A flotilla of three Chinese ships was operating south of the main enemy body, and Gromyko would put four Onyx missiles on each one, allocating 12 more missiles to ships screening the enemy carrier they wanted to target. Karpov ordered Kursk to join this attack, firing half of her 64 Onyx missiles, with 16 of those going after the carrier. They were gunning for Shandong.
Part IX
The Gathering Storm
“There are five dangerous faults which may affect a generaclass="underline"
(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;
(2) cowardice, which leads to capture;
(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;
(4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;
(5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.”
Chapter 25
“Kazan and Kursk report missiles away, sir,” said Nikolin.
“Understood,” said Karpov, waiting. He wanted to see what kind of defense the enemy would have against the stealthy Onyx, a missile every bit as good as the Chinese YJ-18. In fact, Karpov deemed it better. It was a high supersonic weapon throughout its entire flight path, capable of reaching 1600 knots, and it was stealthy.
The salvos from Kazan were parried, for there were actually four Chinese ships in the target group, a single Type 052D destroyer, Kunming, and three frigates. The follow up salvo from Kursk would break through to score a devastating hit on that destroyer, blasting open its hull. Frigate Zhaotong took the next hit, in spite of a brave defense. Then Huangshan would be struck amidships, leaving only frigate Shaoguan afloat in the forward screen, desperately trying to pull men out of the burning sea. All the stricken ships had been stationed at Mischief Reef at the outset of the battle, ordered to join Admiral Wu’s fleet muster, but they would never see those coral reefs again.
Frigate Yangzhou was out on the northern horizon, all alone as an intermediate radar picket. They saw the stream of missiles coming, and began firing HQ-16’s at 17:52. After getting five hits, that frigate would succumb to a withering hit aft, which would send it down within minutes. After that kill, the remaining missiles were beginning to enter the main body, the leading Vampire now just 13 miles from the carrier Shandong. They were getting flanking HQ-9 fire from Chilong the Fire Dragon, and Type 052D destroyer Yinchuan. Several of the Onyx missiles malfunctioned in the intense jamming, and none would get through.
Angry at the attack, the Chinese Admiral ordered an immediate counterattack. Most elements of the fleet had now mustered to form a large 20 ship force. A total of 32 missiles would come off the destroyers, with 16 allocated to each of the two Siberian Ships.
Karpov expected a counterattack, but he knew he had a much quicker punch. He would go after the carrier Shandong this time, and with a two handed attack.
“Samsonov, put four Zircons out here, about 30 miles northeast of that carrier. Then sneak four more here, on a more direct vector. Let’s see if our first salvo can draw their fire to allow the second to get through.”
It was a clever ploy, and a flurry of HQ-9’s were out after the first salvo, when the second suddenly appeared on radars, coming from a different direction. Three of those four were killed, but the last found the carrier. All the ships saw the explosion, but when the report got to the bridge, no vital systems reported damage. The hull was charred and burned where the missile went through above the water line, but it struck non vital spaces. Karpov’s uncanny luck in hitting prized high value targets like carriers persisted, but his work was not yet done.
Minutes later, the Chinese counterattack began and a combination of YJ-18 Sizzlers and YJ-100 cruise missiles came in at the two Siberian ships. The next few minutes were quite harrowing, and Fedorov stood near Nikolin’s post, seeing how the younger officer gripped the arm rest of his chair as the missiles began to rush off the deck, and the sky began to fill with dark explosions. The tension on the bridge was palpable, because the YJ-18’s were sprinting, and getting in very close. They could see the Gargoyles hissing at them like venomous snakes, and the AK-600 Gatling guns began to rattle out their fire. The sound of the explosions shook the windows on the bridge, but then it was over. All the enemy missiles had been killed, and a dark haze of grey white smoke settled around Kirov like a shroud.
Karpov smiled. “I don’t think they like us, eh, Samsonov? We have put down four ships, hit both carriers, and yes, they are clearly not happy with us. Good. We will keep it that way, but let us open the range a bit. They have shorter range missiles on their frigates, and we do not want them in the equation. Helm, come to 180, and we will take the range outside 200 miles.”
“Sir,” said Rodenko. “We’ve lost signal integrity on the surface contacts. The uncertainty factor is increasing each second. Chinese fighters just took out that AEW plane over Singapore, and we were relying on that for a good position fix.”
“Another good reason to open the range now, as we have no way of knowing whether the British have assets on Singapore that can refine those contacts any further. It may be that our best bet now is to wait for the Americans. Where is the British task force?”
“As of 19:20, they were 86 miles northwest of Singapore, in the Malacca Strait.”
“So it’s clear they are withdrawing. And the Americans?”
“They are 590 miles east of Borneo, about to enter the Celebes Sea south of Mindanao.”
“Very well…. Then I think we’ll bide our time, unless the Chinese hit us again. In that event, I just might get angry.”
Turnabout, they say, if fair play, and even more so in time of war. As the Chinese fleet concentrated, an old British warrior was slowly creeping up on them at 12 knots. Eleven miles out, the sub Trafalgar slowed to five knots, listening to the sound of all those screw rotations. The sonar station was working up solutions, and Captain Samuel Wood, soon had five Spearfish ready to get out and look for some vengeance after what the navy had been through of late. They knew what Anson did north of Madagascar, and they were eager to weigh in.
So just before 18:00 local, as the sun was low on the horizon to the east, five Spearfish went out for the hunt. The targets were the frigate Xuchang, Type 052D destroyers Hefei and Changsha, Type 055 heavy destroyer Shanshen, the Mountain God, and the older Type 051B destroyer Shenzhen. All but the last were just inside eight miles, and the swift Spearfish could run twelve miles at its top speed of 80 knots. In this attack, detecting the incoming torpedo quickly was the difference between life or death for the targeted ships.
The frigate Xuchang got wind of both the sub and the torpedo first, heading its way, as they were the first ship targeted, but it was a bearing only detection, with much uncertainty. That was enough to force the Captain to come about and go all ahead flank, and all the ships that were off his port side did the same. Then the uncertainty dissolved, and there were suddenly four more torpedoes out there, all in a line from north to south in a classic torpedo fan spread. The entire Chinese fleet now lurched east like a herd of sheep beset by five ravenous wolves.