1942

President Roosevelt’s face was ashen and drawn. His hands shook, and he looked on the verge of collapse. Admiral King resisted the urge to call for medical assistance as he remembered General Marshall’s comments about the president’s health. What he was seeing was a prime example of the stresses that were destroying the man who appeared in public as strong, unflappable, and buoyantly confident.

Finally, Roosevelt was able to speak. “I know it was expected, but it is still a shock. It’s like the death of a loved one who’s been dying for months. No matter how much we think we’re prepared, it’s still a tragedy.”

King kept his silence. Roosevelt had just gotten official word of the Japanese landings on Oahu.

“Is there nothing we can do?” the president asked.

King and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox locked eyes. They had been over this ground many times. Partly as a result of the decision that Germany was the primary enemy, there were few resources available to the navy. Another factor was Japan’s unnerving and totally unexpected propensity to be dominant in several crucial areas, and only time, as the American war machine gradually geared up, would shift those dominances.

“The public is going to crucify me if Hawaii falls,” Roosevelt said. “Thank God there’s time to repair the damage before the next presidential elections, although my party is going to catch hell in fall’s congressional races.”

“The Japs will take Hawaii,” King said tersely. Wait. Had the president just said he was going to run for a fourth term? The third one in 1940 had been unprecedented. Would his health hold up for the current term, much less one more?

Roosevelt tried to rub the pain from behind his eyes with his knuckles. “When that happens, there will be no reason for Bataan and Corregidor to hang on. Do you know the soldiers in the Philippines are fantasizing that we will soon land ten thousand Negro soldiers on white horses to save them? My God, they’re going mad over there. How long do you give Oahu, Admiral?”

“Ground warfare isn’t my specialty, sir, but my experts say two to three weeks at the most. If the Japs adhere to the pattern established in their earlier attacks, in Malaya and the Philippines, they won’t wait too long before advancing. They like to keep their opposition off balance.”

“Singapore will soon fall as well,” Knox said.

The British and Empire troops had almost entirely withdrawn across the Johore Strait, which meant that only the small island that contained the city of Singapore remained of all Malaya. The British had been outmaneuvered by the Japanese, who’d moved through the jungles instead of using the roads and, when on the roads, had mounted many of their troops on bicycles, enabling them to travel with astonishing swiftness.

“When that occurs,” Knox continued, “the Japanese will control all of the western Pacific and be in a position to attack Australia. We will find it very difficult to fend off an invasion down there.”

Roosevelt nodded grimly. “Would they do that?”

“It would be a tremendous reach,” King answered, “and doubtless not in their original plans. However, neither was Hawaii. Success breeds ambition and this is no exception.”

“Perhaps ambition will be their downfall,” Roosevelt murmured, and the others nodded. “Tell me, Admiral, when can you mount a counterattack and retake the Hawaiian Islands?”

King was surprised. A counterattack of any force was a contravention of the policy of Germany First. “We need more ships, and we need an army. According to General Marshall, we will have an army well before we have the ships. Let’s face it, sir; even though we have a number under construction, ships take years to build, while a soldier can be trained in far less time. If we are going to counterattack by the end of this year, it will be largely with what resources we have now. If you want to wait until the end of 1943, then we will have a fair degree of dominance.”

Roosevelt nodded. “What would you need to attack now?”

“Carriers, sir. And a solution to the torpedo problem with our submarines. The days of the battleship are over, except to protect the carriers and for shore bombardment. I wouldn’t let any of our battleships go against that Japanese giant unless the odds were heavily stacked in my favor, like the British finally wound up with against the German Bismarck.”

Roosevelt and Knox agreed. Until the Yamato made her entrance, the German Bismarck had been the largest warship ever. She’d finally been sunk, but not until she’d been crippled by torpedoes from planes, and only then by the concentrated fire of several Royal Navy battleships and cruisers. The recently arrived information about the Yamato had stunned them. Confirming pictures were en route, and it had already been decided that the public would not see them for a long while. Nor would anybody comment on the possibility that there might be a sister or two of the Yamato under construction in Japanese shipyards.