Christine shook her head. "Nope, that's left to the Aeronaval Argentina. Fortunately for us, that World War Two-vintage British flattop the Argys had finally fell apart on them a few years ago. To date, they haven't been able to afford a replacement. Instead, they've opted to develop a land-based maritime strike capacity. They picked up a squadron of ex-Kriegsmarine IDS-model Tornadoes and had them rebuilt by Fiat of Italy. The airframes have been zero-timed, uprated engines installed, and all internal systems updated to current spec. These are your premier ship killers, the weapon of choice being the AM-44 advanced-mark Exocet missile."
Amanda lifted an eyebrow. "Any other good news for us?"
"Oh, lots and lots. One of the Aeronaval's weaknesses during the Falklands War was its lack of long-range search aircraft. They corrected that little problem by picking up a half-squadron of Dessault Atlantique ANG patrol planes. They routinely work up with the Tornadoes, and both aircraft types have full date cross-link and targeting capacity. It's a neat setup."
"It sounds like the Argentine armed forces have been undertaking a major modernization program," Ken Hiro commented.
"They have. Argentina has been riding high on the South American economic recovery and their current administration has been supporting increased military appropriations. It's starting to show in all of their services."
"Does that include the submarine and surface forces?"
The Intel nodded an affirmation to her captain. "It does. Sub-wise, they're converting from German designs to the new Swedish export boats: the Kockums 471-B. They've got two in commission along with three of the old Thyssen 1700s. The Thyssens are reaching the end of their hull lives, though, and are probably not really fit for serious combat deployment."
Amanda frowned a little as she recalled what she knew about the Kockums. Anechoic antisonar hull sheathing, diesel electric propulsion with fuel-cell auxiliary, six twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes with launch capacity for surface-to-surface missiles.
"I reckon it could be worse," Dix Beltrain said, reading her mind. "A diesel boat will have problems in the kind of crappy weather we can expect in Drake Passage."
"Um-hmm. And the more sea room we have, the less effective they'll be. Let's make a note to try and lay as well off the coastline as is feasible. Carry on, Chris."
"The core of the Argentine surface force is also German built. This consists of four Meko 360-class destroyers and half a dozen 140-class frigates. These are twenty-year-old hulls, but they have recently undergone a full service-life extension and systems modernization.
"There's some new stuff as well. Three Italian-built Animoso-class destroyers. Two of them are antiair-oriented DDGs with the Aerospatiale/Thomson-CSF Aster area defense missile system. The third is a modified helicopter carrier with flag capacity and an enlarged hangar, capable of handling either two EH-101 Merlin or four Lynx Mark V helos. These units generally operate together as a single squadron and are considered the local first string."
"Shit, Rendino," McKelsie commented dryly, "those are Italian hulls optimized for Mediterranean operations. An outfit that would buy them for use in the South Atlantic doesn't impress me a whole hell of a lot."
A flash of annoyance crossed Christine's face and she leaned forward across the table, her eyes narrowing.
"These are good ships and good aircraft, manned by people who, Mr. McKelsie, we must presume know how to use them. To do otherwise is to ask to be popped right into the body bag."
"Belay that, Chris," Amanda said, frowning. She had been able to cope with McKelsie, but Christine and the stealth boss struck sparks off each other as inevitably as flint and steel. She had some growing fears about how the two would be able to work together under an operational load.
"Lieutenant Rendino's point is well taken, though, Mr. McKelsie," she continued. "Ships, battles, and wars have been lost because an enemy no one expected to be able to fight, did. Arrogance is a weakness I will not tolerate aboard the Cunningham."
McKelsie flared and looked as if he had something more to say. Amanda met his gaze levelly, and after a few moments he gave a curt acknowledging nod. "However you want it, Captain."
Amanda contained a sigh. She didn't have an immediately available solution for this problem, and there wasn't time to look for one. "Go on, Chris. Is there anything else to report?"
"They've still got a couple of old French A-69-class escort frigates in commission, and they've picked up a couple of those new Sparviero 1,200-ton hydrofoil corvettes. Those last are pretty much inshore stuff, though. I doubt you'd see them deploy blue-water."
"What about strategic reconnaissance assets?"
"The Argys have one dedicated military reconsat in polar orbit. A Mitsubishi vehicle frame with Thomson-CSF and SOFMA systems packages. It's an opticals platform with some secondary Sigint and Elint capability. It doesn't have realtime downlink capacity. It does have thermographic imaging."
Amanda sat up a little straighten "Enough to give us trouble?"
Christine gave an apologetic shrug. "I'm not sure. I've got a query in with DIA for further data on the systems package. I'd have to say that a lot would depend on our tactical situation and the transient environmental conditions."
"What else?"
"That's about it. The Brazilians have an Earth resources satellite with some imaging capacity, and then there's the French SPOT commercial system available for charter. They hang pretty much in the plane of the equator, though. Once we get down south a little more, they shouldn't be able to get a line of sight on us."
Amanda nodded. "Very well, then, ladies and gentlemen. I think that should about do it for the housekeeping. We will commence cross decking as soon as we get a stores list in from the Boone. Check with Commander Hiro for your individual division assignments. Remember, I intend to be ready for sea by 2400 hours."
She started to push her chair back from the table, then hesitated. After a moment, she spoke again: "This is something of a milestone for the Duke, our first real operational commitment. I suppose I should be making some kind of big rah-rah speech, but I can't think of anything more that really needs to be said. Over these past months, as we've worked her up, I have seen you all give one hundred and ten percent to this ship. I have a hard time imagining any of you doing anything less now. So let's get on with it."
5
Beyond the mile-long row of graving docks and piers on the Elisabeth River estuary, within the confines of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard complex, there is a very special building. A four-story structure, only two of which are above ground, it covers roughly the same area as a football field. Several acres of Second World War-vintage warehousing had been demolished to accommodate its construction. Windowless and bunkerlike and flanked on all four sides by reinforced blast-deflection walls, it was built to be able to survive anything up to a near miss with a tactical nuclear weapon.
Its roof is studded with half a dozen different kinds of antenna, and belowground armored land lines radiate outward, direct-linking to other key federal command and communications centers. Its two entryways are protected not only by steel doors and ever-scanning television cameras but by quietly alert Marine sentry teams. This is a measure of the value placed on this particular building and its contents. The only other facilities routinely guarded by the men of the Fleet Marine Reaction Force are the Navy's nuclear weapons depots.
For all of the security measures, for all of its imposing appearance, there is a careful anonymity about this building and its purpose. There is only a single, white-painted acronym beside the main entrance: OPCENT LANTFLEETCO (Operations Center, Atlantic Fleet Command).