He was pleased to see them smile and nod in agreement. No one was going to stand in the way of providing additional money to the one weapons platform that saved tens of millions of Americans, regardless of party affiliation. Especially because they could see that if the US had had more missile interceptors, the cities of Oakland and San Francisco might have been saved.
“Getting back to business-how in the world did we lose the 7th Fleet? And what is going on with the ground war in Korea?” he probed, wanting to bring everyone’s focus back to why he had called this meeting in the first place.
A naval captain walked up to the front of the briefing room. He opened with a monologue of what had transpired, almost like a news anchor would recap clips of a breaking story. “Sir, in response to the nuclear attack on Shenyang, the People’s Republic of China officially declared war on the United States, Japan, and South Korea.” The briefer paused for a second to let that part sink in.
He saw the President nod in acknowledgement and continued, “Within an hour of declaring war, the Chinese launched an all-out attack against the US, ROK, and Japanese naval forces in the Yellow Sea. The Supercarrier Carl Vinson was nearly sunk by a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile. As it was, the carrier will have to undergo extensive repairs once it arrives in port. The Supercarrier Ronald Reagan did sink, along with the USS Blueridge, which was the 7th Fleet Command and Control ship. Sadly, only the Carl Vinson and five other surface warships survived the missile swarm attack.”
Audible groans and gasps were heard from those in the room as the reality of the loss of so many sailors and ships hit them. In this single naval battle, the Navy had sustained over 20,000 casualties and lost nearly 20 % of its surface ships.
“Despite the loss in surface ships, we had maneuvered a few dozen attack submarines into the area in case the Chinese did decide to enter the war. Our subs, along with several Japanese submarines, managed to sink twelve Chinese Navy submarines, at a loss of only two Japanese subs and one American sub.”
“One of the Ohio class submarines (which we had converted to become a cruise missile platform) fired off its compliment of 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles at many of the Chinese navy surface fleet vessels within a 1,300-mile radius of the battlegroup. They successfully sank 43 patrol boats, corvettes, and destroyers, along with three cruisers. They also hit five Chinese naval facilities, causing significant damage. A second Ohio class submarine fired off their compliment of 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, disabling eight different Chinese air force airfields, ground radar stations and command and control nodes across the Shandong Province, directly opposite of South Korea.”
Most of the military members in the room nodded and smiled, satisfied with the results of the Navy’s silent service. The submarine force was really coming through for the US in its desperate time of need.
As the naval captain finished briefing the naval situation, he signaled for the Air Force briefer to make his way to the front. A Lieutenant Colonel changed the briefing slides to show the Air Force activity. Like the briefer before her, she also stuck to the facts. “Following the massive cruise missile attack by the Navy, the Air Force sent in two squadrons of B-1 Lancers, which hit a series of additional air defense systems, critical railways, roads, bridges and tunnels throughout the Shandong province. Our goal is to degrade the Chinese military’s ability to carry out any additional strikes against our naval forces, South Korea, or the Japanese home islands.” Her brief continued for another ten minutes before the President asked a question.
“Colonel, my understanding is that the B-2s are still in Japan for another week. Are there specific targets they are going to go after before we have to split the bomber wing up and send half of them back to Europe?” asked Gates.
The colonel clicked through a couple of slides to the one highlighting the B-2s. “The Pacific Commander wants to use the bombers to go after the Chinese transportation and logistics capability. The bombers themselves can carry six 5,000 lbs. Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and fifteen of the 2,000 lbs. versions, so each bomber can hit a lot of different targets on a single mission. The Admiral wants to focus on going after their rail networks, hitting critical bridges, tunnels, and major switchyards, which will hinder the Chinese military’s ability to move troops, equipment, fuel and munitions across the country,” she concluded.
She gave the President a moment in case he had any additional questions. When he didn’t have anything further, she passed the briefing on to the Secretary of Defense.
The SecDef eagerly jumped into his part of the brief. “While you were in the process of landing, Mr. President, the South Korean and US ground forces officially crossed the DMZ, and are now engaging the remaining North Korean forces. They initially met stiff resistance at the DMZ; however, once they started to break through the frontline soldiers, they started to encounter massive numbers of enemy soldiers surrendering. In many cases, they had dozens of North Korean units approaching our forces with white flags, pleading to surrender.”
“The ground war is roughly four hours old, and so far, we have collected over 39,000 prisoners. This could be a fluke and perhaps we will start to hit more die-hard units, but this is promising, Mr. President,” Secretary Castle said with a look of optimism.
“Finally, some good news,” thought Gates with a smile.
Castle continued, his expression more serious now. “Sir, we have two other major problems that have developed over the last hour. The first being the Chinese ground forces near the North Korean border. Prior to hostilities, the Chinese had deployed roughly 80,000 troops near the border, and those troops have now crossed over and are moving down the peninsula towards our forces. Right now, we are not 100 % sure who is technically in control of the North Korean’s military or government, and the Chinese may be moving their forces into the country to assume control of what remains of their army and country.”
“The second problem we have is that the Chinese just launched a massive missile and artillery attack against Taiwan.”
Audible gasps could be heard from those who had not been brought up to speed on this latest development just yet. Everyone’s worse fears were starting to play out; despite pleas for calm and peace, the war continued to widen.
Secretary of State Johnson jumped into the conversation to add, “Sir, the Taiwanese president has asked us for military assistance, if we are able to provide it.”
Gates couldn’t help but snort before responding. “Does the President of Taiwan understand that China has also declared war on the US, Japan, and South Korea, not to mention that NATO is currently at war with Russia? I am not sure there is any real military support we can give them right now.”
The President was numb as the reality of war with four countries at one time began to settle in. “What in God’s green earth are we supposed to do now?” he thought, unsure of what to do next.
Gates sighed audibly, then took a drink from his bottle of water. “Jim-what is our next move here?” he asked, almost pleading for his Secretary of Defense to give him an answer.
SecDef Castle knew the President would most likely ask him this question. That was one of the traits he admired about Gates; he wasn’t afraid to admit he didn’t know something and ask for advice from those who did.