EX nihilo nihil fit. For this novel, I began with the advantage of notes accumulated for previous books about Navy and joint operations, as well as my own experiences at sea and in Central Asia and the Pacific. The following new sources were also helpful.
For details on Apra Harbor: Globalsecurity.org and Tim Gorman of Joint Region Marianas. Procedures for exiting dry dock: Interview with John Vitzthum, Naval Engineers Journal, Sept. 2015.
For Marine Corps passages: Specs on M240 are from DM 3-22-68 (italicized material is quotes) and “M240B Machine Gun,” USMC website. Mike Pasquini of the Crimson Lion in Wilkes-Barre read the hookah scene. Ramos’s equipment description began with “The Modern Warrior’s Combat Load: Dismounted Operations in Afghanistan April–May 2003,” Task Force Devil, Coalition Task Force 82, Coalition Joint Task Force 180, US Army Center for Lessons Learned, combined with USMC input. Info on Itbayat coastline from Pub. 162, Sailing Directions (Enroute) Philippine Islands, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, 2010. USMC structure: MCRP 5-12D, Organization of Marine Corps Forces. These chapters were read and commented on by Katie Davis and Peter Gibbons-Neff; many thanks to them and to Drew Davis for introducing us.
About China’s “lost territories”: Barbara Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911–1945, (New York: Macmillan, 1971), p. 250.
My portrayal of the fictional USS Hornet was aided by bull sessions with crew and officers aboard USS Wasp (LHD-1), with subsequent availability for specific questions as they arose. Interlocutors included William Tonacchio, Dane Lathroum, Kurt Kastner, Toy Andrews, Mack Nolen, Joe Towles, Andy Smith, and Todd Lewis. A deep bow to all for unfailing hospitality!
Discussion of Expeditionary Strike Group makeup: Michael Moran, Modern Military Forces Structures, Council on Foreign Relations, 2006.
USAF Rapid Capabilities Office: Lara Seligman et al., “As Industry Awaits Bomber Contract, New Details Emerge,” Defense News, Sept. 5, 2015.
The following sources were valuable as background for tactics, mind-sets, and strategic decisions:
James D. Hornfischer, Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, (New York: Bantam Books, 2012).
Lisle A. Rose, The Ship That Held the Line, (Annapolis: Naval Insitute Press, 1995).
Joseph H. Alexander, Storm Landings: Epic Amphibious Battles in the Central Pacific (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997).
Wayne P. Hughes, Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1986).
Contending with China issue, Armed Forces Journal, Apr. 2008.
Joint Operation Planning, Joint Publication 5-0, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2011.
David Sears, The Last Epic Naval Battle: Voices from Leyte Gulf (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005).
Dale C. Reilage, “The Imperative to Engage,” US Naval Institute Proceedings, Apr. 2015.
Hunter Stiles, “1941 Asiatic Fleet Offers Strategic Lessons,” US Naval Institute Proceedings, Aug. 2016.
The Future Surface Fleet issue, Naval Institute Proceedings, Jan. 2014.
David C. Gompert et al., “War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable” (Santa Monica: RAND, 2016).
For autonomous ships: IHS Engineering 360’s “Unmanned Anti-Submarine Vessel Ready to Set Sail,” Feb. 29, 2016.
The discussion of deterrence is from Joint Publication 3-12, “Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations” (unclassified).
The discussion of BMD was backgrounded by Jonathan Masters, “Your Pocket Guide to How U.S. Missile Defense Works,” Council on Foreign Relations, Aug. 18, 2014. The discussion of the ground-based deterrent is from Robert Spalding and Adam Lowther, “Rethinking the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent,” Breaking Defense, Dec. 29, 2014; also, Amy F. Woolf, U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues, Congressional Research Service, March 10, 2016. Also, from an unpublished thesis I did at George Washington University. On the DF-41: “DF-41 (CSS-X-10),” George C. Marshall and Claremont Institutes, Missile Threat, Mar. 22, 2016.
For Chinese empoyment of hackers: Katie Williams, “Chinese National Pleads Guilty to DOD Hacking Conspiracy,” The Hill, Mar. 23, 2016.
For the Army point of view on joint operations: Dennis Steele, “The Hooah Guide to Pacific Land Power,” Army Magazine, Apr. 2013. Also Nicholson and Trevithick, “The Army’s New Role in the Pacific Pivot,” Naval Institute Proceedings, Oct. 2015.
For Oberg’s story, sources about Uighur resistance included Igor Rotar, “The Growing Problem of Uighur Separatism,” China Brief, vol. 4, issue 8, Jamestown Foundation, accessed Nov. 23, 2015. Also Matthew Oresman and Daniel Steingart, “Radical Islamization in Xinjiang—Lessons from Chechnya?” CACI Analyst, July 30, 2003.
For background on helicopter crashes and survival thereof: Mike Hixenbaugh, “Training Gives Helicopter Crews a Shot at Survival,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, Aug. 11, 2014. Also NATO RTO AG-341, “Specification d’un respirateur de sauvetage pour aeronefs a voilure fixe et a voilure tournante en mission de survol maritime,” May 2001. For trauma procedures: Dr. Frances Anagnost Williams. For Battle of Lake Erie: “We Have Met the Enemy,” Shipmate, May–June 2012.
For overall help, recognition is due to Charle Ricci and Stacia Childers of the Eastern Shore Public Library; Matthew Stroup and Corey Barker of the Navy Office of Information, East; Mike Hatfield of Expeditionary Strike Group Three; and James DiAngio, Commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic. Deep bows to Mark “Dusty” Durstewitz, James W. Neuman, Bill Doughty, John T. Fusselman, and others (they know who they are), both retired and still on active duty, who put in many hours adding additional perspective. If I inadvertently left anyone out who wanted to be named, apologies!
Let me reemphasize that these sources were consulted for the purposes of fiction. The specifics of personalities, tactics, units, and locales are employed as the materials of story, not reportage. Some details have been altered to protect classified capabilities and procedures.
My deepest gratitude goes to George Witte, editor and friend of over three decades, without whom this series would not exist. And Sally Richardson, Ken Silver, Sara Thwaite, Young Jin Lim, Adam Goldberger, Naia Poyer, and Anya Lichtenstein at St. Martin’s/Macmillan. And finally to Lenore Hart, kindest critic, best friend, anchor on lee shores, and my North Star when skies are clear.
As always, all errors and deficiencies are my own.