World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

"Because my father was a torpedo operator during the Battle of Tsushima." Koga's gaze drifted into the distance. "He often told me that during the Russo-Japanese War, our destroyers would charge into the Russian fleet under cover of darkness, launch torpedoes from a distance of just a few hundred meters, and sink the Russian battleships. That was the most glorious moment for the Imperial Navy."

He paused, then smiled wryly, "But that was ten years ago. For the past ten years, we've been using the tactics and weapons of my father's generation. And the enemy... the enemy has entered a new era."

The Hatsuharu began to accelerate. The destroyer's nimble hull cleaved through the waves, and its speed quickly increased to 35 knots. The wind blew fiercely across the deck, knocking the sailors' caps off.

Koga stood up and looked ahead. On either side of the Hatsuharu, the other destroyers were also accelerating. Shiratsuyu, Murasame, Satsuki... these destroyers named after "rain" and "season" were now like a swarm of moths drawn to a flame, rushing towards an unknown death.

"How far are we from the enemy ship?" Koga asked the observer.

"I don't know..." the observer's voice trembled with tears, "We can't see anything at all! There's nothing in the telescope! It's like...like we're charging into thin air!"

Koga's heart sank. Without target location, without distance data, they didn't even know where to launch the torpedoes.

But an order is an order. The charge has begun; there's no turning back.

"On your marks!" Koga roared. "Torpedo tubes, load! Depth four meters, speed 48 knots, fan-shaped dispersion!"

"Torpedo commander, no target data..."

"Then aim southeast! Towards the direction the shells came from!" Koga shouted, his eyes red. "Load!"

The torpedo operators mechanically carried out their orders. The two-ton torpedoes were propelled into the launch tubes, the compressed air hissing loudly. Koga, lying prone in front of the sights, carefully adjusted the angle, even though he knew it was pointless.

Just then, the observer suddenly screamed, "Ahead! Ships spotted! Many! At least six! Cruisers!"

Koga looked up sharply. Through his binoculars, he finally saw the enemy—not the unseen capital ships, but six long, fast cruisers. They were lined up in an arc, heading straight for the charging Japanese fleet.

"It's Lanfang's Omaha-class!" someone recognized it.

Koga's heart raced. At least now she had a target. Even though it was just a cruiser, not a capital ship, it was still better than charging into thin air.

"Target: Enemy cruiser! Distance... 15,000 knots! Speed ​​30 knots! Torpedo preparation—"

Before he could finish speaking, the enemy cruiser opened fire.

Not the main guns, but the secondary guns. Dozens of 152mm rapid-fire guns simultaneously spewed flames, and shells rained down on the charging destroyer formation.

The first salvo hit its target. The Shiratsuyu, which was at the forefront, was hit on the foredeck by three 152mm shells, the torpedo tubes were blown off, and a fire broke out on the bow.

In the second round, the Murasame was hit by a bullet, the engine room flooded, and its speed dropped sharply.

The third round...

"Damn it!" Koga looked at the friendly ships around him being hit one after another, knowing that time was running out. "Fire! All guns fired simultaneously!"

The four torpedo tubes of the Hatsuharu simultaneously emitted a muffled roar. Four Type 93 torpedoes, trailing white contrails, entered the water and rushed toward the distant cruiser formation at a speed of 90 kilometers per hour.

Koga lay prone on the ship's railing, his eyes glued to the torpedo's wake. Thirty seconds, forty seconds, fifty seconds…

"Evade! The enemy ship is evading!" the observer shouted.

The six Omaha-class cruisers in the distance simultaneously began sharp turns, easily avoiding the torpedo salvo from the Hatsuharu. The torpedoes futilely passed behind the stern and disappeared into the distant sea.

"Reload! Quickly!" Koga roared.

But it was too late.

Another volley of 152mm shells rained down. This time, the Hatsuharu was hit by at least five shells simultaneously. The forward superstructure was blown off, the bridge burst into flames, and explosions were heard from the engine room.

Koga was thrown onto the deck by the blast wave. He felt a sharp pain in his left leg, looked down, and saw a steel pipe piercing his calf, pinning him to the deck.

"Torpedo Captain!" Tanaka crawled over and tried to pull him up.

"Leave me alone!" Koga pushed him away. "Go launch the torpedoes! There are two more spares! Hurry!"

"But……"

"That's an order!"

Tanaka ran crying towards the stern. There were two spare torpedoes there, which could be manually pushed into the launch tubes—if the launch tubes hadn't been destroyed.

Koga leaned against the twisted railing, gazing at the hellish scene before him. Of the thirteen charging destroyers, six were already ablaze, and three were sinking. The remaining four, though still charging, were at least eight kilometers from the enemy cruiser formation—at a distance where the destroyers' 127mm main guns posed virtually no threat to the cruisers.

Meanwhile, enemy 152mm shells continued to rain down.

"Is this... the naval warfare of the new era?" Koga murmured.

There were no epic naval gun battles, no thrilling torpedo attacks, only one-sided slaughter. The enemy didn't even need to use their capital ships; the secondary guns of their cruisers were enough to riddle the Empire's most elite destroyer fleet with bullets.

Tanaka ran back, his face covered in soot: "Torpedo commander... the rear launch tubes... are all destroyed..."

Koga nodded, not surprised. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket—they were soaked—but he still took one out and lit it with trembling hands.

"Tanaka-kun, how old are you?"

"Ten...seventeen."

"Seventeen, huh?" Koga exhaled a puff of smoke. "When I was your age, I was studying at Etajima. Back then, the instructors often said that the Imperial Navy was the best in Asia and the third best in the world. We believed them."

He shook his head with a wry smile: "Now it seems we were just... frogs in a well."

The Hatsuharu was hit again. This time it was near the waterline, and seawater began to rush in. The ship began to list.

"Abandon the ship," Koga said to Tanaka. "You're still young; you should live."

"And what about you, torpedo commander?"

"Me?" Koga looked at his legs, which were nailed to the deck. "I can't walk. And... I'm the torpedo commander, and my torpedoes haven't hit their targets yet. I can't leave."

"But……"

"Let's go." Koga waved. "To the lifeboat. Say hello to Sayuri for me."

Tanaka saluted, tears streaming down his face, then turned and ran toward the lifeboat deck. Koga watched his young figure disappear into the smoke, then looked southeast again.

There, behind the cruiser formation, he vaguely saw even larger silhouettes. Four, no, perhaps more. Those silhouettes were so enormous that their outlines could be seen from this distance.

That was the enemy's true main force. Those monsters that sank four Kongo-class ships from 25,000 yards away.