Chapter 16 Chapter fifteen

USS Northampton Order of Battle, February 1, 1942 1. The first detachment of the Eighth Task Force began to operate at dawn (this ship cooperated with the "Salt Lake City" and "Dunlap") to bombard Watje Coral Island in the northern part of the Marshall Islands. A. Before the bombardment, the "Enterprise" launched an air strike to suppress the enemy's air power and coastal batteries. B. Due to the outdated and unreliable charts of these enemy sea areas, the coral reefs are densely covered, and there are many dangers. From zero o'clock, they have entered the Z-level alert state.

2. At the time when the Pacific Fleet finally launched a counterattack against the treacherous Japanese invaders across the Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands, the "Northampton" was under the command of the Eighth Task Force under the command of Vice Admiral Halsey. The flagship of the North Road Artillery Corps, proud of it. 3. All ship personnel should control themselves accordingly.Announcement is hereby made. Vice Captain James. C. Grieg "Start shelling!" The three turrets of the "Northampton" rumbled with white smoke and faint flames.The deck was shaken and bumped.Victor.Henry felt the rumble with cotton in his ears.The enemy who had destroyed Pearl Harbor and blew up the California was now firing the first barrage, and he rejoiced at the sight of the flashes, the hearing of the guns, and the smell of the smoke.At this moment, behind the stern of the ship, the main battery of the "Salt Lake City" opened fire violently. Through the telescope, two strings of shells were clearly seen shooting out of the eight-inch caliber muzzle, flying towards the mooring along the bow-shaped ballistic trajectory. Boats in the lagoon.

Over the sea aft on the port side, a sun was about to break out on a sharply defined horizon.The two cruisers and the destroyer "Dunlap", flying a large battle flag, lined up in a column, and were sailing at full speed, facing the smoky green land on the sea: Waterje Island. The fleet on the "Enterprise" was flying back to the aircraft carrier, and the northern sky could be seen faintly. Needless to say, Warren must be among them.They had attacked the island at dawn according to the battle schedule. Pug was still tormented as he watched his ship's four landing-observation planes mess up as they catapulted and took off.A plane almost fell into the sea.The other took twenty minutes to get onto the catapult because the crane had failed.What a terrible start!Rear Admiral Spruance stood beside him on the bridge in the growing morning light, not saying a word but expressing his disappointment at the ejection operation.He was also disappointed that there was no clear military objective on Watje Island.There was not a single warship there, only a few merchant ships.Halsey's first hit-and-run attack on the Japanese would not have meant much if the other atolls were not too oily.

Unexpectedly, even this small-scale shelling was not a good start.The enemy ships weighed anchor, let out a smoke screen, and dodged and circled through the lagoon, making them difficult to see and even harder to hit.Not a single ship sank, not even caught fire, despite the constant bombardment of the cannon.Flick the spotter to report the splash of water as a hit, then correct yourself.A daring little minesweeper sortied from the lagoon, zigzagging while firing small-caliber guns.The destroyer "Dunlap" came into contact with it at close range, and the five-inch caliber guns fired in vain, splashing jets of water on the sea.Then, the surveillance posts on the three warships began to see the periscope and reported one after another like a swarm.Pug.Henry and the rear admiral couldn't see it, but Spruance had nothing else to do.He had to order an emergency U-turn.The attack was unsuccessful.The three warships swam in the sunny and calm waters off the smoky island, busy dodging reported torpedo tracks and avoiding collisions.Pug.Henry finally decided to ignore the periscope and torpedo tracks that he couldn't see himself.He fired fiercely at the dodging merchant ship, opened the way with firepower, and went straight to the island of Watje. The smell under the fierce firepower of the fort, practice and practice how to move the shells from the ammunition depot to the breech of the gun in a hurry, smell the smell of gunpowder, listen to the sound of the guns, and experience the fear of battle; the second set of warship systems is still full of the peaceful atmosphere of peacetime, It is also possible to make this embarrassing status quo public.

Rear Admiral Spruance, issuing order after order over the short-range radio, finally seemed to regain control of the situation. The USS Dunlap sank the minesweeper.Three warships formed a formation and pressed on the coast, setting most of the rickety houses on the island in flames.Unexpectedly, the coastal battery measured the range, and the attacking side began to stir up colorful water jets.Spruance saw the Salt Lake City come under pincer fire twice and ordered a ceasefire.He ordered Captain Henry to lead the first detachment of the Eighth Task Force to return to cover the "Enterprise" and then left the bridge with a grim face.The fight lasted an hour and a half.

"Officers off duty go to the officers' room for meetings," Pug told Jim.Greg said. "Yes, sir," said the second-captain, his face as sullen as Spruance's under his new blue-painted helmet. As soon as the captain stepped into the long and narrow officer's room, a group of young men in khaki military uniforms immediately stood up obediently.He asked everyone to stand and listen to him finish speaking in a few words.He said they had just participated in a disruptive attack with little success.A long war lies ahead. The "Northampton" was to work on improving its combat readiness.dissolve.

That day, all day long, until after midnight, the heads of the various departments were called into the captain's cabin, and without drafts, he spoke casually, enumerating various weaknesses and ordering remedies. The "Northampton" was not doing well this time, not Pug.How surprised Henry was.In the first month of his tenure as captain, when he was checking the situation on board, he kept opening his eyes to see more, pricked up his ears to listen more, and tried to speak as little as possible.There are too many recruits and conscripts on the ship; experienced veterans, whether officers or soldiers, are very few.The daily work on the ship was carried out very well, and the cleaning and scrubbing work was passable, but everything was loose and sloppy, sticking to the rules, passing by, and there was a faint smell of ordinary people doing business.Then again, these fighters looked good to Pug, who had been waiting for such a decisive moment to clarify his intentions.

His attitude was severe and his criticisms hit the nail on the head. All the officers, including the deputy captain, were taken aback, because he had been working ashore for so many years and had no contact with the actual situation. Everyone still regarded him as a mild-mannered person.These meetings lasted for a full fourteen hours.Alimon had been making coffee, pot after pot, serving the brewed coffee, and making beef patties for their meal, while Greg and the captain ate and talked.Grieg, who had jotted down hundreds of comments in his "Important Things" notebook and drank a dozen cups of coffee to refresh himself, seemed to be breaking down when Pug gave up.He said: "Preparing to send a cable to the cruiser commander of the Pacific Fleet requesting a tugboat with a target when we return to base."

"Sir, that's not going to work. We can't radio right now," Greg said nervously. "I know. Send a scout plane with the letter." Halsey's task force returned, with a long line of gray warships flying their battle flags, and was greeted with enthusiasm as they sailed into Pearl Harbor: trumpets blared, whistles blared, bells rang, and cheers thundered, every ship in the harbor All flags flying.For journalists and radio commentators, the outing was a big shot.They hailed Vice Admiral Halsey's attack on the Marshalls and Gilbert Islands as reviving America's old power in the Pacific and turning the tide of the times.Proof of the amazing resilience of liberal regimes, and so on.Give the translation of the intercepted battle report to Victor.Henry offers a different scenario.It turned out that the air raid on Kwajalein Island only destroyed a few planes and probably sank two or three small boats. Coordinated raids by the Yorktown achieved only modest success in the Gilbert Islands.Bombardment by surface ships was also in vain.

As soon as the "Northampton" was anchored the captain called the officers to the quarters.They had all gone out on deck to join in the fun and celebrate the victory, so they all seemed to be in high spirits and in high spirits.He said: "There is one thing we must understand in our hearts. The purpose of the big bragging outside is nothing more than to encourage people's hearts. Hirohito will not be unable to sleep if the attack is not done well. As for the Northampton's fight Well, it's better to say less. We'll go out at dawn for target practice." It took him a lot of work to get the target boat.The cruiser commander of the Pacific Fleet summoned him to report on his duties in an official letter, asking him to explain why the entire ship was not allowed to move freely after such a arduous combat cruise.He went ashore and confronted the chief of staff—a former classmate of his—recklessly in the face.He said: "Northampton" must have weathered the storms in the war.When the cruiser returned from forty-eight hours of hard training, the wife, girlfriend, bar, and bed couldn't get away.After hearing this, the chief of staff agreed to drag the target for him.

Back on the ship, he saw a pile of personal letters on the desk: two were from Rhoda; one thick letter was from Madeleine; At one year old, it was rare to write letters; one was from his brother, a non-alcoholic beverage businessman in Seattle;He sat down in the armchair in the inner cabin and opened the last letter first.He was deeply disturbed by the news that Natalie had been detained in Siena with a group of journalists, although he was somewhat relieved by the accompanying letter from the State Department stating that she hoped to return.It was better than not knowing where she was; at least he hoped Byron would treat the news that way.The long letter Rhoda wrote at Christmas was mildly meek—"Waiting for you to come back from the front. I'll be waiting for you at the house on Foxhall Road like a good wife to a Navy man, dressed in my best Clothes, get ready to have a jug full of martinis...I have never respected or loved you like that..." The other was a short letter, as if nothing had happened, just chatting about a New Year's Eve party It's snowing heavily, why are you eating at the Army and Navy Club. Madeleine's thick letter turned out to be a fraud. The letter consisted of only a piece of yellow letterhead, typed every two lines with a typewriter, and a page from a drama newspaper was attached, which was folded and placed in an envelope.Madeleine went on and on about what she hated most when it was publicized like this, and it was hard to imagine how such a goddam thing would get into the papers, but it did. ...If you see Byron and Warren, say hello.Tell them I'll be writing a long letter to each of them soon.Also write you a long letter.This letter does not count.Hugh was yelling at me for a radio script discussion.I just want to let you know that your wandering daughter is fine and happy, and she is no longer unknown. I love you, Madeleine, and—ah, about my muddled letter last time, just pretend you haven’t received it.Mrs. Cleveland was very ill.Fortunately, she didn't make a big fuss with that set of scaring words, especially about my nomination of Dao's surname.I figured she wasn't that crazy.I could have litigated her all the way to heaven. On the page of "Variety Weekly", a section of rest was drawn with a pen.Cleveland's assistant Madeline.Henry's news. 'Meddy' comes from a great naval family.Her father commanded an aircraft carrier, one brother commanded a squadron of fighter jets, and another brother was a submarine captain.This is clearly because the propagandists used Henry's family background to boost Cleveland's status, and he was mentioned four times in the article.Leaving aside the erroneousness of the news and the use of clever slang, the whole thing disgusted Pug.His clever and beautiful daughter, who used to be his sweetheart, spends all day with a bunch of idiots, and she is about to become such a idiot.There was really nothing he could do about it; it was best not to take the bad luck to heart. A tan envelope with a name and address written in green ink in an unfamiliar handwriting, postmarked in Washington, with an indistinct date.It's just a piece of letter paper with no date or name on it. Dear Pug: This letter is from a well-meaning friend who has known you and Rhoda for many years.I understand what war can do to a marriage, but I can't bear to see this kind of thing happen to your "model couple" who are always so loving. Write to Rhoda and ask her about the tall guy (whose name begins with the word Ke) with whom she plays tennis at St. Albans.She "plays" more than just tennis.And seeing her with him at the wrong place and the wrong time--if you know what I mean, I think you do.In Washington, everyone who knows you two is talking about it.All of us are in awe of you, and Rhoda is also in awe of you. If you say a word, you may be able to tell her to "get back from the wrong way, Knin's way".It is best to write at once, before it is too late.Kindly persuade, "Smart people don't need to go into details", good-hearted people come. This is an ordinary letter.Possibly written many months ago, long before Rhoda filed for divorce.However, the letter gave him the pain he had experienced when the scandal first broke, and the knowledge that his misfortune had become the subject of gossip added a new sorrow. While the rest of Halsey's task force was celebrating victory ashore, the "Northampton" was off to sea again.There was a lot of buzz around the deck, complaining that the bastard was actually walking his talk.But when the first batch of complaints subsided, not many people were really dissatisfied.The sailors have all tasted the embarrassment of inaccurate shooting.The enemy's guns fell close by, and nearly missed, stirring up puffs of warm water through which their ships sailed.They had seen the Salt Lake City under fork fire, and they had heard that the five gunners of the twin forty-millimeter installations had been shot and mangled.They are ready to learn how to fight.Before they sailed out of the channel of the port, the alarm was sounded, the alarm bell was sounded, and the first lesson of collision emergency drills began, and the sailors were all moved by the wind.The ejection and return of the seaplane used to be an old problem when Hickman was the captain and the shameful humiliation of the Battle of Waterje Island. Now it can be solved smoothly in one day, and it is more than enough to deal with it.The time required to enter a Z-level alert state has also been halved.Sudden fire drills, air strike drills and abandon ship drills are also held at any time.It had been a rough day of drills, but at exactly twenty-three o'clock the rigorous drills Pug had ordered were over, and the sailors were not only exhausted but elated. Not so with Pug.The anonymous letter had devastated him.He sat in the cabin until well after midnight, flipping through three weeks' worth of newsmagazines.Judging from the silly advertisements, this country is still enjoying itself. All aspects of military production, military training, and field combat, etc., show that people still do not realize that failure is not only possible, but also imminent.The whole country was as the Northampton was at Waterjay Island.Meanwhile, German submarines launched vicious attacks on American ships.The figures are simply unbelievable; over a million tons were sunk in one month!Rommel was sweeping across North Africa, crushing the British army.With the Americans retreating to Bataan and the British retreating to the fortress of Singapore, Pug could see little hope for anything but a great Russian counteroffensive.In fact, these counter-offensives appeared to be nothing more than diversionary action, while the stubborn and large German army was regrouping for the summer offensive. Victor.During his tenure in the Operations Planning Division, Henry had a deep understanding of the Armed Forces' inventories and the natural resources of the planet.He was terrified by the constant changes in the situation. Java, Sumatra, and Borneo seemed to be lost. These places were huge cornucopias, larger than Japan itself, and with a greater potential for military raw materials than Japan itself.The Japanese invasion of Burma threatened the United States by shaking British rule over the hundreds of millions of disaffected Indians.Once India is lost, the Persian Gulf may be blocked.You must know that the Persian Gulf is the best route to transport the materials of the "Lease Act" to the Soviet Union, and it is also a great source of oil, which caused this world catastrophe.Strategically, all continents, all oceans, are linked together in this war.All over the world, except on the Russian front, the situation is worsening and facing catastrophe; and the worst thing about this whole scene of war and turmoil is the constant weakness, ignorance, and complacency of the American people. The secret letter he read during the day made him even more depressed.The plan to build a large landing craft ran aground.Production was way behind the schedule he'd set up himself at the Operations Planning Office.A crisis is rolling towards President Roosevelt like a tidal wave stirred up by a tsunami thousands of miles away; the shortage of landing craft will one day lead to the grounding of large-scale landing operations, or only small-scale attacks can be carried out, which will eventually fail.Pug felt he could prevent this.He knew the crux of the problem.He has fought against the leading figures in design and manufacture.He knows how to get the ingredients that are the priority.The decision-makers in the Navy listened to him.Even Ernest.King also listened to him on the issue of landing craft.Many officers with four stripes can command a heavy cruiser.But no one has such a thorough understanding of this key issue in the war. He finally confronted the fact that he was caught up in a past that he had forgotten as he grew older.Commanding a large warship is certainly a spur and an honor, but it is far from the best he can do for the war.In short; the Battle of Waterje Island deepened his suspicions about heavy cruisers.The panic about the submarines reflected the fear in the captain of the "Salt Lake City" - and he felt this level of fear himself - that these beautiful, heavily armed and lightly armored behemoths would be vulnerable to a blow.Now all combat plans are played by the aircraft carrier.The battleship is useless: what is the "Northampton"?No more than a vulnerable battleship, a single torpedo or bomb would kill it.The Battle of Waterje Island also forced him to face up to his mistakes. The mistake was that he chose an inappropriate career. He didn't become a naval aviation officer, but he chose to be an officer.His son, Warren, flew a mosquito-like dive bomber with only one soldier gunner on board. As for him, he led a 10,000-ton cruiser with 1,200 officers and soldiers on board. Lindao may have done more damage to the enemy than he had done on Watje Island. Worrying about Warren also troubled him deeply.He wasn't relieved until he went to Cruiser Command, Pacific Fleet, called Warren's home, and heard his son say "Hi!" cheerfully.Whenever he had uneasy dreams at night, Warren's plane crashed, and Hua Lun's plane was destroyed, these were all worrying scenes that surfaced in his mind, and tonight was another time when he had uneasy dreams.At two o'clock in the morning, he went to wake up the ship's doctor, a paunchy old man, and begged him for a sleeping pill.The doctor, sleepy-eyed, advised him to drink a large glass of wholesome brandy; a glass of brandy, he said, would put the captain to sleep better than a sleeping pill, and it was much more fun.Victor.Standing in the doctor's cabin wearing an old pajamas, Henry roared loudly, "Don't tell anyone to drink anymore, doctor. Don't tell me to drink. Don't tell other officers and soldiers on this ship to drink either. You can't use alcohol to hypnotize." The doctor stammered, "I say, Colonel, sometimes when you get nervous fatigue and things like that--to tell you the truth, Colonel Hickman, he--" "Insomnia and nervous tension at sea in wartime is not an emergency. It's just common ailments. You prescribe brandy for them, and don't my wardrooms be full of drunks? Since they can't Drinking, I can't drink, understand?" "Oh—understood, Colonel." The next day everyone focused on shooting.Pacific Fleet Cruiser Command dispatched a minesweeper with towed targets, and an aircraft towed red targets.The shooting techniques on the cruiser, such as the rate of fire, ammunition handling, communication, shooting command, and hit rate, have all been improved.Pug's mood also improved.No matter whether they are recruits transferred or just enlisted in the army, these sailors are easy to learn.At dusk, the "Northampton" was moored in Pearl Harbor, and the deputy captain announced that all personnel could go ashore except for the essential personnel on duty.Usually only half the crew are put ashore at a time.Cheers erupted from the whole ship, and the position of Captain Henry has been stabilized since then. He is no longer the new captain, but the boss. The rear admiral's adjutant sent Pug a handwritten note: Captain: Are you going ashore for dinner with your family?If not, please come to my place for a light meal.Eight O'Clock Radio will be rebroadcasting my friend Tudsbury's program in Singapore. thunder.Ai.Spruance had been Victor since the Rear Admiral's sudden departure from the bridge at Waterje Island last time.Henry never saw him once.For several days in good weather he did not appear on deck.Pug had taken a shower and was changing into evening dress for a dinner party when the messenger entered.There is only one personal letter, again in a brown envelope, with the name and address written in green ink, this time it is an airmail letter, clearly postmarked, and printed on January 25; exactly the same as Rhoda's Christmas The letter of repentance was a month apart. Dear Pug: You might as well hate me "in the background" because the truth often hurts.But this thing has become too ostentatious to say the least, and unless you do something "quickly," your married life will be blown.Now they go to the theater together, eat in restaurants, and I don't know the "full details".Everyone who knows you two is talking about it, and I mean talking.Write a letter to any "old friends" who are resident in Washington.Tell him you've got a letter from this "dreadful fellow" (my lord), and ask him, on his honor, to tell you what he knows about Rhoda. "Say everything you want to say!" Pug.With this sour taste in his heart, Henry went to the Rear Admiral's banquet. I saw Spruance still well-dressed and upright, but with a frowning brow and dull eyes.Both parties were silent during the dinner, but neither felt embarrassed because they already knew each other.Both love to exercise, which has become a common hobby for them.On fine days Spruance would strut about the main deck for an hour or so, five or ten miles a day in port.Pug walked with him when he had time, and most of the time they were silent for so long.Whenever Spruance invited him to dinner at the apartment, the two sometimes talked about their son who fought in the submarine, and about themselves.The rear admiral, like Pug, thought and regretted his stay on the surface ship.Halsey had the foresight to learn to fly at the age of fifty, which Spruance thought was a tall order.He was dissatisfied with the task of commanding a detachment of cruisers, and it was a thankless war career that would end in obscurity.Pug thought that the defeat at Waterje Island must have weighed heavily on him as a blow to his future. Over a dessert of canned peaches, Spruance unexpectedly ordered him to prepare an awards ceremony when they assembled the next morning.He, Spruance, will be awarded the Navy Medal by Nimitz himself in recognition of his outstanding command in the bombardment of Waterje Island.When the Rear Admiral said this, a wry smile flashed in his eyes. "Navy needs some heroes right now. It's not hard to get medals, just get bombarded. I can't even command a task force detachment on Waterje Island, let alone anything else. Turn on the radio. Well, it's time for your friend to go on the air, and by the way, I congratulate you on the success of the 'Northampton' exercise. This is necessary." Tudsbury's voice sounded trembling and heavy.The correspondent reported that Japanese heavy artillery was bombarding Singapore's business districts across the Johor Strait, killing hundreds of civilians every day.The enemy forces on the opposite coast could be clearly seen, making preparations to cross the channel on a large scale.The military authorities further admitted (here Tudsbury's voice rose) that Singapore's only hope lay in letting the democratic world know exactly how dire the situation was, because reinforcements, if they were to come at all, were due to come now. Towards the end of the broadcast, Spruance and Pug.Henry exchanged an inquiring glance, for Tudsbury then said: "Forgive me, my American friends, for quoting one of the many humorous jokes told in times of crisis. The joke says : "Do you know where the U.S. Navy is?Oh, and the U.S. Navy can't fight because its contract with MGM isn't up yet. '" Then again, whether help comes or not, I still believe that the Europeans and Asians in Singapore, fighting side by side, can turn the tide on their own, even if it is too late, to defeat the despondent invaders. I am willing to take I bet my old face on this belief, but not on my daughter Pamela, she is a bright and lovely young woman who assists me in my work. So tomorrow she will be with other women and children Withdrawn. She told me a story less than two hours ago, and I want her to tell you all. Well, Pamela will tell you now." Pug tried desperately to control himself, and with great difficulty managed to appear calm and relaxed. "I'm talking about a little story." The husky sweet voice that haunted him was engraved in his heart, giving him a feeling of surprise that was almost painful. "For the last two weeks I've been volunteering as a medical worker in a military hospital. Today a man who was seriously wounded got out of his bed and took me aside and gave me something called an oval. It's a hand grenade. The man was grave and serious, and said in a pleasant Australian accent: "Miss, you have been very kind to us.If you think a jap is going to rape you, ma'am, you just pull the insurance and it's over. ' "I have just one thing to add".I was forced to leave.Good night. " The original voice was changed again: "Singapore Erist. Tudsbury wishes everyone a good night." Srupence reached out and turned off the radio. "Henry, there is an intriguing analogy in the Malaya and Luzon operations. White garrisons with mixed local troops defending patches populated by Asians. An island of invading Asians marched from north to south. The defenders retreated steadily until they retreated to a well-armed island fortress at the extreme south. It seems to us that on this issue it seems to be more advanced than the British Humans are slightly better. After the war, it will be instructive to compare the two battles in detail." "Yes, sir," said Pug, not quite sure what a rear admiral was saying this time.