If it had not been for the last Sampson Radar on HMS Loyal, the stealthy J-31’s might not have been seen until it was too late. But the superb radar system saw what was coming, and 70 miles out. The Chinese had launched a formation of nine fighters, and they were coming right for HMS Invincible.
“A big fighter sweep,” said Commander Russell.
“Perhaps,” said Captain Hargood. “They don’t want out F-35s out there to pick off their cruise missiles. Just the same…. I’ve got a tickle in me tooth about this one. It could be a strike mission with them all lumped together like that. Probably why we picked them up so far out. Launch the ready CAP, and tell them to engage those planes at once!”
The Captain’s tooth had not failed him. The contact bogies were a squadron of nine J-31’s, each carrying a pair of YJ-91 anti-radiation missiles with a long 70 mile range. They would not have to go far before they fired them, and it was just happenstance that they were spotted just as they began to reach their release point.
Three British F-35’s had roared off the deck, climbing on afterburners to get into the fight. They were able to get target locks on the J-31’s, and loosed their Meteor missiles at long range, but the Chinese planes were just too slippery, the target locks too imprecise. Not one hit was scored. Throughout the battle, the British pilots had complained that their Meteors were not tracking true against the J-31’s. They handled the bigger J-20 easily enough, getting many kills on that plane, but the small, agile J-31 had evaded 80% of the missiles fired, a very good defensive performance, which made the plane quite deadly when it countered with its PL-15’s.
The F-35’s had failed, and now the Chinese fighters were taking aim at HMS Invincible. Loyal was empty, but Type 42 class destroyer Liverpool and Type 23 class frigate Marlborough were still in escort. Sixty miles out, the fighters released their ordnance, well beyond the range of the Sea Darts and Sea Ceptors, and then turned for home. Seconds later, 18 enemy missiles were in the air, boring in on the British task force.
“Damn,” said Hargood. “Without a Daring class destroyer at the ready, we’re sitting ducks out here.”
“We’ll just have to get those Vampires when they get closer sir,” said Russell, but that would not be as easy as it sounded. Sea Dart was slow, an older system that had too much lag time as it reloaded missiles onto the firing rails from its magazine after each shot.
At 18:36, with darkness settling over the sea, Invincible took its first hit, the 90Kg warhead destroying an F-35 parked on the flight deck. The resulting explosion took out a Phalanx gun and another 20mm Oerlikon, the shrapnel flaying sensors all over the islands. Systems were down everywhere, though the ship was in no danger of sinking, with no flooding. It was as if a hail of steel marbles had been thrown at the carrier, and for all intents and purposes, HMS Invincible was out of action. She had no ready planes, and was now nothing more than an inviting target.
Captain Hargood looked over his shoulder and also saw the DDG Loyal had been struck, and soon got the report that they had minor flooding.
“Mister Russell,” he said grimly. “We’re in rather desperate need of some air cover at the moment, and for a carrier, that’s rather embarrassing. See what you can do about it.”
“Right sir, but we’ve got help on the sea, sir. Republic of Singapore frigates are out in force—group of six will be breaking our horizon in a few minutes.”
“Ah, friends in need,” said Hargood. “Layfayette Class?”
“Yes sir, and data log shows they’ll be bringing 48 Harpoons and better yet, 192 Aster 15’s.”
“God knows we can use the Sea Vipers. Good show. Let’s see if we can get Invincible back to port safely. Signal Loyal that we need to press on, but help is on the way.”
“Sir… What will become of the tankers?”
Commander Russel was speaking of the huge herd of commercial shipping that was hove to just off the southern coast of Singapore. Ships had taken refuge at any friendly port. And at that moment there were just over 210 tankers and another 40 odd commercial carriers riding at anchor offshore, and another 50 already hugging every available berthing spot at Singapore. Further up the strait to the northwest, there were another 100 commercial ships in and around the smaller port of Klang, and at least100 more navigating the strait between that point and Banda Aceh. That was a massive maritime prize, with billions in valuable oil and cargo, and it was now all within a hundred miles of the Chinese South Seas Fleet.
Admiral Wu Jinlong was quite pleased. He knew his immediate superior, Admiral Zheng Bao, would be very pleased with the onset of this campaign, but he was far from finished here. The enemy had been engaged and driven back, but he knew the British would consolidate at Singapore, and gain support from the small but capable navy of that country. There was still much to be done.
His J-31’s had done well, sinking their talons into the last enemy carrier, and crippling another British destroyer. So he sent an order to the frigate Yunchen to put two more missiles on it. A pair of YJ-83’s went out, the Eagle Strike 83 according to the Chinese, a missile mounted on many frigates classes. It’s range was limited to about 100 miles, and its warhead was relatively small at 190Kgs, which explained why Loyal was able to take both those punches in the gut and still stay on its feet.
It was a brave stand. The British destroyer had no SAMs left, and now fired off its last four SSM’s, like a boxer flailing in the late rounds, battered and bruised. The ship was all but wrecked above the water line, though the Mk141 missile bays had not been damaged. It had major flooding and the Captain was already ordering personnel into boats and rafts, but Loyal to the last, the destroyer was still fighting. The missiles would catch her pursuers by surprise.
The Type 056 corvette Suqian had been up front in a group of three ships, but reported having problems with their radar. As it happened, just as the attack came in, there was a power outage on the frigate. The lights winked, went out. Red emergency lights appeared, then the main power sputtered back on again, but the radars had lost sight of anything they had been tracking.
The ship that had started the fight, Yuncheng, was 14 miles behind Suqian, and it fired four HQ-16 SAM’s, but they would get to the scene too late. Suqian was struck and killed, with multiple hits, and would sink a little after 20:00. Angered when they saw their comrades burning, the third ship in the group, corvette Guangyuan, fired two more Eagle Strike missiles, intending to finish the British destroyer off once and for all. At 20:10, just as the main body of the Singapore Naval contingent enroute to Loyal came in sight, the crews saw the horizon light up with fire, and they knew they were too late.
The Royal Navy beaten and driven to the corner, it was now the Republic of Singapore Navy, or the RSN, that was standing to and forming a rearguard. A flight of six F-15’s were flying CAP, and the heart of the fleet, those six frigates, was still advancing to aid the sinking British destroyer. Yet their role now was strictly defensive, because the only harm they could put on the enemy would have to come from the Harpoon missiles they were carrying—and they were still out of range.