Able Sentry

by John Schettler

  With nothing but its short range HQ-10’s, Nanchang was dangerously exposed, but seeing these land based SAM’s light up the night gave the crew heart. They would be enough to protect the ship as it made port. The two Chinese missile boats that had been heading to Aden from Djibouti would never arrive.

  So round one in the battle for Aden had concluded, the bell ringing to send the opposing fighters to their respective corners. Admiral Wells knew that he had enough clout to quickly deplete Nanchang, but had to bulk up on his strike if he was to put damage on the ship serious enough to take it out of the battle. His problem was logistics, as he now had only 60 SPEAR’s remaining in the magazines. The positions of the three Chinese SAM batteries were now also clearly located, but the first attempt to get at them with six Storm Shadows had failed. They also had to be successively engaged to deplete their SAM’s, and he wondered how many missiles the enemy had stockpiled there. How long could they fight?

  Even if he had clear air superiority, and now outnumbered the Chinese navy here five to one in the local ship count, this battle would be tougher than he first thought. As long as that destroyer held forth in that ancient fortress city of 800,000 people, it would be like a great Moray Eel in its cave, waiting to strike any passing ship. It simply had to be sunk. He realized that allowing the Canberra to lead forward might be a mistake, and so he signaled Vice Admiral Moran to advise him to reduce speed and allow his TF to take the lead.

  Now Nanchang reached the RO/RO berth where crews and cranes were standing by to begin the long process of refilling the ship’s VLS bay. It would take them many hours, and in that same interval, the planes aboard the British carrier were being rearmed and refueled for round two.

  It would start in a most unexpected way.

  02:30 Local, 4 JAN 2026 – Aden

  Captain Jiang Li was pacing, one eye on the loading operation that was still underway, the other on his watch. Yaogan-32B was just about to make its pass, and right over the position of the British fleet. It was his hope that would give him some fix on the enemy ships that would be actionable.

  He could no longer get any help from Riyan to the northeast. That base had been neutralized by another British task force under HMS Victorious. In fact, the enemy had already put troops ashore, and seized the base.

  Now he was beginning to feel more and more isolated, one of three Chinese bases that served to guard the approach to the Red Sea. Yet there was nothing at either Djibouti or Massawa to help him either, just a few ground troops sweating it out and awaiting their fate, which he now saw as inevitable. Yet Massawa on the western coast of the Red Sea had already sent all its remaining aircraft to Al Anad airfield, about 25 miles north of the harbor. They weren’t much, just a half dozen JH-7B Flying Leopards, but the weapon they could carry was quite dangerous.

  The Leopard was a plane akin to the British Tornado or Jaguar, a maritime strike plane that was carrying the YJ-12 high supersonic cruise missile. In fact, the missile was every bit as fast as the new American HAWC that had just been tested in combat the previous day. It could reach speeds of up to 1600 knots, and carried a 200KG warhead that would crush a frigate or destroyer if it struck them at that speed. These six planes, and three J-10’s, were now the only air assets that remained in theater for the Chinese, and they were about to strike.

  At 02:40, Saber Scout, a lone F-35 about 100 miles west of the fleet, saw the speedy missiles skimming over the sea at 1450 knots, and flashed a warning. That sent orders for an immediate scramble of the three ready F-35’s armed for air defense, and Saber Scout was cleared to engage as well.

  The Vampires veered towards the Australians again, clearly the object of the enemy’s offensive ire in all these attacks. Saber Scout turned to keep the Vampires painted with its radars. Then fired every Meteor it had. Help also came from a flight of three American F-35C’s sent by Roosevelt to Ras Karma on Socotra. They were headed to the newly captured field at Riyan, and they had an amazing new missile, the Lockheed Martin AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile. It was America’s answer to the Chinese PL-15, and it had a range of 120 nautical miles, with deadly accuracy.

  The ready F-35’s would not get off the deck in time, but the Meteors from Saber Scout and those American Panthers got many kills, leaving just two YJ-12’s inbound. Fifteen miles out, it was up to the ESSM’s in Canberra’s defensive screen, and several of the frigates joined the action, with the laurels going to Perth and Arunta for knocking down those last two missiles.

  Yet that was not to be the last of those speed demons. The SSM battery at Aden was located on a long spur extending into the Arabian Sea from the volcanic caldera, known as Ras Marshaq. It had a dozen YJ-12’s, and there was a second battery on Little Aden at Ras Salil with twelve more. The Australian TF had just begun to enter the outer arc of their range circle, though only the battery on the eastern fist was able to lock on to three Australian ships. It sent out two YJ-12’s at each as further warning shots.

  The 03:00 CAP patrol was just taking off from Prince of Wales when the Chinese missiles fired. It would get into the star sewn sky just as the Vampires were detected by HMS Daring, about 110 miles out. By the time the F-35’s got aloft and headed west, the Vampires were making their terminal run. Meteors fired, charging out to get two kills, but the remaining four bored in, and only FFG Stuart was able to lock on to the lead missile. The other two frigates were struggling to lock on, but DDG Hobart got a solution and began firing SM-2.

  It was a very close shave, with three kills before the last missile jogged right to select an alternate target and came at FFG Perth, finally caught by an SM-2 off Hobart just 3 miles out. The difference was in the electronics on the destroyer, which were sharper.

  Admiral Wells didn’t like what he was seeing, and looking up the range of the YJ-12, he decided the fleet would operate just outside that marker from that point on until they could suppress or destroy those batteries. So he sent an order for the Canberra group to divert southeast out of harm’s way, and slowed his own task force to make a turn. Then he took stock of his air wing.

  Prince of Wales was carrying just 16 F-35B’s after losses in the earlier engagements. There were now two planes from Saber Squadron ready on the flight deck for CAP, and as the 03:00 CAP had engaged, it had to return to the ship to rearm. So it would be another three hours for the rest of Saber flight to be spotted on deck. Having just those two ready fighters was not a problem in his mind, as he did not expect any enemy air threats for some time. As for Whalesign, that squadron now had six planes armed for Strike with the SPEAR, and three more rearming with Storm Shadow.

  He decided to put in a call to the Yanks at Berbera to see if they could help interdiction efforts against these missile attacks. Due south of Aden, that base was in a perfect position to cut off the Vampires root and stem as they fired. In that call, he also learned that they had eight strike fighters arming, and he asked if they might coordinate with his effort. It was decided the next operation would be slated for dawn, but they would wait to see if the Chinese destroyer came out for another round. Wells reasoned that would be the earliest time the enemy destroyer could be operational again, taking six hours to reload all those VLS cells.

  So Talisman Saber would wait, and the Admiral got some much needed sleep, ready to look at the situation again at 06:00. The plan for the daylight hours of January 4th would be interdiction. If Nanchang stayed in port, then the goal would be to beat down the land based SAM and SSM sites. If the destroyer sortied again, then the mission would shift immediately to naval strike. Just after dawn, the planes on all sides were ready, and the bout would renew.

  Captain Jiang Li did not disappoint. He realized that simply sitting in port was dangerous, and that he had to get some open sea in front of him so the ship could maneuver, so at 06:30, he answered the bell and sortied with Liuzhou. This time, he would linger close to the port, and still inside its defensive SAM umbrella. That, combined with his own SAM’s, gave him a fairly potent defense.


  As he was slowly cruising out between the two fists of Aden, a pair of Raptors carrying 8 GBU-39 glide bombs each took off from Berbera. They were followed quickly by two F-35’s with JSOW, and the six Super Toms with Slammers. The British had Whalesign-6 six up as they did the previous day with SPEAR’s, and Whalesign-3 was carrying Storm Shadow.[1] Since the US Osprey Crow’s Nest at Berbera was not yet ready for operations, the morning CAP, a pair of F-24 Wildcats, would orbit with radars on active mode. They had about 40 minutes fuel left, but there were two more ready to take their place at Berbera. The Nightwatch Hawkeye from Socotra was also up, far to the east over the cape of Somalia, but it would need to RTB in about 30 minutes.

  When the Hellcats confirmed the Chinese warships had sortied, Wells flashed the mission code parameter “Nelson,” indicating he wanted emphasis on naval strike wherever possible. All but the two Raptors on the American side would comply, as their GBU-39 was a dedicated land attack munition.

  The Chinese came out with a warning electronic scream, immediately going to active radars and offensive ECM jamming. The only planes they saw on radar were the Super Toms, about 118 miles south of Aden. By 07:00 all flights were in position and the attack began, and with everything targeting Nanchang.

  “Be advised, all flights, cleared hot on Flag, over.”

  Seconds later, the ordnance was in the air, and the Chinese flagship was already firing at the incoming Slammers. It would be a fight very much like the first round, with the Chinese ships having full VLS bays to blast away the Vampires. All the SPEAR’s would be defeated, along with the Storm Shadow attack on a SAM battery. Three of 16 GBU-39’s penetrated to the RO/RO Berth and did minor damage there, and all the Slammers were batted aside. Yet the secondary damage was to the missile count on Nanchang. It had taken all her HQ-9B’s to parry the attack, and she was once more required to retire to port to reload. The land based HQ-9A batteries were now down to just six missiles, and there were no reloads. Only the two HQ-16B sites had enough in the magazines to replenish, about 24 missiles each.

  Just 15 nautical miles from the berth at the so called “Oil Port” on Little Aden, the two Chinese warships turned to dock again, notifying the ground crews to be ready once more. What Captain Jiang Li did not know at that moment was that the cupboards were getting bare. He would not find enough ordnance remaining to fully replenish his ship….

  On the British side, things were no better. Sir Frederick came up to the Flag Bridge to notify Admiral Wells of the situation. “Sir, we’re down to just a dozen SPEAR’s and fourteen Storm Shadows. We’ll have to switch to Brimstone. Plenty of that lot down below.”

  “Brimstone…” said Wells. “Damn things haven’t got any range. They were supposed to be for the land action support phase of this donnybrook. We’ve thrown 96 SPEAR’s at them, and not even scratched the paint on their ships. The thing now is this… How many SAM’s have they got left at Aden? If that bloody destroyer comes out for a fight again, sending the wing after it with Brimstone will be dangerous. I won’t do it. They’ll have to get in close, just 26 miles out. It’s a hell of a time to run down on our only real standoff munition.”

  “Well sir,” said Sir Frederick. “What about the surface ships? Argos Fire was with Victorious, but that group has been heading our way for the last few hours. They’ve got the LRASM.”

  “Right Freddie… You may be onto something there. Get hold of Victorious and see what they have left in their magazine. As things stand, we’re sitting here with just 48 SSM’s in this task force, but if we pull the fleet together again, we can damn well face this fellow down, and then some. That will have to be the plan, and it looks like they’ll be at least six hours reloading their own ships in port. In that time, we’ll link up with the rest of the fleet, and then show them what they’re up against. We’ve won the battle for control of the Gulf of Aden, but we still have to clear them out of Aden and Djibouti. That’s the heart of Talisman Saber, and its best we get on with it.”

  Part III

  Talisman Saber

  “We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”

  ― Pascal Mercier

  Chapter 7

  12:00 Local, 4 JAN 2026

  The missiles only go so far. All things run down and deplete, and this battle had been a grinding duel of attrition up until this point. Admiral Wells learned that Victorious had Skybolt Squadron loaded with SPEAR’s, seven planes, but no more in the magazines. Their situation was therefore no better than Prince of Wales. The American planes at Berbera had helped a good deal. They had exhausted all their SLAM-ER’s, but still had 24 LRASM and 48 GBU-53’s in their larders.

  The Chinese Captain Jiang Li found that instead of the normal loadout of 96 HQ-9B’s, there were only 72 left in the magazines at Aden. He made up the difference by using those empty cells to load YJ-100’s and YJ-18 cruise missiles, and that was the last of those in theater. His six JH-7A strike planes still had the YJ-12, and his two SSM batteries had 18 more of those between them. So both sides were keeping their powder dry, and preparing for the final shootout at High Noon.

  CV Victorious under Captain Grant arrived with the Argos Fire, DDG’s Legion and Lightning, Type 42 DDG York and Type 23 Frigates Kenya and Norfolk. That TF had 32 LRASM-B’s on the Argos Fire, and 32 Naval Strike missiles, with another 16 Harpoons. Added to the 48 SSM’s in Wells’ TF, the fleet could throw 128 SSM’s, assuming they got close enough to use the shorter range missiles.

  Against this, Captain Jiang Li had 24 YJ-100, 24 YJ-18, another 30 YJ-12s from the planes and shore batteries, and eight shorter range YJ-83’s, a total of 86 ship killers. Considering that 73 of the British missiles were of shorter range, (100 miles or less) the odds were not too bad for the Chinese. They had good missiles, with both range and speed, but on defense, the British had the edge with many more SAM’s spread across the fleet. The shortage of HQ-9’s for Nanchang could be fatal.

  Admiral Wells knew he would expose the fleet to harm again inside the 215 range marker, so his standing order would be to stay beyond that circle. The weakness of his carrier air wing in the standoff strike role gave him few choices. He either closed and accepted surface action with the enemy, or he could not carry out his orders to clear Aden and Djibouti. That being the case, he decided to use the Skybolt flight off Victorious to try and deplete Nanchang, and then close for the kill with his surface fleet.

  12:15 Local 4 JAN 2026

  “Wolfpack, Wildcat-2. The cat is out of the bag. Over.”

  “Roger Wildcat. Stay on them. Wolfpack out.”

  The noon CAP patrol of two F-24’s had just spotted the Chinese ships emerging from the bay between the twin fists of Aden, and that alert was quickly shared with the British fleet. But Captain Jiang Li was not going far. That night, he had been haunted by the men that all went into the sea as he made his disastrous retreat to Aden the previous day. The morning engagement had been uneventful, nothing but a waste of missile power on either side. This time, he could sense that something decisive was in the offing. The news on the radio spoke of battle on the Sinai Peninsula between the Israelis and Egypt. They are trying to open the Suez Canal, he thought. And that is what this battle is all about. To do that, they must also control the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

  He had the great urge to charge out of the harbor and once again attempt to close with his adversary, but he knew that would be foolish. No, now he was playing goalie, guarding Aden at close quarters, and drawing strength from that castle on the edge of the sea. The Gulf of Aden was the last place he wanted to be now. That hidden submarine that had feasted on his stragglers like a terrible predator shark was still out there somewhere. Possibly waiting for him to sortie at that moment. So he would stay very close to home. The British would have to come to him, and he waited….

  * * *

  “Skybolt-7, Merlin. Come to 270 and r
educe speed to 350. Saber-3, take position ahead as ordered.”

  Whether or not the Chinese could pose an air threat, Wells ordered his Saber flight of three fighters to lead the strike in. At 12:50, the British planes detected bandits to the west vectoring on their position, and were somewhat perplexed. The enemy had no AEW assets, nor had they ever seen the F-35’s on approach before. Why now?

  The answer was simple. The Chinese had no idea the F-35’s were even out there, but their sixth sense told them to go look anyway. The course the last three J-10’s out of Al Anad took was pure happenstance, looking like an intercept vector when it was really just a guess on the part of the Chinese.

  “Skybolt-7, Merlin. Hold position and loiter. Saber-3, engage bandits. Over.”

  And that was that. The Meteors found those three J-10’s before they ever saw an enemy plane on radar. The Chinese J-10 had proved to be little more than a target in any scenario where it was engaged by more modern fighters.

  “Skybolt-7, Merlin. Continue to hold position and loiter. Saber-3, come left to 260 and proceed.”

  If the Chinese saw the F-35’s that delivered the killing blow, they wanted their eyes to follow them away from the strike planes.

  “Merlin, Wildcat-2. Be advised—the Cat is headed for the litter box and just three miles out. Over.”

  “Roger Wildcat. Skybolt, continue to hold. Merlin out.”

  Complications….

  The engagement that took down those three J-10’s had alerted the Chinese ships to the fact that British fighters were in the air, and it was not too much of a leap of faith to assume they were heading for Nanchang with their SPEAR’S.