Chapter 63:

Chapter 63:

Chapter 63

[Boom! Boom! Boom!]

As soon as the message arrived from the embassy, the Combined Fleet launched an air raid on Pearl Harbor.

Do not start the attack until you receive the news that the declaration of war has been delivered!

The Prime Minister had pleaded with him.

No, what are you thinking? A declaration of war is something you announce before an attack, not after. You want me to wait until the declaration is delivered and then attack right away?

That’s a miraculous logic.

Yamamoto was speechless.

But deception is inevitable in war.

He had already sworn to himself that he would take all the blame for this dishonor.

In fact, the price of dishonor would not be too high. If he won, he could rewrite history as the victor’s right. No one would criticize him.

What if he lost?

He would die honorably or be captured after fighting to the end and become a prisoner.

Death was inevitable, so what did it matter if he was stained with it?

The United States would also demonize him if they won, just as Japan was trying to demonize them.

“Air Force, report.”

“The Zero fighters took off first, but there was no sign of aerial combat. There was no anti-aircraft fire from the ground either. The surprise attack was successful!”

The command room was filled with ecstatic cheers.

Japan was indeed a country protected by the gods! We dedicate our victory to His Majesty the Emperor!

Of course, Yamamoto was still gloomy.

The people seemed to interpret his attitude as calmness and coolness.

But he could not be excited.

“The second group is the dive bombers, and the third group is the horizontal bombers. The primary targets are their airfields and battleships. Execute as you practiced.”

“Yes, sir!”

It roughly fit his scenario.

The United States had sent its battleships to the Atlantic Fleet and instead sent its aircraft carriers to the Pacific.

There were six aircraft carriers stationed in Pearl Harbor. Of course, there were also five battleships and eight cruisers... But Japan also had its own solutions.

Underwater, there were 26 Japanese submarine squadrons trained by submarine aces from Germany and ‘secret weapons’.

The planes that took off from six aircraft carriers tore apart Pearl Harbor’s air defense network.

They targeted the airfields and carriers first, so that they could not counterattack with their own planes, and then attacked the battleships.

The secret weapons were guaranteed to destroy the battleships with a single blow.

To prevent the US Pacific Fleet from stopping Japan’s advance southward, they had to destroy their ships first.

Of course, it wasn’t over just by destroying the ships.

The intelligence department had provided detailed maps of Pearl Harbor’s facilities that had to be destroyed by the Combined Fleet.

Pearl Harbor had all the facilities needed by the Pacific Fleet as its base. Fuel storage tanks, docks, shipyards, submarine bases, and airfields for defense.

They had to destroy all these facilities to completely annihilate the Pacific Fleet.

Yamamoto wanted to destroy the infrastructure first, knowing well the US production capacity.

Of course, he had to attack the ships first, since they wouldn’t just watch him do that. But these ships could be easily reproduced by them.

But if Pearl Harbor lost its ability as a base, it would have the same effect as occupying it without actually doing so! How could they come this far in the vast Pacific without a mid-way base?

Even if they tried to rebuild Pearl Harbor, they would have to bring various equipment on slow transport ships. If only they could block this route with submarines...

“But it’s impossible...”

“Sir?”

“No, nothing.”

He knew best about Japan’s naval capabilities.

Hawaii, Pearl Harbor was well defended.

Dozens of coastal batteries and radars.

They were confused now because of his surprise attack, but they would soon regain their combat posture.

He wanted to take his battleship and smash them, but the coastal batteries were too tough for even his flagship Yamato.

And what if he temporarily disabled Hawaii?

How could he find the US fleet in the vast Pacific that covered one-third of the earth’s surface?

They had also hidden in this huge ocean and came here.

“Success! Success! Two battleships sunk! Two damaged!”

“What is the damage situation of the dive bombers?”

“Some anti-aircraft batteries have started firing now. But there is no aerial interception at all. Forty-nine out of fifty-one dive bombers are returning!”

The veteran pilots who had been trained in long wars on the continent performed better than he expected. At least better than expected.

The staff cheered. N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

They could achieve this much with just air raids!

The secret weapons hadn’t even taken off yet.

Pearl Harbor must be in chaos by now.

The staff urged their commander.

“Sir! Please allow us to launch special attacks!”

“...Permission granted.”

Take off! Take off!

The radio operator happily relayed the commander’s order.

Of course, it was hard to blame the commander entirely for the disaster.

They must have planned thoroughly in advance and targeted the most vulnerable time of the U.S. forces, and prepared many deception tactics for that.

They immediately targeted anti-aircraft facilities and airfields, eliminating the ability to respond to air raids. Then they accurately targeted the weak points of aircraft carriers.

Dive bombers focused on battleships rather than carriers, and as if they knew that Yorktown-class had poor torpedo resistance due to its low displacement, they stuck several aerial torpedoes on the sides of aircraft carriers.

“Staying trapped here will only give all our ships to enemy’s air raids. Commander! Order to get fleet out of Pearl Harbor!”

“... I approve. The coastal batteries will protect you, but get each of the main ships out one by one to a maneuverable area.”

A staff officer appealed in a miserable voice.

Admiral Kimmel, who had not lost his judgment itself, gave an order in a powerless voice.

Of course, there was no choice.

“If we die anyway, let’s go out and fight and die. Give orders to each captain! Deploy all personnel to anti-aircraft batteries! Coastal batteries to full battle readiness!”

“Yes, sir!”

The U.S. battleships that could still move started heading one by one toward the exit of Pearl Harbor.

The aircraft carriers followed them.

The interior space of Pearl Harbor was packed with ships, so there was not enough room to maneuver to avoid aerial bombs.

At least if they went outside, they could be protected by anti-aircraft batteries and coastal batteries within range, and the depth was not too deep to defend against enemy torpedoes.

Also, if an allied ship exploded, they had to keep a minimum distance to avoid additional damage.

“Enterprise, where is Enterprise? Contact us quickly!”

And the last allied flagship. The last hope that had not yet been dragged into this hell, Enterprise.

It must be somewhere in the vast sea, but not too far away.

“Enterprise must survive! We can’t give up all our main ships!”

The decision of the U.S. fleet was tactically correct.

In shallow waters near the coast, torpedoes could not move properly, and they had to avoid being damaged by the explosion of allied ships rather than preparing for torpedoes.

They never imagined it.

How Japan had modified its torpedoes.

“Long live Emperor! Long live Great Japan Empire!”

“We will shatter enemy ships like scattering cherry blossoms!”

“See you at Yasukuni Shrine! Tenno Heika Banzai!!!”

The special attack unit members who boarded the manned torpedo ‘Kaiten’ (回天) left a word each and entered the hatch that would never open again.

Even if the torpedo failed and was buried in the sand, the hatch would not open due to water pressure.

Of course, there was no need to say what would happen if they hit and exploded a battleship.

The explosive could shatter the armor plate of the battleship, what about the flesh and blood of humans?

The submarines and the cruiser Kongo, which was converted into a Kaiten carrier, braved the fire of the coastal batteries and entered the optimal range to launch the Kaiten torpedoes.

The other battleships, including Yamato, exchanged fire with the coastal batteries.

Yamato’s 18.1-inch main gun spewed fire. The officers and soldiers were amazed by the power of firing shells that weighed more than a ton.

The coastal batteries with low defense were already blown up.

Yamato was not happy even though he received reports that he had destroyed the defensive facilities.

‘Yamato’s firing limit is... 150 rounds per gun? 250 rounds?’

He had to destroy the coastal batteries and the submarine base hidden in reinforced concrete like fuel tanks and turrets, which were dozens of them.

What if it was impossible?

The United States would just build a new fleet and push in.

The other battleships were also happily firing their main guns, but no one seemed to think about it.

It took a lot of labor and cost to make Yamato’s 18.1-inch gun barrel.

It was an expensive thing that could not fire 300 rounds, and it cost a lot of money every time it fired.

He had to sweat every time he fired a salvo, knowing that there were only a few spare barrels.

“The special attack unit has sunk the battleship! The confirmed battleships are all destroyed! Their fleet is sinking into the sea!”

“Four aircraft carriers destroyed! One aircraft carrier is missing, but we have sunk all those confirmed in Hawaii!”

“Waaaaaa!! Tenno Heika Banzai!!!”

They achieved their short-term goal. Yamato had nothing to say to those who were happy to know that.

They just pulled out ‘a hair’ from the nose of that sleeping giant. And they even missed one aircraft carrier. Of course, Japan’s naval supremacy would be maintained for a while...

But he couldn’t lower his morale yet.

“Good! It’s a great victory! Tenno Heika Banzai!”

“Banzai!!!”

***

The Pearl Harbor disaster spread quickly to the political and media circles of various countries.

The cowardly surprise attack by Japan and the massive loss of the U.S.

Pacific Fleet made headlines on many newspapers the next day.

“It’s better this way. Let’s prepare to send an envoy to Japan. We have to send a special envoy to the United States... Molotov, you have to work hard again.”

“Yes, Comrade Secretary!”

Tsk tsk tsk. They did this even though I warned them.

Of course, the date was slightly different, but soldiers who failed to guard could not be forgiven.

They said that most of them suffered more than major damage except for three battleships that were not in Pearl Harbor at that time and Enterprise that escaped air raids by luck.

Fortunately, did they save Enterprise at least?

Whatever happens, it’s good.

Our Soviet Union can take advantage of this chaos in any way.