by James Rosone
Having trained to do this type of operation only once, the flight crews were proving that the heavy emphasis on training by the Navy was paying off. Aircraft were landing and being turned right around for the next flight in record time, which also allowed room for the additional aircraft to land. With several of the carriers having been sunk or heavily damaged, there wasn’t a lot of flight deck real estate to go around.
While the American aircraft were being readied to go after the Chinese fleet and naval aircraft, a series of Tomahawk cruise missiles, which had been fired by two of the Ticonderoga guided-missile cruisers, hit the five Chinese merchant raiders, just as they were beginning to launch a series of missiles aimed at the US Air Force base on Guam. The five converted cargo ships quickly sank, preventing them from being able to further hit the critical air base or launch any other missiles at the fleet.
*******
Hainan Island, China
South China Sea Fleet Headquarters
Vice Admiral Shen was beside himself when he learned his merchant raiders had been sunk. They had managed to successfully fire off several volleys of anti-ship missiles, which had proved his theory that merchant raiders could still play a pivotal role in modern naval warfare. Unfortunately, they had only been able to launch sixteen cruise missiles at the American air base on Guam before they were sunk.
“I should have known the Americans would have had a submarine or some other ship in the area that would be able to sink them,” he thought in regret. He wished that he had had them launch all their missiles at the Americans at once instead.
Turning to one of his officers, he asked the question on all of their minds. “How were the Americans able to shoot down so many of our missiles?” he barked. “A significantly larger percentage of them should have gotten through, and we should have caused far more damage to the fleet than we did.”
“Sir, while the Americans did intercept a larger percentage of missiles than we’d predicted, we still scored a great victory. We sank one more of the American carriers, and two more suffered heavy damage. One of the Japanese carriers was sunk, and the other two sustained heavy damage. We also damaged or sunk another thirty-eight American warships,” the officer responded, not accepting this as a defeat on any level.
“I want our aircraft to attack now. Order the carriers and land-based aircraft to launch their attack immediately. We need to finish off their fleet!” Shen ordered. He hoped his remaining naval assets would be more than enough to finish the Americans off. Somehow, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that the Americans were about to hit back, hard.
*******
“Fast Eagle Six. This is November Six. Engage hostile ships. Get some payback for us, will you?” ordered Captain Grisham, the captain of the USS John C. Stennis.
“November Six, that’s a good copy. We’re moving to engage now,” Commander Greg Carlson replied, to the excitement of his fellow pilots. “You heard the captain. It’s time to go get some payback. Stay alert, guys, and let’s go sink some enemy ships.”
The Super Hornets in Commander Carlson’s squadron were armed with two long-range anti-ship missiles, or LRASM, which DARPA had helped to pioneer several years ago. The Navy only had a limited quantity of these missiles, so they were being used sparingly. The LRASM was a stealthy anti-ship cruise missile that had a range of 560 kilometers and packed a 450-kilogram warhead. Lockheed Martin had been running round-the-clock production of the missiles to get them in service for this specific battle, and if things worked out, it might just prove to be the decisive weapon needed to destroy the Chinese fleet.
Breathing heavily, Commander Carlson looked around to make sure his pilots were all where they were supposed to be while his backseater, Lieutenant Molly Balmer, made sure they had the proper target punched into the computer. His aircraft had been given the honor of targeting his two missiles at one of the three PLA Navy carriers.
Lieutenant Balmer cleared her throat. “Boss, we’re coming up on 320 kilometers from the enemy fleet. Weapons free in sixty seconds. You ready?” she asked.
“Copy that,” he responded. He switched over to the squadron net. “Sixty seconds to weapons free. Let’s get ready, folks.”
The minute went by in the blink of an eye. Carlson lifted the arming button for his missiles. “Weapons ready,” he called.
“Targets locked, ready to fire,” Balmer replied.
Commander Carlson hit the fire button once and felt the weight of the first anti-ship missile fall from underneath his wings. Then he depressed the button again. In seconds, the aircraft was 5,000 pounds lighter. The small wings of the cruise missiles opened up and the engines started. Commander Carlson watched the missiles for the briefest of seconds to make sure they had ignition and then turned his attention back to making sure they weren’t being tracked by any of the numerous enemy aircraft heading toward them.
“I show both weapons have acquired their targets and are moving to engage,” Balmer informed him.
“Good copy. Time to go home,” he replied. He turned the aircraft to head for the Stennis. They would land, refuel and, if need be, rearm with more Harpoon missiles and finish off whatever enemy ships remained.
*******
Commodore Zhou Dongyou sweated profusely as he listened to the radar operators frantically call out the nearly one hundred American cruise missiles heading toward their fleet.
“Commander, when you identify a missile headed toward our ship, you make sure you target it first before we target any of the missiles headed to the Mao, is that understood?” barked Zhou, not at all happy that their illustrious strike group commander had demanded that all the fleet’s defenses focus on protecting the Mao at the expense of themselves and the other carriers.
“What about our orders?” the commander asked in an irritated tone. The conversation suddenly drew in the gaze of several men around them.
Zhou knew he could be in a lot of trouble for countermanding the admiral’s order, but he also knew the chances of any of them surviving if they focused all their weapons on protecting the Mao were slim to none.
“I have a duty to protect my crew, and my ship,” he thought.
Commodore Zhou squared back his shoulders and stood a little taller before replying. “I am responsible for the safety of this ship and its crew. I cannot fulfill that duty if I am not allowed to defend my ship. You will target the enemy missiles headed toward us first, and then assist the Mao when feasible. Is that understood, Commander?” he directed, a bit of heat in his voice.
“The missiles are closing to within twenty kilometers!” shouted one of the radar operators.
At this distance, the carrier’s close-in point defense systems readied themselves to engage the incoming threats. While the bulk of the American missiles were nearing the carrier’s defenses, the Liaoning was suddenly struck on the port side by four missiles. The explosions sent shockwaves throughout the ship, throwing crew members to the ground and temporarily knocking out power to the ship.
“What just hit us?” shouted Commodore Zhou as he looked for answers.
“Point defenses are engaging enemy missiles now!” yelled one of the young officers as the carrier’s HQ-10 antimissile system and the Type 1130 CIWS did their best to shoot down the remaining American missiles.
In seconds, another eight missiles impacted against the side of the ship. The fires that had been burning aboard now quickly spread as damage to key structures caused secondary explosions. Before Commodore Zhou could say anything further, the bridge section he was standing on took direct hit from a third wave of cruise missiles to hit his ship, killing him instantly.
*******
In less than twenty minutes, the American fleet had successfully sunk the three Chinese carriers and the majority of their defending ships. With the enemy fleet essentially destroyed, the Americans began to pursue the remnants of the PLA Navy to officially finish off any naval threat to the landing force that would soon move to liberate the Philippines.
<
br /> Pyrrhic Victory
Washington, D.C.
White House
“This is great news, Jim. We defeated the Chinese Navy and sank their fleet!” the President exclaimed jovially.
Castle was a bit more subdued. “Yes, Mr. President. As of three hours ago, our Allied fleet sank the last of the Chinese warships in the South China Sea. We’ve officially cleared the waterways around the Philippines, Taiwan, and most of the South China Sea for the next phase of our operations. However, it was a pyrrhic victory, Mr. President.”
The President went from elated to a bit more somber. While the Allies had defeated the Chinese naval forces in the Pacific, it had come at a terrible cost in lives, treasure, and ships.
McMillian, the National Security Advisor, chimed in, “What was the finally tally on our losses, Jim?”
The SecDef sighed as he walked around the couch in the Oval Office and took a seat opposite McMillian. He then opened his folder and placed his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose as he began to look over the numbers.
“We lost the Nimitz, and the Eisenhower was also taken out of commission. The Stennis took a number of missile hits but is still operational; however, she’ll need a lot of repairs once she returns to port. The Japanese lost two of their light carriers, and a third was heavily damaged. Those are just the carrier losses.”
He paused for a second to let that sink in. “We also lost seven Ticonderoga guided-missile cruisers, twenty-three Arleigh Burke destroyers, two Virginia-class attack submarines and four Los Angeles attack submarines…All told, 13,000 sailors lost their lives, and roughly 14,000 were injured. We won the battle, Mr. President, but it has largely devastated our Navy. It’ll take us decades to replace the number of ships lost, let alone reach our original goal of a 600-ship Navy. The loss of the Nimitz makes three carriers that have been completely destroyed and three more that will need to be taken out of action due to battle damage.”
Gates sat back on the couch as the gravity of what the SecDef said began to set in. In less than a year, the Navy had lost nearly one-third of their vessels, with very little chance of replacing them before this war would be over. However, what really tore at the President was the loss of life. This was a horrific loss for the Navy and their country.
“What do we do next?” asked Gates.
“We continue to prosecute the war, Mr. President,” Castle answered. “We will work to isolate the enemy and systematically destroy his will to fight. As terrible as our losses are, the Chinese suffered worse, and those losses aren’t going to be hidden from their public. In the Philippines and Taiwan, we’ll move to interdict their supply ships and systematically destroy their capability to defend the islands until our Marines are ready to move forward with their invasion.”
Pausing for a second, the SecDef took his reading glasses off and placed them on the table. “This is going to be a long war, Mr. President. Nothing has changed. We continue with the current plan we have, and we defeat the enemy.”
*******
The following morning, as the President prepared his remarks, he tried to keep in mind that the country had been reeling from one crisis to another. The nation still wasn’t over the vicious attack in Ohio by the Russian Spetsnaz, and now they were learning about the horrific loss of life in the greatest naval battle in the Pacific since World War II. There was only so much the people could handle before they just became numb to it.
“Are you ready, Mr. President?” asked Press Secretary Linda Wagner.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go talk to the American people. I’ll try to do my best not to take too many questions from the wolves and to stay on message,” he replied, knowing his press team hated it when he went off script.
A couple of minutes went by with Linda briefly talking with the press before she motioned for one of the aides to open the side door for the President, letting him know that it was time.
Gates instantly heard the electronic shuttering of dozens of cameras as they took pictures of him entering the press briefing room. The President stopped as he walked through the entrance and just paused for a second, as Linda looked at him, willing him to come to the podium. Knowing he needed to speak to the country, he drew up some inner courage and walked up to take Linda’s place in front of the reporters and the cameras that had all zoomed in, ready to capture what he would say next.
He pulled a few notecards out of his front jacket pocket and placed them on the podium before turning his attention back to the cameras, doing his best not to look at the individual reporters for the time being. He wanted his focus to be on the cameras, which would be beaming his image to the country, and the families who had lost loved ones in yesterday’s battles.
“My fellow Americans, I come to you today with a heavy heart, and news to report to you of the war. Yesterday, our gallant sailors and airmen went into battle against the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy and were victorious.” Before the President could say another word, several of the reporters applauded, and then a few more joined in until everyone was clapping. He raised his hand to get them to stop so he could resume speaking.
“There’s a bit more that I need to say, and not all of it is good news. Our forces fought side-by-side with the brave sailors of Japan as we jointly fought against the expansion of the Eastern Alliance being led by the Russians and Chinese. While this battle was ultimately a victory, it came at a high cost to our nation. During the grueling battle that stretched on for many hours, the supercarrier USS Nimitz was sunk.”
Audible gasps filled the room. Reporters frantically scribbled down notes and began sending texts and tweets of what the President had just said.
“The supercarriers USS Eisenhower and USS John Stennis also suffered major damage and loss of life. During the conflict, thirty other US naval warships and six submarines were also lost. Our Japanese allies lost two of their own carriers with a third heavily damaged, along with eight destroyers. Loss in lives and ships from this battle was high, and each soul that was lost was a brave hero for our nation—but make no mistake, the Allies defeated the Chinese Navy, and they have been removed as a threat to the world. Yesterday’s battle was the first step in the eventual liberation of the Philippines and the restoration of the democratically elected government of the Republic of China.”
The President paused again, looking down at a few bullet points on the three-by-five card he had in front of him. When he looked back up again, he saw the faces of the reporters. A few of the women had cried, and they were trying to hide the fact that their mascara was smearing as they tried to dab away the tears. A male reporter also wiped away a tear and was trying to look stoic as he waited for the President to continue.
“As a nation, we the people of the United States of America long for peace. For more than two centuries, our nation has been a beacon of hope and a bastion of freedom that has welcomed with open arms those looking to flee oppression and persecution. Since the end of the Second World War, America has stood as the standard-bearer of freedom. We stood up to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and we stood up to the savage terrorists who sought to destroy our way of life during the War on Terror. In all of these struggles, America has never sought conquests, nor have we sought to subjugate the nations of the world, but rather, we’ve come to the aid of those in need and given shelter to those being persecuted.”
“This war was thrust upon us—started as a surprise attack by the Russian Federation on US and NATO Forces in Europe. They came at us like thieves in the night and attacked us without a declaration of war. Within months of the war in Europe starting, the People’s Republic of China encouraged the North Korean regime to attack South Korea and US forces. When we found out about the timeline for the war, we were left with no options other than to launch a preemptive attack in hopes that we could destroy the Lee regime’s nuclear weapons before they could be used. While our gallant forces were successful in destroying a vast quantity of the regime’s nuclear w
eapons, Lee Pak was still able to launch a series of ICBMs at our country, ultimately leading to the destruction of Oakland and most of the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Gates paused and looked down as he mentioned California. It tore at him that he wasn’t able to do more to protect the country from such a devastating weapon. He often wondered if ordering the preemptive attack had ultimately led to the city’s destruction.
“With the resumption of the Second Korean War, the Chinese launched a brutal surprise attack on our naval and ground forces in Asia. They then went on to invade the Island of Taiwan and the Philippines. Even now, they threaten our other allies, Australia and New Zealand. The Russians and the Chinese have openly stated that they won’t end this war until America and the West have either surrendered or are defeated. They’ve gone so far as to create the Eastern Alliance and convinced the nations of India, Iran and many others to join them in their global conquest for world domination.”
Anger burned in his eyes. “I, like many of you, wish it hadn’t come to this. I long for peace with our enemies, but I won’t accept defeat and the subjugation of the American people at the hands of the Eastern Alliance. Our nation has suffered, and we’ve sacrificed too much to give up now. I ask that you continue to unite together. We cannot give up. We must not give into their demands, and we must continue to fight on until victory has been achieved.”
He took a deep breath. “With that, I will take some of your questions,” he concluded.
“Mr. President! How many service members died yesterday in the naval battle? When will the official numbers be released, along with a more detailed description of the battle?” shouted a reporter from one of the major networks.
