CHAPTER 24
Humid warmth smacked Qin in the face as he stepped off his plane at PLA(N) South Sea Fleet HQ at Zhanjiang. He missed the humidity and salt air of this waterfront, and was thankful to be away from the oppression of Beijing, if only for a few hours. However, this was no holiday trip.
He returned the salute of Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Li Wang at the base of the boarding stairs. PLA(N) sailors in white dress uniforms held rifles at “present arms” as they stood at attention along the red carpet that led to the staff car.
“Comrade Admiral Qin, welcome home!” Li greeted Qin with a smile and warm handshake. Ignoring the sailors, they both strode to the car with Qin’s entourage behind them.
“Thank you, Li. As we landed, I saw your piers are more empty than full.”
“They are, Comrade Admiral. We put the last of the destroyers to sea yesterday. Only a handful of ships are in dry dock, and our coastal missile boats are loaded and on alert.”
Qin motioned to their right at a line of parked J-10s in ordered rows. “I see your aviation assets are still here.”
“They are on full alert, Comrade Admiral, and ready for dispersal or employment as directed. Our outposts are manned, their ramps are full of bombers and tactical aircraft, and surveillance assets are in place at Hainan.”
“Do you have enough?” Qin asked.
Li smiled as he shook his head. “Never enough, but I’m confident we have a robust capability that can give us 24-hour coverage.”
Qin returned the salute of the sailor who opened the door to the black sedan. Both admirals stepped inside with their aides for the short drive to the headquarters building.
Upon arrival they were met by additional sailors standing at attention, who as one unit popped rigid salutes. A band played the Navy March as the admirals and their train walked between the lines of sailors to the building. Qin noted the smooth, young faces, their eyes locked straight ahead.
Once inside, staff functionaries led them to the briefing room with rich zitan furnishings and a large digital chart of the Western Pacific. Qin was placed at the head of the table with Li seated to his right flanked by his component commanders, most of whom Qin recognized and acknowledged with a nod. Keeping her eyes downcast, an orderly brought Qin a serving of hot tea in a fine porcelain teacup decorated with a blue and white floral motif. Li cleared this throat and began.
“Comrade Admiral Qin, the People’s South Sea Fleet, your former command, welcomes you back to Zhanjiang and is honored by your presence. My staff has taken diligent and tireless measures to prepare the fleet for combat and to meet the People’s tasking and expectations to defend the fatherland. Begin the briefing to the Commander!”
A staff officer standing next to the screen, confident and impeccable in his white uniform, snapped to attention and with sharp and precise motions delivered and finished a salute. As if a robot, he took the briefing pointer and in a strong voice began the presentation as the first briefing slide was projected.
“People’s Liberation Army Navy Comrade Commander, the South Sea Fleet is in a state of full readiness! Our powerful fleet is very vicious and ready to destroy the enemy! Due to the heroical efforts of fleet logisticians, all our ships are in 100 percent combat readiness with crews that are perfectly trained to inflict maximum damage on enemies that dare…”
After 30 seconds, Qin lost his patience. He had seen too many of these canned dog-and-pony shows to continue. He waved his hand and turned to Li.
“Li, let’s skip this and talk among you and your commanders. Where are your ships positioned?” Li motioned to the screen, and the PLA(N) ship force disposition appeared.
“Comrade Admiral, we have two submarines near the second island chain in the vicinity of Guam, and twenty-five major combatants in the Southern Sea. In addition, we’ve placed these five here along the Taiwan-Philippines island chain. We have three diesel boats north of Malacca and two more north of Luzon. Four Type 055 cruisers are in position, two near the Luzon Strait, one south of the Spratly group, and one off Scarborough Shoal, interspersed with Luyang destroyers. All of our southern near-sea outposts have full complements of combat aircraft and full defenses, and our coastal patrol aircraft are on three-hour alert, with forces at Hainan on heightened alert.”
“Where are the Americans?” Qin asked. Li motioned and another display appeared.
“Reports from our militia in the Indian Ocean say their Les Aspin carrier strike group is 400 miles southeast of Ceylon, and the Indian Navy is at sea, all of them heading toward Malacca. In the strait, the Americans have a cruiser and two guided-missile destroyers. And several of their LCS corvettes are in Singapore.”
“Nothing in our Southern Sea?”
“Nothing, not even an airplane, Comrade Admiral. Their submarines — that is another matter. We had a track on one of their Los Angeles attack boats yesterday — northeast of Luzon — but lost it. It is fair to consider they have submarines inside the Southern Sea.”
“With Tomahawks. We must find them.”
“Yes, Comrade Admiral, we are untiring in our efforts,” Li said as he nodded his understanding of the threat these cruise missiles posed. Qin changed course.
“Where are the other American carriers?”
“John Adams is still in Guam and shows no signs of getting underway. Sam Nunn is transiting past Hawaii. One of their carriers is deploying from their Atlantic coast but must transit around South America — it is over a month away from the second island chain. That leaves Hancock, which we found last night in the North Pacific. We’ve lost it now, but extrapolating its course and speed since it left California waters to where we detected it south of the Aleutian chain, we believe it will cross south of Iwo Jima in three days if they maintain that track.”
Qin nodded and thought about the American fleet disposition. Sighted in Guam, USS John Adams was of limited combat capability. The natural funnel that Malacca presented aided the identification and targeting of anything approaching from the Indian Ocean. The American carrier Hancock was his immediate threat. Swift, and able to conceal its emissions, it could move in any direction and again disappear in the immense ocean. PLA rocket and air forces could target every runway from Singapore to Guam to Okinawa and rain precision munitions on them within hours. Ships were another matter, and even with determined effort, a 100,000-ton giant like Hancock was not that easy to find and target. Both admirals knew from personal experience the American carriers were far from the “sitting ducks” some thought them to be.
“Three days,” Qin murmured as he looked at the chart of the region. With his eyes he measured the distance from the Aleutians to Iwo Jima.
“Where are their helicopter carriers?” he asked.
“Their forward deployed vessel is in dry dock in Sasebo, but they have another in the region, Veracruz, that left Darwin three days ago. We do not have a track on it, but before it can bring combat power to bear we’ll find it transiting a southern choke point. A third, USS Solomon Islands, left Hawaii yesterday with three escort ships. We do not have a track on it.”