“Oh. Nice.”
The hatch that lead to the admiral’s stateroom swung open, and the Ford Strike Group’s chief of staff entered the space. The Navy captain stood to the side of the doorway, calling, “Attention on deck.”
Everyone stood at attention in silence as Admiral Manning, now a two-star, entered the space. Another Navy captain — one Plug didn’t recognize — followed him in. Admiral Manning sat at the head of the table while the Navy captain walked towards the opposite end of the long conference table, looking ready to give a presentation.
Admiral Manning said, “Ladies and gentlemen, due to the sensitive nature of what we’re about to hear, the PACFLEET thought it would be best to deliver this information in person. The Pacific Fleet intelligence officer will be giving the brief.”
The Navy captain standing next to the presentation screen began. “As you all know, we’re five days into the cease-fire agreement with China.”
The screen flipped to a map of the Western Pacific. The briefer clicked a button, and the map was filled with red and blue symbols.
“Here’s where Chinese and Allied forces were located prior to the start of combat operations.”
He clicked the button again, and most of the blue symbols either disappeared or moved to the far-right side of the map.
“And here’s where we are now. You’ll notice that we don’t have any ships in the vicinity of the South China Sea or the East China Sea. Per the agreement, the last remaining ships in the Philippine Sea should be on our side of the hundred and forty-fourth east longitude line within forty-eight hours. Evacuation of American civilians from Korea is estimated to be fifty percent complete, with the North Koreans recently agreeing to a temporary cease-fire at the behest of China. We are now over eighty percent complete with US civilian evac from Japan and Okinawa. Military movements from these zones are more complex but are generally following these trends.”
The PACFLEET intelligence officer looked up at the room. Plug could tell from his expression that something important was coming.
“Now… here you can see where two of our fast-attack submarines in the Western Pacific were recently located.”
Plug noticed that everyone in the room had the good sense not to point out that this was in violation of the cease-fire agreement.
“We obviously have other submarines in the region, but these two are the ones relevant to our discussion.”
Plug saw all of the symbols on the map disappear except for two blue submarines. One was located approximately one hundred miles south of Hong Kong. The other was near the Luzon Strait.
“This was their location at the start of the cease-fire. Their orders were to maintain position, and to observe and report on enemy naval movements.”
The screen changed to show dozens of red symbols. “These were the last known positions of Chinese surface and subsurface tracks prior to the start of the war. As you can see, the PLA Navy is formed up into a scattering of assets located predominantly in the South China Sea and East China Sea.”
The screen changed again. This time the two American subs in the South China Sea disappeared and the red tracks were more concentrated into the two separate strike groups.
“This is as of forty-eight hours ago. You notice that the Chinese have consolidated into two strike groups. The southernmost Chinese strike group was the one that attacked Guam. The high-value unit of this group is the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning. After its failed attack on Guam, the Liaoning Strike Group transited west towards China and joined up with another group of ships that just recently put to sea. The northernmost Chinese strike group contains the other two Chinese aircraft carriers and dozens of warships. The northern group has moved to the south of Tokyo and seems to be monitoring the US exfiltration there.”
Plug noted that the captain didn’t use the word retreat.
“We don’t have an exact estimate on the order of battle of these carrier groups. But our sources tell us that many of these ships left port after the cease-fire began, and that number is well over fifty ships sortied in each group.”
Someone whistled.
“As for the two American subs…”
The screen changed again. Both blue submarine symbols disappeared. Two X symbols were there instead, each with the words “last known posit” next to it.
“As of yesterday, the southernmost Chinese strike group is believed to have transited the Luzon Strait. We have lost communications with both of those submarines.”
The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Brothers in arms recognizing both the loss of fellow sailors and a significant threat on the horizon.
The map changed to a presentation screen with bullet points. The briefer read from it, almost verbatim.
“Both of the US fast-attack submarines had reported coming into contact with a large group of Chinese warships. At contact minus two hours, the submarines checked in. In each instance, after that time, the fast-attack boats went dark.”
The Ford CO, the aircraft carrier’s captain, said, “Define dark.”
“No further communication whatsoever. All attempts to reach the subs in question have failed.”
The Ford CO said, “Well, is it possible that they are there and just having communications problems? Hell, we’ve got one of the most advanced communication suites on the planet and we’re having a hell of a time right now. If they’re damaged or sunk, they’re supposed to send up a beacon, right?”
The PACFLEET intelligence officer said, “Assuming that the beacon wasn’t damaged, yes. If the submarines were hit by enemy weapons, the emergency positioning locator beacon should have been released in all three cases. During normal operation, these radio signals would be picked up by our satellites. We could locate the distressed submarine immediately and begin rescue ops. However, seeing as our GPS and satellite capability has been knocked out of play, we’ve been relegated to using alternative communications networks for our submarines. The Chinese are now heavily jamming all radio transmissions in these areas. We just aren’t able to confirm what happened.”
Admiral Manning said, “But we can assume the worst.”
“Yes, sir. I’m afraid that is the logical conclusion.”
The Ford CO said, “So the Chinese are already breaking their peace treaty. Is that what you’ve come here to tell us?”
Plug listened eagerly for a response. Most of them figured that the peace treaty between the US and China was going to be temporary. The American diplomats would try to make it permanent. But if anyone really believed they would succeed, they were fools, as far as Plug was concerned. The big question was, how long would peace last? Or had the presumed sinking of these two submarines already ended it?
Admiral Manning said, “Please describe what you were telling me before the brief, Captain.”
The PACFLEET intelligence officer nodded. “Both of these submarines provided similar information during their last reports. This included a description of abnormal acoustic signatures and strange tactics being employed by the approaching group of Chinese ships. Based on their location, we can assume that these approaching Chinese ships were the newly-sized-up Liaoning Strike Group, the southernmost Chinese carrier group. At the ranges our submarines were picking up these acoustics, it was impossible for them to identify exactly what they were hearing. But the onboard computers weren’t able to classify it as anything we’ve seen before.”
One of the helicopter squadron commanding officers sat a few seats down from Plug. The commander raised his hand and asked a few questions about the acoustic signals. The tactics and technical details of antisubmarine warfare were quite complex, and many in the room were unable to follow.