Map of French Indochina in 1932.
CHAPTER 6 – WAR IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
05:18 (China Time)
Friday, July 22, 1932
Bridge of the guided missile aviation destroyer BOURRASQUE
Sailing northeast, off the Chinese coast, near the island of Formosa
The man sitting in the Captain’s chair on the bridge of the French guided missile aviation destroyer BOURRASQUE was small, but he radiated quiet authority and toughness. Capitaine de Frégate (Navy Commander) André Lemonnier was young for his rank and position, being 36, but nobody doubted his competence or resolve. While he appeared calm and relaxed, watching the actions of his bridge crew as dawn approached, his mind was all but calm as he was reviewing mentally the events of the last few weeks. The French government didn’t even have time to fully decide its response to what was now widely called ‘The Shanghai Incident’ before Japan had publicly declared war on France, under the pretext that the gunboat DOUDART DE LA GRÉE had attacked and sunk, supposedly without provocation, the Japanese destroyer OKIKAZE in Shanghai. While some had been surprised at this quick decision by the Japanese to go to war, many had pointed out that, after invading and grabbing Manchuria under a flimsy pretext and then attacking China proper, the Japanese militarist leaders were probably hoping to easily grab more territories and resources from France, a country that Japan easily surpassed as a militarily power…at least in theory. Lemonnier had to concede that the Japanese calculation had been mostly correct at the time, with the British and American governments refusing to face the Japanese on the subject of Shanghai, even though they had also lost some of their own citizens to acts of Japanese brutality. However, the British and American decisions not to react could be explained by the fact that thousands of their citizens were now being held as virtual hostages by the Japanese, which had occupied the various international concessions in China and now controlled them. In France, though, popular anger and rage at the Japanese actions had forced the Herriot Government to stand firm and react, which it did by sending large air and ground reinforcements and also sending a strong battle fleet to protect French Indochina and prevent the Japanese from grabbing it. The BOURRASQUE was part of that battle fleet sent from France but, being one of the three fastest and most modern ships in the fleet, had also been given the task to go ahead on a reconnaissance mission, to find if the Japanese were effectively planning to sent a battle fleet towards Indochina. Now, the BOURRASQUE was about to skirt the coast of Formosa, heading for the general location of the Chinese coast off Shanghai while searching for any potential Japanese fleet.
Looking at the clock on the bridge that showed the local time, Lemonnier saw that dawn would come in the next ten minutes or so and gave an order to the bridge duty officer.
“Monsieur Gaétano, have ‘Claudette’ and ‘Monique’ ready to depart on their scheduled patrols.’’
“Yes, Capitaine!’’ replied the lieutenant before grabbing the microphone of his ship’s intercom. “Air Operations, roll ‘Claudette’ and ‘Monique’ out of their hangars and have them ready for launch.’’
Near the mid length of the catamaran-hulled warship, navy aircraft technicians got active on getting that order and opened the steel curtain door of one of the two big 24 meter by 12 meter aircraft hangars which occupied much of the deck surface amidships. Within minutes, they were rolling out on the aft landing deck one of the two SUPER COLIBRI ‘B’ VTOL aircraft assigned to the BOURRASQUE. Able to take off or land at the vertical from small surfaces, like the deck of a ship, the SUPER COLIBRI ‘B’ were machines specialized in maritime patrols, anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue at sea, while the ‘A’ variant served as an armed assault transport aircraft and the ‘C’ variant was an unarmed civilian transport. The crew of the destroyer had affectionately given to the two machines, characterized by their large, ducted and pivoting rotors powered by two 5,000 horsepower turboprop engines, female first names: ‘Claudette’ and ‘Monique’, names which were also used as their usual radio call signs. Once out of its hangar and stopped in the middle of the 36 meter long and 30 meter wide flight deck, the pilot of the SUPER COLIBRI pushed a button that made the wings and rotors of his machine unfold from their storage positions, with technicians then checking that the unfolding had been completed correctly before the pilot lit up his two turboprop engines one by one. Some seventeen minutes after rolling out of its hangar, ‘Claudette’ jumped up in the air and then made a sideways step to port, in order to take a safe distance from the bulk of the ship and its antennas, before accelerating and climbing towards the North and the Formosa Strait. As soon as the machine was off the flight deck, technicians pushed out ‘Monique’ with the help of a small aircraft tractor and prepared it for launch as well. Fifteen minutes later, ‘Monique’ was in the sky and heading towards the Northeast and the Detroit of Luzon. On the bridge, Lemonnier watched the two aircraft depart, then gave a series of orders.
“Helm, stay on present heading. Engines : reduce speed to ten knots. Sonar, start listening for possible submarines in the vicinity. We will see what our birds find before deciding which side of Formosa we will skirt.’’
“Oui, mon Capitaine!’’
Lemonnier took a moment to look at the sky and the sea around his ship: clouds partially covered the sky, while the sea was moderate, something that made him nod with satisfaction. He knew that his ship could easily manage much worse sea conditions than this. Despite not being what was normally considered a major warship, with a full load displacement of only 2,300 tons, the BOURRASQUE’s revolutionary catamaran hull form, with its two very slender bows shaped like axe heads, was designed to cut through waves as it advanced, instead of slamming down on them like conventional ship hulls did. That allowed a much smoother ride in rough seas and permitted it to stay at high speeds when other ships would be forced to slow down to minimize stress on their hulls. Also, the twin catamaran hulls, each with a maximum beam of eight meters and separated by eighteen meters, greatly diminished rolling and made the ship very resistant to capsizing, two qualities highly appreciated in a warship. The turbo-electric drive machinery of the BOURRASQUE, with its four fifteen megawatt gas turbine generator sets, two 1.5 megawatt cruise diesel generator sets and four steerable and reversible waterjet propulsors, allied to the slender hull form, allowed the destroyer to attain a maximum speed of 51 knots, a speed that had been recorded during its sea trials a year ago. Since then, the BOURRASQUE had kept discreet during its voyages, staying out of foreign ports as much as possible, not showing its full capabilities to potential observers and keeping hidden from sight its true main armament. If and when the Japanese Navy decided to clash with the BOURRASQUE, it was going to get quite a shock, though Lemonnier.
07:43 (China Time)
SUPER COLIBRI ‘B’ ‘Claudette’
At medium altitude over the Formosa Strait
“Radar to pilot: new surface contact, bearing 335, distance twelve nautical miles. From the weakness of its radar echo, it is either a small fishing boat or a submarine kiosk.’’
“Very well, radar: we are going to visually investigate.’’
Making his SUPER COLIBRI turn slightly to the left, or port as sailors said, First Lieutenant Éric Salvail concentrated his vision on the surface of the sea ahead, trying to see what their search radar had detected. Up to now, they had detected and investigated a good 25 boats and ships of all sized, most of them fishing boats but also three cargo ships and one lone British destroyer, the latter heading southwest, probably towards Hong Kong. In all cases, Salvail had kept his aircraft well off in the distance, to avoid as much as possible visual detection by hiding into the rising Sun to the East. This time, he intended to make his final approach from the East again. If his target was indeed a Japanese submarine, he hoped that the Sun would hide his approach from lookouts standing in the boat’s kiosk. He quickly revised mentally what he knew about the various types of Japanese submarines in service. The one common factor about them was that they had poor performances once submerged and had very shallow maximum diving depths. With the reasonably clear waters of the Formosa Strait, he would probably still be able to see a Japanese submerged submarine travelling at its typical maximum depth of 45 meters or less.
A bit over a minute later his gunner, Petty Officer Second Class Régis Farmand, who was scanning the surface of the ocean ahead with the zoom lens incorporated into his gun sight, shouted in excitement.
“I SEE THE TARGET! IT IS A SUBMARINE NAVIGATING ON THE SURFACE.’’
“Okay, Pierre, time to prove that you are good at recognizing ship types.’’ said Salvail to his co-pilot, Second Lieutenant Pierre Rochambeau. The co-pilot didn’t respond to that challenge, instead grabbing a ships recognition booklet and opening it before looking at the small silhouette in the distance with his binoculars. It took him about twenty seconds before he spoke, excitement evident in his voice.
“It is a Japanese submarine! Probable type is RO-26. I’m going to take pictures of it.’’
“Make it quick, Pierre, before I sink it.’’
“What are you going to use, Éric?’’
“I will first pepper it with our two fixed 25mm cannons. Hopefully, that will pierce its pressure hull and prevent it from diving. Then, I will drop two of our bombs to finish it off.’’
The co-pilot nodded once at that: they were presently carrying a total of six Lenoir GP-250 bombs hooked to the weapons pylons under the two voluminous side fuselage fairings of their aircraft. In what Pierre judged to have been an absolute stroke of genius, the various types of bombs used by the Aéronavale, all of which were produced by the Lenoir Industries Consortium, had been equipped some ten years ago with new multipurpose fuses, which had replaced the older but still effective contact/delay fuses. Those new fuses, on top of keeping the contact/delay capability of the old fuses, were also able now to be detonated via a hydrostatic fuse, essentially transforming the weapons into dual aerial bombs/anti-submarine depth charges. Now, a SUPER COLIBRI crew didn’t need any more to choose between bombs and depth charges as part of their weapons load before departure: they simply loaded the bombs available and switched on the proper fusing mode in flight, using a special connection box installed in the cockpit. That had both greatly simplified the job of the support crews of SUPER COLIBRI, SUPER FRELON and COLIBRI II assigned aboard aviation-capable warships and simplified the logistic trail, with the old depth charges being phased out of service. As Pierre stowed away the booklet and grabbed the still camera contained in a canvas pocket hooked to his side door, Éric cut down the power of his two engines, slowing his aircraft down significantly before initiating a shallow dive towards the surfaced submarine. The lookouts on the submarine apparently didn’t see his SUPER COLIBRI approach, most probably because of the Sun being just behind the diving aircraft. That allowed Éric to get to within 2,000 meters of the submarine without being seen. With a savage resolve, he pressed the trigger of his cannons as the submarine’s kiosk was centered in his heads up display sight.
“Take that for the S.S. ANNAM, you bastards!’’
The two 25mm automatic cannons buried in the side fairings started spitting explosive-fragmentation shells at a muzzle velocity of 900 meters per second and at a rate of 220 projectiles per minute. With one in three shells also being tracer shells, Éric was able to quickly correct his fire, bracketing the submarine’s kiosk within two seconds of fire and hitting its hull at least twice. The submarine was barely starting to dive when he overflew it at an altitude of less than 300 meters. Performing a wide turn to the right, Éric came back behind the submarine, as the kiosk was about to disappear under the surface. Selecting the ‘depth charge’ mode and a detonating depth of 25 meters, he carefully pointed his plane before releasing two GP-250, 250 Kilo bombs, then hurriedly banked his aircraft away to avoid the huge geysers of water that his bombs were going to create. Those geysers and shock waves still shook his aircraft, reminding Éric about the huge explosive power of Metallex-filled munitions. With numerous pairs of eyes looking back at the last location of the submarine, a triumphant shout from one of their two side door observers/gunners came on the intercom.
“WE GOT HIM! I SEE THE BOW NOW RISING AT THE VERTICAL OUT OF THE WATER, SURROUNDED BY A LARGE PATCH OF OIL AND DEBRIS.’’
“QUICK, PIERRE, TAKE A FEW PICTURES OF THAT BOW AND DEBRIS BEFORE THEY COULD SINK UNDER THE SURFACE.’’
“ON IT!’’
With Éric flying in wide circles around the site of the sinking, Pierre was able to take three good pictures before they resumed their original course northward.
“I am going to send a radio message to the BOURRASQUE, to announce our victory and to warn it to watch for other possible submarines.’’ said the co-pilot.
“Go ahead, Pierre. I hope that we will be able to find another submarine during this patrol. This one has wetted my appetite.’’
08:09 (China Time)
SUPER COLIBRI ‘Claudette’, hiding in clouds northwest of Formosa Island
Eastern China Sea
“Damn! That first submarine may have wetted my appetite, but this is liable to give me a VERY big indigestion.’’
Pierre Rochambeau could only nod his head at Éric Salvail’s remark while looking down at the sea to their starboard side. Only a few minutes after sinking that Japanese submarine they had spotted west of Formosa Island, their radar had picked up two similar contacts, presumably Japanese submarines as well. They had then decided to veer to the Northeast, to again put the Sun in their back when they would dive on those two contacts. However, numerous strong radar echoes had then appeared at the detection limit of their surface search radar. Deciding to go investigate first those new echoes after signaling by radio the two suspected submarines’ positions to the BOURRASQUE, ‘Claudette’s crew had flown north for nearly 130 kilometers before coming into sight of a powerful Japanese battle fleet. When informed of that by radio, the order from the BOURRASQUE had been to find the exact composition of that fleet, its speed and heading and whether more ships were following from further north. Up to now, Rochambeau had counted six battleships or battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and twelve destroyers, all heading south to pass down the Formosa Strait, with their destination being most probably the eastern coast of French Indochina. He strongly suspected that a support group of tanker ships and ammunition transport ships meant to resupply that battle fleet would follow it from some distance, as warships typically had a much higher cruising speed than a fleet oiler or transport ship. So many heavy combat units burned a lot of fuel, even at a cruising speed of twelve knots, so there would certainly be more than just a couple of tanker ships following behind. Pierre then wondered with some apprehension what could be found to the East, on the other side of Formosa Island.
08:23 (China Time)
Combat information center of the BOURRASQUE
Sailing towards the Strait of Luzon
Despite having been in command of the BOURRASQUE for nearly a full year now, Captain André Lemonnier still felt as if he was stepping on another planet every time he went to the ship’s combat information center, or CIC in short, situated deep in the section bridging the two hulls of his guided missile aviation destroyer. In contrast, the battle bridge of the previous ship he had served on, a cruiser built at the turn of the century, had been like a steel cavern filled with pipes and chart tables, with only a couple of radio sets as electronic equipment to be seen. Now, as he was entering the CIC through an armored door, he found himself in a semi-dark compartment filled with electronic cabinets, display consoles and control stations, where officers and operators sat watching glowing display screens and pushing fluorescent buttons. Even the basic arrangement of the work stations was like nothing he had seen before, but he had to concede that it had proven to be a highly efficient one, allowing for the quick exchange of information, data and orders around the officers and operators in the compartment. He of course couldn’t know that the CIC layout that was now standard in new French warships had been ‘proposed’ by someone who had copied it from the bridge arrangement found aboard the space patrol cruisers of the Terran Federation, in the 27th Century. What Lemonnier did know was that Vice-Admiral Durand-Viel, the Chief of Staff of the French Navy, was a brilliant engineer who always had been attracted by advanced technologies and who had fought to modernize the French Navy as much as he could. In that, Durand-Viel was said to have been more than open to the new technologies proposed by the Lenoir Industries Consortium, technologies which were now drastically transforming French warships and making them so much more powerful and efficient.
Going to the main tactical situation display console, Lemonnier stood to the right of his operations officer, Capitaine de Corvette (Lieutenant Commander) Michel Kersaint, and spoke to him while examining the large glowing display screen of the console.
“So, what did ‘Monique’ find to the East of Formosa?’’
“A full carrier battle fleet preceded by a submarine picket line proceeding south-southwest on the surface, Captain. By the count of our aircraft crew, that fleet is composed of the aircraft carriers AKAGI and KAGA, two battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and twelve destroyers. ‘Monique’s crew took the time to identify each individual ship from a distance, then proceeded north to check for any other possible group of ships following in the wake of that fleet.’’
Lemonnier’s expression was somber as he read the names of the Japanese ships, displayed electronically beside the dots showing their positions.
“So, what looks like a shore bombardment force is coming down the Formosa Strait, while a carrier force is coming down from the east of Formosa Island. This easily represents two thirds of the combat power of the Japanese fleet and includes their only two fleet aircraft carriers. I doubt that the Japanese will simply conduct a quick raid on the coasts of Indochina with all these ships. They probably have troopships following those combat fleets, so that they could land in Indochina after our defenses would have been pounded by these heavy units and by carrier-borne aircraft.’’
“Both ‘Claudette’ and ‘Monique’ are already flying north, precisely to find out if such troopships are following, Captain.’’
“Good! Send an urgent encrypted message to Hanoi and to Vice Admiral Dubois, on the GLOIRE, with a collated report on all these Japanese warships. In the meantime, I will be writing a short message asking for long range maritime patrol planes to be sent as quickly as possible over the Formosa Strait, the Eastern China Sea and the waters east of Formosa. I would like to be able to recuperate both of our SUPER COLIBRIs before going into battle.’’
“Which Japanese fleet would you prefer to engage first, Captain?’’
“Definitely the carrier force.’’ answered without hesitation Lemonnier. “If we could take out those two carriers or at least damage them enough to stop their air operations, that will simplify greatly the job of our Aéronavale2.’’
Lemonnier was about to go sit in his command chair nearby when a radio operator made an announcement in a strong voice.
“Captain, ‘Claudette’ is just reporting that it has spotted a group of tanker ships escorted by a few destroyers, following some 110 nautical miles behind the battleship force.’’
“I knew it! Plot those new ships and include them in your consolidated report, Monsieur Kersaint.’’
“Aye, Captain!’’
Some twenty minutes later, it was the turn of ‘Monique’ to send an urgent radio message, this time warning that it had spotted a large troop convoy with sixteen troopships and cargo ships of various sizes escorted by four light cruisers and six destroyers. Lemonnier tightened his jaws at that news: he now knew that the Japanese intended to seize Indochina from France and not simply bombard it. If they ever managed to grab the colony, that would constitute both a painful blow to France’s overseas possessions and a possible first step to losing all the possessions France had in the Pacific, starting with French Polynesia. Anger then came to him at the thought that the mighty British Empire was presently cowering before the Japanese, refusing to act in order not to put at risk its own colonies in Asia. You didn’t deter a potential aggressor by hiding from sight. However, the present stance of British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald did not surprise Lemonnier, in view of the pacifist reputation of MacDonald, who had opposed the entry of Great Britain into World War 1 and had blocked the funding meant to fortify the British naval base in Singapore a few years ago.
10:40 (China Time)
Bridge of the French destroyer BOURRASQUE
Sailing through the Strait of Luzon
Lemonnier was standing on the navigation bridge of his destroyer when a sailor brought him a message fixed to a clipboard.
“Message from Vice Admiral Dubois, on the GLOIRE, Captain.’’
“Thank you!’’
Taking the message and reading it quickly, Lemonnier smiled nearly at once: now was going to be his chance for the BOURRASQUE to prove itself in combat, as he was being ordered to proceed at top speed to a position on the port flank of the Japanese carrier force, where he was to attack and sink both enemy carriers. Going to the navigation chart table at the back of the bridge, he calculated quickly a new heading before shouting a series of orders.
“HELM, NEW HEADING: 075! MACHINES AHEAD FULL! MAKE OUR SPEED FIFTY KNOTS! TO ALL CREWMEMBERS: DON IN TURN YOUR COMBAT SURVIVAL SUITS AND GO TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS.’’
Obeying his own orders, Lemonnier went to one of the haversacks hooked to the back partition of the bridge and took out of it his personal combat survival suit, then quickly put it on, imitated by half of the bridge personnel. The combat survival suits issued a few years ago to all the crewmembers of French combat warships were baggy affairs designed to facilitate quick donning and were able to fit a variety of sizes. They were made of a multi-layered sandwich of fire resistant polymer, puncture resistant Durex fibers, neoprene and soft wool liner and were meant to protect sailors from both fire and cold water, on top of helping them float effortlessly on the surface of the ocean. The suit, which had a hood with a face-fitting neoprene contour, also came with a large facial mask covering the eyes, nose and mouth and connected to a dual breathing system that could be switched between open air breathing and closed cycle breathing system connected to a small pressurized air bottle contained in the haversack. In the case of onboard firefighting team members, the breathing tube could be connected to a larger, backpack-mounted air bottle. That individual suit system was quite expensive to buy, but it helped the crewmembers of French warships to go into combat with much more confidence about their ultimate survival. The aircrews of the French Aéronavale also wore these suits and had in fact received top priority in getting such suits issued to them. Some six minutes later, all the men aboard had their survival suits on, but with the breathing masks left dangling on their chests by a strap. By then, the BOURRASQUE had attained the impressive top speed of fifty knots, thanks to its four powerful gas turbine main engines, a speed very few other ships in the World could even approach. Thankfully, the sea state was still moderate, allowing the destroyer’s sharp-edged twin axe bows to cut through the rising waves ahead of it. Any warship with a conventional hull which would have tried to keep up with the BOURRASQUE, even if it had enough power for it, would have ended slamming down hard repeatedly on the waves, shaking its crew to the bones and risking a hull structural failure. To say that Lemonnier was most proud of his ship would have been a severe understatement.
15:21 (China Time)
CIC of the French destroyer BOURRASQUE
Forty kilometers off the port flank of the Japanese carrier force
210 kilometers east of the coast of Formosa Island
“The PÉLICAN II sent from Haiphong is now in position on the flank of the Japanese fleet and is ready to observe and report, Captain.’’
“Excellent! Weapons Officer, do you have a clear radar signature from our targets?’’
“Yes, Captain! I have programmed the flight profile for our missiles into following a medium altitude approach, followed by a steep final dive. That way, our missiles will be high enough to be able to receive command signals from us and send us television pictures of the targets before diving.’’
“Then, proceed with the first missile firing.’’
“Yes, Captain! Opening the armored cover of our first missile’s silo now.’’
On the forward top deck of the BOURRASQUE, near the junction between the port hull and the structure bridging the two hulls, one of the twelve innocuous-looking steel covers which were nearly flush with the deck opened up, revealing the top of a square-sectioned canister standing at the vertical. Not visible to outside observers, another, larger steel plate that was part of the inner surface of the port side hull also opened just above the waterline, uncovering the exhaust gas evacuation channel of the port heavy missile silo group. Four seconds later, a five-ton MARTEL heavy strike missile jumped out of its launch canister, the flames and gases from its solid rocket booster engine first erupting out between the two hulls of the destroyer via the evacuation channel of the silo group. The missile then climbed quickly at the vertical, attaining its programmed cruising altitude of 2,000 meters before its inertial guidance system made it point onto the pre-calculated heading provided by the weapons officer of the ship through his control console. Accelerating in seconds to its top speed of Mach 3, the missile switched to its cruise ramjet engines as soon as its solid rocket booster had burned