Able Sentry
Page 22
That was what was up next on the war plan. Admiral Wells would assume command of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and open formal talks with the Yemeni authorities in Aden. The rebel factions that had been at war with both the old government and the Saudis had all concentrated in the north at Sana. The southern coast was now under Coalition influence, and Wells sought to smooth the wrinkles with Yemen.
The Crown would pay reparations for damages incurred in Operation Talisman Sabre, and commit to a rebuilding program for buildings that had suffered damage or destruction in the fighting. Britain, and by extension the other Coalition partners, would all then formally acknowledge the southern government in Yemen as legitimate, and vow to defend it against further incursions by the rebel factions in the north. In exchange, the Coalition would also get access to Al Anad air base, the Port of Aden, and Riyan Airfield. At Aden, the British and Australians left as a garrison, and agreed to move to little Aden, using only the RO/RO berth and pier there for their operations and leaving the commercial Port of Aden in peace.
This arrangement would give the Coalition a lock on the southern entrance to the Red Sea, particularly after the Royal Marines secured Djibouti. So Talisman Sabre now helped to put the entire southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in Coalition hands. Now all eyes were on the impending confrontation in the Gulf of Oman.
Chapter 26
The strategic situation facing the Coalition now was still a long way from resolution. Because of Iranian hostility, the Persian Gulf was not safe for any commercial traffic, and the Iraqi Army still had a substantial force inside Saudi Arabia. The entire northern shore of the Gulf of Oman was also hostile, and the Iranians had been moving in more SSM batteries and using subs to place mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Task Force Able from Musqat had been ordered to stay close to that port. With a single cruiser, two destroyers, and the Littoral Combat Ships, it was not deemed strong enough to clear the Strait of Hormuz on its own. The battle looming for control of the Gulf of Oman was going to be a major clash. Pakistan had publicly announced it would now actively support the coalition of Chinese forces, and so from Karachi to Kirkuk in Iraq, the whole of southern Central Asia was hostile to the West.
Captain James Simpson of Carrier Strike Group Roosevelt would now be joined by Captain Avery Holmes, newly appointed to the Carrier Independence . The two men would meet to plan operation on the 15th of January.
“We went over their bases on Sri Lanka pretty good, said Holmes, but they’ve had time to repair a lot of that damage. So Hap Turner on New Jersey has come west from his Singapore patrol, and he’ll take over that beat.”
“Who’s watching the Strait of Malacca?”
“Enterprise moved down there when Washington finished that troop escort convoy to Japan. 25th ID is there in full, so that situation is stable for the time being, and Washington takes up the watch on the East China Sea.” Holmes was a short, heavy set man, yet with tireless energy. He handed Simpson the latest intel he had from Pearl, which sparked a question.
“What’s happening with JFK?” asked Simpson.
“Kennedy? It’s still training off Pearl. CINCPAC doesn’t want to push it west until they get some time under their belts. It wasn’t supposed to complete carrier qualifications until July, but we’re pushing it along. Alright,” he rubbed his hands together, “how do you want to play this one?”
“Hard and fast.” Simpson had a determined look in his eye, dark brows furrowed as he spoke. “These guys had enough mass to beat off two good saturation attacks when I tangled with them last month. If they had been able to concentrate all elements of their fleet, I couldn’t put a dent in their fender. They had two groups detached from the main body, and so I went after those to get my hits. One strike sent their southern group back to Aden, then I hit their lead group and finally started sinking ships. The undersea force finished up, and we had some help from the Air Force in Oman too—Strike Raptors.”
“Well,” said Holmes, “with Independence in the fight, we can really focus our strikes and hurt them.”
“Tactically,” said Simpson, “I made it a standing order to stay 300 to 315 miles out at all times. That takes their YJ-18 out of the fight, then all they have that can hit us is the YJ-100, and we can handle that easily enough. They made the mistake of trying to close the range, but all I did was turn and lead them deeper into the Indian Ocean. That’s our bathtub, and they can’t stay out there for very long. It strains any land based air support they might have and forces them to rely on satellite coverage to even locate us. So I just keep them at arm’s length, and snap one punch after another until they’ve had enough.”
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” said Holmes. “You did a fine job. Indo-Pacific Command was more than satisfied.”
“Good to hear it, but we’ll definitely need two fists in this next fight. These guys learn fast, and my guess is that they’ll stay in close to shore and fight from the corner. I don’t expect them to leave the Gulf of Oman. That way, they get coverage from all their land based fighters in Pakistan. Any word on what the Paks will do?”
“It’s a thorny situation,” said Holmes. “There’s an assessment in that brief I just handed you, but the gist of it is that Pakistan is in for a penny by allowing the Chinese to use Karachi and move air assets in to a good many bases there. So in for a penny, in for a pound. I was told to assume they will be in the hostile column.”
“That makes it easier,” said Simpson. “If they go hostile, then we can get after their bases. Pak air force isn’t much. We sold them the best planes they have in the late 1980’s—old F-16’s, about 80 left. They also fly French Mirage III and V for strike planes. The newest plane they have is the J-17 Thunder, about 120 of those, and they’ve been rigging them to accept a missile they call the Wrecker. It’s a derivative of the Chinese YJ-12, and it’s fast, with a 135 mile range.”
“Right, so I’m keeping two thirds of my F-35’s rigged for air defense and escort. If the Paks want to use that missile, then they’ll have to get inside that 135 mile arc, and our Panthers will cut them to pieces out there. My Avengers will carry the weight on strikes.”
“Marvelous new planes,” said Simpson. “Wish I had a squadron on the Roosevelt, but I still have a soft spot for my old Super Toms.”
“Legendary,” said Holmes with a smile. “I miss them too.”
“Now,” said Simpson. “When we start throwing punches, focus on their new Type 055’s. They rely on those ships as squadron leaders, and their principle air defense assets. They’re every bit as good as our Ticonderoga class.”
“Will do. Alright Captain Simpson, pleasure to meet with you. We’ll put on some speed and close up the range. Good hunting.”
Whalesign-1
By the time Captain Holmes got back to the Independence there was an odd bit of news from his XO, Josh Cooper. It seems they had an extra egg in the nest.
“A British plane? F-35?”
“Yes sir, strange as it seems. We got an S.O.S. an hour ago using the handle Whalesign-1. That’s off the Prince of Wales, but that ship is way the hell over at Aden nearly 1400 nautical mile away.”
“Why the hell did they ferry us an F-35B?”
“That’s just it, sir, they didn’t. I called this Admiral Wells and he tells me that plane was reported MIA in operations conducted in this area last month.”
“Yes, Simpson on the Roosevelt was just telling me about his operation last month. Well, where was the damn plane? Did it make landfall in India?”
The XO swallowed, scratching his eyebrow. “Sir, I think you might want to talk with this pilot. He’s in the wardroom now. He’s telling a pretty strange story.”
Captain Holmes frowned, hands on his hips. “Alright, I’m headed that way for coffee and I’ll see what he has to say.”
Holmes found the man sitting with a hot cup of tea, and still decked out in his British flight suit. When he saw the Captain he stood up and saluted.”
“Beautiful ship, sir. Lovely. Oh, I’m Tom Campbell, Flight Leader off the Prince of Wales.”
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Campbell, but riddle me this. What the hell are you doing on my ship?”
Yaogan-24
At 09:00 Local the Chinese Satellite Yaogan-24 was the first to deliver news to Admiral Sun Wei of the enemy’s position. Coming up from Antarctica, its orbital path takes it right over Oman, and there, about 150 miles east of Salaha, was a large American taskforce. Once the photographs were processed, they were sent to the Fleet flagship digitally, and Admiral Sun Wei was informed that four enemy aircraft carriers had been spotted.
“What? Four carriers? They cannot all be fleet carriers.”
“No sir, that is correct. These appear to be the smaller escort carriers, used by their Marine forces.”
“They are over 600 miles away, and pose no threat. But what of this task force?”
“That data was just received, sir, also from Yaogan-24. This is the Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.”
“How far from us now?”
“About 445 miles, sir, just beyond the range of our YJ-100’s. We had positive identification of the following ships: Vicksburg, Gettysburg, both cruisers, and destroyers, Hooker, Reynolds and Ward.”
“No change from last month,” said the Admiral. “What is this contact to the east?”
“Unidentified, sir. There appear to be two surface ships there, but we have no ID.”
“Very well… None of this tells me anything about the second US Carrier Strike Group. That unknown contact could be its leading edge, because they will certainly cooperate with one another. Anything from our submarine screen?”
“That was what picked up this unknown contact, sir. Yuan-9 detected low frequency sonar emissions. This aircraft detection has also been confirmed as an American E-2 Hawkeye. This argues the second carrier is very close to that contact.”
“Good work, Lieutenant. Keep me informed the moment you find that second carrier. We must focus our attacks on one or the other, and it is imperative we sink one, or at least force it to retire. Has the Flying Dragon Group left Gwadar as ordered?”
“Yes sir. it is just 64 miles to the west and on schedule for our rendezvous.”
“Good, Good. I will be on the flag bridge shortly. That is all.”
The Lieutenant saluted smartly before retiring.
Admiral Sun Wei now contemplated his general situation. One American carrier was bad enough, he thought, now there are two. I should have fought to crush the British before the Americans arrived, and there is a lesson in that. If you do not fight at the beginning when you have every advantage, then you may soon find yourself fighting at the end—but for your very survival. That is clearly the situation now. So I must stay within 100 miles of the coast, and rely heavily on our land based air power. The Air Force lived up to their promise. They have built up to 135 fighters under my command, including 66 J-20’s and a dozen J-31A. So I am not reduced to sending fighters out by ones and twos in a desperate search for the enemy ships. Then here is how I will operate….
The J-10 has proven itself to be a weak sister when facing their more modern fighters, so I will use it deployed with or behind the fleet for defensive roles. With those 66 J-20’s I have the power to contest the airspace, and intercept any strike we detect inbound. The J-31’s will be my Ace in the hole, and the JH-7’s will be strike assets, if they can survive to deliver their missiles. With that in mind, the Pakistani Air Force had a good number of strike aircraft assigned here. If we use our JH-7’s in coordination with their JF-17’s, we might put enough planes in the air to saturate their CAP defenses.
But two carriers…. We will lose many planes, of that I have no doubt. Look how Captain Jiang Li fought to defend Aden. He fought to the last, and saw brave Nanchang sink right under him before he was landed. Now he is a prisoner at Aden.
The Admiral shook his head. So we lost nine more ships in that battle, and the British got their revenge for the many ships I sunk when they first challenged me. In spite of all I had at my disposal, I could not put Salaha out of action, or stop the delivery of their Marine Division there. Now I have but one order from Beijing—hold the Gulf of Oman, hold to the last, because there is no way this fleet will ever get back to China now. The best we could hope for will be to find safe harbor in Karachi, but if Pakistan joins us, that port will be a war target.
He looked at his watch, 12:00 on the 15th of January. In another month we celebrate the Lunar New Year—the Year of the Horse. I wonder how things will be by then? The Western Allies have just reversed our hold on the Suez Canal and Red Sea, and Egypt has signed an armistice. The Iraqis are retreating to their homeland with all their better divisions, and now talk is circulating that we can do nothing to really help our allies. We lost the Med, West Africa, the Red Sea, and our Eastern African bases are now isolated. They have pushed me out of the Indian Ocean and into the Arabian Sea, and now my back is against the wall here. I must give China a victory to reverse this downward spiral. It is imperative!
If I lose this battle, this fleet, then they will have de-facto control of the entire Indian Ocean theater. It will then only be a matter of time before they force their way into the Persian Gulf, defeat the Iranians, and then deal with Qusay Hussein in Iraq.
As things stand, we can still move oil to the pipeline terminals on the coast of Pakistan, and Gwadar guards the overland pipeline from Iran. These oil supplies are vital to China, and I must defend them. Our bases in Sri Lanka are under attack, but still operational. If I fail here, then our ongoing efforts to control the Strait of Malacca will all be for naught. None of our ships will be sailing there, and we will be pushed back to the littoral seas off our homeland. Then, unless we sue for peace, the Americans will come for us there, in the East China Sea or the South China Sea, it matters not. The Japanese will demand we withdraw from the Ryuku Islands, and if we comply, China will be humiliated.
This cannot be permitted to happen! I must prevail. I must gain the victory, and to do so I must sink an American Aircraft carrier. Nothing less will do. To that end, the 2nd Artillery Corps was kind enough to send me three DF-21 TEL’s, a total of twelve great lances to hurl at my enemy. I will use them all on one target, and if even one gets through….
He smiled.
Chapter 27
While the combined weight of Chinese and Pakistani assets looked strong on paper, a closer look at the situation revealed many glaring weaknesses. China’s fleet was constrained from operating too far from the coast, because it had to rely heavily on land based air support. Offensively, that air force did not have the strike radius to get after the American carriers.
The Pak J-17 Thunder had only a 175 mile strike radius. Add in the range of the missile it carried, (135 miles) and it could only hit targets inside 300 miles. So if Captain Simpson was true to his plan, and stayed outside 325 miles, all those planes were effectively useless. The Pak Mirage carrying the H-4 SOW Raptor 2 guided bomb had a 540 mile strike radius, but it would need to get to a release point within 60 miles of a US carrier, and that just wasn’t likely to happen.
With the burden of any air strike capability falling on the Chinese, they had only two dozen JH-7’s in theater that might deliver the YJ-83 or YJ-12 missile. Seeing the ineffectiveness of the J-10 against Western stealth fighters, Admiral Sun Wei urged the Air Force to configure several squadrons for air strike roles. To this end, stores of the KD-88 air launched cruise missile were flown in, which had a 100 mile range on top of the plane’s 540 mile strike radius.
These missiles would augment Admiral Sun Wei’s potent but limited SSM inventory. He had 136 long range YJ-100’s, all on his three Type 055 heavy destroyers. These were augmented by 100 more YJ-18’s, but they had a range of 290 miles, and the Americans had operated
to stay beyond that marker. The 48 land based YJ-12’s were also not likely to get into the fight with their 215 mile range. So unless he wanted to just sit there and exhaust his SAM’s repelling one US air strike after another, all the Admiral really had for a reliable offense were those 136 YJ-100’s. Anything the Air Force could deliver was therefore most important. As for the 12 DF-21D’s he had received, they needed very precise targeting data to fire, and it remained to be seen whether that could be obtained.
The Admiral urged the Air Force commander, Lt. General Chen Bao, that he should do everything possible to try and break up incoming enemy air strikes. The J-20’s would sit armed and ready to race into battle as interceptors the moment a threat could be identified, and the extra J-31’s available would operate as pickets.
At 12:30 on the 15th, the Admiral looked up from the weather deck of his flagship, Yingshen, the Eagle God, and he saw more eagles making contrails in the sky. He knew they were the four J-31 pickets he was told to expect that hour, climbing into the clear blue sky as they headed out to sea. His ships were now just 45 miles off the coast near Karachi, and he did not intend to go much farther out. He knew the Americans probably already had him on their long range radars, and at that moment the US Carto SAT 2A was zooming high overhead, soaring right between his fleet and the port of Karachi. Ten minutes later, the initial air duel between scout groups and CAP patrols began when the Chinese detected a single missile.
Scout #4 in the J-31 fan had found the missile 55 miles out, and it flashed its radars, trying to detect the firing plane. Nothing was seen, and soon the pilot realized the Vampire was not vectoring in on his plane, but instead hunting the big KJ-2000 AEW Plane well behind him. Yet that was over 100 miles away from the missile when it was first detected….
That was not an AIM-120D, the normal loadout for an F-35. It had to be something new. The pilot broke radio silence and warned the AEW plane to turn north and accelerate. Then he set his mind on finding the enemy fighter that had fired it. Taking his best guess, he advanced toward the suspected firing point, all the while watching the Vampire close on that valuable KJ-2000. Thankfully, his warning had come just in time, and he saw the missile wink off his screen. A second later he found the offending enemy fighter, dead ahead, and 50 miles out. It was not one plane, but three, but he had to get closer to get a reliable target lock.