Murdock set his jaw. “Doctor, I promise you we won’t leave you any wounded Koreans to tend to.” He turned and walked out with his men. Verbort followed.
“I have no idea where either of the two captains are, Lieutenant,” Verbort said.
“We’ll find them eventually.” He used the Motorola. “Engine room, any report?”
“Cap, we’ve got a situation here. There are four crew in there working on the machinery, doing something. There are six armed Koreans watching them. They’re all too close together to get off good shots. They don’t know we’re here yet.”
Murdock recognized Mahanani’s voice.
“You have access through a door?”
“Affirmative.”
“How many flashbangs with your team?”
There was a pause.
“Yeah, Cap. Good thinking. We have four. I’d say we put two in the bunch, let them play out, then do it again. We have a go?”
“Just don’t hurt any of the crew. Single shot on the Fives when you get through the door. How many men you have?”
“We picked up a couple from First. Now we have five.”
“Get them all in as fast as you can after the last flashbangs go off. Nail the bad guys with gun butts, or kicks to the head. Try not to shoot while the crew is mixed in.”
“That’s a roger, Cap. We’re working on it. Report in about ten.”
“Cap, you still got your ears on?” another voice asked.
“Yes, Canzoneri, what’s happening?”
“That frigate is lit up like a spring dance. You heard the explosions. I think our boys used some claymores on it. She’s dipping her stern rail in the briny deep. Must be down eight feet at least. Her screws must be off, but she could still shoot. Don’t know if she could depress those big guns enough, but she’s got quad-fifties that could do the job. Suggest we call in some air before they start mowing us down with the fifties.”
Verbort was looking pale. “They could do it, Lieutenant. How can you call in an air strike?”
“We can’t, unless you can use your radio to contact the fighters overhead.”
“They did it this afternoon when the fighters first flew over. I used to do the radio. I’ll run up to communications and see if we can contact them. Are the fighters still up there?”
“I haven’t heard them lately, but I’d guess they are flying CAP on us. Let’s get to communications.”
They ran to the door and rushed to the elevators. A few minutes later they came into the communications room. No crewman was there. Verbort started turning on equipment, and soon he made a call.
“F-18’s, this is the Royal Princess calling. We could use some help. Are you still with us?”
“Royal, this is High Fly Leader. Just cruising around up above you.”
Murdock took the mike. “High Fly Leader. This is Murdock. Can you get weapons free on the frigate? She’s down in the stern from some mines. We think she may fire on the cruise ship with her quad-fifties. Can you ask your field for guns free?”
“This is Home Base. Murdock. The admiral called us. We understand your situation. If you think more gunfire is imminent from the frigate, I can give High Fly guns free.”
“Home Base, this is Murdock. I’d say the frigate is past due to fire on us with his three-inchers and his quads. The frigate is now almost a hundred yards from the liner. If the eighteens make their runs from south to north, any debris should not hit the liner. Yes, please, guns free.”
“Splash one frigate, High Fly. You have guns free on the frigate. The south-to-north run might be a good idea.”
“Roger that, Home Base. Going around now to make a south-to-north run. A forty-five-degree angle to target would be best. We’ll use that heading. High Fly One and Two, you have guns free on the frigate. Use the Harpoon missiles. Make the run now. High Fly Two, make the first run. I’ll be right behind you.”
Murdock looked at Jaybird.
“Cap, the Harpoon is an air-to-ship missile. A five-hundred-pound warhead that will put down a good-sized ship. Two of them will blow it right out of the water and all the way to San Bernardino.”
“Let’s go watch.”
The men all ran to the rail, then toward the stern. Two Koreans lifted up from around a lifeboat and fired. One round clipped Murdock in the left arm, and Jaybird nailed both the shooters with two bursts of three rounds. Murdock and his men moved back farther, and saw the frigate behind them a hundred yards. Jaybird saw blood on Murdock’s arm, and made him stop while he examined it.
“It’s an in-and-out, but it might have grazed the bone. We’ll check later.” He tied up the wound to stop the bleeding as they all watched the planes.
“Hope they target the right ship,” Jaybird said. “One of those Harpoon missiles would put this luxury liner on the bottom of the mother-loving Pacific.”
They watched. They knew there wouldn’t be any warning. Jaybird explained: “A jet coming straight at you doesn’t make any sound out front. It’s when it slams overhead and goes away that the sound comes. By then you’re either dead or they missed you.”
Jaybird saw a touch of exhaust out the back of the first jet, and pointed. A moment later the big bird screamed overhead, and they saw a burst of smoke as the sea-skimming missile angled straight for the Korean frigate. The fourteen-hundred-pound missile hit the frigate just off mid-ship, and blasted ten feet into the craft before the five hundred pounds of explosives detonated. The 334-foot-long Korean frigate jolted upward twenty feet when the missile exploded. Then it heeled over to port, and smoke poured from a massive fire that had ruptured the ship’s fuel tanks.
The fire outlined the ship at once. A creaking and groaning came from the massive steel structure of the ship, and then a ripping and tearing as the stern broke off and sank immediately. The bow and most of the middle of the ship floated, held in place by the anchor line. The fires grew and explosions racked the ship as one after another blossomed into the dark sky.
Less than two minutes after the missile hit the ship, it slipped under the water, the anchor still holding, bringing it straight down to the bottom.
A siren sounded on board the Royal Princess.
Then the public-address system came on. “This is Captain Van Derhorn speaking. All available crew members are to report to the lifeboats. Man boats and launch at once to search for survivors of the frigate. There were a hundred and thirty men on board. Search now and continue searching. I repeat, all available crew members trained in lifeboat launching report to the davits now for launching.”
Verbort ran back toward the lifeboats and began lowering the nearest to the water. Three crewmen stepped into the boat, and it pulled away toward the stern of the big ship and the place where the frigate had sunk.
Crewmen came out of their bunks, dressed quickly, and ran to the lifeboats. Soon they had twenty in the water, scouring the area that now showed as black as death, as they worked through the few items that had floated from the sinking frigate. Many of the passengers were awake and watching from the rails.
The PA system came on again. “Is there anyone on board who speaks Korean? We need to inform all the Korean sailors on board that they should turn in their weapons and give themselves up. They will not be harmed and will be turned over to representatives of their government when we reach port.”
Murdock called on his radio net. “All SEALs report in the usual rotation. First Platoon go first.”
He listened as the men checked in and told where they were and what they were doing. When the reports were done, Murdock knew that they had captured all of the vital control areas of the big ship. They had put down an estimated fourteen of the Koreans and captured six more. That still left at least thirty on the ship, including the frigate captain, Kim.