by Don Brown
A voice boomed over the ship’s 1MC: “All officers report to the bridge.”
Fred cursed and checked his watch. He dropped the cancer stick on the deck, kicked it overboard, and watched the breeze sweep it into the drink.
He stepped into a steel passageway illuminated by bright fluorescent lights. A moment later, he stepped onto the bridge.
“Sorry to interrupt your smoking break, Doc.” The ship’s commanding officer, Captain Leonard Kruger, was standing behind a wooden podium, making a point of looking at his watch. Affectionately known by his wife and crew members behind his back as “Lenny,” the punctuality-conscious captain blazed an irritated stare right at Fred. “Long night in sick bay?”
“My apologies, Skipper.” Fred took the last seat in the semicircle of chairs around the CO.
“Very well,” Kruger said, “let’s get started.” The captain pointed to the XO, who hit a button that projected a map of the South China Sea on the overhead. “Gentlemen, pay close attention.” The skipper sipped hot black coffee. “As you know, the president has ordered the Vinson Strike Group into the South China Sea. Our ship, the Vicksburg, is at the tip of that strike group. Our mission: step into a hornet’s nest and stop a war.
“As I speak to you now, we’re just entering the South China Sea.” The captain slowed his cadence. “This mission may be the most dangerous that the US Navy has undertaken since World War II.”
The officers on the bridge raised eyebrows and exchanged concerned glances.
“The only American surface ships in the area right now are the USS Vicksburg, our sister ship USS Shiloh, and the USS Emory S. Land, which is a lightly armed sub tender. Emory Land is one hundred miles out in front of us. It was already in the area before the president issued his order.
“Shiloh is twenty miles off our left flank, just behind us. The carrier and the rest of our naval firepower are way back to our rear, just sailing from Japan. Since we’re the lead warship entering the fray, our position is vulnerable. Some of you know Lieutenant Commander Gunner McCormick.” The skipper nodded at a trim, muscular officer wearing wash-khakis and sporting closely cropped hair sprinkled with a few grays.
Fred had heard of McCormick, who had a reputation as a swashbuckling intelligence officer who had served with SEAL units in Afghanistan and had been awarded two Navy Crosses for heroism—one for some questionable activities he was involved with in Korea.
“Commander McCormick is the senior intelligence officer on the carrier group staff. Admiral McPherson has flown him out here by chopper to brief us.” The skipper glanced over at the commander. “The deck is yours, Gunner.”
“Thank you, sir.” McCormick, a former college quarterback who still had the build of one, stood and moved to where the captain had been behind the podium. “Good morning, gentlemen.”
“Morning,” a few mumbled.
“The skipper’s right. Our naval task force is steaming into a dangerous situation. Let me start with a bit of history about the relevant players.” McCormick slipped on a pair of black plastic government-issued reading glasses.
“As many of you know, Taiwan and Communist China hate each other.” He adjusted the glasses. “This mutual hatred reignited just after World War II, when Communist rebels waged a civil war against Chiang Kai-shek and the nationalist government on the mainland. By December of 1949, the Commies had pushed the good guys off the mainland, and Chiang Kai-shek moved the nationalist government to Taipei, on the island of Taiwan. Mao Zedong established the Communist government in Beijing.
“Chiang Kai-shek maintained that the government in Taiwan was the legitimate Chinese government, and the US recognized that position up until 1979, when President Jimmy Carter finally recognized the commies in Beijing. However, we kept Taiwan as an ally, even though we didn’t grant it diplomatic status or put an official embassy there or even recognize it as a nation. Still, the US has made a commitment to protect it.”
The skipper nodded at the supply officer. “Lieutenant?”
The supply officer hit a switch and a map appeared on the overhead.
“This, gentlemen,” McCormick continued, “is the South China Sea …
Area of the South China Sea, with the Paracel and Spratly Island groups
“The area within the lower rectangle shows the Spratly Islands. One hundred islands are scattered throughout these waters.
“Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines claim parts of the Spratlys. But Taiwan and China each claim them all. They’re uninhabited, except for small military units on forty-five of the islands claimed by these five nations. Minor skirmishes have occurred between the countries, but there’s been nothing like what’s brewing between China and Taiwan right now.”
A hand shot up.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Excuse me, sir,” the weapons officer said. “What’s the value of these islands to these countries?”
“Good question, Lieutenant,” McCormick said. “The answer is natural gas.” A brief pause. “China”—he tapped at the top of the map— “decreed last year that all cars manufactured there over the next four years be fueled by natural gas.
“China’s become the world’s largest producer of goods, and their consumption of fossil fuels has skyrocketed. So they adopted this natural gas mandate to reduce their dependence on foreign oil. Then Chinese petroleum engineers discovered huge natural gas reserves in the waters around one of the Spratly Islands, an island known as Itu Aba.”
He nodded at the supply officer. “Lieutenant, a close-up of the middle of the first map, please.”
“Aye, sir.”
Another map screen flashed up.
The Spratly Islands and Itu Aba Island
“Here’s a close-up of that sector, showing the Spratlys in the middle of the South China Sea. You can see Itu Aba in the upper portion of this map. This is the grand prize in the fight between China and Taiwan, gentlemen. Itu Aba. Huge natural gas reserves are below the shallow waters around it.
“Less than a mile in length, two-tenths of a mile wide, Itu Aba was a Japanese sub base in World War II. China controlled it after the war, and then Taiwan controlled the island after the Communist revolution in China. Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, how far is the island between the Philippines and Vietnam?”
McCormick set down his coffee mug and picked up a bottled water. “Lieutenant, put the map back up on the screen, full scale, will you?”
“Yes, sir.” The image of the South China Sea region reappeared.
“Very well. Now Itu Aba is here, represented by a diamond on this chart.”
The South China Sea region
“Itu Aba is 900 miles from the southern tip of Taiwan. So looking at this graphic with the center of the clock being the diamond from which these arrows radiate, Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam, is at 9:30 on the clock, almost 400 miles from ground zero. Hainan Island in China is at 10:30, and that’s almost 600 miles out. The southern tip of Taiwan is at one o’clock, and that is 900 miles away. Our naval task force is represented by the star between Luzon and Taiwan, now just entering the South China Sea, except for Emory Land, which is already on station operating closer to the Paracel Islands.
“Now, moving down to the right of Itu Aba Island, Puerto Princesa, Philippines, is at about 3:05 and is 300 miles away. Everybody got the geography straight?”
Nods of heads.
“Very well. Taiwan built an airstrip on Itu Aba large enough to land C-130s, and it’s had a military detachment stationed there”—he looked around the bridge—”that is, until last week, when Chinese forces attacked the island, killed Taiwanese Marines and Coast Guardsmen stationed there, and we think are getting ready to drill for natural gas.” Another sip of bottled water. “Taiwan doesn’t like it, and right now, even as I speak, they’re sending a shipload of Marines from Taipei to attack the Chinese.”
McCormick set the bottled water down on a metal table beside the podium. “Questions?”
Se
veral hands shot up.
“Ensign Whitaker?”
“Sir, how did the Chinese forces hit the island?”
“Helicopter attack. We think a squadron of the newer Z-10s. Rocket attacks, then machine-gun fire. Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Excuse me, sir. But that’s a fourteen-hundred mile round trip from Itu Aba to the nearest point in China. Do these choppers have that kind of range?”
“Great question,” McCormick said. “As you know, China was never in the aircraft carrier business. At least not until 1998, when they bought an unfinished, still-under-construction aircraft carrier from Ukraine. Lieutenant, flip it to … uh … I think it’s slide thirty-six.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Ah, yes. I thought that was the right slide.” McCormick switched back to coffee. “This ship, gentlemen, was once the Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag. The Soviets were building her in Ukraine in 1991 when the Cold War ended. The hull was completed, but no engines had been installed. Then Russia and Ukraine ran out of money.
“So the Chinese bought the ship in 1998 through a private travel agency, claiming that they were going to turn it into a casino in Hong Kong. Well, guess what, the travel agency”—McCormick made quotation marks with his fingers—”went bankrupt soon after the Varyag was purchased. And the ship was turned over to the People’s Liberation Army-Navy.
“That whole ‘travel agency’ thing was a lie from the beginning to grease the skids for the sale. This was the perfect situation for the Chinese, who were becoming more aggressive with their ambitions to challenge our Navy.
“So they towed her to the Chinese port of Dalian, and from 2002 to 2011 worked on up-fitting her for service in the People’s Liberation Army-Navy fleet.
“In 2011, they renamed her Shi Lang, after the Qing Dynasty admiral who conquered what is now known as Taiwan in 1681.” McCormick looked away from the screen. “Since then, gentlemen, the Chinese have used this ship as a model to start building two other carriers. They’re challenging us on the high seas, and we think they launched the helicopter attack on Itu Aba from the Shi Lang. She’s out there somewhere—and she’s dangerous. She gives China a huge military advantage over Taiwan. And until we can get adequate air cover from the Carl Vinson, still hundreds of miles to our rear, Shi Lang could pose quite a challenge to this ship if she wanted to. Questions?” A hand went up. The weapons officer. “Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, do we have any idea where the Shi Lang is operating?”
“We have an idea,” McCormick said. “Based on our best estimate of the fuel range of those Z-10 choppers, we think she’s operating in an area somewhere within 200 miles of Itu Aba. That’s a target range of some 125,000 square miles of water. Finding her is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“My guess is that she’s operating somewhere north or southwest of the island, where she’s got more open water. Because if she’s to the east, that puts her too close for comfort to the Philippines, a US ally. She’s got more elbow room out to the west, with an extra hundred miles to play with in the distance to Vietnam. So unless we happen to spot her, we don’t know where she is. Except we know that when we arrive on station in the waters outside Itu Aba, she is going to be within striking distance of the Vicksburg.”
The bridge went stone silent.
“Okay, kill that screen, Lieutenant,” McCormick said.
Fred Jeter watched his fellow officers, line officers charged with the ship’s war-fighting capabilities, squirm in their seats.
McCormick said, “Gentlemen, this isn’t the first time that the Navy has been sent in to stop a war between China and Taiwan. In 1995 and 1996, when China started firing missiles across the Taiwan Strait, President Clinton sent carrier battle groups into the strait to deter war—a dangerous move, but it worked.
“Now, President Surber thinks that a war between China and Taiwan would not be in America’s best interests. The reason? Most products now driving the American economy are imported from the two Chinas. We owe trillions to Communist China because they’ve bought US treasuries to finance tons of government spending on social programs and bureaucracies we never could afford.
“The real wild card here may be the new Chinese president, Tang Qhichen. This guy Tang is brilliant, fluent in English, and potentially … I emphasize potentially … scary.” McCormick switched from coffee back to bottled water, unscrewing the cap on a new bottle. “As a doctoral student at Harvard fifteen years ago, Tang wrote about China becoming a military superpower. He argued that the Chinese military needed to become more active around the globe, with the Chinese president asserting more power over their military. That thesis created a firestorm. So the question is, was Tang just writing something esoteric to create controversy, or was he serious?” He looked around at the officers. “That we don’t know. But we’ll soon find out.
“This we do know. President Surber, who is an ex-naval officer, is sending the US Navy to step in between their navies, hoping, somehow, that we can stop a war.” McCormick paused and again eyed the officers on the bridge. “Any more questions?”
The weapons officer raised his hand again. “Commander, how will we stop them from shooting each other? What are our rules of engagement?”
“Great question, Lieutenant. Our rules of engagement allow us to fire against any hostile vessel in the region, but only in self-defense. If anyone shoots at us, we shoot back. Our role is twofold. First, to show the American flag, hoping to deter the parties from shooting at each other. Second, we may employ sophisticated electronic-jamming measures to make it harder for the Chinese and the Taiwanese to kill each other on the high seas. Of course, the rules of engagement could change at any moment.”
“What about Itu Aba Island?” the weapons officer asked. “Do we have orders to stop Taiwan from sailing there and attacking with their Marines?”
“That’s a negative,” McCormick said. “Not yet.” He looked over at the skipper. “At this point, I’ll defer back to the skipper. Captain Kruger?”
“Thank you, Commander. The answer is that our orders are to sail into the sea lanes and intercept the Taiwanese fleet to encourage them to turn back, while our State Department works for a diplomatic solution.”
The captain turned and looked up at the nautical chart. “Illuminate the position of the Taiwanese vis-à-vis our current position.”
“Aye, sir.”
A star and a sun appeared in the upper-right portion of the nautical chart.
“Gentlemen, the star and arrow in the upper-right portion represent our current position and bearing. The white sun and arrow show the current position and bearing of the Taiwanese naval task force. The tip of the white arrow is Itu Aba. Of course, the three black arrows show possible positions of that Chinese aircraft carrier. And, as the commander mentioned, we think it’s operating either to the north or the southwest of Itu Aba because, as you can see, she has more open water in which to hide.
“Any aircraft carrier presents a challenging foe for a cruiser because the carrier can project power with her fighter-bombers and attack helicopters hundreds of miles from the ship. She can extend the length of her punch out a lot farther than we can. Not that we couldn’t take her out with a strategically placed Harpoon missile or two, depending on how her antimissile systems are. But this carrier is a concern.
Arrows indicate possible locations of the Chinese aircraft carrier Shi Lang in relation to Itu Aba Island. The Taiwanese fleet’s position is shown with the white sun. The USS Vicksburg’s is shown with a white star
“Now let me say a few words about the Taiwanese threat. We believe that the Taiwanese task force consists of two frigates, a destroyer, a troop carrier with a Marine expeditionary unit, and one submarine out front in the lead.” The skipper sipped coffee. “At our current rate and course, we should intercept them before sundown today.”
The skipper turned away from the chart. “But either way, we are not to fire on them. Unless, of course, they fire on us first, which
I doubt they’ll do. We’re more concerned about the Chinese firing on us. Especially with that carrier out there. Now if the Taiwanese task force sails past us and continues on toward Itu Aba, then at that point, we begin electronic jamming.”
“But Skipper.” The engineering officer raised his hand.
“Lieutenant?”
“Sir, couldn’t our e-jamming be construed as a hostile act by either of the parties?”
The captain nodded. “Yes, to answer your question, our jamming might be considered hostile. Will we get fired on? Possibly. And we must be ready to defend against anything.”
For a few seconds, there were no questions.
Fred raised his hand.
“Doc?”
“What can the medical staff do to prepare?”
“Thanks, Doc. Prepare for anti-ship missiles. Remember what the French Exocets did against the British frigates Ardent and Antelope during the Falkland Islands war. Remember the missiles that hit USS Stark in the Persian Gulf. The danger from missile attacks is explosion and raging fire. Advise the medical staff to prepare for severe burn treatment.”
Fred nodded as he jotted notes on a small pad.
“Meantime, Doc, we are going to General Quarters one hour before we reach the intercept point with the Taiwanese. I’d like you to make rounds with all the men to observe their psychological state and let me know if you’re concerned about the possibility of anybody cracking as this thing gets closer.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Bridge
Chinese freighter M/V Shemnong
Gulf of Tonkin
fifty miles west of Hainan Island, People’s Republic of China
course 135 degrees
predawn
Plowing to the southeast through the dark waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in the predawn hours, the Chinese freighter M/V Shemnong was passing fifty miles west of China’s Hainan Island.