“Better the Devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
Sixteen hours, thought Wu Jinlong, looking over his list of strike assets. That is a terribly long time to wait for the bombers to be rearmed. We were lucky that interval passed with the enemy carriers both still too far away to strike us. What I do now is dangerous, because the Enterprise has passed through the Makassar Strait, and is threatening my route back to the South China Sea. Yaogan-23 reveals that the Washington Strike Group is now only 350 miles north of Guam. That put them in a position to cover that island group, and their air wing augments the fighters already based there, so the defense against any cruise missile attack will be redoubled.
So what should I do? I have 36 bombers, and two thirds can carry our long range cruise missiles. That totals 126 cruise missiles, a substantial attack. The last twelve each carry a pair of YJ-100’s, a much small 24 missile strike package I can use against the American ships, but it must get within 430 miles to release those weapons.
Thankfully, the Vietnamese destroyers arrived in this interval carrying 64 of that excellent naval SCALP missile made by the French and British. I have three bases to strike, but Guam is the prize. That is where the Americans have their most dangerous assets. My first attack was ineffective, because the enemy had just enough air defense and was greatly aided by that surface action group. Now it has moved to defend Palau, positioned to easily intercept cruise missiles coming from the bombers. Yet if my naval strike fails to destroy that base, I still have the Flying Leopards at Davao.
I could combine all my strike assets to destroy Yap and Palau, but that would just buy us time—time for the bulldozers and tractors to repair those fields. So I will throw the weight of my War Gods at Guam, and then see what I can do against the smaller bases with the Naval Strike Missiles. I will commit all 64 SCALP’s against Palau, and the two dozen YJ-100’s will strike their ships as a distraction. That attack can be further strengthened by twelve DF-21C ballistic missiles from Hainan. Yap is the smallest base, and perhaps six bombers could deal with that. That will be the order. The bombers are about 45 minutes from their release points, so we wait….
Surface Action Group Guam was composed of five ships, led by the powerful CG-21 class cruiser San Jacinto under Captain Allan Shill, with destroyers Buford and Chamberlain, and two of the new FFG (X) Class frigates, Rabaul and Rendova. They had already helped a great deal in the defense of the US island bases, and now they were standing the watch about 100 miles west of Palau.
But they weren’t going to just sit there and wait.
SAG Guam had a couple dozen TacToms, and another 152 Multi-Mission Tomahawks, which they preferred to keep for surface warfare operations, so Captain Shill decided to try and shake up the airfield at Davao. The battle for the airfields was what this was all about. Those two dozen Toms were soon away, painting a new artificial cloud around the TF as they fired.
The Tomahawks soon crossed the coast of Mindanao, and were hugging the mountainous terrain as they weaved a path through the highlands towards Davao. A scramble order went out and six J-20’s were lifting off the airfield minutes later. With the leading Toms just 24 miles out, an HQ-9A battery set up on the peninsula near the harbor was already firing as they took off. The fighters stayed at a relatively low altitude, switched on radars, and went hunting. The PL-15 would prove to be very adept at finding and killing the lumbering Tomahawks, and not one would survive to strike the base.
So the base was well defended, as the Chinese had delivered two HQ-9A batteries, and there were 20 fighters there. The six that had scrambled were enough to take down all but one Tomahawk. The last was a sleeper, taking a wide ranging course, and actually was not spotted on radars until it was very close. By this time, all six fighters had already returned to base, but one plane was ready on a tarmac close by the runway, and got a quick scramble order. It would not have time to get airborne before the missile came in, falling right into open parking where it destroyed two J-20’s. That was it, 24 missiles, 23 dead so that the last could get in there and kill two fighters on the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was at least something.
At that same time, a scythe of YJ-100 Chinese cruise missiles were already on their way towards the American ships, but no US assets had detected them, nor any of the 12 bombers that fired them. At 14:00, the first of the air-launched YJ-100’s was spotted on radar by San Jacinto, and the TF opened defensive fire. The 24 cruise missiles were not a significant threat, as SAG Guam was sitting with over 200 ESSM’s, and 62 SM-6. So here the defense would easily prevail, and none of the Vampires even got close enough to a US ship to break the horizon.
About that same time, Vampires were finally building up on the radar screens far to the north. It was the leading edge of a great boomerang shaped missile wave that had been fired by the Gods of War at Guam, 300 miles wide. The northern end of that missile storm would pass very near Carrier Strike Group Washington, and would likely pay heavily, but this had been a deliberate move on the part of the Chinese. On radar, it would look like this was an SSM strike against the carrier, and that would likely see the American fighter defense scramble to engage it there, while as far as 300 miles to the south, many more Vampires were making their sedate journey toward the Marianas, hopefully out of sight and harm’s way from planes off that American carrier.
The carrier was under the command of Captain James Rayburn, who had taken over from the man that Karpov once dueled with when he fought that flattop in another time, Captain Tanner.
“Sir, Hawkeye-1 reports Vampires, bearing 260 and 310 miles out. Low and slow, sir.”
“Cruise missiles,” said Rayburn. “Those had to come off the bombers at Clark. Air force was going to hit that base, but it takes 20 hours to rig out the bombers on Guam. Those Vampires vectoring on us?”
“Sure looks that way, sir.”
“Very well, send in the morning patrol, and scramble the ready CAP behind them.”
“Aye sir.”
Seconds later, those orders went out. “Bright Eyes this is Bertha. Vector 260 and engage Vampires low. You are cleared Hot. Over.”
Six F-35’s had been tasked with CAP patrols that day. Three were already up, Bright Eyes, and more would join them. The rest of the Panthers were rigging out for strike or escort duty, but the Captain still had a dozen more Hellcats ready for CAP if he needed them. As the seconds passed, the red wave just got bigger and wider.
“How many contacts?” asked Rayburn, a slim, grey haired man, always dapper and trim in his uniform.
“Sir, presently reading 65 Vampires.”
“Move six Hellcats to ready CAP. Then signal all ships to go to battle stations missile. That’s a significant strike.”
Bright Eyes would take the first bite out of the missile storm. Each plane could carry 6 of the new AIM-260 missiles, which were available in limited supply, and there were plenty of the older AIM-120s available too. Today they had the better missiles, and could engage at range. As they fired the last of them, turning for the carrier, they saw the SAM’s rising from the escorts—SM-6.
Carrier Strike Group Washington, like all US Strike Groups, was well defended. A ship that had campaigned with Karpov in the Sea of Japan had patched up light damage sustained there, and now Captain Rose had taken the big new battlecruiser Kentucky south to join the Washington. That ship alone had tremendous firepower, and it was joined by a CG-21 Class cruiser the Santa Fe, and destroyers JEB Stuart, Jenkins, Hampton and the Nathan Bedford Forrest, all named for famous Confederate Cavalry officers from the Civil War.
In this world, no one had to fuss with the silly need to be “politically correct,” in regards to these ship names. History was history, and there were still statues of Robert E. Lee up in the south. The history would not be expunged as if it had never happened simply because the South once held up the institution of slavery, and George Washington’s face would not be removed from the dollar because he was a former slave owner either. The world had grown up a bit in these matters, realizing that the statues and flags from that unfortunate conflict were emblems of that history, and not banners for modern day right wing minds to rally around.
Together these ships combined to muster up 400 ESSM’s, a huge allotment of 260 SM-6’s, and 80 SM-3’s to protect against ballistic missile threats too. Add in the RIM-116C’s on the carrier itself, and Captain Rayburn’s group was defended by 700 SAM’s. Add to that the missiles he could put in the weapons bays and wings of his fighters, and the Strike Group was damn near invulnerable. So anything that came his way probably going to die, which was now a good chunk of that cloud of Vampires out there, which just seemed to be getting bigger and wider as the minutes passed, but they were dying.
Of the 126 cruise missiles fired by the bombers, only about 20 survived to slip by Carrier Strike Group Washington far to the south. The long reach of Standard Missile-6 was lethal in gutting the center of the wave.
Yap also issued a similar scramble order to send its air assets up to join the fray. Six F-24’s would rise to the defense of the base, but other planes carrying strike ordnance were ordered up too, just in case. At Palau, nothing wicked seemed to be heading their way, but the order went out to get fighters up on defensive patrols.
The first inkling of trouble for Palau was the appearance of Vampires 50 miles north of SAG Guam. That started the ESSM fire by San Jacinto and the two destroyers, the missiles lancing out to destroy one group of Vampires, only to see more groups appearing on the radar screens seconds later. Some on a wide vector to avoid the US ships were now seen 40 miles from Palau, prompting immediate fire by the patriot battery stationed there. Anything that got past the ships and fighters then had to face those land based SAM’s. In the end, only two of 64 would survive and get in to attack the base, and one of those would be shot down. Only one lonesome Vampire reached Anderson AFB on Guam, doing no significant damage, and Yap was completely untouched.
Wu Jinlong’s second big strike had gone bust. It would now be another 16 hours or longer before the War Gods could rearm, and given limited missile inventories in the Philippines, only a portion of those planes might be available for operations the next day. All the Naval SCALP missiles on the four Vietnamese destroyers had been expended, and with little result. Once again, he had underestimated the tremendous defensive power on the American side, and now he knew that the US Admirals and Captains would begin to consider their own offensive operations soon.
The Chinese fleet was presently about 200 miles southwest of Davao, but the Admiral had no further ordnance to strike at any of his mission targets. The only way he could wrangle any sense of victory from this situation now was to do so by engaging one or another of the American carriers.
There is no way I will operate out in the Pacific, he realized. At the moment, I am within striking range of the American Surface Action Group, but we must wait for yaogan-13 to give us a chance at getting a target fix… Unless I order the Flying Leopards at Davao to make their strike.
Yet something tells me that would be fruitless. As long as that SAG is there, Palau will be well defended. So I must decide where to engage. Do I strike the American SAG, or return to the Celebes Sea and face the Enterprise ? The latter seems to be the wiser course. From a position southeast of Davao in the Moro Gulf, I have fighter support from that airfield, as well as the planes now basing at Zambangoa. That course also moves me to a position to restore my communications back to China. So that will be the order.
At every turn, I do what seems most reasonable, most sound in military terms, and yet, I have so little to show for it! Am I being overly cautious? Thus far, I have at least successfully covered the supply lift to Davao, and we have troops there now—a solid footing on Mindanao. While I have failed to hurt Guam, or the other island bases as I had hoped, I see the folly of that now. It only buys us time. Yet I can operate in the Celebes Sea, and stay there, if I wish, and that is what I will do.
When I turn, I will have one Devil behind me, but that carrier is at least 600 miles away, and it will not get any closer as I move southwest. Then I will have another Devil before me in the Celebes Sea, and I must do all in my power to sink the Enterprise and gain the victory there.
He went to the nearest computer terminal, and began keying data queries into the CIC. The Flagship, Taifeng, received hourly reports on the status and inventory of all ships under his command, 24 in all. Defensively, he had 650 HQ-9’s at his disposal, which was a solid defensive shield. Behind that, mostly on the better frigates, he had 210 medium range HQ-16’s. The inner circle held 300 HQ-10’s, good out to the 5 mile range marker. The Vietnamese Destroyers also contributed 64 of the British made Aster 15 Sea Vipers. He smiled.
Getting our hands on those was a nice acquisition, he thought. Now we can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those missiles, and incorporate any useful technology into our own missile designs. Now… What about my offense?
He keyed another data query, seeing that he now held 148 of the longer range YJ-100’s, primarily on the better destroyers. Once inside the 300 mile range marker, he could then add 120 YJ-18’s on his Type 052D Class destroyers. The frigates contributed another 36 YJ-12’s good out to 215 miles, but he doubted he would ever get that close to an American carrier.
They run when we charge, he thought, which is why I have every confidence I can drive them out of the Celebes Sea. Yes, they will try to stay 300 miles out to cut my offensive capability in half. But I have planes, too, and I intend to charge.
The Admiral was going to need every missile he could deploy, and then some. The Devil behind him was very strong, as we have seen, and it was picking up a couple hobgoblins as it came. The seven ship Australian Task Force, designated SAG South, was moving up to rendezvous with SAG Guam. That made for a strong 12 ship screen that could operate forward of Carrier Strike Group Washington, and they added more offensive and defensive clout to the US Pacific Fleet.
In the Celebes Sea, Admiral Cook’s SAG Enterprise had seven ships, with 400 ESSM’s, 168 SM-6, and 48 SM-2. Against ballistic missile threats they had 70 SM-3, and the close in circle around Enterprise had 42 RIM-116C’s. The US Navy on this Meridian was loaded for bear. Offensively, Admiral Cook could throw 152 MMT’s at enemy ships and another 96 TacToms could be used against Davao. There was also that formidable strike wing aboard Enterprise , with an array of SSMs and glide bombs that could ruin the enemy’s day. Beyond that, he had a pair of Virginia Class subs in front of him, and then there was Kirov, Kursk and Kazan.
That was the tale of the tape as the two fleets now prepared to square off. The Devil in the Celebes Sea was nothing to trifle with, but that was what Admiral Wu Jinlong had decided to do….
“Gentlemen, this Admiral Wu out there just took another swipe at all our Pacific island bases,” said Admiral Cook, looking squared away and solid as a rock. “But it’s my pleasure to say he didn’t lay a finger on us. The big Chinese bombers retired to Clark, and they can thank Uncle Sam that base is even there. Now we’re going after them. For the next 16 to 18 hours, those bombers will be nice fat geese on the ground, getting a belly full of anything else they may have to throw at us. Well, we have bombers too. Anderson is lining up a bomber strike to see if we can make them pay some rent out there. In the meantime, the Chinese fleet has turned southwest. They may be headed back to Davao, or they may be headed our way. In either case, we’re going to be ready for them.”
Cook exuded confidence, and the ribbons on his chest were a good reason for it. Enterprise had a long war history behind it, even though this was just the latest ship to bear that name and carry that tradition forward. In that observation alone, lay the essence of the difference between the PLAN and the USN. The Chinese had a lot of shiny new ships to float, but there had been a USS Enterprise , in one form or another, patrolling the waters of the Pacific for the last 85 years. The Chinese Navy was professional, competent, but largely without experience. The United States, flanked by two great oceans, had been a sea faring nation from its early days, and the US Navy was haunted by Old Salts, gritty Master Chiefs, and men and women who knew damn well what they were about, and then some.
That difference contributed mightily to the fact that while 67 Chinese ships were on the bottom of the world’s oceans and seas, not one US surface ship had joined them. As Admiral Cook saw things, they were beating the PLAN from pillar to post, and he was ready for the next round.
“So here’s what we’re going to do,” said Cook, pointing at the wall map with a laser marker. “I’m taking Enterprise out here to get us a little sea room. We’ll be over one of the world’s deep ocean basins, over 16,000 feet. If they come west for us, by the time they reach this archipelago starting with Sangihe Island, they’ll be in strike range, and that’s where we hit them. They fight close to supporting land bases, and for them, that’s what this operation is all about. They went after our island bases, and failed. Now we’re going to take down the bases they set up out here to try and support this power projection into the Celebes Sea. I’m going to start nipping at known enemy radar, SAM and SSM sites, and then we’re going to dump some of those 96 TacToms in the VLS Bays on this base up here—Zamboanga.”
Cook pointed out the location, at the very tip of the Western ‘Elephant’s Trunk’ of Mindanao.
“That base is an important stepping stone for them. They’ve been moving ordnance and supplies overland by rail to Cam Ranh Bay, then out to sea from there to these reef island bases in the South China Sea. They then transit the Palawan gap into the Sulu Sea bound for Zamboanga. That port and airfield also receive air lifted supplies. It’s vital to their continued support of Davao, so we’re going to clip it, and good. Intel expects they may have as many as two full J-20 squadrons there, so they’ll make a fight of it. That’s a fight I intend to win.”
That got a round of applause from the officers and airmen assembled in the big hangar deck, and the Admiral cocked his head to one side, nodding.
“Alright,” he continued, “the bad guys are about 180 miles from that trip line archipelago I pointed out, and by the last estimate, they were at 25 knots. So that means we get ready to rumble in about seven hours. Get with your strike leaders and mission planners and chew the fat. I want every flight in this operation on mission and razor sharp. Now… In the course of these operations, this task force will maneuver to maintain a range of 300 or more miles from the enemy. That winnows down their offensive punch a good deal. They’ll try to get closer, but I won’t let them. If that means I take us back down through the Makassar Strait, so be it, but don’t think for one minute that they will ever have us on the run. That’s bullshit. Maneuver is what naval operations are all about. You position yourself where you can hurt the other guy without taking hits yourself. That’s exactly what this strike group will do. So get to it, plan it well, and while you’re at it, get some chow and a little shut eye if you have the time. Don’t worry, I’ll wake you.” He smiled.
Where were the Americans?
That was the question that vexed Wu Jinlong that hour. All three enemy task groups had fallen off his radar screens, and at that hour, he had no idea where they were at all. Frustrated, he sent orders to Zamboanga AFB to get two J-20’s out on a deep recon mission south towards the Makassar Strait. In about 40 minutes Yaogan-20A was scheduled to have eyes on the Celebes Sea. The optical satellite Jilin-01-10 would report in about an hour, and in two and a half hours, he would hear from Yaogan-30. After that, it would be another six hours before Yaogan-13 would be overhead.
We did not think this through, before the war, he thought. We should have prepositioned satellites in geostationary orbits over areas where we intended extensive operations. I suppose we can thank our lucky stars that there has been no satellite war. We did not start one here, because we knew how important these eyes in space would be to us. Thus far, that truce has held, as we threatened to take down all their GPS satellites if they attacked our surveillance network. What would I do without them?
Time to get the new KJ-600 up.
That was the latest carrier based Chinese AEW plane, with radar that could peer out 350 miles. That plane gave him the first hammer on the metal of his kill chain. He did not see the American carrier, but he saw their AEW plane, which usually operated between 100 and 200 miles from its home fleet.
So they remain where I suspected they would be, he thought, probably somewhere here, north of the Makassar Strait. Are they attempting to cut me off from the South China Sea? Most likely.
At 20:00, a satellite updated the position of the Washington Strike Group, now only 180 miles north of Guam, and a solitary ship was seen south of Palau. That gave the two J-20’s out of Zamboanga the scent, and they were moved forward. But first, they thought they would ambush the American AEW plane with their long range PL-15’s. They were able to get into firing range before they were finally spotted on radar, with missiles in the air. That was when the two escorting F-35’s on CAP saw them, and vectored in to attack.
The enemy fighters were already close enough to paint Carrier Strike Group Enterprise with their radars, and so now they turned to run north, but the pilots had been too eager in their hunt for that Hawkeye. They had used a 1000 knot rush to close quickly into firing range, and now they saw their fuel reserves too low to maintain that speed and escape from the American fighters.
Both would die that hour, but the missiles they had fired at the Hawkeye would exact revenge, destroying that plane as well. Admiral Cook did not like that news one bit.
“Gentlemen, these damn J-20’s are proving to be more stealthy than we would like. So it’s double CAP rotations from here on out. That was one valuable plane and crew we just lost out there, and it damn well better not happen again. Reinforce CAP—now!”
It was the first use of the new JASSM-ER cruise missile in the war, a mission flown by all six B-2 Spirit Bombers that had been stationed at Anderson AFB on Guam. The plan was a simple one, as Admiral Cook had briefed his crews. They were going to revisit their old roost at Clark, now called Beiying, the Northern Star in this theater, and they were going to catch the big fat geese in their hangars as they were gorging themselves with fresh ordnance.
JASSM was the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, and this was the extended range version, a stealthy subsonic missile that was both difficult to see on radar and difficult to track and kill. Lockheed Martin had designed the beast, and the B-2’s carried it all of 1000 miles to their release point east of Manila, completely undetected. It was a big missile, 14 feet long, with wings that would deploy to a span of nearly eight feet, and it weighed 2,250 pounds, with 1000 of those being the penetrating warhead it brought to the fight. It could use both GPS and inertial navigation to make its way to the assigned target, with terminal infrared homing, and a computer brain pre-programmed to automatically recognize its target.
That was easy work for the mission tasking teams. The Americans knew every inch of Clark AFB, so it was like coming home from a hunting trip to find a burglar in your cabin. You knew exactly how and where to shoot.
The missiles came in just 30 feet over the water, and they had reached the east coast of Luzon without being seen on any radars, in spite of a big KJ-2000 AEW plane orbiting 40,000 feet above them. Their path then took them directly past a Chinese HQ-9A SAM site, which finally woke up and managed to fire off 32 missiles at very close ranges to get a good number of kills, but the great mass of the strike just rolled right on by, and the base was going to take a terrible pounding minutes later.
The base was a main operational hub for the Chinese, with a lot of munitions stockpiled, and the grounds replete with aircraft. There were 18 J-20’s, another 18 Flying Leopards, and of course those 36 big H-6 bombers. As the missiles rained in, one explosion after another rocked the base, striking hangars, tarmacs, taxiways, and open parking. Planes started exploding all over the field, and before the attack was over, all 18 JH-7B Flying leopards were left in ruins, along with half the J-20 fighters, and eight of the big H-6 Bombers. Beyond that, the control tower was destroyed, both terminals hit, a fuel pumping station damaged, and many hangars raging with fire.
Those six B-2’s had done to Clark what all 36 H-6 bombers had been unable to do to Anderson in two large attacks. What was the difference? The US had strong naval assets that could interdict the flight path of a significant number of the enemy missiles, and a robust fighter defense aloft to fall on the lumbering subsonic Vampires like hawks. The naval units had served as good forward radar pickets, that gave the US early notice the base was being attacked when combined with airborne AEW assets. That is what had enabled those fighters to scramble and do their work.
In the attack against Clark, the stealthy US missiles had flown right under the nose of the Chinese AEW plane, hugging the sea and ground all the way in until the HQ-9 battery 20 miles east of the airfield suddenly saw the missiles coming, and began firing. Two other SAM sites saw crews rushing to activate radars and prep their systems, but they never got off a shot. All told, the single battery that fired was able to kill a baker’s dozen, but there had been 96 missiles in that attack, and the rest surged on through like a wild herd of buffalo and just trampled those tarmacs, leaving the base ravaged and burning. Communications equipment was destroyed, radars smashed, ammo bunkers damaged, and for all purposes the base was out of commission.
The shock of the attack jarred Admiral Wu, and went all the way to Beijing, a dark omen in their minds. The Air force sent orders that as soon as any bomber was ready to fly and could take off, they were to return to the Chinese mainland at once. An exception was made for planes that had already loaded ordnance to some degree. They would be made available to complete one more strike if possible, which amounted to 18 planes. Ten others were simply ordered to rig for the air ferry ride home, but it would be some time before even that would be possible.
It had been bad enough that the two strikes had both failed to inflict any significant damage on the American bases. Now the loss of eight bombers and a full heavy squadron of Flying Leopards was a severe blow. It darkened the Admiral’s mood, sending his mind in circles as he looked for a way to generate mass and concentration when he faced the American fleet for a surface action.
They are going after the bases, he thought, preparing the battlefield. A radar site near Jolo was also reported hit and destroyed, so they are going to try and blind me and destroy my air support capabilities by hammering these bases. What was wrong with the Air Force? Did they think the Northern Star was so far off that they had no risk of attack? The fools! They should have had round the clock combat air patrols there. The damage to Clark could be near fatal. At the very least, it will take days, or possibly weeks to repair. I must count Beiying as a dead asset now.
Alright, I still have 20 Flying Leopards at Davao, and six more at Miri, west of the American carriers. They can carry the YJ-12, with a 215 mile range, and the plane could fly as far as 320 miles to a release point with that loadout. Adding the 215 mile range of the missile, that gives them a maximum strike radius of 535 miles, and the Enterprise group can be reached from either airfield.
And here I stand on an aircraft carrier! Time to start fighting like a carrier commander. Zhendong has 24 J-31’s for excellent defense, but only 12 J-15 Flying Sharks. Their only strike ordnance in this situation would be a pair of YJ-83K, with a 135 mile range. Taifeng has 36 J-31’s and yes, 12 more J-15’s. So I can send 48 missiles at the Enterprise with my carriers—not much, but at least something. Those planes will be easily seen on radar, so I must fly with a heavy escort. That combines with all 32 remaining Flying Leopards for my air strike, and with it, I will send my long range YJ-100’s.
I have the air power to do this now. I can saturate the skies with every J-20 and J-31 I have. They have destroyed the Northern Star with impunity, but now I will make them pay.
The Enterprise must die.
The first inkling that an enemy attack was pending came from the west, when DDG McClaws detected bogeys at angels 36 near the east coast of Borneo. Six planes were seen on radar, the small flight of Flying Leopards out of Miri on the west coast of that big island. Enterprise launched six F-35’s and sent them west to investigate, and six more moved up into the ready CAP positions.
With the main body of the Chinese fleet now 395 miles to the northeast, the Enterprise had been planning a midnight launch for its first naval strike operation. The anger and frustration over what had happened at the Northern Star had prompted Wu Jinlong to counterattack immediately. The small Miri package waited for the unseen six J-20’s ahead of it to paint their targets with radar, then they selected one ship, and fired their YJ-12’s.
This small strike package had been timed to get the Enterprise to look over its shoulder to the west, while the much larger strikes would be coming from the east. The deception worked, for a moment.
“Sir, this is a strike. I now read 12 inbound, Vampires, bearing two-eight-zero at 180 nautical miles.”
“Weapons free,” said Admiral Cook. “Signal prepare to repulse enemy missile attack.”
It was at that moment that more radar contacts appeared to the northeast, passing very near the outlying presence of the AEW plane that had been circling in that area for some hours.
“What do we have, Mister Kane?”
“Sir, I read two squadrons of J-15’s, 24 planes in all.”
“Well I’ll be…” said Cook. “These guys have beaten us to the draw. We were all locked and loaded for a midnight rush, and they sneak this business in at 22:00. Very well, launch ready CAP and vector them east. What’s in the bank on air to air?”
Lt. Pete Kane was officer of the watch, feeding the flag bridge reports from the radar teams and other ship stations, and relaying the Admiral’s orders.
“Sir, we have seven more Panthers moving to the Ready CAP position behind your last launch order, and then the six Super Toms are rigged for BARCAP. Forward Eagle now reports new contacts just off the coast of Mindanao, ten JH-7B’s. Another ten following that group, about 40 miles behind.”
They heard the first roar of defensive fire off CG-21 Class cruiser Atlanta, off the port bow of Enterprise . The newly refurbished cruiser Ticonderoga was off the starboard bow, the first in her class, made all shiny and new. DDG Breckinridge was picketing to the west, and off to the east, where the enemy was thicker, were destroyers, Longstreet, and John Bell Hood. McLaws was in the carrier’s wake, and the Admiral had two other more distant pickets, the Siberian ships, cruising about 25 miles to the southeast.
At 22:16 they saw SM-6 get the first kill on a Vampire, and Talon-6, the F-35’s that had vectored out that way, began to engage with their missiles. They were able to easily defeat the twelve Vampires, and then started in on the six J-20’s that had been paining the TF with its radars. In a swirling fighter duel, the more experienced American pilots prevailed, shooting down four J-20’s but sadly losing one of their brothers in the counter fire of PL-15’s
Now the reports came in fast. Three separate groups of enemy fighters were reported to the northeast, J-20’s and J-31’s. John Bell Hood had the new Spy-6 AMDR Radars, and they were damn good, able to make those detections over 100 miles out. Admiral Cook went over to take a look at the radar screen himself, and he could see what the enemy was doing.
“They’re making a fighter sweep forward of their strike packages, and they’re using the combined radars of all those fighters to fix our location. Not bad…” The Admiral called things as he saw them.
He gave grudging respect to his enemy now. He had pulled his pistol and got off the first shot, and Cook had little doubt that there were also cruise missiles out there vectoring in. The sound of more missiles rising from the Task Force vibrated the windows on the bridge, and they could see the water glowing with the fire of the rocket motors.
The leading group of ten Flying Leopards out of Davao now reached their release point and put 24 YJ-12’s in the air, all aimed at the Enterprise . A fast missile, they would fly at 1450 knots all the way to the target.
“Mister Kane, get the BARCAP up next, two groups of three.”
“Aye sir.”
Karpov had been watching the battle with white-knuckled interest since it began. He was amazed at the American Standard Missile-6. Their ships had radars that were far superior to his own systems, and they were locking on to the Vampires at range, and reaching out 130 miles or more with SM-6 to kill them. Anything that survived was game for legions of ESSM’s, the Enhanced Sea Sparrows that were deadly accurate. His own Fregat system had not seen the Chinese J-31’s, but the American radars found them, and they shot down quite a few that strayed too close to the carrier in an attempt to fix its position on radar.
At one point, with a long stream of YJ-100’s bearing down on Enterprise , he told Samsonov to engage them with his Gargoyles. There was no way he was going to just sit there and watch. In time the missiles stopped firing. The heavy white smoke from their exhaust slowly dissipated on the wind, and an uneasy calm settled over the sea. He watched while US fighters that had been up on various missions began to que up for landing. Battle damage assessment was next, the BDA finding that none of the American ships had suffered a hit. The defending missiles were just too good.
He looked out to see that Kursk was nowhere to be found, but Rodenko quickly reassured him that the destroyer had just maneuvered southeast when the fighting began, and it was now heading their way again, just beyond the horizon.
“Samsonov, how are we doing on the missile count?”
“That was a drain on our 48N6 cells, sir. We used about half our inventory, with 48 remaining. But we still have 90 missile in the 9M96 system.”
“Good enough,” said Karpov. He never felt comfortable with anything under 100 SAM’s under the decks. That seemed to be the minimum count a ship the size of Kirov needed, because it was often the target of the enemy’s ire.
“We should expect to see the Enterprise launch their counterattack soon. So stand ready. Comrade Samsonov, we may soon have what the Americans call a little Moonlight Madness at sea.”
The last of the planes that had scrambled in defense of the fleet had landed just before midnight, and as the hour slipped into the new day, the American strike took off as scheduled. Twelve F-35’s were carrying a new high speed attack missile, the HAWC, the Hypersonic Air Breathing Weapon Concept, capable of speeds between 1400 and 1600 knots. Yet it’s range was limited in these early models, and it could only reach out 135 miles from its release point.
The twelve Avengers would split their mission between the LRASM and GBU-53. The former had marvelous range at 500 miles, but it was relatively slow ay 600 knots. The GBU’s, an old standby for saturation attacks, required the Avengers to get inside 60 miles. The flight of six planes would bring 96 of those to the attack, if they could get in that close without being seen and engaged by enemy CAP. Six Growlers, two jamming and four with SEAD munitions were also in the attack, but there were only six F-35’s ready at that hour for the escort, leaving one ready plane on the deck. Everything else was now rearming.
As Admiral Cook had predicted, the Chinese fleet was now about 60 miles north of Sangihe Island, and heading southwest. To muddy the waters as the strike approached, he also committed about 40% of his Multi-Mission Tomahawks to the attack, about 60 missiles. He had second thoughts about the Growlers. They relied on their jammers to do their work, but more often than not, they would be seen on radar, and tip the enemy off to the fact that a strike was on the way. It was a different world now, where stealth was a major factor making the US carrier operations effective as they had been.
The Growler, as it was presently configured, was not long for that world. If the navy wanted an offensive jammer, and reliable SEAD carriers, then they were going to have to give that role to a more stealthy plane. This time out, the planes evaded four PL-15’s, picked a big cruiser up front that was going to figure prominently in the Chinese defense, and fired their AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles. They would now home on the radars of any firing ship in range.
Those Growlers were seen, and a few minutes before 01:00, the first PL-15 had been fired at them, and Wu Jinlong was issuing scramble orders to his J-31’s. Six would rise from each of his two carriers, sending out an initial group of 12 planes to reinforce his CAP.
At that hour, the twelve F-35’s with HAWC reached their release point unseen, and fired. Almost immediately, the J-31’s began to engage the fast lances with their own missiles. The PL-15 was also hypersonic, and faster than the HAWC at just under 2400 knots. Six more J-31’s took off from Taifeng to bring another two dozen of those to the fight.
None of the HWAC’s or SEAD missiles got through, but now the 24 LRASM’s were bearing down on the enemy fleet, and the Avengers carrying the GBU-53 were just a minute from their release point, undetected. It was at this juncture that Vladimir Karpov decided to throw his hat into the ring. The Carrier Killer was going to make a play.
“Well, Comrade Samsonov, let’s see if you can sink me another aircraft carrier. Give me three sets of two missiles each, on varied attack vectors, and bring them all up here to the north. That will avoid the bulk of these other contacts.”
Karpov had timed his Zircon punch to coincide with the release of all those GBU-53’s from the south, which were likely to draw the defensive fire of many of the screening units. The carrier Zhendong was the only target they had, as Taifeng had stayed in tight with its escorts and was lost on radar in that clutter. But Zhendong had maneuvered slightly north of the main body to get sea room for recovery operations on depleted fighters, and it was seen there easily enough. Karpov had already sent this ship to the repair yards once, and now he wanted to finish the job.
Just as that great red cloud of glide bombs was detected by the Chinese ships, the Zircons were up over 1000,000 feet, exceeding 4000 knots. As expected, the GBU-53’s drew a massive cascade of missile fire, and as they engaged the bombs, the Zircons were finally seen on radar. They appeared to be targeting a group of four frigates about 18 miles from Zhendong, but that was just their turning point to sweep south towards the vulnerable carrier. Wu Jinlong had frowned when he saw how the carrier had maneuvered away from the main body, and barked an order to detach two destroyers north to give the ship some better defense.
The first two Zircons reached their first turn, and it was just happenstance that it took them directly at those frigates, whereupon the cold computer minds saw a bird in hand, and recalculated to attack. The first came plummeting right into the Type 054B Class frigate Wuzhi, still traveling just under 4000 knots, and literally cut the ship right in half with the explosion and tremendous kinetic impact of that hit. While the HAWC’s and LRASM’s had all failed to find targets, the very first Zircon fired had drawn first blood and logged a kill. The second missile of that first pair followed its brother’s example and plowed into frigate Putian, blowing it to hell.
The second pair of Zircons soared above the smoke and fire of those two hits, obeying orders and turning as planned. Four HQ-9B’s bent after them, but missed badly. The Zircons turned south, and there stood the Rain God, Type 055 Class destroyer Yushen. Four SAM’s killed one of the two, but the second raced right over the destroyer, ignoring it completely. It then descended to 30 feet, failed to make its final turn, and went merrily off to the southeast, chased by an HQ-9. Of the last two missiles, one died, but the other jogged towards the carrier, then changed its mind and vectored back at the Rain God. Guns rattled, chaff flew everywhere, the jammers screamed bloody murder… but Yushen would die.
When the BDA was confirmed a moment later, Samsonov reported. “Sir, all missiles vectored on targets of opportunity. We have three hits.”
“Three for six,” said Karpov. “Not bad, Samsonov. Not bad at all. Ninety plus glide bombs are all shot down, but our Zircons carry the hour yet again. Well done.” He looked at Rodenko’s screen, seeing that the leading train of 60 Tomahawks was now about 110 miles from its target. “So now we wait a bit. When the Tomahawks begin their attack, we fire again. As before, prepare three sets of two missiles each. Look for carriers or high value cruisers.”
“Aye sir!” Samsonov was full of energy, Kirov’s steel fist, and he was loving every second at the CIC.
Karpov and Rodenko watched the radar tracks of the American Tomahawks as they began to close. At least 24 had been targeted to Zhendong, and 36 assigned to Taifeng, though nine of those had already fallen to attacks by defending J-31’s. Every missile was after one of those two carriers.
“Now Samsonov. Fire at will.”
Six more Zircons were away, all moving to that same sector north, but this time placed to avoid those frigates. The enemy fleet was now heavily engaged against the Tomahawks. The Gyrfalcon J-31’s fell on the low missile trains, clawing them down. twelve more had scrambled to meet this threat, and that, more than anything else, had served to protect the carriers thus far. As the last of the Tomahawks died, finding no joy, Samsonov’s six Zircons were closing in at blistering speed. The very first missile saw the carrier ahead on radar, and determined its assigned path would require it to make too sharp a turn to engage. So it cancelled its instructions, utilizing its own on-board radar to find the correct position of the target, and went right through three SAMs to blast into the side of Zhendong. It’s brother was right behind it, scoring yet another hit. Kirov was five for eight.
Now the next pair of missiles came on the scene, with five HQ-9B’s out after them. But the firing destroyers were six miles to the south of the carrier, requiring those missile for make a side attack. Against a Tomahawk, that would have been no problem, but not against a Zircon traveling over 2000 knots
Zhendong was already a mass of broiling fire, and several planes were just blown completely off the deck. In a cruel one-two punch, Samsonov delivered the knockout. Both missiles struck home, and there came a tremendous explosion when the carrier magazines went off in a mighty roar. Ripped to shreds, the carcass of that carrier now boiled into the sea in a heavy hissing list. The final two Zircons then retargeted to the older ASW frigate Shaoguan, and the first killed that ship. The last surged past the target, fining nothing else on the sea, and then self-terminated. Of the twelve Zircons fired, eight had found targets, sinking three frigates, a good destroyer, and the carrier Zhendong. Karpov smiled.
The first rounds were over, and Kirov had now single handedly cut the Chinese carrier fleet of six pre-war ships in half.
“Comrade Samsonov,” he said. “I hereby award this ship and crew the Medal of Ushakov for outstanding service in naval combat, and you, my friend, will be the man who wears that medal on your jersey.”
The crew gave a cheer, and Samsonov beamed. He was a man of very few words, all muscle, a warrior thru and thru, but the light in his eyes clearly showed how buoyed he was by that praise.