The Red White & Blue

by Harry Kellogg III

  The prevailing wisdom was that the Reds had 4 more months of fuel to conduct normal operations worldwide. Just reaching his area of incursion would cost them a month’s supply. To launch a coordinated assault from both the east and west would cost them another two weeks’ worth. Then another dagger would be thrust into their innards. To reach that gaping wound would cost them another month’s worth of fuel.

  If the VIII Corps could hold the line during the initial attacks, the plan would succeed. If anyone could hold it would be the VIII Corps and the men who held Bastogne against all odds. The corps had done it before, and they would do it again by following the leadership of the army’s best quarterback.

  One hundred thirty seven thousand troops, many suffering sea sickness, were embarking onto transports from Tunis and were on their way to Sicily. At least, that is what they were told. They were actually on their way to Trieste.

  The ruse had worked, and a dozen intercepted messages from known Red spies in Tunis had confirmed what the NATO leaders wanted to portray to their enemy. The messages all basically said the same thing, “replacement troops for the forces on Sicily were in route and expected to start debarkation tomorrow. In actuality, their trip would be over six times longer.

  The Navy’s task force of combat ships blanketed the space between Tunis and Sicily from the ocean bottom to the air above. This was going to be an overwhelming naval operation close to the scale of Normandy. In tow were a number of much-improved Mulberry Harbors. These massive floating structures were actually a series of intricate parts made up of “Bombards and Phoenixes” that were floating breakwaters, “Whales” which were the actual floating piers, “Spud Piers” which is where the ships tied up and “Beatles” supporting them all with large pontoons. [38]

  These artificial harbors would make up for the damage the Allies did to what was the best harbor in the Mediterranean in World War Two. Supplies for the VIII Corps dash to Vienna and the defense that followed would depend on these harbors.

  Leave it to the British to come up with annoying names for things. Middleton thought, why can’t they call them floating piers, docks and pontoons? His mind quickly returned to the task at hand. He had to motivate his division commanders to new heights. They would have to move and move fast without regard for their flanks for the first five days. They had to brush aside all opposition and get to Vienna while at the same time setting up a defense line facing both east and west for a hundred miles.

  The VIII Corps would also be out of the range of the Navy’s air cover and would have to quickly set up their own airfields after capturing the dozen or so sites identified by G2 along the route to Vienna.

  Included in his convoys would be the mechanics, construction workers, material, spare parts, etc. needed to start an air force from scratch. The planes would be ferried in as the airfields became clear, much like Guadalcanal and the Philippines. The air assets were his to command directly. He decided when and where they would be based and their missions.

  Their overall mission was interdiction. They were to range far and wide to harass and destroy any Soviet forces closing in on the Corps defensive positions. Their major objective was the Red’s fuel supplies. This was their Achilles Heel. This was their greatest weakness at the moment, and the one that NATO had to exploit.

  Immobilize, contain, bypass and then defeat your defenseless enemy. That was the plan on both a tactical level and a strategic level. Don’t give the Reds the chance to pull off a Stalingrad. Fight them on your terms not theirs.

  Figure 29- Mulberry Harbor

  Chapter Fifteen:

  Doctor B. F. Skinner

  Figure 30- Burrus Fredrick Skinner 1946

  Bingo

  If the ORCON pigeon-guided missile demonstrations for Admiral King were a success, the Pentagon would have to realize the danger the Soviet missiles posed to the US Navy. ORCON was short for Organic Control. Captain Claiborne had started to prepare him to present his ideas to the Navy’s weapons experts. It seemed the military mind worked differently than the mind of an academic. In the end, it was decided that Claiborne would do most of the talking when they met with Admiral King.

  During the meeting, the Admiral seemed to warm up to the idea. Then, he became visibly alarmed at what he was hearing. He stopped the presentation after a few minutes and picked up the phone and started to roar orders. The demonstration was to commence ASAP and when Admiral King wanted something done…it got done.

  They had chosen an old World War One destroyer for the demonstration. USS Bulmer (DD-222/AG-86) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Captain Roscoe Bulmer, and was the last warship of the Asiatic Fleet in commission.

  Bulmer was launched 22 January 1920 by William Cramp and Sons; sponsored by Miss Anita Paor Bulmer, daughter of Captain Bulmer; and commissioned on 16 August 1920.

  The destroyer’s final mission was to try and survive an attack by a missile guided by a bird, a pigeon to be exact. Dr. Skinner’s pigeons were trained to peck on a translucent plate that had a semiconducting surface. The tip of the bird's beak was covered with a gold electrode. A single contact with the plate sent an immediate report of the location of the target to the controlling mechanism. They were conditioned to peck at the image of a ship. In this case, it was the USS Bulmer.

  The Bulmer was stripped and its engines replaced. The old girl could reach a speed of 35 knots. A mechanical steering and throttle mechanism was installed that made the destroyer zig zag, almost at random, while moving. A lever was thrown and the ship got underway after a 10 minute delay giving the crewman enough time to exit the ship. She was designed to maneuver at high speed for 30 minutes. Then, her engines would shut down.

  The trials took place at an undisclosed location in the Caribbean and the captured WW2 German Henschel Hs 294 anti-ship missiles were fired from B-26 bombers at a range of 15 miles. The test was of the ORCON guidance system and not the missile. There was no warhead attached to the units. Six missiles were fired in total.

  Observations were made from the nearby battleship USS Wisconsin that was in the area after being refit. The first two missiles failed to ignite and simply dropped from the bombers into the sea. Within hours the necessary corrections were made. The third missile ignited and was sent in the general direction of the target ship. Dropped from 16,000 ft., it took three seconds for the missile to reach its top speed of 530 mph. Less than 2 minutes later it slammed into the USS Bulmer. Damage was minimal and the destroyer kept on twisting and turning at full speed.

  The fourth missile just missed as the target ship took a random hard turn to port at just the right moment. The fifth and sixth missile hit the destroyer amidships in almost the same exact location as the first strike. Another 8 minutes and the destroyer’s engines shut down as the mechanical timer hit 30 minutes.

  Dr. Skinner, aboard the USS Wisconsin, was observing the trials. He was simultaneously proud and appalled when his brainchild performed as designed. He watched in horror and fascination as his pigeons pecked their way on an almost infallible path and collided with the target destroyer. After each hit, Captain Claiborne would whispered “Bingo”, much to the dismay of the Doctor.

  Skinner could only imagine what was going through the minds of US aircrews when they were confronted with a Soviet SAM. He could just picture the havoc that such missiles would create in a taskforce of troop transports jammed with boys like Jim Crenshaw.

  During the next two weeks, the ORCON guidance system was placed in the US guided bomb, the Pelican. Results were mixed mainly due to the failure of the Pelican system. Much to the chagrin of many a naval officer, the pigeon-guided ordnance hit its target 71% of the time when the platform it was attached to performed as designed. Dr. Skinner’s invention was a feather covered, ship-killer.

  Razzle Dazzle 1.1

  Admiral King was roaring into the phone. “I WANT IT DONE NOW! I WANT EVERY SHIP ENTERING COMBAT TO BE REPAINTED! NO MORE EXCUSES! I WILL REP
LACE EVERY EXECUTIVE OFFICER WHO DOES NOT HAVE IT DONE IN A WEEK!”

  He slammed the phone down, sat down and tried to calm down. Shit he thought to himself. I ordered this done a month ago and only 75% of the ships were repainted! That is not acceptable.

  He picks up the phone and dials a number few have. A female voice answers and Admiral King is very pleasant for a change.

  “Hello Yvonne, this is Rey, is the Doctor in?”

  “Oh hello Rey. I’ll get him … just a moment.”

  “Thank you.”

  King almost breaks a pencil fidgeting with it while waiting. He hears movement in the background, then the phone is dropped hitting the floor, next some fumbling noises, and finally a voice answers.

  “Hello”

  “Doc, this is Rey.”

  “Well, hello Rey.”

  “It’s happened Doc. A Soviet missile hit one of the transports near Trieste. It could have been a fluke but we don’t think so. It looks like it was deliberately shot at the fleet.”

  “Was the boat properly painted Admiral?”

  “No it wasn’t Doc. It appears that the missile passed over a dozen repainted SHIPS, and went for the only SHIP that wasn’t camouflaged with our new paint scheme.”

  “This anecdotal evidence is very limited of course but combined with the “sea trials” you had me conduct it does support my theory. In our experiment, the newly Skinned ships seemed to evade detection by the Project Pigeon guidance system.”

  King tried to hold his temper…”Doc please don’t talk about the “system” over the phone.” Plus, he hated that everyone had named the paint scheme after Skinner despite his orders not to use that term.

  “Oh yes, of course Rey, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  Bullshit, thought King. He does it every time.

  “Doc run some more trials, and please hurry up with a second and third solution. If the Reds are using “The System” then they can retrain the operators.”

  “I will do my best Rey. The paint scheme that we developed just might be the best answer however. It appears to be working. As you know, it is just a variation of the Navy’s own Razzle Dazzle developed during the Great War. It may not have worked with the advent of radar but if the Soviets are using my system, it should work.

  If I caught wind of this paint scheme and wanted to alter my system I would concentrate on the superstructure of the ships. Can we alter them by putting domes over them or boxes?”

  “We shouldn’t be discussing this over the phone Doc.”

  “Oh…of course. When can the board meet?”

  “Get a seat on the plane and I’ll have a driver waiting for you at the airport.’

  The phone is dropped again and King almost throws his across the room. God I hate eggheads. He hears muffle voices and Skinner finally picks the phone back up.

  “Yvonne thinks there is a plane leaving at 2 o’clock.”

  “Good! Be on it…please.”

  “Of course.”

  “You can stay at my house again Doc.”

  “Thank you Rey”

  “My pleasure Doc.”

  King hangs up the phone gently and then slams his fist into his chair back. Luckily the chair is padded. He literally hits the intercom button and yells into it.

  “GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!”

  The aide almost trips coming into the room. This is Admiral King’s third aid in a year. The fact that the aide was so quick to respond put King in a better mood.

  Admiral Ernest Joseph King was a bully. He was a rarity in the world of bullies, He was a bully that got things done even when he was not directly intimidating his victims. He also had a talent for knowing a good idea when it presented itself. Using Doctor B.F. Skinner’s ideas and passion was a good idea.

  “Call my wife and tell her that we will be having company staying for few days. Let her know that it is the usual guest.

  Despite his mutterings to the contrary, Admiral King actually like Dr. Skinner and looked forward to their dinner conversations. Skinner was a good listener and King like good listeners.

  “Now who else’s chain can I pull to get this “Skinning” done?” He muttered to no one in particular.

  He reached for the phone and subconsciously relished in the fact that whoever he talked to would cringe when they heard his name on the other end.

  Figure 31 - The Razzle Dazzle Paint Scheme circa 1916

  Skinner Shines

  They just had time to see the contrail of the missile before it hit. The explosion almost tore the SC-745 submarine chaser in half and lifted it out of the water. The little ship was blown to bits. Considering it was made of wood and one of the smallest US Naval vessels that plied the oceans of the world, it was an expected outcome.

  This submarine chaser was among the dozen ships still needing the Razzle Dazzle paint scheme. The other 11 ships had been hit with missiles as well. The antidotal evidence supported the theory that the Soviet missile’s guidance system was visual based.

  The guidance system seemed fooled time and time again with the missiles ignoring ships that were camouflaged. The repainted ships seemed immune to the ravages of these guided bullets that headed unerringly towards a collision course with conventionally painted ships. When missile and ship collided the missile won.

  The missiles tore deep inside any unfortunate ship that was hit and then it exploded. The missile went in so deep before it spent its kinetic energy that the warhead detonated nearer to previously protected and hidden vital parts of a ship. Components such as the engines, boilers and fuel tanks were often below the waterline where ordinary cannon shells had a hard time penetrating.

  If this Soviet weapon could not be neutralized, it would devastate the NATO fleet. American participation in the freeing of Europe would cease. The US would have to pull back out of the range of any Soviet missile.

  The modified Wasserfal or Stalin’s Fire being used now had a range of 100 miles. All of the US fleet in the Adriatic was within range of a Soviet missile battery. Much of the ships in the Mediterranean fleet were within range as well. If the Soviets captured Spain, the ancient waters of the Mediterranean would be devoid of a Western military ship for the first time in 500 years.

  Months before the missiles started crashing into US Naval vessels, the “Pigeon” Board, as some have called it, met. The board’s official name was “ORCON Board.” After the startling results recorded in the live fire trials in the Caribbean, the smiles of condescendence had been wiped from all concerned and had been replaced by looks of dismay. Until the demonstrations even Admiral King’s seal of approval did not sway many. A way must be found to stop this newest weapon from devastating the American Navy like it had the bombers of the United States Army Air Corps and SAC.

  At long last, personnel of the highest rank and highest technical expertise from all the service branches sat and listened to Dr. B.F. Skinner. There were no snickers, chuckles or rolling of the eyes. Each had seen the deadly results of the Doctor’s invention and each was dedicated to finding a solution to defeating it, including Skinner.

  The Doctor did not dwell on the fact that they had virtually laughed him out of the room at his last attempt of explaining his guidance system. He gave full credit to Spencer Crenshaw and his nephew Jim for being astute enough to see what these “experts” could not. In fact, Jim was in the meeting room assisting the Doctor.

  Skinner demonstrated his pigeon-guided system again, as he had done years before. He had kept a number of trained operators who performed with astounding accuracy after nearly two years of no practice. The Doctor explained that since the pigeons used eye sight they were not vulnerable to radar jammers, noises, explosions, etc.

  The pigeons could, however, be blinded or “spoofed”, a term coined by Jim. By spoofed Jim meant fooled by optical illusion. This phenomenon was observed after only a few tries. The Razzle Dazzle paint schemes used in World War One proved to be the most effective. In fact, Skinner’s handful of pigeons we
re spoofed 100% of the time.

  Skinner cautioned that the pigeons could be retrained to recognize the new paint scheme. Retraining would take months. Concurrently, he and his coworkers were working on other solutions as well. Another alternative would be smoke screens. The challenge with this concept would be the continuous nature of keeping the screens active throughout the day and what that would do to normal naval operations.

  Also, the Doctor touched on the fact that the Soviets had combined infrared instruments and his guidance system to shoot down night fighters and bombers. He pointed out that ships were warmer than the waters that surrounded them and the Reds could once again adapt his system to target ships even through smoke.

  Initially flares could be used with the hope that the pigeons would be attracted to the brightest heat source. With this scenario, the pigeons could be retrained in a few months to aim for the largest heat source or one that had the outline of a ship.

  In the short run, he suggested that the Razzle Dazzle paint scheme be instituted immediately by all ships and even strategic bombers. Repainting would give the NATO fleet at least three months of respite, if not more. In the meantime, the ORCON Board would have to support and push the implementation of the other defenses he outlined. Skinner hoped that the Soviets would follow his research path. At the same time it was hoped that the Reds would not develop innovative solutions that Skinner’s team had missed.

  Plain and Simple

  In the end, the long-term solution was plain and simple. They had to win the war. They had to stop the missiles at their source. Soon, even the great distance of the Atlantic Ocean would not be enough to stop what were being coined, Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles. V2 rockets with nuclear warheads were already on American and British drawing boards. It was feared that the Soviets were keeping apace, if not ahead, of NATO’s efforts.