“Agreed,” said Zhang Wendan. “Discretion now, valor later.”
The new orders would reach Admiral Wu at 02:00 local time on the 30th of November. He was awakened by an aide with the news, rubbing his eyes as he read the message decrypt.
“Inform the Captain. The fleet will come about to 20 degrees north and make a rendezvous with Zhendong. That is all.”
As they moved north there would be another submarine scare that morning, when frigate Jingzhou reported a torpedo in the water. It was the RSN diesel boat Swordsman, and her Captain took an unlucky shot at the frigate. Unfortunately, he did not have very sharp teeth, The TP-613 torpedoes he was carrying could only range out a little over five miles at their best speed, and to go farther, they had to reduce to just 25 knots.
FFG Jingzhou had the alacrity to outrun the torpedo, and then the Captain bravely turned the tables on the sub, and came about to go hunting. He got his helicopter up for a search, went to active sonar, and closed the range. It was at some risk, but he got close enough to use his Type 87 ASW rockets, and killed the Swordsman that had taken that swipe at him, recouping just a little lost honor after so many of the fleet’s valuable ships had been killed by the silent enemy below.
Submarines….
This is why Karpov hated them so. Kirov’s superb long range radars could not see them. His Gargoyles could not reach out and kill them as they could with enemy missiles. Posting round the clock helicopter ASW patrols consumed both fuel and time, and often, the submarine Captains would just hover in the sea along your path, waiting to strike when ships came within range.
Submarines… They had sunk eleven ships in this second contest near Singapore, and largely decided the battle on both sides. The losses they inflicted caused each combatant to reconsider, regroup, and withdraw to safer waters.
So as the last six J-20’s that got out of Miri arrived, they took up a covering position, circling over the stricken carrier Zhendong, like a flock of dark crows.
Chapter 26
OMCOM was looking over the satellite data, noting that the Chinese Feet was beginning to muster out to sea in the Indian Ocean. That was the real matter at hand, and Admiral John David Randall was calling the tune.
“Alright gentlemen,” he said, wielding a laser pointer. Behind him a digital map covered the entire wall on a massive screen, and the audience of staff officers quieted when he spoke.
“What you’re going to see on the screen here is the current state of the Chinese Indian Ocean Command and fleet as of 15:00 today, and I will say at the outset that 90% of it is haze grey and underway.”
Randall was tall, broad in the shoulders, a sandy haired man that had come up through the carrier ranks, with service on Eisenhower, Truman, and Lincoln. He was a go getter, and a man that had been relied upon to get difficult jobs done, but he never downplayed the rigor of what might lie ahead.
“This is what we’re looking at. Out east off Somalia, we have two Surface Action Groups, both under overall command of Admiral Sun Wei. This is the force that tangled with the Royal Navy north of Madagascar, and they were tough—14 warships with two support ships. If they hold present course, they are making for a rendezvous with these two groups out of Djibouti and Aden, and that adds nine ships, bringing that command to 23 ships. A raptor out of Mogadishu flew 500 miles to get that intelligence, and its good. ”
The admiral circled the rendezvous point with his laser pointer, somewhere east of the Horn of Africa. Then a fleet icon lit up to the east, off the southern tip of India.
“This is the Colombo group, usually on patrol in the Bay of Bengal, but now moving west above the Maldives—twelve ships. Lastly, up north they have their Arabian Sea Group, which sortied from Gwadar three hours ago. Our Task Force Able out of Muscat tangled with them briefly, and they retired, but they’re back at sea—ten ships. So if you’ve done you math, that adds up to a grand total of 45 warships…..”
That got a murmur started through the whole audience, and Admiral Randall voiced the obvious heart of the reaction. “Gentlemen, they know we’re coming. They know where we want to go, and needless to say, these guys mean business. Now… Here’s what we have operational as of today. In spite of significant losses, the Royal Navy has consolidated at Diego Garcia with a 15 ship task force, including carriers Prince of Wales, Victorious and Ark Royal. They will be escorted by four destroyers and seven frigates. Our Roosevelt group adds seven ships, including two cruisers, and ARG Makin Island has that ship and two more destroyers. These forces will rendezvous with ARG Solomon Sea, which left Mogadishu four days ago to get out of harm’s way. Those three ships are about 650 miles east of Admiral Sun Wei. Mister Harper?”
“Sir, why didn’t the air assets at Mogadishu take a swipe at the West African Group as it moved north?”
“Because we told them to keep their powder dry and wait. All we have there that can get after a ship at sea are a pair of Raptors and six SuperToms. That would put a dozen LRASM’s in the air, but they wouldn’t put a dent on the bumper given what Sun Wei is floating. Those assets will have to coordinate any strike with our operations.
“Alright, the last of our surface war fighters are with Force Darwin, which is hauling the Marines out to Diego Garcia. That force has a US cruiser and three destroyers, with three Australian frigates and three of our amphibious ships, but they’re escorting 16 more ships with a lot of lives and equipment on board. Throw in two Seawolf class subs and that brings our forward deployed warship total to 30, with six in reserve. So this is about to be the biggest naval engagement since the Action off Fiji in the last war, and we may have more at stake here than Halsey did in that fight.”
The Admiral switched screens, now showing a large map of the Arabian Peninsula, where a prominent red line marked the current front.
“That red line is where Saddam and his minions have pushed as of 03:00 this morning. Our own 82nd airborne just stopped them here, at Rivet Joint One, and here, as they tried to cut off the defense at Al Jubayl. We’ve proven we can stop them, and God bless the 82nd Airborne out there, but we don’t have the muscle to roll them back. 1st US Marines needs to get in there, and as fast as we can move them. Behind them we have a full armored BCT from 1st Cav, and they’ll be more coming.”
“Sir, will 7th Fleet get in on this?”
“We’ve asked for the support, and Carrier Strike Group Independence is already heading our way. That said, the next screen I’ll show you has the situation in the South China Sea. As you know, Royal Navy Admiral Pearson got into a scrap with the Chinese some days ago as they made a move on Singapore. They held the fort, but at some cost. The South China Fleet, Commanded by Admiral Wu Jinlong, came south again for round two at Singapore. This time the British couldn’t hold. They ran afoul of a pair of Chinese diesel boats and lost six ships.”
Admiral Randall let that one sink in a bit before he continued. He wanted to impress the importance of ASW operations on the audience, something he had advocated coming up through the ranks.
“Admiral Pearson has withdrawn his remaining task force, just five ships, and he will be up off the northern tip of Sumatra by now. On the other hand, a British attack sub returned the favor and gored the starboard side of the Chinese fleet as they were heading south. Gentlemen, he got five ships, including one of their hot new Type 055’s, and then put two torpedoes into one of their carriers. The Chinese have withdrawn, and so we’re going to call that one a costly draw, for both sides.”