Pearl Harbor, February 15, 1943
The fleet was back at sea again. Replacements and reinforcements had arrived. Dozens of brand new Avengers and Wildcats were fresh from the Grumman factories while scores of Douglas dive bombers had been taken on final qualification hops. The oldest and most battle worn planes had been hauled off the veteran carriers. More new ensigns had climbed up the gangways of the victors of the Battle of Makassar Strait. They took the bunks of men who would never kiss their girlfriends or hug their mothers again. A few did not understand why their new squadron mates barely paid attention to the fully qualified and incredibly shiny replacements. The smarter men understood.
USS Denver and Sante Fe held station close to USS Essex. She had been slotted in next to USS Yorktown which flew the recently promoted Vice Admiral Spruance. Half a dozen shipyard fresh Fletcher class destroyers hung tight to the two new carriers. Older ships with crews that had seen proud ships and prouder men break in two and go under the waves completed the escort complement for the new Task Force 38.1.
Twelve miles away Task Force 38.2 was also conducting flight operations. Admiral Halsey had his flag flying from Enterprise while Constellation followed her slightly older sister. Admiral Fletcher, the mastermind behind Makassar Strait, had gone ashore to begin planning future operations. He had been at sea and in combat almost continually since the war started. His wisdom needed to be mined and his body needed a rest.
Even as the carriers secured from flight operations, Task Force 38.3 turned against the wind. Target tugs had dashed away from USS Massachusetts, USS Alabama and USS Indiana. The two raw battleships were well trained but green. Big Mamie’s crew made sure that their fellow battlewagon sailors knew that they had seen the elephant and could claim kills. Twenty foot silhouettes of two Japanese battleships were painted on both sides of the bridge decks. They dominated the Italian battleship that she had claimed an assist on. The superstructure of the two new battleships were naked.
It would not matter. All twenty seven heavy rifles were pointed to the south. The aft turrets on all three ships fired. Longs and shorts, no straddles. B turrets fired. Longs and wides. A turrets fired… wides…. Within three minutes, straddles were being achieved as the battleships began to twist at twenty four knots. Half an hour and twenty eight salvoes later, the firing drills were done. The targets were ruined and if they had been anything other than the 18 inch gun monsters that the Japanese evidently had, they would be foundering.
Two more days of training before the fleet headed south again.