201 This Battle is Hopeless
Yamamoto staggered as he rose to his feet. Seeing an unbelievable feat of the Ruthenian torpedoes turned his face completely befuddled.
The ship continued to list to the right as a gaping hole on the hull of the Amagi Class Battlecruiser continued to take in water.
But that didn’t concern him, the only thing that was crossing his mind right now is the torpedo.
“Did you see it?” Yamamoto grabbed Katsuro by the arm. “Did you see the Ruthenian torpedo change its course even after it was fired?”
“Admiral, we have a more pressing matter that we need to tend to right now! I just got a call from the men below saying that the hull is compromised. We sprung a leak on the port side. The bilge pumps are working fine, but they have to seal off a couple of compartments to reduce the stress.”
Admiral Yamamoto snapped out from his trance. “I understand, how long until the ship completely submerges?”
“According to the damage assessment, ten to twelve hours, assuming that the bilge pump doesn’t fail. If it fails, then it will only leave us three to four hours. The propulsion system is still fine and we can still make our retreat but if we are going to do so we have to do it now. Should we press on or retreat?”
Admiral Yamamoto contemplated for a second, weighing the pros and cons of Katsuro’s suggestion. He made a good point. Since the battleships suffered from a torpedo attack, creating a huge hole in the hull, the effectiveness and accuracy of their main batteries will be affected. He looked around at his surroundings, everything stationery is angled to 15 degrees.
Even if the bilge pumps are working perfectly, it’s only a matter of time before they fail, signing their death certificate as it will sink under the sea in hours. However, a retreat is the most shameful thing a commanding officer could’ve done. After all, this naval battle right now is important for the Yamato Empire as losing here means a decisive victory for the enemy.
Should they retreat here, the Ruthenia Empire will have command of the sea in the Yellow Sea. This means logistical transports to support their troops on the Choson peninsula will be gone, leaving them isolated them not having a way to resupply, reinforce, and get their troops back home.
The Ruthenian Empire has already won on land and in the air, losing in the sea would mean a total defeat in war.
Faced with a great decision like this he finally gave a response.
“Katsuro, we will not yield here. We will fight to the last even if it means total annihilation of the fleet. We can’t allow the Ruthenians to conquer the sea. I’m sure the Yamato High Command would give the same order anyway.”
“But Admiral. This is a suicide, we can’t fight what we can’t see. The Ruthenians have been firing salvo on us and have been hitting their marks yet how about us? We haven’t even scored a hit on them. Also, their aircraft…”
“Yes…I know, the aircraft…There’s no way those planes came from the mainland. It possibly came from their aircraft carrier Petropavlovsk,” Yamamoto sighed. “To think that my vision for the future of naval battle is true all along, that a battleship is ineffective against aircraft…”
As they were having their conversation on the bridge, one of the officers of the Amagi Class Battlecruiser entered the command bridge.
“Admiral, the Ruthenian planes…they are heading to us!”
“What…?” Yamamoto grabbed his binoculars on the table and rushed outside the command bridge. A cacophony of anti-aircraft guns firing at the Ruthenian planes filled the air. Golden strobe lights were everywhere.
The Ruthenian planes were nimbly evading all the anti-aircraft rounds. They were so fast, making it hard for the gunners to shoot down. And in spite of not hitting them, the Yamatos didn’t give up and continued firing on them unrelentingly.
However, despite their efforts, the Ruthenian planes manage to get past it. A Ruthenian torpedo bomber plane was hounding close behind the flagship, droning in with great speed.
“That’s the plane that fired a torpedo that can change course upon release,” Yamamoto panicked. “If it fires its torpedo again we won’t have a chance to evade it. Tell all our anti-aircraft personnel to focus fire on that incoming aircraft!”
“Aye aye Admiral,” Katsuro saluted and headed back into the command bridge and approached a speaking tube. He leaned over and started talking.
“Order from the Admiral, focus fire on the incoming aircraft approaching us from astern. I repeat, focus fire on the incoming aircraft approaching us from astern.”
After relaying Yamamoto’s orders, the officers in charge of the gunnery delivered the order to the gunners. Who then shifted the angle and the position of the anti-aircraft guns of the battleship to the south.
Unfortunately, only the anti-aircraft batteries located aft of the ship can shoot at the aircraft as they have no visual on the plane due to the superstructure of the ship blocking it.
Katsuro soon realized this and immediately hailed the helmsman to turn starboard.
“Hey, you! Turn this ship to starboard now!”
“We can’t sir, we’ve been taking so much water below deck. If we made a wide turn it would capsize the ship.”
“We don’t need to make a wide turn, just turn a little to the right so that our men can have a clear shot on the aircraft that’s going to sink us!”
“Aye aye, sir!”
The helmsman did what he was told and the ship turned to port.
Meanwhile, Admiral Yamamoto stared through the binoculars, watching as the aircraft came closer and closer to his ship. The anti-aircraft guns unleashed hell onto the plane but it was evaded by performing evasive maneuvers.
Yamamoto shifted the sight of his binoculars under the belly of the plane. There, he saw a huge torpedo, seemingly the one in the fore part of the ship.
Three seconds later, the plane dropped the torpedo and began making its way to their ship.
Having no way of avoiding the imminent impact, Admiral Yamamoto shouted. “Get down and brace for impact!”
Yamamoto ducked, his hand clutching tightly on the railings. Soon, he could feel the metal underneath his feet shake and creak. Then there came water washing over them.
A direct hit again. He quickly stood to find out the extent of the damage. “Damage report…”
“Sir, the rudders—”
—In a blink of an eye, Katsuro and the Helmsman vanished in an instant as a shell from the battleship Imperator landed a direct hit on the command bridge and caved into the deck below.
Yamamoto reflexively took a step back. A horrified expression etched on his face the moment his eyes laid upon the ground. Entrails of the crew members stationed on the bridge splattered all over the floor. In front of him lay a huge pool of blood that was spreading slowly outwards. It was gruesome.
“Katsuro…” Yamamoto stammered, taking a step back. “No…”
Another explosion went off and filled his ears. It didn’t occur inside the ship but from a distance. The capital ships of the Yamato Empire of the First Imperial Yamato Fleet were being picked off one by one by dive bombers.
“This battle is hopeless…” Yamamoto said, feeling numb as he watched all the men who sacrificed their lives to take their last gasp. “Just what monster are we fighting here?”