In that brief hour, the US Maritime Security TF had just eliminated the Iranian surface threat in the Strait of Hormuz region, and it would be some time before those silkworm batteries were reloaded. Thoughts now turned to the expected undersea threat when LCS Hunter detected a Goblin just five miles from the TF on its towed CAPTAS Mark 4 sonar. They had stumbled upon a hidden diesel boat, Ghadir Class #944.
Captain Duncan was quick to lay out his orders. “Let’s get ASROC on that contact, on the double, then launch the ready Seahawk. The task force will come about to 180 degrees and all ahead flank.
It was shoot and scoot. You never wanted to be inside ten miles from a hostile sub—ever. The ASROC was a rocket torpedo with a 22 kilometer range that could get a weapon on the target very quickly, and possibly force it to go defensive if they were sitting there ready to fire torpedoes. Then the ships had to be somewhere else, and fast. Those orders filled the bill, and it was the Seahawk that got to the Goblin first, and just before the Iranian boat could get its firing solution locked in. Captain Duncan was pleased at the result, but he knew that had been a close call.
“Goddammit, isn’t Toledo out there?”
“Yes sir, about 11 miles off our starboard side.”
“Well they should be forward of this task force. Get a signal to the to that effect. That one was whisker close.”
“Aye sir, signaling Toledo to take position ahead.”
That improved LA Class sub had not detected the Iranian boat, as it was just starting to slow after a sprint at 20 knots. Drifting at five knots, it might have heard the threat ahead, and now it was on guard. With surface threats dispatched, the mission had changed to ASW patrol as the TF began to enter the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranians had yet another Ghadir Class boat lying in wait ahead, #943, and it was creeping just over the layer at 3 knots, silently stalking the noisome US ships. What that boat could not hear was the Seahawk out there looking for it, now flying with impunity under US SAM and air cover, and dropping passive sonobuoys well forward of the US ships. They turned up trouble at 12:18 Local time, ruining the lunch mess.
The sub contact was about five miles beyond ASROC range, so it was going to be up to the Seahawk to put harm on the enemy sub. Luckily, it had a very refined contact, and swooped in to get a Mark 54 torpedo in the water. Drifting at 100 feet below the surface, the Iranians had no idea they had been found until that torpedo hit the water, less than half a mile from the sub. By that time, it was far too late, and number 943 would be struck and killed less than a minute after the Captain gave the order to turn and run.
A diesel sub relied on one thing—stealth. If it was found, it was usually dead within minutes, because it could simply not run and hide after that. The shallow water in the Strait also prevented it from diving deep, leaving it few evasive maneuvers that might save its life.
The US ASW hunt would continue, but that had pretty much pulled the cork out of the bottle. The only other Iranian sub was Ghadir #942, on the other side of the long Musandam Peninsula, and the Saudi Navy was out hunting that Goblin.
This sweep of the Strait of Hormuz was just a preliminary operation. It was going to take more work before that sea lane might be declared open for anything other than a warship. Mines were always a worry, the sub threat could return, or more fast attack craft might venture out from Jask, though the latest satellite report showed no more based there. Beyond that, the Air Force was going to have to find and kill the missile batteries with anti-ship missiles inside Iran, and that meant they would have to penetrate Iranian airspace to hunt them down.
At the moment, the squadrons in theater were all generating air support and strike sorties against the Iraqi Army, but by the time the convoy carrying the USMC drew near, that work would have to be done. As to when that might happen, no one could say just yet.
The next problem was going to be much farther east, when the Chinese Fleet moved towards Singapore again—only this time, they reinforced with an additional carrier. That move underscored the importance of that sea transit zone, for Singapore had long commanded that entire region, and it simply had to be neutralized, or nothing the Chinese hauled from the Persian Gulf would ever get into the South China Sea.
China could not invade and occupy the place, as the Japanese had done in the last war. There was no way they could ever mount a campaign similar to that conducted by General Yamashita, where he earned the nickname the “Tiger of Malaya.”
In WWII, Japan, with a population of just 73 million, was able to invade and occupy Korea, Manchuria, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Java, Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Iwo Jima, the Marshalls, Marianas, Solomons, New Caledonia, and the Fijis, (in this history). Here, with an industrial base over ten times that of WWII Japan, a population of 1.4 billion, and a navy that would have easily crushed the IJN, modern China had expended most of its amphibious carrying capacity in the operations to seize and hold the Ryukyus, and it had precious little else to spare for other adventures.
It was a strange truth that, as weapons and military power got so much more powerful in the modern era, the ability to conquer and successfully occupy and control other countries became almost impossible to achieve.[5] Therefore a landing on Singapore, facing three enemy divisions, was completely out of the question. Yet China could use its missiles to strike and destroy the airfields and docks the Royal Navy relied upon to sustain its fleet there, and that would have the effect of opening the route through the Strait of Malacca.
To achieve this end. The South Seas Command was now upping its ante and sending 30 ships, a fleet composed of two carriers with the J-31, four Type 055 heavy destroyers, nine type 052D destroyers, and fifteen frigates. Three submarines would deploy forward of the main fleet TF’s. As before, the forward airfield at Ranai on the main island of Riau was a key contributor for air support. The next closest base was Miri in Malaysia, on the big island of Borneo.
For his part, Admiral Pearson had no business even being at sea. He had just seven ships remaining serviceable, the light carrier Invincible with just seven F-35’s left, an older Type 42 destroyer, Liverpool, and five frigates. Yet at least three of the five frigates were Type 31, armed with the American ESSM and the Naval Strike Missile. With these came the four ready frigates of the Royal Singapore Navy, and they had the Aster -15, and the American Harpoon. A group of six RSN patrol craft also carried a total of 48 harpoons, but they would have to get inside 75 miles to use them, which wasn’t likely to happen.
Admiral Pearson was conflicted with his dilemma. Intelligence indicated that he would be outnumbered three to one in warships of frigate size or better, two to one in carriers. Was he just signing the death warrants for ships and men if he sortied now? Yet what was he to do, simply sit in the harbor at Changi Naval base, until the cruise missiles found his ships there? There was a third course, and that was to simply withdraw, slipping away up the Strait of Malacca or down through the Sunda Strait into the Indian Ocean.
If he took the Malacca Strait, he was still controlling it, and might sit off the northern tip of Sumatra thumbing his nose at the Chinese and daring them to come after him. That would allow the Chinese to move into the Karimata Strait between the Java Sea and South China Sea, where they might wreak havoc on the facilities, airfields, and ports around Singapore, not to mention the 200 plus tankers and container ships hovering near that bastion. Unless ordered to do this, it would not serve honor, or do well to abandon a good ally in Singapore. So David went out into the Lion’s den, hoping against hope he could survive.