There was quite a stir when the Admiral tallied Trafalgar’s score, even going one up on HMS Anson’s exploits earlier that week. Then he turned back to the main screen.
“What this means is the Carrier Strike Group Independence has been put on notice to be ready to move into the Indian Ocean to support our operations, but that decision is still pending recon and assessment of what this Wu Jinlong does in the South China Sea.
“What about India, sir?” asked a staffer.
“Good question. They’re the elephant in the room, still neutral at the moment, as is Pakistan. If, however, the Chinese push Pakistan over the line, chances are that India would come in on our side. They already have a carrier group operating off Mumbai, and they would be most welcome. Now we get to planning and strategy.”
Admiral Randall switched screens again, showing a broad display of the Indian Ocean.
“Gentlemen, for the moment, the whole Arabian Peninsula should be considered to be behind enemy lines, and our mission is to break through and get reinforcements in there. But the Chinese also have an enclave here in the Maldives and at Sri Lanka at Colombo. So it will be our job to take those bases down as part of this operation. Their other land based support is in Yemen. They’ll have air assets at Sana’a, Aden, Riyan on the middle coast and Al Ghaydah up near Oman. They can also fly from Djibouti, and to some extent from Massawa in the Red Sea area. Because they have no carriers, we think they will muster their fleet somewhere within range of that land based air support. That at least allows them some means of contesting the airspace, or at least using it.”
“Not for long, sir,” someone put in.
“Well said. So one mission will be to deny them use of that airspace, and the bases that allow them to operate there. The bases in Yemen help them close the Red Sea. Colombo guards their maritime silk road from Burma, around India to the Persian Gulf. It’s their principle energy lifeline and the fleet they have here is tasked with securing and defending it. That’s what this is about—oil. Suez is closed and the Trans-Arabian Pipeline was shut down four days ago when the Iraqi’s crossed it. The British were unable to back this Admiral Sun Wei down, and so, for the moment, nothing is getting around the Cape of Good Hope. The last of the oil that was on the water when this war broke out should be making port in the US about now. After today, nothing else gets through until we open the sea lanes to permit that.”
Now the Admiral displayed a map of the Chinese maritime silk road, showing the sea lane connection from the Persian Gulf, around Sri Lanka, and on to ports in the Bay of Bengal at Burma, and through the Strait of Malacca to the South China Sea.
“That is the Line of Communications China has to the Middle East, much shorter than ours, but just as vulnerable, particularly with the US Navy out here. Our job is to decisively cut that line, and show Beijing just how much they have to lose by persisting with this madness.”
“Sir, why are they persisting? What’s their endgame?”
“Another good question,” said Admiral Randall. “This thing started with a scrap over the Ryukyu islands when the Chinese figured they were finally going to square things with the Japanese. We stood up, and that put them face to face with the United States Navy. They started stopping tanker traffic in the Med, probably to make a point that there could be a lot more at stake than the Ryukyus and Japan’s ruffled pride. Then, as it so often happens in war, one thing led to another. The Chinese knew they had no real play in the Mediterranean, so they shook the place up, and then pulled out. The same goes for their bases in the Atlantic along the African coast. The operation into the Arabian Peninsula had to be a major wartime contingency plan—all the marbles, gentlemen. It really all comes down to this—the Indian Ocean. This is where the war will be won or lost, because the most vital sea lanes on the planet are right here. If we win this thing, they may have no choice other than to throw in the towel.”
“How soon do we get started, sir?”
“24 hours will see all parties to this argument in combat range. The only wildcard will be what happens with the Independence. And let me tell you what the difference is going to be in this one—four aircraft carriers. We are going to get fighter recon patrols up with the Hawkeyes and find them first. The rest is done with mirrors. Find them, target them, hit them, kill them. Now I’m a carrier man from way back when, but I want you to think about what those two Chinese diesel boats did yesterday in the South China Sea, and what HMS Trafalgar did in return. This is a fight that we’ll take to them over, on and under the sea. Never forget that. We’re headed for the greatest full domain engagement since WWII.”
Four carriers…. Roosevelt, Prince of Wales, Victorious, Ark Royal, and maybe a fifth, Independence, would weigh heavily on the scales. The difference was air power you could take out into the Deep Blue when there was no land base that could serve you there. The Western Allies had that capability, and the Chinese did not. They brought two of their five carriers to the South China Sea against Admiral Pearson and saw both damaged, one by Karpov and Kirov, the other by HMS Trafalgar. Here, in this most important theater, they could not sail with a single flattop. In effect, the Chinese carrier arm was consigned to the littoral seas bordering China, and not a Deep Blue service arm at all.
That meant any deployment of Chinese air power had to come from the ‘String of Pearls,’ the many bases they had been building through the region for the last decade. As they had done in the second battle for Singapore, the US had a plan to prepare the battlefield before they engaged, and that meant denying the enemy the use of those key land bases they had to rely on.
Sri Lanka was therefore at the top of the list, a base that would allow the Chinese to interdict all traffic headed from the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. It had to be neutralized. The small field at Hambantoa was not a threat, with only a few helicopters based there, but the much bigger base at Colombo was hosting 45 aircraft, including 18 J-10’s, 18 more J-20’s, two AEW planes and ASW patrol craft. The big sealift convoy had a pair of US destroyers in escort, Benning and Anderson, and each one was carrying 56 TACTOM’s. They were therefore given Colombo as their primary target, and cleared to fire at 18:00, on the last day of November.
The explosions began to rip open the night when the missiles found the base, and when it was over, there were nine J-20’s and fifteen J-10’s left burning on the tarmacs, a major loss of more than a full squadron.
Immediately behind the point of enemy concentration were the bases in Yemen and Djibouti. They could provide defensive support, and long range recon flights by J-20’s to help locate targets. DDG Burnside, with the Solomon Sea ARG, would get the mission to strike the small Yemeni field at Al Ghaydah close to the border of Oman. Fighters from that field had already dueled with US CAP patrols defending an E-3 Sentry that was keeping watch on the Chinese Gwadar group. DDG Fremont would target the coastal field further south at Riyan.