The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier by David Row

were hit on the way in. Despite this, the other seven launched at close range. One torpedo hit the ship amidships, causing serious, but not critical, damage. The second torpedo however hit her close to the bow, and the pressure of water on the tangled metal, forced against her by the ships 30 knots of speed, almost ripped the bow of the ship away, forcing her to a shuddering stop, dead in the water.
     
    That was the final blow of the FAA planes.  Job done, they climbed into the darkness above the remaining, sputtering flares, as they reformed to head back to their carriers. The only planes remaining were two of the Cormorants, busy taking pictures of the destruction before heading back themselves. For the loss of three aircraft, the Japanese covering force's heavy ships had been ruined in barely half an hour.
     
     
     

Chapter 4 - First Battle of the South China Sea, the surface attack
     
    The British pilots were exuberant as they headed back to their carriers. While the exact damage they had caused would have to wait for the photographs now being taken to be analyzed, they had already seen two small carriers going down. Back at Force Z, however, the return and recovery of the strike was starting to become complicated due to things happening on the surface. Kondo had not been certain that his cruisers would in fact encounter any British ships that night - indeed the main aim of them was to make sure Force Z did not somehow slip in close so it could use its battleships against him. However if the British were encountered, a single cruiser could do damage, especially if it achieved surprise, and would locate the force for him. He had spread the four heavy cruisers out in a search line, interspersed with the destroyers he had sent with them, to cover the maximum amount of sea.
     
    At 0200, while the strike planes were on their way back, a blip was spotted on the radar of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales. The British were suspicious there were Japanese ships in the area (indeed the patrolling ASV SeaLances had already reported some contacts during their search for the main body), so the cruisers and heavy ships were between the carriers and where it was thought that any enemy ships, if they were present, would appear. The battleship signalled her sighting to her escorts, and kept it under observation. Her captain was pleased to be informed that no radar signals were being detected from the ship, however he was reluctant to just open fire on it for two reasons. First, it would give their position away - gunfire being rather noticeable at night, secondly that it was possible that there were still Dutch or neutral merchant ships in the area - it would be embarrassing to put a salvo of 15" shells into a small merchant ship. Accordingly, the ship and its consorts came to readiness while keeping a close eye on the contact. It was obvious after a short time that this was highly unlikely to be a merchant ship - small, old vessels of the sort found in these waters were not known for making 24 knots. The problem still remained as to when would be the best time to give away their position.
     
    The heavy cruiser Kumana, for her part, had not detected the British ships - perhaps not surprisingly, as the distance was still some 17,000 yards. The bearing indicated that she would come to within 10,000 yards if she did not change her course, and the captain of the Prince of Wales decided this was too fine a margin - if the ship zigzagged to avoid a potential submarine threat it was quite possible it would run right into them. The captain also preferred to engage before the moon rose at around 0230 and reduced the advantage of radar he currently enjoyed, even if it was only four days from new. As the range closed to 15,000 yards, the order was given to open fire.
     
    Although the contact was on radar, the first shells to be fired were starshells from the battleships secondary armament - there was still a need to definitely identify the