Central Makassar Strait, 2340 January 2, 1943
The sentinels had been conceding sea room for over an hour. The intruders had pushed another twenty three miles south. Four destroyers had pushed further out to sea while the outer cruiser line had slowly retreated while they waited for reinforcements. Turrets were turned; guns hung over the sides as fire control radars and extraordinarily powerful, precise and expensive optics fed information into the mechanical computers in the hearts of the larger ships. Men waited as the massive Japanese capital ships came within 20,000 yards of HMS Liverpool and her squadron mates.
Even as the two battle cruisers entered the edge of effective cruiser gunnery range, they were still pushing somewhat blindly. They had been intercepting the radio signals and every now and then a careless flick of the wrist had hinted at ships just outside of visual range. Three of the escorting destroyers were eight thousand yards in front of the ships that outmassed them by a factor of twenty. One destroyer was on each flank, six thousand yards east and west of the line of advance. They were roughly aligned with the two battle cruisers.
Lookouts aboard the lead Japanese destroyer, Makinami, were almost certain that they had seen the enemy to the south. At least four bumps on the horizon were confirmed. Word was flashed back to Kongo and Hiei. Even as the gun crews aboard the two battle cruisers breathed an anticipatory sigh, they at last would have targets that they could hit. They at last could cause damage instead of merely take hits from aircraft. They were ready and this was a battle that they had trained to fight since 1923.
Even as the Japanese destroyers were unleashing their first half salvo of Long Lance torpedoes against what they had to assume were unsuspecting Allied cruisers, the four Tribal class destroyers changed course and began a charge. All their guns were aimed at the flank guard destroyer. No shells were fired yet as the range went from 16,000 yards to 12,000 yards. They continued to close at over 1,000 yards per minute until a star shell burst over them. As soon as their cover was blown, the four ships keeled hard to show their broadside. Thirty two guns were tracking single target no more than five miles away. Even before the ships settled, the first guns barked.
The flanking ambush also initiated the cruiser action. The four cruisers, all tremendously over gunned with a dozen six inch rifles apiece, picked their own targets. Liverpool, Fiji and Gambia worked their way across the lead destroyers. Mauritius was ambitious. Her rifles were elevated for maximum range and began to throw shells at the closer battle cruiser. The four cruisers also turned hard to the southwest and accelerated from twenty knots to twenty eight knots. All batteries tracked their targets even as the forward turrets spun to shoot over the shoulder.
The first few British salvos were unanswered. And then the weight of Japanese fire increased as the targeted destroyers started to bang away with their forward five inch guns before they began snake like evasive patterns that brought their rear gun houses to bear. Makinami was living a charmed life. The almost machine gun like fire from HMS Liverpool was heavy and accurate but none of the heavy shells had struck her even as three quarter ton shells arced overhead. The battle cruisers were announcing their presence as they sought to push back the Allied outer screen.
The four destroyers on the seaward flank scored the first success. Half a dozen 4.7 inch shells ripped open their target. Liquid oxygen tanks ignited and a cataclysmic fire started near the depth charges. The few torpedoes that had been in the water were useless as the British destroyers had been charging, feigning, pausing, and twisting during the entire battle. A long range torpedo salvo from a single destroyer needed luck against an unalert opponent, and against the four terriers shaking her apart, she would have need divine intervention.
Fiji was the target of Hiei while Mauritius was dueling with Kongo. The two light cruisers were sending out salvos every eight or nine seconds while they only heard the freight train of possible death once every forty five seconds. Mauritius actually scarred her assailant. Six inch shells scored the armor of the British built battle cruiser to little effect. The fourteen inch shell splashes were starting to get closer and the salvos tighter as the cruisers began to chase the dye splots.
Even as the battle cruisers had shot off half a dozen salvoes, the three forward destroyers had been reduced to a single survivor. Liverpool had put a dozen shells into a Japanese destroyer at seven thousand yards. A few went cleanly through the lightly built ship. The rest had ruined the boiler rooms. Gambia had wrecked the bow of Makinami and was now slowly walking her fire onto the flickering flames that provided an almost ideal aiming point. Radar directors were now being assisted by incredibly precise visual spotting.
The last destroyer was escaping back to the north under the cover of the two battle cruisers. The British cruisers were content to break off before a shell punched through their armor like it was the thickness of a tin of bully beef. They had achieved their mission; the enemy’s eyes had been poked out and the forward scouts had announced themselves. Eight ships retired. They had barely been touched in the swirling twenty one minute melee. The Allied battle line was only thirty seven thousand yards away.
Twenty two miles north of this action, the six battleships of the Imperial Fleet continued south as the call for battle speed was answered and the greatest ensigns were unfurled and ran up the masts.
