South China Sea, West of Luzon
August 26
The USS Gerald Ford, pride of the Navy, was cornered. The incoming warhead had survived a fusillade of defensive missiles. Unable to either destroy or shake free of the warhead’s guidance system, Captain Healy knew his ship was going to be hit. The only question now was would his ship survive?
He’d read the intelligence reports during the briefing prior to the strike group embarking from Yokosuka, Japan. The warheads that sunk both the Izumo and the Makin Island were believed to be kinetic penetrators—very small, very dense, and hyper velocity. Thought to be only inches in diameter and maybe three feet long, speculated to have been fabricated in an exotic composite structure—an outer layer composed of a material they called hafnium carbonitride surrounding an inner core of super-dense osmium. The physicists claimed this structure was extremely hard, extremely dense, and nearly immune to the high temperature generated as the projectile completed the terminal phase of its ballistic trajectory. No doubt this is why the missile defenses of the strike group had failed to intercept and defeat the warhead.
The brains at the Naval Surface Warfare Center calculated that this type of warhead would deliver a crippling blow to a ship, transferring an amount of energy equivalent to 2.5 tons of TNT. Even worse, this energy would be transmitted from the point of impact on the top deck or superstructure, all the way through the internal compartments and decks, finally exiting the bottom hull of the vessel. It would be akin to a nickel-iron meteor striking a warship.
Flooding would commence immediately and extend upward through compromised bulkheads and decks. Any material directly in the path of the warhead would be vaporized, even steel. Nearby, metal would be melted, and along with the superheated gases, ignite any flammable materials—the most dangerous being jet fuel and ordnance.
Between the structural damage from the kinetic penetrator, heat from raging fires, and thousands of tons of flooding water placing a tremendous mass around the weakened section of the vessel, it was no surprise that the previous two ships had broken in two within minutes of being hit.
But the Ford was a much larger vessel, displacing nearly 100,000 tons. Could she survive the warhead strike? Not if her bunkers of aviation fuel, or magazines loaded with missiles and bombs, were ignited. If that happened, it would be a terrifying spectacle. A deadly, hellish inferno would destroy his ship and her entire crew—more than 4,500 men and women.
Captain Healy leaned against the console and stared out the bridge windows. A second had passed since the Operations Officer had sounded the alarm—“Brace for impact!”
Beneath his feet, the deck tilted, and he felt the shift in momentum as the Ford heeled into a sharp turn to port. And then, looking much like a bolt of lightning, only arrow straight, a tongue of brilliant white light lanced through the blackness and slammed into the deck.
His ship shuddered, and new alarms sounded.
At first, Healy thought his mind was playing a trick, a cruel deceit. His pulse pounded in his ears as he waited for the frightful secondary explosions to rip out the guts of the mighty ship. And then he realized the warhead had only grazed the starboard side of the flight deck. He leaned forward, placing binoculars to his eyes and peering through the darkness. The flight deck was illuminated by yellow-orange flames, fuel from three destroyed Hornets that had been tied down next to the forward starboard elevator.
“All stop,” Healy ordered, “until that fire is under control. Then turn into the wind and give me full speed. I want two more Hornets on CAP. Anything on the scope?”
“Negative, sir. Only our escorts. No other surface contacts. No air contacts.”
“As soon as the debris is removed and the fire is out, get a Sentry up. I want to see anything coming before it can see us.”
Admiral LaGrassa entered the bridge. Coagulated blood marked a short gash on his forehead. “Are you okay, sir?” Healy asked.
The admiral waved off Healy’s concern. “That first hard turn caught me off balance. Status?”
Healy quickly ran through the deployment of the escorts, the ballistic missile attack and response, the lack of any other contacts on the radar, the order to deploy a total of four F-18 fighters to the combat air patrol, plus the launching of an E-3 Sentry early warning and surveillance aircraft. The Sentry would give the carrier strike force excellent radar coverage of the sky and sea to a distance of 200 nautical miles.
LaGrassa nodded in concurrence. “Damage report?”
“Coming in now, sir,” the Operations Officer replied. “The forward elevator took the brunt of the damage—looks like a direct hit. Three Hornets were destroyed. Fire is under control and almost out, then they’ll push the wreckage overboard. Fortunately, none of the destroyed aircraft had been armed or fully fueled. Other than the forward elevator and immediate vicinity, it doesn’t look like there is any impairment to launching and retrieving aircraft.”
“Status of the EMALS?” the admiral asked, referring to the electromagnetic aircraft launch system that replaced steam catapults used in previous generations of aircraft carriers.
“All four EMALS are operational. No damage.”
“Thank God for that,” LaGrassa murmured.
Captain Healy breathed a deep sigh of relief. “If that warhead had hit center of ship…”
“Get a message out to COMPACFLT, and updates every fifteen minutes.”
“What do you think will be the response from the Fleet Commander?” Healy asked.
“This strike group is still operational. And as long as we can project force, COMPACFLT will not alter our orders. Although I would expect they’ll deploy the Reagan strike group to bolster our strength.”
“The Ronald Reagan and her escorts would be a considerable addition. From their current deployment between Taiwan and mainland China, they could join our operational formation in twenty hours, maybe less if we reduce our speed. But that would remove their presence in the Taiwan Strait. Might make Taiwan a bit anxious.”
“True. But this strike group has come under attack, and based on latest intel there is no reason to believe China is planning an imminent attack on Taiwan. I think those ships will serve a more useful purpose here, as part of this strike group. At least I hope that’s the decision COMPACFLT makes.”
Healy looked out the bridge window just in time to see the shattered remains of an F-18 Hornet pushed overboard. Crewmembers immediately followed up with a shoulder-to-shoulder walking of the deck to remove all foreign debris that might get sucked into a jet engine.
LaGrassa addressed Healy directly. “Make no mistake—we are steaming into combat. Make certain that message is understood by every officer in this strike group. Any ship or plane that enters our sphere of control that is not positively ID’d as friendly will be presumed hostile. As of this moment, all ships and aircraft are authorized to shoot first any hostile contact.”