Victoria sat in the captain’s chair in the Combat Information Center of the USS Farragut. She could read the chat messages between the JSTARS aircraft and OPS, who was again standing TAO. The man had barely slept in the past few days. None of them had. They can rest when this is over.
“What’s the range between us and the four Chinese ships?”
One of the sailors standing surface watch replied with the bearing and range.
OPS said, “That’s within missile range.”
Victoria had to make her choice. Normal rules of engagement would prescribe that she not attack, unless in self-defense. And while war had not been declared, the ROE had changed. That much was clear.
The Chinese submarine had attacked them, and sunk three friendly ships. It was a hostile environment. And they now had intelligence that these four Chinese warships were on orders to intercept and attack the USS Farragut. Until further notice, all Chinese warships, submarines, and aircraft in this geographic area should be considered hostile.
“OPS, what weapon do you recommend?”
“We’re outside of the SM-2 range. But we have eight SM-6s that are set up for surface-to-surface. They’re new. We could launch them at this range. But unless you want to illuminate the Chinese ships with our radar, we’re going to need help from the JSTARS in making sure that we hit the right target. I’d hate to attack some merchant ship by accident.”
Victoria nodded. “I agree. We’ve got one more hour with the JSTARS on station. How long until we’re close enough to Panama City to launch the helo?”
“Based on the three-hundred-nautical-mile range, we’ve got another three hours at this speed.”
Victoria stood and looked at the charts. This was now about how much risk she wanted to take. If they could make it another three hours, she could launch the helicopter and they might get lucky.
If the Chinese kept their radar off, they might never know that the helicopter had taken off, and might never know where the Farragut was. Even if they did turn on their radar, the Chinese might confuse the Farragut’s radar signature for the numerous other ships that were approaching Panama.
Unless the Chinese had some other means of locating the Farragut. If they somehow located the destroyer, they could begin their attack right now.
The Chinese could also fire on the Farragut’s helicopter after it took off. Again, that would require them turning on their radars. But if Victoria didn’t fire on the Chinese now, that was exactly the risk she faced.
She thought about that for a moment — the Chinese ships turning on their air search radar, and firing God knows how many surface-to-air missiles at their helicopter. It would be a sitting duck.
It was her move. Keep hiding, or attack with the advantage. Kill or risk being killed.
“TAO, aft lookout reports a helicopter off the port beam! It’s not one of ours, sir. Lookout says it’s got a red star on the side.”
“Shit,” Victoria said. That forced her move. “OPS, get an updated location of the tracks from JSTARS, and fire the SM-6s at will.” She had to remind herself to remain calm in front of the men. “Make sure our air defense is ready to go if we get any ESM hits that their missiles are coming.”
“Everything is ready, boss.”
That helicopter was from one of their ships. It had to be. The Farragut had just been located. Now it was a race between the Chinese ships and the Farragut to see who could get off their missiles first. Her heart started beating faster as she thought about a slew of Chinese anti-ship missiles heading towards them.
The combat information center was a flurry of activity. Tense officers and crew sprang around the room, going through checklists and double-checking settings.
Then the entire ship quaked as the SM-6s roared out of the vertical launch system, one after the other.
The Farragut launched eight missiles in all, columns of bright white smoke shooting up and arcing away into the distance.
The SM-6, or RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), was very new to the US Navy’s surface-to-surface arsenal. A semiactive missile, it was originally designed for extended range anti-air warfare. It was used to shoot down fixed wing, helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, and anti-ship cruise missiles. But the Navy needed a more modern, farther-reaching anti-ship missile. And the SM-6 was it.
The Chinese surface fleet was made up of one Luyang II — class destroyer, the Lanzhou, one Luda-class destroyer, and two Jiangkai II — class frigates. All four were controlled by Admiral Song’s South Sea Fleet.
The helicopter that spotted the USS Farragut was attached to the Lanzhou.
Victoria was right. As soon as the helicopter got a visual on the Farragut, the aircrew immediately passed that information back to the Lanzhou. The captain of the Lanzhou then passed the coordinates on to his ships, with orders to open fire.
As soon as that order was given, he received the first indication that the Farragut had beaten him to the punch.
“Captain, we have a missile warning!”
“Battle stations!” the captain shouted. Alarm bells rang and men began running throughout the ship.
“Enemy acquisition radar bearing one-five-zero.”
The captain said, “Bring all radars online, and activate our air defense missiles.”
The powerful air search radar took a full minute to warm up. When it did, the men in the Lanzhou’s control center were horrified at what they saw.
The naval flight officer in the rear seat of the F-18G Growler had been communicating with the JSTARS aircraft as they flew towards the Chinese ships at just under four hundred knots. It had been only a few minutes since they had passed on the imagery of the Chinese vessels, confirming their identity.
His screen lit up as he saw indications of the USS Farragut’s starting their attack.
“Farragut just launched missiles.”
The pilot said, “Roger.”
The NFO’s hands raced over his tactical controls, as he anticipated what the Chinese ships would do next. Their best bet would be to try and shoot down the American anti-ship missiles. To do that, they would need to turn on their air search radars, identify and track the incoming missiles, and use their own surface to air missiles to shoot them down.
The Growler crew wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Activating the ALQ-99s.”
“Roger.”
The AN/ALQ-99 was the airborne integrated jamming system. Upon activation, the NFO began jamming the Chinese warships’ air search radar. With any luck, they would be helpless in defending themselves from the incoming missiles.
“Captain, we have four… six… no, eight missiles inbound!”
“Shoot them down!”
“Air search radars are still trying to track them… there seems to be interference.”
The captain walked over to his air defense station. “Well?”
“Sir, something is wrong. I think we are being jammed.”
No one else had time to speak.
Through its datalink, the JSTARS had provided the USS Farragut with precise coordinates on the four Chinese ships. The Farragut’s crew had done the rest. They fed in the exact coordinates of each ship, dividing up the ships so that each one would get two missiles a piece.