him was that love of poetry he had, something he didn't like admitting to himself. He might as well have admitted he wanted to do Shakespeare in the park and give up his Naval career. Sachiko was, fortunately, eminently understanding and encouraging, not to mention more curious than he when it came to literature.

He walked a short distance to the control room and acknowledging the call from the Chief that the captain was present. Kadoe did not hesitate to climb up the ladder through the conning tower to the bridge of the ship.

The day was somewhat overcast, but still bright, light shining down on the sea like cracks in a sun-facing window. Visibility was good, but there was nothing to see. The ocean stretched out impossibly far in all directions.



Ryfels, his XO, as well as four other lookouts, were present. Ryfels called out, "Captain on the bridge," but before he even finished, Kadoe told everyone to continue as they were. Kadoe didn't waste time bringing the binoculars to his eyes, scanning the sea as the others were doing.



"Anything exciting, Tom?" asked Kadoe.

"Nothing, sir," his XO replied. "A whole lot of nothing. Devaney said he saw a whale near dawn, but that's it." His gaze lingered on his Captain a bit longer than usual, looking for signs of exhaustion that he surely must have felt – but he looked fresh and ready. He'd even shaved. Ryfels ran a hand absently over his own five-o'clock shadow self-consciously, sniffed with amusement quietly, and returned his attention to the horizon.

The day was darker than normal; the sea looked much more dangerous like this, not nearly as beautiful, as if it were coiling itself, preparing to strike. Bottomless, too, ensuring anything dropping into its depths might not ever touch bottom.

"Contact!" one of the lookouts up on the tower shouted. "Bearing three-one-zero!"

All other binoculars on the bridge immediately snapped in that direction. The ship was very difficult to see at this range, but if they could be seen...



It was a convoy. Finally. After all this time...not just a single Jap ship, nor two, but a whole juicy convoy of them!

"Rig for dive! Man your battle stations!" said Kadoe, trying to keep the rising excitement from his voice and deliver orders in a business-as-usual tone. All men on the bridge immediately went down the tower hatch; Kadoe and Ryfels awaited them all to clear first. Ryfels went down next to last, followed by Kadoe.

Inside, the hatch was secured as Kadoe went down to the control room, where he immediately began snapping off orders.

"Make your depth seven-zero feet. All ahead one-third. Course three-one zero."

His orders were repeated the instant they left his mouth, and the Groghead sprang into action. A forward tilt to her deck came quickly as she began her dive. LCDR Kadoe and the other 87 officers and crew each spoke in their own silent way to anyone - or anything - listening, to give them good luck to see the surface again.



The crew had been drilled so much and so quickly, that it was indeed becoming second nature. Most of them had no idea it was a real attack they were setting up for instead of yet another drill. Because of that efficiency, they reached a depth of 70 feet mere seconds later (something Kadoe reminded himself to compliment them on later), and the Captain asked for the periscope.



A heartbeat or two passed as Kadoe moved the periscope barely back and forth, searching, and finding what he was looking for.

"There they are," he said. "Looks like the tail end of a convoy. More ships off in the distance, to starboard." He paused a moment, lining up his view on one particular ship. The three bringing up the rear of the convoy looked to be decent targets, and Kadoe hadn't seen an escort...though he was certain they were out there, somewhere.

"Bearing?" the Captain asked.

Ryfels looked at the periscope, reading off the bearing. Kadoe considered it...it wasn't the best set-up, but he figured they could work the angle.



"Tail end of a large convoy. Three ships. Japanese, certainly. No esc...wait, no," Kadoe said, feeling a lump of bitterness rise in his chest. "One escort, a destroyer, a little further out. Other side of this group of three." He ordered the periscope lowered and issued a quick order to match the bearing and increase speed.

The Groghead barely turned, as she had already been heading almost directly towards the convoy just over the horizon, but they all felt her deck tremble with power as she accelerated.

A few tense minutes went by, and Kadoe called for the periscope again. This time, the ships snapped into view well; they were moving slowly, almost leisurely.



"Same four ships. Three merchies, one escort. Some more masts on the horizon, but a lot further out. Down scope," he said, and headed to the chart table, where his other officers and the Chief gathered around him in the cramped space.

"They're here," said Kadoe, pointing to the map. "I think we need to take a parallel course here, get ahead of them, then come in at them."

Ryfels nodded, issuing the orders.

The crew by this point realized they were going after real, live targets, and Kadoe could see how well they gelled together as one...though he could easily read the anxiety on their faces as they did so. He tried not to think of his own countenance as they maneuvered into position. This was a lucky break - these Japs were out for a leisurely stroll almost, completely unafraid of American submarines or any enemy activity, this close to their own neck of the woods.

It was time to teach them the error of their ways, thought Kadoe darkly.

[besilarius]

Let me tell you.  If Don Rickles was giving me the fish eye, I'd damn sure not mess up the approach.

[BanzaiCat]

December 23, 1941
Marshal Islands Operations Area
1134 Local Time

After a few hours of patient stalking beyond the range of the convoy's escorts, the Groghead was now approaching the convoy. Like a carnivore, the submarine slowly approached the back end of the lazy, straight-sailing ships. LCDR Kadoe had three enemy transports in his sights. After his XO, Ryfels, and another officer got on the periscope to corroborate the spotting, they all agreed that they had a large freighter, large passenger ship, and a smaller passenger ship present.

Kadoe looked around the cramped space, letting a smirk crease his features. "Lots of troops on those monsters. Plus their stores. Maybe a regiment or so. Let's teach 'em how to swim." He returned to the periscope, calling for the bearing. His XO read it off crisply.



The men began to feel the pressure of their new reality. It was one thing to be underwater, relying on a submarine that was now a decade or so old and praying no leaks were sprung, maneuvering about in exercises against friendly ships, but it was quite another to actually aim and fire on an enemy combatant...one that could just as easily fire back. The week-plus of boredom punctuated by endless drills to get to this point, fueled by bad Navy coffee, strong cigarettes, and more than a little nervous energy, started to melt away now.

"Identification on the ships, skipper," said Ryfels.

----------

In-game, I rolled an '8,' which translates to a Convoy; it also has an Escort.

Now that I know what my submarine and crew are facing down, the game helps sharpen the view a bit more; I roll on another table to find out the general sizes of each ship; after rolling, we're looking at two large and one small target. That's great! Larger targets mean more tonnage.

Next, I need to determine the specific ships. Where possible, I looked up real-world information on each one, though it's difficult as some sites have a plethora of info but others, not so much (and sometimes I cannot even find the ship, especially if it's a numbered ship). Here's what I rolled up:

Large Passenger Ship Tatsutake Maru (7100t)



Historically, she was sunk on May 11, 1943, by the USS Plunger, at 14-33N, 149-23E.

Large Freighter Banshu Maru No. 7 (5400t)

I cannot find a pic of this No. 7, but I can find a Banshu Maru No. 18, as well as a few other numbers, and they all look somewhat similar:



The Banshu Maru No. 7 was labelled as a "crab tender," gathering food for the civilian population of the Home Islands. Likely, the Banshu Maru would be in this area of the Marshalls to fish the area and provide food for the local garrisons (I'm guessing, of course). Historically, this ship was sunk off the Kamchatka  Peninsula on July 2, 1943, by the SS-35 (SS-140).

Small Passenger Ship Shikisan Maru (4700t)



She was torpedoed by the USS Drum (SS-228). She sunk in 90 seconds at 20-27N, 118-31E. She was carrying 3,300 tons of manganese, 3,000 tons of raw rubber, and 1,500 tons of general cargo. 11 crewmen and four passengers were KIA.

----------

The Groghead slowly approached the convoy's end, quietly issuing slight adjustments to course and, when the periscope was up, asking for updated bearings. The fire control party quietly conferred to update their data. Their officer in charge, LT Stagg, was also the 3rd officer and always pushing his teams to practice the calculations the fire control computer did, in their own heads, instead of relying on a machine.

In the back, LTJG Mirth, the Chief Engineer, kept his attention and his men's attention on the diesels. While running on battery power, the engine space was much quieter, which added a lot to the tension. They were determined to keep the diesels in top shape in case they were needed.

Slowly, the Groghead approached the minimum distance needed to fire their Mark-14 torpedoes, but Captain Kadoe wanted to get closer to the convoy, first. Close...but not too close.

----------

In game terms, your submarine can attack from Long, Medium, or Short range. Of course, the closer your sub is, the better chance you have of hitting. Long range is safer for avoiding Escorts, but gives you the smallest chance to hit your target(s). Short range exposes you to a Detection roll (and subsequent attack, possibly) before you can loose any torpedoes. Medium range is a...well, a happy medium. You have a decent chance of hitting, and don't have to worry about Escorts until after you fire.

I've decided to hedge my bets and fire all four forward torpedoes at the 7100t Tatsutake Maru. It's the biggest of the three and four torpedoes should give us a good chance of sinking her, even if the Mk-14 torpedoes suck eggs.

----------

Finally, the submarine was in a good position. Captain Kadoe ordered the periscope up again, checked the bearing for the dozenth or so time, and ordered the periscope back down. He issued orders to ready the four front torpedos. LT Stagg relayed the orders, and the crew communicated it to the forward torpedo room.


 
The time slid by like molasse; Captain Kadoe stood there like a rock, staring at nothing in particular, counting the seconds off in his head with Swiss-like precision. The rest of the bridge crew barely held in their anxiousness, holding their breath as they waited for him to call out the orders.

"Up scope," he declared. Only a few seconds had passed since he ordered the torpedoes ready - which they were already, before the Captain even had to say anything - but it seemed like an eternity.

Once again, he looked in the periscope's viewpiece, and once again, he saw what he expected. The crew had lined up Groghead perfectly on the Tatsutake Maru.



It was time.

"Down scope. Open doors on tubes one, two, three, and four," Captain Kadoe commanded in a quiet, yet firm voice.

"Torpedo doors one, two, three, and four open," replied the Fire Controlman.



The tension rose as the men felt, rather than heard, all four of the torpedo tubes open, ready to deliver their deadly payloads upon the unsuspecting Japanese transports.

Captain Kadoe watched the clock intently, not trusting his internal one entirely, even if he could have counted off the time with his eyes closed.

"Fire torpedoes."

"Firing torpedo one. Firing torpedo two. Firing..."

The count went on, and with a woosh and a shudder, the Groghead unleashed the four Mark-14 torpedoes.



------


The Mark-14 Torpedo was a terribly unreliable weapon early in the war, with many issues plaguing it. It was so bad that this was considered to be its own scandal within the U.S. Pacific Fleet's Submarine Force.

Inadequately tested, the Mark-14's magnetic exploder often would prematurely fire the warhead, exploding it well before it came near its intended target; if it didn't explode prematurely, it would sometimes not explode at all, rewarding the listening submariners with a 'clang' of a metal-on-metal impact, but no explosion. Sometimes, it would miss entirely, often running around ten feet deeper than it was supposed to. The worst thing that the Mark-14 could do, by far, would be its running "circular" and coming back to hit the submarine that fired it.

It took nearly two years before the Bureau of Ordinance (BuOrd) released the Mark-18 electric torpedo, but the -14 continued to be produced throughout the War, albeit with later improvements. Its failures early on, though, caused many victories to slip through the fingers of submarine commanders across the Pacific.

In Silent Victory, this is translated into a 'dud roll' on one d6. A roll of 1-4 is a dud, while 5-6 means it explodes properly.

------

As soon as the torpedoes left their tubes, Ryfels clicked an accompanying stopwatch, eyeing each one carefully. The ticking stopwatches were loud enough to be heard in the silent control room, once the loud woosh of the torpedoes leaving their tubes subsided. Each man aboard did their best to will the torpedoes into the enemy ship – but also to do so right under the nose of the accompanying destroyer, which would no doubt be out for blood if the submariners did their job well enough.



The seconds ticked slowly by. Captain Kadoe kept the Groghead on course, in case a follow-up attack was needed, but ordered the submarine's speed slowed in case they needed to high-tail it out of there, keeping as much space as possible between them and the enemy Escort.

"Coming up on impact," said LT Ryfels unnecessarily, more so to relieve some of his own tension.

To punctuate his sentence, a distant thud echoed through the submarine, which caused several heads to swivel uncertainly to look at each other - was that an explosion? they silently asked, but they all knew it wasn't. They'd live-fired the torpedoes before, and knew what it sounded like - it should have been a lot louder.

The initial thud was quickly repeated two more times.

Duds. Kadoe knew it, as did Ryfels. They shared a grim glance. Three hits and no explosions.

The fourth came quickly, but this one was much louder, more vibrant, making most of the men in the submarine jump. They thought the first three were actual explosions, but this was an actual, bonafide hit; there was no doubt of that!

"Duds," said Kadoe. "Goddamn duds, three of the four." The crew hadn't heard the Captain curse before.

"Up scope. Fast!"

As the periscope rose, Ryfels said, "At least one exploded, thank goodness."

Kadoe remained silent, taking a fast look. A funnel of water and the aftermath of an explosion - a small one - was just starting to spend itself, and the big freighter started to lean in and slow down almost immediately. But, she wasn't sinking, and there were no secondary explosions. Kadoe wasn't certain, but guessed that the ship was heavily damaged, but wouldn't sink.

----------

While we fired four torpedoes, three of them were indeed duds. One actually exploded, thank goodness.

However, even with that we are unlucky; I rolled 2 damage. The Tatsutake Maru needs 3 points of damage to sink, so she's hurt, but not going down.

----------

Kadoe stepped away from the periscope, offering it to his XO, whom quickly looked. He stepped back, and the periscope went down.

"Active pings, skipper," said the sonar man excitedly. "That Escort is coming our way!"

"It might be the first, but it hopefully won't be the last," said Captain Kadoe in a sideways admonishment. "Make your depth one-five-zero feet," said Kadoe. "Heading one-eight-zero."

"I don't think we got her, sir," said Ryfels. Kadoe only nodded in response.

The pings got louder as the submarine went down; she noticeably creaked loudly under the increased pressure of the depths. More than a few eyes looked with fear to the popping sounds the hull made. Kadoe would have done the same - he'd never gotten used to the sound - but did his best to ignore it and the hundreds of thousands of tons of water surrounding his men now.

Finally, the submarine reached its ordered depth.

"One-five-zero feet, Captain," came the answer. They'd dived quickly and were pretty close to the Groghead's test depth.

"Sonar, report," said Kadoe.

"Rough sounds from 270, sir. No breaking up or secondary explosions."

"Does the destroyer have us?"

A brief pause; Kadoe wondered, but the pause was a good indicator they'd avoided it.

"No, sir. They're searching north and west of us. They're looking in the wrong place."

Relief flooded the control room, but Kadoe was quick to remind them of why they were out here. "Come right, two-seven-zero."

"We going after her, sir?" asked Ryfels hopefully.

"Yep. Let's finish off the wounded animal. Let the others go for now."

----------

I might be quoting the rules incorrectly, but if you damage a transport in a convoy, you can automatically follow it. Normally, if you miss and do no damage, you have to roll to see if you can continue following the ship(s). In this case, though, we can follow them. I'll be damned if we're going to let this damaged ship get away!

I do have to re-roll for the Escort, though, and of course it still is - the Japanese Escort is not going to leave this ship to the wolves!

----------

The Groghead moved purposefully westwards, back towards the tail end of the convoy, which was now going at high speed in different directions, fearing another submarine attack. When Groghead returned to periscope death, they could see the Tatsutake Maru limping along as best it could, still under its own power. While one destroyer was still pinging away madly to the north, another one had slid next to the stricken ship and was escorting her closely.

Kadoe said all this out loud as the periscope came back down. It had been easy to follow the damaged ship – it couldn't go far.

"Torpedoes reloaded, skipper," said the torpedoman from up front.

"Understood," replied Kadoe. Then to the control room, "Let's line up on that ship and finish her off. But, let's use the aft tubes this time."

They ran the numbers, moving into an attack position quickly. Soon, both tubes were open, and Kadoe was giving the order to fire.

Both Mk-14s slid quickly with a woosh out of their housings, sending a shiver of release through the submarine. Stopwatches started with each firing, and the time was tracked meticulously.

The time passed...and passed.

"It should have hit by-"

A boooooom, loud and deep, spread like a bloom through the ocean and washed over the Groghead's steel hull. That was an explosion – but, just one.

"Another impact?" asked Kadoe, in case he'd missed it. His XO shook his head 'no' in response.

"Up scope," he said again. He looked just in time to be greeted by a massive secondary explosion. There was no doubt that the enemy ship was done for.



The Tatsutake Maru had blown in half, with the aft half burning fiercely; the forward part of the ship was gone, either disintegrated or under the waves already. They were in for it now, because the Japanese Escort was turning fast and heading their way.

Kadoe stepped away, and Ryfels took a quick look through the periscope himself, nodding with approval. The Groghead had scored its first kill of the war!

The Captain, though, didn't cheer along with the rest of the crew. Once the initial subdued shout of joy finished, Kadoe gave immediate orders to lower the periscope and submerge deeper, turning away from the dead ship. They managed to elude the first destroyer rather easily, and this time, the pursuing destroyer didn't even come close. The Groghead was out of the woods, but the convoy they attacked would be well out of reach by now.

----------

I fired both of our aft torpedoes at the stricken ship, hoping it would be enough. I really didn't want to waste another four torpedoes on what needed only 1 damage point to sink. If we missed this, I think we could have continued again, but it would have been a bad thing as we'd already have expended six torpedoes of our starting 24 total.

One of the two torpedoes was, of course, a dud, but the other one luckily exploded and did four damage points, ergo the 'disintegration' description. I think the ship we sunk was used, at the time, as an ammunition carrier, so it stands to reason it would have virtually disappeared in a massive explosion.

We've also been very lucky so far, in that both Detection rolls were passed (and with flying colors, I might add). The Japanese Escorts, in both cases, completely missed us. I know we got lucky, and this luck might not last for long.

----------

An hour later, after ensuring they'd avoided pursuit, the submarine returned to periscope depth. The captain took a look around, saw it was clear, and ordered the Groghead to surface and watches to stand. The routine of patrol was back, though the crew were beside themselves, and the Chief couldn't wait to get his wife back at Pearl to sew a small Japanese flag on their ship's flag.



Until then, though, there was more patrol territory to go through.

The Groghead sailed on.

[panzerde]

This is really impressive! Very nicely done.  O0

[BanzaiCat]

Thank you, sir!

I plan on incorporating more of the game's graphics in the upcoming posts, to help better illustrate gameplay.

[panzerde]

In my youth, I was fascinated by the US submarine war during WWII, to the extent that I seriously considered trying to get into subs once I was out of HS. My great uncle, who was a retired USN Commander and ASW pilot during WWII, while enthused at me wanting to join his service never seemed to encourage my interest in submarines. I thought it was because he was a naval aviator. Then I hit 6'2" as a Junior in HS and realized that I probably wouldn't be a good fit for most boats.

I kind of lost interest after that, but this AAR makes me remember everything I loved about them. Makes me wish I still had my model of USS Growler!

[BanzaiCat]

December 27, 1941
Somewhere in the Marshals
1755 Local Time

It took some time, but the crew of the Groghead had wound down off of their high of sinking the Tatsutake Maru and the prospect of not returning to Pearl Harbor empty-handed, by later that same evening. Some were still griping about the three duds from the first run, and Captain Kadoe couldn't agree more, yet remained silent. Or at least, more silent, after the string of expletives that had escaped his usually quiet lips upon their missing the Japanese ship.

Though, as none of the crew could possibly know, Kadoe had mixed feelings. Deep in his gut, he felt as if he was betraying the love of his life back home. The Groghead had just torpedoed and sent to the bottom, a rather large Japanese ship; they hadn't stuck around to count life jackets or lifeboats, of course, but it stood to reason that dozens had probably been killed from their attack. Even though the memory of Pearl Harbor was fresh in his mind, his hatred was tempered severely by his beloved back in California. Though Sachiko certainly, and her immediate family to a lesser degree, wanted no part of militaristic Japan nor their designs on empire, it was one thing to speak out against it, but entirely another to kill their people in the name of war.

But that was the way of it, wasn't it? he'd thought, often. Just like his great-grandfather, serving in the US Navy back then, blockading Southern ports. His ship had sunk several commerce raiders trying to run out from Southern ports. His family knew there were relatives in the South, especially in Georgia, so they always wondered, though little was known of that part of the family. Very likely, they had died out with the Civil War.

He'd thought about it, dwelled on it, during some rather long and sleepless rack times. As the days progressed, though, and especially now that they were on station, it was becoming more difficult to allow himself to be distracted by such thoughts. They still came, like whispers on a fast wind, brushing across his mind as he tried to focus on something important. Kadoe fought back by diving more into his work, and felt more than a measure of relief due to that; he had a duty to perform, and he'd just have to work the demons out later...somehow.

A few days after their victory, the Groghead was starting to smell like a gym in the broiling equatorial sun, which had no use for the recently-passed Christmas and made men from the North pine for the days of actual snowstorms, something they'd learned to love as children but despised almost as much as the Japanese once it became their job to have to shovel it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



In Silent Victory, you roll for each area you enter in your assigned Patrol region. In this case, I rolled a '5,' which results in "—(SJ)."



'SJ' simply means that I need to re-roll...IF I have SJ radar present and working. Since this Narwhal-class boat does not have this radar, this is treated as no encounter, and the Groghead sails on to the third area.

This third area, though (as with most third areas in the game) requires TWO rolls, not just one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The USN had divided the Marshalls into five Zones, and they'd just sailed straight through the second one with not one encounter...not even a tropical bird. With one notch on their belt, the men were itching for more action, but it looked like the word had gotten out that an Allied submarine was in the area, so ships were scarce. Watches each day had nothing to call out, so Captain Kadoe once again started hitting the men with surprise drills, to keep things interesting.

He reminded the crew on Christmas Day, when the cook had broken out a stashed sugar supply and baked a small cake for the crew to share, that the Marshalls were an important staging area for the Japanese, and they had plenty of shipping moving through the area. They'd have their chance, and soon. And the Captain did his best to believe every word of it.

He tried not to think of Sachiko. He'd sent her a small package shortly before he'd left Pearl, though he addressed it to her father's farm and not the family name. There was no telling what would have happened to it, had he done that.

Two days...almost three, later...Captain Kadoe poured over the charts, wondering if they should try looping around and wait to see if anything came their way. Surely, he thought, with no traffic came no reports of submarines, and perhaps the Japanese would figure they moved on to greener pastures...

He discussed it with his XO, LT Ryfels, but they came to the conclusion that Kadoe knew well ahead of time that they would – to not push their luck, not on their first War Patrol. He instead allowed the navigators to continue their work in driving the Groghead through Marshall Islands waters, and hoped for at least one more victory before this Patrol ended...though part of his mind rebelled at the thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Entering this third area, I have to roll twice.

The first roll results in an '8.' This means we've run across yet another Convoy. Kind of long odds to run against a Convoy twice (though I know nothing of the odds, so don't speak to me of them), but hey, more targets for us!



More die rolls result in two Large Targets and one Small Target. From there, I go to the appropriate charts to see what we've found this time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Contact is bearing 190, 4500 yards. Confirm multiple targets."

Captain Kadoe didn't answer, but none was expected. Everyone else remained focused on their own stations, while he tried to be aware of everything in the cramped space. Nothing was escaping his notice. The watch had seen the distant convoy some time ago, and Kadoe and crew had, with ease that came from endless hours of drill, slipped the Groghead beneath the surface quickly, efficiently, and most of all, quietly.

He hoped, anyway. But the convoy hadn't changed course or reacted in any way, except for a couple of half-hearted changes of heading that could hardly be counted as such. They were headed southeast.

"Still headed in the same direction?" he asked, quietly.

"Yes sir," came the answer. "Bearing 190, heading 175, southeast, estimated 8 knots."

Eight knots? A languid pace for merchies, but positively slow for warships. The Groghead was able to catch up, but only barely; the Narwhals weren't exactly speedsters, and going too fast meant making a racket that most of the Southeast Pacific could hear.

"Alright. Periscope depth. Let's take a look."

The Groghead had spotted the convoy three hours earlier in the distance, just over the horizon. Kadoe ordered the sub down to 120 feet and had the navigator plot a course to intercept it. They'd popped up once to periscope depth in that time, making sure they were on track. LTJG Besilarius, whom everyone just called "Lieutenant Bes" for short, had once again nailed the calculations.

Now, it was time to check again and see. Hopefully, Kadoe thought, they were coming up on the rear end of the convoy.

The scope came up, and the Captain peered expectantly through the viewpiece.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rolling on the T-chart tables, these are the results I got. Unfortunately I didn't write down whether they were freighters or not, but the ships' respective histories should speak to their functions.

Nichirin Maru No. 7 (5200t)

Laid down in 1941, she was a "standard type ITM tanker." Historically, she wasn't completed until December of 1942 and was sunk in the South China Sea on 19 February 1944. It's interesting we're able to sink a ship that's not technically been built yet, but hey, this game is in a different universe!

Hokuroku Maru (8400t)

Laid down and launched in 1930 as the third of six diesel-driven high-speed cargo ships. During the war, she visited just about every corner of the Empire and beyond, including being part of the Midway invasion force (she carried the 11th and 12th Naval Construction battalions), carried supplies and construction troops to Guadalcanal, visited Saigon, Singapore, and New Guinea, and many other locations. She was sunk on 18 March 1944 about 160 nm southeast of Hong Kong, by the USS Lapon.

Taijun Maru (2800t)

This ship had been around a while; she was laid down and launched in 1918 as a cargo ship. In 1941, she was taken in to the IJN and designated as an auxiliary transport. While she was around in peacetime for a while, her war career didn't last long; her registration in the IJN was on 10 December. On 18 September she loaded 205 mines, along with torpedoes and spare parts and headed south the next day. She was then reported as leaving Rabaul on 8 April 1942. On 11 April 1942, in Lae Harbor, New Guinea, several Douglas A-20 "Havoc" bombers damaged her severely, leaving her useless. She was scuttled soon after.

I'm going to have the sub fire all six of her torpedoes at these guys – four forward, and two aft. There's a penalty involved with shooting all of them off, but why not. The main problem I have is, the dud chances are SO high with these bloody Mk 14s that I could fire all six, hit with all six, and conceivably not do a whit of damage.



The Narwhal-class, in 1941, has four torpedoes up front and two in the back. In April of '43, she can be refit to have two more in each area. For now, we're limited to the tools we have to work with.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Here's the plan," said Kadoe. "Five for the big target. We'll fire all four front torpedoes at her, then do a 180, fire one more for good measure, and fire the last at the smaller target."

He paused, waiting, but his XO merely nodded at the orders. When Kadoe raised an eyebrow at him, looking for a response, the XO shrugged slightly. "Tough call, sir. If there's a tin can escorting, that's two sets of tracks they can use to zero in on us. Then again, we can't not take a shot at this convoy, even with these torpedoes."

Ryfels let the sentence hang in the stuffy air. It was crazy, and better suited for a cardboard-counter gaming environment than real life, but it might be just crazy enough to work!

It was daylight, so they'd of course remain submerged. Two concerns, though, floated through the Captain's mind...one, the seas were a little rough at the moment, and they could feel the Groghead manhandled by the ocean this close to the surface, and two, there was an escort nearby, though moving in the same direction as the convoy. That escort was actually sharp, sprinting to one side of the convoy, then floating to listen, then going back, taking breaks every so often and moving at the same slow pace of the convoy.

They were predictable, Kadoe thought. For now, anyway.

Kadoe hated waiting...absolutely despised it. It took every ounce of his willpower to keep himself calm as they approached the enemy convoy, but calm he remained. Everyone else fought their own anxieties, and while Kadoe had those same ones, he had a few more burdening him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I allocated five torpedoes for the Hokuroku Maru, and one for the Taijun Maru.

Of the five torpedoes I fire on the Hokuroku Maru, four miss. Of course. But, there is a penalty for attacking with both fore and aft, and to be fair, I missed two of the rolls because of that. But one hits! Though, the odds are against doing some major damage; the damn thing still needs to not be a dud.

Fortunately, it is not a dud, and I roll a '2' for damage, which is three hits – just enough to sink her! That's another 8400 tons added to Groghead's collection.



The remaining torpedo goes after the Taijun Maru. I roll a hit, but then roll a dud, so nothing happens.

As Groghead finishes her run, the Japanese Escort comes after us. I just barely roll the needed number to avoid detection, so that was close...we just managed to evade a good depth chargin'.

We could try to follow the convoy, but I'm not going to push our luck. I'm good with our results so far and there's nothing really worth bagging versus the risk. Maybe we can find a better target in the remainder of our patrol.