Kevin Miller
Fight Fight
DEDICATION
Dedicated to:
LCDR Wallace T. Miller, CEC, USNR
CAPT Robert K. Miller, CEC USN (Ret.)
Capt. Edward R. Browne, USMC
Who fought for freedom in and around the
South China Sea
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“You’ve given yourself a knotty problem.”
So said my understated friend and former squadronmate Admiral Pat Walsh, a former Pacific Fleet Commander, who went on to impart his pol-mil insight and regional history into the fascinating and dangerous part of the world known as the South China Sea.
Researching Fight Fight was indeed fascinating and a knotty challenge, to say the least. Like my other novels, it is at its core a human story, one involving miscalculation and uncertainty amid events moving much faster than 20th century air/sea battles progressed. Today’s warriors — on both sides — depend on communications, sensors, and precise navigation assets that they will lose quite fast once the shooting starts. Now what? and the side that can adapt fastest has the best chance of victory, as warfare through the millennia has proved.
How high-level geopolitics affects those at the tip of the spear — on both sides — interests me, and helping me again with insight and advice was former shipmate Admiral Tim Keating, the former Commander of Pacific Command. He and his executive assistant at the time, my squadronmate Rear Admiral Greg Nosal, were invaluable in helping me visualize how news of a serious incident half-a-world away would enter and be absorbed by the command structure.
I’ve not been to the Western Pacific, in or out of uniform, but my squadronmate Captain Rich Brophy was generous with his time and helpful framing today’s situation gleaned from his recent deployment there. Former carrier CO’s Vice Admiral Ted Branch and Rear Admiral Greg Fenton answered my questions regarding carriers that I forgot or never learned, and retired E-2/C-2 pilot Captain Chris Plummer made me smarter about those two vital carrier-based aircraft. I am also in debt to trusted shipmate Captain Rick Hoffman and to Lieutenant Commander Linda McCauley for their superb and helpful explanations of guided-missile cruiser engineering spaces and their operations.
My former flight lead, Captain J.R. Stevenson, is as encouraging to me in my writing as he was when he taught me the ropes of carrier aviation years ago, and his suggestions and in some cases gifts of source material was instrumental in my understanding of the People’s Liberation Army order-of-battle. Another invaluable shipmate — in the truest sense of the word — is my friend Captain Will Dossel who directed me to open-source reference material focused on today’s air/sea hardware and doctrine. Longtime friend and squadronmate Captain K.C. Albright once again offered knowledgeable suggestions to tighten up the rough manuscript.
Learning about China, an interesting — and dangerous — society and civilization, its history and its people, was a fascinating journey. Helping me was another superb officer with whom I served, Commander Leda Chong, who emigrated from China with her parents to the United States when she was a little girl. Her views of the Chinese people and culture helped me make my Chinese characters more human and authentic. My friend Lieutenant Chris Reilly answered my questions about the P-8 Poseidon cockpit, and once again Shag and Kwiff were resources when I had questions about modern terms and cockpit tasks I used to be able to accomplish blindfolded. Thanks shipmates.
Linda Wasserman of Pelican Press Pensacola re-upped to go on another deployment with me and did a superb job editing this novel. Her sharp eye and gentle suggestions, coupled with her patience with me, is a winning combination. There is no other editor I’d rather serve alongside as we bring authentic techno-thriller fiction to readers, and Linda’s ability to make the words stronger and clearer is a true force-multiplier. Well Done, Linda!
Publisher Jeff Edwards of Braveship Books remains a source of counsel and insight into the ever-changing world of publishing. The authors at Braveship, led by Jeff himself, write smart books for smart readers.
Throughout, my loving wife Terry has given support and encouragement. She believed in my writing before I did, and cheerfully helps me refine and polish my manuscripts. Love you, Terry!
As of this writing, the situation in the South China Sea is tense, and the tension is building among the seven nations that border it. With over $5 trillion of seaborne trade flowing through it annually and blessed with rich (and overfished) fisheries that feed millions, it is arguably the most important body of water in the world today, certainly the most contested. What would happen to the world economy if conflict erupted there? Is an air/sea battle to control it inevitable?
If war does come, who will fight it?
Captain Kevin Miller USN (Ret.)
Summer 2018
Glossary of Jargon and Acronyms
1MC — ship’s public address system
5MC — flight deck loudspeaker system
20mm — Twenty millimeter cannon round, the size of an FA-18 and CIWS bullet; also known as “twenty mike-mike”
AAA — Anti-Aircraft-Artillery; pronounced “Triple-A”
AARGM — Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AGM-88E) used to home in on radar energy
Afterburner — FA-18 engine setting that provides extra power by igniting raw fuel creating a controlled overpressure. Also known as “burner,” “blower,” “max,” or “light the cans.”
AI — Artificial Intelligence
Air Boss — Officer in Primary Flight Control (ship’s control tower) responsible for aircraft operations on deck out to five miles from ship
AMRAAM — Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AIM-120)
Angels — altitude in thousands of feet; “Angels six” = 6,000 feet
AWACS — Airborne Warning and Control System; aka E-3 Sentry aircraft
Bandit — confirmed enemy airborne contact; also known as “hostile”
Bingo — emergency fuel state divert from ship to shore base
Bogey unknown airborne contact
Bolter — aircraft tailhook flies past or skips over arresting wires, requiring a go-around for another attempt
CAG — Carrier Air Wing Commander; formerly Commander, Air Group
CAP — Combat Air Patrol
Cat — catapult
CG — Guided Missile Cruiser
CIC — Combat Information Center
CIWS — Close-in Weapon System; surface ship 20mm gun to engage terminal airborne threats
CO — Commanding Officer; in aviation squadrons known as “Skipper;” on ships, “Captain”
COD — Carrier On-Board Delivery; C-2 Greyhound logistics aircraft known as “the COD”
CVIC — Aircraft Carrier Intelligence Center
CVW — Carrier Air Wing
DCAG — Deputy Carrier Air Wing Commander
DDG — Guided Missile Destroyer
DF-21/26 — Chinese Dong Feng anti-ship ballistic missile
ELINT — Electronic Intelligence