Chapter 48, the Yamato number of the girls (II)

A month later. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Next to the pier of Kure Port Town, the lead ship of the Yamato-class battleship, the former general flagship of the Combined Fleet, was quietly moored.

As one of the supreme kings of the era of large ships and cannons, the battleship Yamato can be called a symbol of the naval power of the Japanese Empire, representing the pinnacle of the battleship era and the highest state of the shipbuilding industry in this era, and it is also the belief totem of the naval power of the Japanese Empire.

For ordinary Japanese nationals of this era, she is a symbol, a legend.

As a resident of the Kure Port Naval Guard, after many years of exposure to it, Minako Akiyama naturally heard of this legendary invincible giant ship, and even had some longing, but she never imagined that a woman like herself would actually work on this giant ship.

――Although he was just a handyman in the soldiers' kitchen of the battleship Yamato......

When fully manned, a Yamato-class battleship would require 2,500 to 3,000 officers and men of all classes to serve on board. In order to meet the dining needs of so many people, each Yamato-class battleship had multiple galleys, each with a dedicated food freezer, cooking station, cooking station, pantry, and all-electric kitchenware, which was very rare in Japan at this time, rather than charcoal stoves or briquette stoves - mainly for fire prevention.

The ship is equipped with six huge six-bucket (110-liter) electric rice steamers, two equally sized stew pots, a 36-liter special porridge pot, two "synthetic cooking machines" that can cut turnips, peel potatoes, and stir meat puree, as well as electrified automatic cooking equipment such as automatic rice washers and dish sterilizers. There is also an oven where you can bake your own bread, cakes and puddings. In addition, the ship can also make homemade tea soup, yokan, and lemonade and other refreshing drinks using carbon dioxide for firefighting. Each kitchen is then equipped with a freezer that can be used to make juice shaved ice and ice cream.

All in all, in addition to the absence of microwave ovens, the kitchens of Yamato-class battleships are not much different from the back kitchens of restaurants in modern cities.

However, no matter how advanced the kitchenware is, it still needs chefs and assistants to operate in order to cook a variety of delicious dishes.

So, before dawn, Minako Akiyama had to get up from her bunk and go to the kitchen to start the day.

On this day, Minako Akiyama begins to prepare the first ingredient for the main course of lunch: each oversized stew pot, which is much larger than her own rice bowl, is filled with pre-prepared cooking ingredients, and the stir-fried vegetables and tendons are carefully and slowly simmered, while a large amount of frozen candied sauce is added in between the froth to create the sweet taste that the Japanese love...... Then it boiled slowly, gurgling, until noon, when it was time for the meal to be fully absorbed, according to the recipe sent to her.

After preparing the red braised beef for lunch, Minako Akiyama turned her head to prepare breakfast. On the battleship Yamato, known as the Yamato Hotel, it has always been known for eating well. Even in wartime when supplies are scarce, even the lowest soldiers can enjoy a Japanese-style breakfast that includes dried fish, seaweed, miso soup, pickles, and rice. Or a Western-style breakfast consisting of fried ham slices, poached eggs, bread, and butter.

However, the Yamato is no longer the general flagship of the Combined Fleet, but a training ship parked in the harbor, and the food standard will naturally be lowered accordingly.

"Cat rice" is a cheap meal for the lower classes of Japan, in which boiled rice is sprinkled with pieces of dried bonito (known as bonitotsu in Japanese) and topped with a dash of soy sauce or miso soup. Since Japanese cats love to eat bonito, and Japanese people are happy to feed domestic cats with this cheap bonito, this simple meal with only bonito chips and seasoning as a side dish is called "cat rice". Of course, during the harsh and scarce war years, even such "cat rice" was already a delicacy for the poor Japanese who were about to run out of rice. At least Minako Akiyama didn't think there was anything shabby about eating this for breakfast - even just having breakfast was a luxury.

However, even if it is so simple that it can not be simpler, it takes a lot of effort to make it - the so-called "bonito", also called bonito or dried squid, is a dried condiment made by removing the head, fins, bones and belly fat of the tuna bonito, and then boiling, smoking, mildew and other processes, known as "the world's hardest food" or "fish mummy". In order to obtain a high-quality bonito flower that is "as thin as goose skin paper and as bright as glass", it is necessary not only to have a sharp planing knife, but also to test the skill and arm strength of the cook. Although as early as the end of the Meiji era, there were already people who invented bonito chippers, and factories were also opened to sell ready-made bonito flowers. However, pre-sliced bonito flowers are not suitable for long-term storage, so the Yamato's food store is still stocked with whole bonito...... When Minako Akiyama and a few kitchen maids finally dug out all the "bonito flowers" that so many people needed for breakfast, they were already tired and sweaty, and their hands were a little numb. Alas, the sumptuous dishes of the Navy are really not so easy to eat!

However, Minako Akiyama's work this morning was far from over, and when she glanced up at the wall clock embedded in the bulkhead, she hurriedly changed her apron and bandana, changed into her uniform and military cap, and then took out a shiny brass trumpet from the locker, and went out to take the elevator straight to the deck: this was Akiyama's real job on the warship, the trumpeter of the Yamato Military Band, and sometimes played the guitar part-time.

In order to please the guests, she had studied Western musical instruments for several years, but she never imagined that they would be used in such a place now.

Just as she stepped out of the elevator door, a crisp electric bell rang in every cabin of the ship......

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“…… Suzu Ling Ling-"

“…… Gather! Gather! Ready for the flag-raising ceremony! ”

“…… Get up! Lazy pig! All on the foredeck! ”

“…… Yes! It's going to be late! It's going to be late! ”

“…… Yaga! Which bastard stepped on someone's shoes? ”

“…… Idiot! Where are you going? The direction is reversed! ”

In the crisp sound of electric bells, several middle-aged women with armbands with the words "Feng Ji" on their arms, holding sticks wrapped in white cloth in their hands, walked through the narrow aisle of the cabin, slapping the hatch one by one, urging the newcomers on the ship who were still in a daze to get up and gather quickly.

-- Although they themselves have only been on the ship for a few weeks, they are now vividly thinking of themselves as seniors.

Then, groups of disheveled, unkempt sailor's suits poured out of the cabins in a mess.

That's right, it's really groups of sailor-suit girls - although some of them are obviously old enough to be a royal sister or even an aunt...... I saw them scurrying around in the narrow steel passage, scurrying around like headless flies. Although all new recruits on the ship have to undergo four to five days of training, learn the rules and regulations of the ship, and be familiar with the positions of the various departments in the Yamato-class ship. But women's sense of orientation seems to be generally poor, and there are still a lot of road idiots, often getting lost in the ship all day long, with the only exception of the road from the residence to the canteen, even the most stupid people can remember......

The reason why so many women appear on this steel giant ship that should be full of manliness is naturally a last resort.

-- Since getting the super cheat of the [Chrono Vending Machine], the red Japanese government, which can legally print yen banknotes, has instantly turned into a chopper shopaholic, and immediately began a crazy super purchase: fuel, food, guns, ammunition, cars, military horses, airplanes, warships, ...... Anything imaginable is bought and bought one by one. In particular, the Yamato-class battleships, which have been famous all over the world for many years, bought the No. 6 ship "Ezo", the No. 7 ship "Tsushima", the No. 8 ship "Dewa", the No. 9 ship "Kai", the No. 10 ship "Satsuma", the No. 11 ship "Wakasa", the No. 12 ship "Aki", the No. 13 ship "Echizen", and the No. 14 ship "Echigo......

Coupled with the newly repaired No. 5 ship Kii in the dockyard of the Wugang Zhenshoufu Naval Arsenal, the Navy's combined fleet has added 10 Yamato-class ships at once, plus the original four Yamato-class battleships, a total of 14 ships, which can be called the pinnacle of military appearance and makes people proud.

However, before the top brass of the Navy could be happy about the instantaneous surge in military appearance, they found themselves in a huge trouble:

Although there were countless powerful warships at once, there were simply not so many people to drive them!

As mentioned earlier, when fully manned, a Yamato-class battleship needs 2,500 to 3,000 officers and men of all ranks to serve on board in order to operate and fight normally. With the addition of ten Yamato-class ships, at least 25,000 more skilled sailors will be needed to play.

What's even worse is that the navy not only bought 10 Yamato-class battleships from the [Chrono Vending Machine], but also bought a large number of submarines, torpedo boats, supply ships, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers, which caused the total tonnage of the entire army to skyrocket by more than 2 million tons in an instant. In addition, a three-million-ton fast-moving merchant ship was bought...... According to the calculations of the naval staffs, in order for these ships to run at sea instead of piling up rust in the harbor, it is necessary to recruit at least 100,000 naval pilots and ground crews, and about 1 million sailors and port personnel. Obviously, even if the entire navy were to be poured out, even if the coolies at the docks and the cleaners from the headquarters were filled, it would still be far from enough.

Faced with such a huge shortage of human resources, the navy must carry out a large-scale conscription mobilization anyway.

However, the brutal war, which lasted for more than a decade, made the male strong men in Japan have been conscripted to the limit. Moreover, with the large-scale landing of American troops, the Plain, the Tokaido region, and the Kanto Plain, which are the most densely populated areas of the Japanese archipelago, have all become enemy territory. At present, the core base areas that the Hiroshima base camp can really control are actually only most of the western country west of Kobe, plus half of Shikoku Island, all of which are sparsely populated and barren land. The island of Kyushu is still about to leave for the time being. Moreover, this bit of human resources on the remaining territory has to be shared with the army.

Thus, the top brass of the Navy soon found bitterly that if they did not intend to leave a large number of warships unmanned and end up shamefully becoming trophies of the enemy, then there were only two options left: either to conscript a bunch of disobedient children and trembling old men, or to let only women go on the warships - that is, to turn the Japanese Navy into a boy scout and a nursing home, or to turn the Japanese Navy into a women's army.

It was a very difficult choice, even to the point of bringing the traditional admirals to the brink of a nervous breakdown.

However, no matter how difficult the choice is, there is no room for evasion after all -- after carefully weighing the difficulty of training bear children and young female workers, the top brass of the Navy finally pinched their noses and made the decision to "establish a women's naval fleet......

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In fact, as early as 1932, at the beginning of the war, out of consideration for wartime mobilization, Japan established the "Great Japan Defense Women's Association" in order to organize ordinary housewives and provide various support services for soldiers and soldiers who went to war. The uniform costume is the daily attire of Japanese housewives - a white apron, and a slanted ribbon with the words "Great Japan Defense Women's Association" draped over it. In addition to housewives, the membership gradually expanded to include working women in various industries such as textile workers, military factory workers, and sales clerks, and eventually even actresses, waitresses, and prostitutes.

In the first few years, the female members of the "Great Japan Defense Women's Association" only made and sent condolence bags to soldiers, greeted and sent troops departing or returning to China, held condolence meetings, mourned the dead, cleaned cemeteries, comforted the families of soldiers, cared for wounded soldiers, and disseminated national defense knowledge.

Well, there is also the mobilization of some unemployed women to serve as comfort women in the frontline battlefield, which is also one of the businesses of the "Great Japan Defense Women's Association".

But soon, with the continuous escalation and expansion of the war, in order to maintain Japan's domestic economy, support the wartime system, and fill the labor gap caused by large-scale conscription during the war, the "Great Japan Defense Women's Association" was forced to break through the traditional Japanese concept of "women's morality" and began to mobilize women into various arsenals to produce airplanes and artillery shells for the front line, and even unload goods at the docks and dig coal in mines like men......

Therefore, after the Navy made the decision to "establish a naval women's fleet," it quickly recruited hundreds of thousands of women of working age through the organization channel of the "Great Japan Defense Women's Association" in the Hiroshima area. But what is the quality of this personnel...... You don't have to count on it. There are very few female drivers who can drive cars, and there are only a limited number of female workers who know how to drive pipeline machinery, and there is not a single one who has driven a large motor boat alone.