A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Osaka…
En-route to Osaka to drop off an agent, with only a few hours to reach the drop-off point, radar picks up a large inbound convoy. The bright clear skies meant there was no way to avoid them on the surface and so my only hope was to dive to the bottom of the rather shallow bay and hope to avoid the numerous destroyers that were bound to be protecting the ships. To the bottom I dove and ordered the ship to run silent. With bated breath we waited as the ships drew closer. Sonar was picking up contact after contact including a disturbingly high number of war ships. This was not going to be easy.
The minutes ticked by and the ships drew ever closer. Then the pinging started. Damn these shallow waters. The first destroyer closed in on the sub while four of his friends started steaming to catch up. After the first wave of depth charges I didn't have high hopes of being able to get out of this alive so I set I direct course for the convoy. Perhaps I could lose the destroyers by hiding under the merchant ships. Despite the constant barrage of depth charges from the destroyers I made it to the convoy without taking any serious damage.
At first everything seemed like it was going to work. By sailing under the merchant ships the destroyers could not get to me and thus a great naval traffic jammed formed as merchants tried to move out of the way for the destroyers. Just as I was about to breath a sigh of relief an urgent shout emits from the conning tower. Warship closing fast! What? A new destroyer? Something doesn't seem right. There seems to be as many escorts for this convoy as there are merchants.
The pinging starts again as this new destroyer barrels right towards the sub. Here we go again I think to myself. Then it happens. The command room is filled with the sound of a rather large explosion followed by several more. What the hell was that? That was no depth charge! For a moment there was nothing but silence. Then the sounds of more small explosions and the sweet sounds of bulkheads collapsing.
It is then I realize that the pinging of the incoming destroyer has stopped. Brining the ship up to periscope depth I look through the scope towards the bearing of the once inbound destroyer to see nothing but a burring oil slick where the ship should be.
What….the….hell? Did it hit a mine? Several splashes are made in the water near the burning oil slick. Then several more and for a brief instant I see the silhouette of a plane. HAhahaha! I burst out laughing uncontrollably at the realization of what just happened. It would appear that a very eager and very, very novice pilot was trying to help out with the sub hunt by dropping some bombs on my location. Unfortunately for the Japanese this pilot was WAY off the mark and dropped his ordinance right on the destroyer! How ironic; saved by the very plane set out to kill me.
Turning the scope around I see the other destroyers are just starting to get unstuck from the traffic jam and so I start to make my escape. Deciding to make a sweep of the area with the periscope I notice a large grey silhouette off in the distance. Considering that this tiny convoy had such a high number of escorts I had a hunch that the lone silhouette in the distance was a carrier and most likely the one that launched the plane that saved me. I was tempted to go after it but thought better of it as the destroyers were making their way past the merchants now and I couldn't count on inept pilots saving me again so I crept away and made my escape.
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