part0048

Our air assets are far too thin. They have been flaying us with their air power, and we have no credible defense beyond our SAM’s when their bombs come in hordes. Did I make a mistake in taking the fleet so far out into the Indian Ocean? Perhaps I should have just sat off the coast near our airfields in Yemen, using our SAM’s to help defend them. Then we could have moved up the coast of Oman, destroying all their bases as we went. With hindsight, this is what I should have done, but nothing can be done about it now. I still have 28 ships, and eight more at Aden. This is still a powerful fleet.

The alarms suddenly blared out a warning. They were under attack, yet there had been no sign of enemy planes. This was maddening, he thought. The enemy flies like vagrant spirits, unseen, unheard, until they strike like demons.

The attack would come in two stages, because the GBU’s fell faster than the British SPEAR, which came at only 400 knots. The Chinese formation was like a great lambchop on the sea, and the tail end of the bone was the Gwadar Group, eight ships that were the focus of both F-35 squadrons. So 96 bombs would come in the first wave, pulling so many SAM’s from the VLS bays, that every last HQ-9 in the task force was expended, and the entire group had no more than 24 short range HQ-10’s left. Only one ship had taken a serious hit, the frigate Liuzhou , which was now on fire. DDG Zhengzhou also took a hit, but no systems were damaged. Yet now the entire task force was very vulnerable, and 96 British SPEAR’s were coming in that second wave. The bill they had been sent out to get paid was only seconds away from a very hard settlement, or so they hoped.

DDG Zhengzhou was soon ripped from one end to another with a series of flashing hits, and it was not going to survive. The ship that had started its war in Algiers would die here. Captain Yu Han’s squadron flagship Chilong , the Fire Dragon , was battered to a hulk, and the first ship to sink. Liuzhou took additional systems damage, but had no flooding, and was still limping north. Amazingly, all remaining ships were unscathed.

The attack did far less damage that had been expected. Even the GBU clusters from the Strike Raptors were roundly defeated, and one plane had been unable to release. In the Flag Group, the Admiral saw DDG Naning struck forward, a blow that destroyed its deck gun, but his five destroyers had put up terrible defensive fire, and survived.

As the enemy planes broke off and turned for home, he began issuing orders to reorganize the fleet. Instead of five task forces, he regrouped to three. His Flag Group of five took the vanguard, and behind him, seven ships formed the Chihai or Red Sea Group. The last TF was the Arabian Sea Group, with nine ships, northeast of his Flag. That made 21 warships, with frigate Liuzhou and three oilers detached, and two destroyers sunk.

The attack that Captain Simpson had sent out as a haymaker had not scored the knockout blow he was hoping for. Now it seemed there would be little he could do to save Salaha if the enemy was going there to use their deck guns as he believed.

Now Admiral Sun Wei was going to throw his strategic punch at the enemy. As his fleet approached the coast, he gave orders for the other two task forces to turn northeast, heading up the Omani coast. He would continue on alone with the five destroyers in his flag group, thinking their deck guns would be sufficient to destroy the naval dock. By 09:00 on the 2nd of December, he was coming into range. Since DDG Naning had lost its deck gun, he had four 130mm guns he could use to bombard the docks. It would be the first offensive use of naval deck guns in the war. All this time, they had sat mute, showing how naval combat had now left the big guns behind, relying almost entirely on missiles in 2025.

The bombardment raked the quays and docks with fire, but 130mm rounds were not all that heavy, and did not have much thump. Dock crews had been warned of this impending attack long ago, and most any equipment of value had been evacuated inland. If the guns had been bigger like those on the old WWII battleships, they might have pounded those docks in minutes, but here, half an hour into the bombardment, it was still like throwing pebbles at them.

Rounds were sending up tall sprays of water, others making direct hits. Some sailed wildly over the docks into the warehouses and marshalling yards beyond, blasting long rows of containers lined up there. The four destroyers fired for an hour, the shell casings bouncing onto their forward decks, guns reloading from the magazines, and firing again. They continued pecking away, like icepicks against great bergs, but it would take at least 240 good hits to really destroy just one of those heavy concrete docks. The results were so bad that the Admiral had to recall his Red Sea squadron and have it join the bombardment with six more destroyers.

After two hours shelling the harbor, one of the four major docks lay in smoking ruins, the others being damaged but none hit badly enough to prevent repairs. Admiral Sun Wei’s plan had run up against the limitations of the 130mm deck guns, and while he had put harm on the port, his blow was far from fatal.

If I turn west for Aden, the fleet could be trapped there. I would, in effect, be retiring, and giving up the field of battle. Going to Aden would re-unite the entire fleet, strengthening my force, but then the Americans would get between us and the Gulf. No, I will not concede.

So I must follow the lead of the Arabian Sea Squadron, and move northeast instead. Even if it means I leave the Aden group behind, we move to block the entrance to the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf. And we also gain the support of our bases in Pakistan, and perhaps even the Pakistani Navy. So we go northeast. There is time yet. They cannot rearm and strike for some hours, which may give me time to refuel some of the destroyers. I will now absorb the Red Sea Squadron into the Flag Group for better defense. We must move quickly. Time is of the essence.

Captain Simpson on the Roosevelt had been unhappy with the big strike. Debriefing showed that the Air Force Raptors had not coordinated well, and two had failed to release their bombs after coming under SAM fire when their position was discovered. As soon as the first planes released, the Chinese had just flung HQ-9s in that direction, and some went after the planes.

He also learned that one full train of British Spears had gone astray, missed its target, attempted retargeting and then ran out of energy. All told, they had hurt the enemy, but they should have done more. Checking the magazines, he had only three GBU-53’s left, and so had to order up underway replenishment from AOE Camden . They would airlift about 120 of those bombs, and some additional missiles for the fighters. So while Sun Wei was refueling, Roosevelt was replenishing, and then the race for the Gulf of Oman would be on.

“Well, word from Salaha is that only one of the four docks was damaged beyond easy repair. They’re already working on the other three. Salaha may still be an option for the Marines.”

“Not if we get up there first. Ripley, you tell the destroyers we’re going to start turning the screws in another half hour—ahead flank. I’m not going to let them cut us off and block access to the Gulf.”

So as the Chinese fleet ran northeast along the coast, the Allied fleet was 330 miles out to sea, but on a parallel course. Between the two forces, there were three submarines, HMS Anson , USS Seawolf and Seatiger , all trying to get into position to ambush the Chinese as they advanced. Another kill, and Captain Drake would be top dog in the undersea world, and with the Chinese ships running at 25 knots, they would not hear these stealthy boats easily.

What Admiral Sun Wei dearly needed now was some air cover. He had three J-20’s at Ras Karma on Socotra, but the runway access point was a deep crater surrounded by bubble, and there were no earth movers at hand. The work had to be done the old fashioned way, with pick and shovel, and that took time. So those three Dragoons were shut in for the foreseeable future.

A Squadron of twelve J-10’s was based at Riyan airport, and six of those took off to cover the movement of the wounded frigate Liuzhou , which had been making for the coast near Al Ghaydah in north Yemen. There were AEW assets at that field, but they could not fly without fighter cover. So that J-10 flight would be reassigned to Al Ghaydah, There were six J-10’s left at Al Anad AFB near Aden, six more at Massawa on the Red Sea coast, and 15 at Sana’a, but that was 6550 miles to the west. No J-20’s were available at all on the Arabian Peninsula or Red Sea district. Any that remained were in Pakistan, at Gwadar and Jinnah near Karachi.

The Americans will have fighters at Muscat, and closer at Masirah. Those planes would be able to intercept anything flying south from Gwadar. This is simply unacceptable! And I have been remiss. Hong Buchan was to have brought his Bengal Bay Squadron to join our main fleet, but he stubbornly stayed well east of our position, thinking he ruled the Arabian Sea. Look what that got him. Now his ships are at the bottom of the sea, and he complains to Beijing that we failed to support him.

“We have put heavy damage on the port of Salaha, and now move to interdict Muscat and the Gulf of Oman. Yet victory will elude us for lack of adequate air support. The enemy carriers strike us at will! This is unacceptable. Requesting all available J-20 Squadrons be transferred to Pakistan at once in support of this fleet before further losses are inflicted by enemy air strikes. Furthermore, request all units of Arabian Sea Fleet to be under my immediate command.”

Admiral Shen Jinlong, Commander in Chief of the Chinese Navy, made this request to the air force, demanding support, and made certain that the message was copied to appropriate civilian leadership. Wang Ziwen, Chief of the Air Force, had most of his better squadrons assigned to the Siberian front, and he might have said that no J-20 squadrons were available, but the drawdown of hostilities there was the excuse he needed to answer this call.

To make such a transfer, the planes would first have to fly all the way over the Taklamakan Desert to the farthest reaches of Xinjiang Province. There were no regular bases there, but two reserve fields could be used to refuel the planes, one at Kashi near Kashgar, and another at the old desert Silk Road city of Khotan (or Hotan). From there it would be an air ferry of a little over 1000 nautical miles to Gwadar or Karachi, up over the roof of the world in the Himalayas. Transport aircraft would also have to lift in more missiles for the planes, and diplomatic channels had to clear the way first with Pakistan.

It was clear to Beijing, at least on one level, that their fighting Admiral was instinctively moving to maintain communications with Pakistan, and by extension, the homeland. If he had gone to Aden, there is no doubt that the entire fleet would have been isolated, and either have to fight its way out of the Gulf of Aden, or simply sit out the war in the Red Sea.

As to their other fighting Admiral, Hong Buchan, a private communique from Sun Wei to Beijing revealed his lack of cooperation, and the subsequent destruction of so many ships when they were isolated from the main fleet. Hong was therefore ordered to assume a new post as Military Liaison to Pakistan, and facilitate the buildup of air units as planned, much to his chagrin.

“Sun Wei seeks to blame me now for his incompetence!” he would complain to subordinates. “He must have poisoned the tea in Beijing with my name, saying I am to blame for the loss of those ships, while it was he who insisted on bombarding that port, losing valuable time. The fleet needs to be near the Gulf of Oman! Now the Americans are increasing speed to try and get there first. Liaison to Pakistan? See that the air reinforcements are properly based? I am not in the Air Force. I am a Navy Admiral!”

He complaints fell on the ears of all around him, but he did not say anything further to Beijing. Yet his heart darkened with ill will towards Sun Wei, and he was scheming on how he could recover face, and besmirch the Admiral, making all right again under heaven and earth, and with him in charge of the Indo-Arabian Fleet.

Captain Sir Francis Drake was on the prowl again, and he had come a long way to get into the position he now held. There were seven contacts ahead, skunks on the sea, and the closest had been identified as DDG Chaoyong , Type 052D. The destroyer was the outer picket of a formation moving at 25 knots, hastening up the coast of Oman. Behind it, five more contacts were detected in its wake. Chaoyong was now about 9 miles away, and Anson was creeping at 5 knots. As the destroyer came on, the range would diminish rapidly to about eight miles, and he would fire his first Spearfish.

“We have to be stingy here, gentlemen,” he said. “We’ve only four Spearfish left, so make tube one ready.” Normally, he would have used two torpedoes to ensure his kill, but the ammo was running low.

That hit was fire and flood aft aboard Chaoyong . Its towed sonar array equipment was destroyed, along with a triple 324mm torpedo tube. The fires had spread to one of the two 32 cell VLS bays, and it was now useless as the crews desperately tried to extinguish the flames before the missile blew.

A Z-9 helo that had been on ASW watch was now hovering at 150 feet, and using its dipping sonar, but it had a very short range. Now it moved toward the location where they fleet had heard that torpedo launch. It then hastened southwest, finding another spot to dip, but could not find the stealthy British sub.