Джон Шеттлер - Condition Zebra - The Next War - 2025

“Aye sir, ahead fifteen.”

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.

Chaoyong’s flooding went from bad to worse, and the ship slowed to three knots. The rest of the fleet hastened on, like a herd of bison running from a leopard

“Come about,” said Drake. “Make your heading 122 degrees southeast, and steady on sixteen knots.” The undersea pirate had just taken the number one spot in for hits, and only time would tell as to whether that hit would become a confirmed kill. That would happen at 18:30 that night, and Drake was now the top Sea Dog.

It was the first bite by the undersea predators lurking nearby, and now a tiger was about to pounce. The three Chinese oilers, a pair of Type 908 Fusu Class, and one Type 933 Fuchi class replenishment ships had been trailing the formation, about 30 miles behind. They would have the misfortune of being found by Captain James Wade, USS Seatiger , and they got six torpedoes sent their way, all but one struck hulls, the last registering as a dud.

While the blow was not as colorful as that delivered by Captain Drake, who had braved the entire formation of enemy ships to get his kill, it was nonetheless a significant hit. All three tankers had fire and flooding, and were mission killed in terms of being able to lend any further support to the fleet. A Z-9 investigated, dipping three times, but could not get a whisper of the stealthy Seatiger .

At this juncture, OMCOM took stock of the situation and concluded that short of engaging them immediately by air strike from Roosevelt , they could not stop the Chinese from reaching the Gulf of Oman. Given the results after three strikes, and with so many ships still operating in the Chinese fleet, Captain Simpson informed Theater Commander Admiral John Randall that he did not have sufficient ordnance to make more than one good strike. It was therefore decided to wait for the Independence to get into range, and then combine the weight of two carriers.

What this meant, of course, was that the 1st USMC Division could not go to Muscat, not if the Chinese reached the Gulf of Oman in strength. Admiral Randall explained the situation to Military Sealift Commander, Admiral Thomas Shannon.

“Alright,” he began, “another change of plans. After the bombardment at Salaha, we opted to try and bring the Marines into Muscat, but that isn’t going to happen any time soon. Repairs to the naval docks are going round the clock at Salaha, and so we’re going to stick with the original plan.”

“They thought they were going to burn the place down.” said Shannon.

“That they did, but only one of the four major docks was really beaten up to a point where it couldn’t be helped, and we had time to move most of the cranes and other dock equipment out of harm’s way. So now we think that port will be operational by the time the Marines get there. We’re moving the Roosevelt group, and the Royal Navy units, into a position where they will block any movement towards Salaha from the gulf of Oman. The Chinese may roost there a while. They’ll be needing fuel, because we got three of their oilers, so we think they may put into Karachi.”

“Better there then out where they can get after my transports.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t let that happen. But there is one other task force we have to deal with. We hit it earlier, and it retired to Aden. Those ships could make a stab towards Salaha from the west, so they’ll have to be engaged if they do. All the more reason to have the Independence in position.”

“Good enough. What’s happening at Singapore?”

“That port is still functional. They threw some DF-21’s at it, but not enough to close it down. In another couple of days it will be 90% operational. The Chinese withdrew to Vung Tau, near the Mekong Delta, but they will regroup there and could make another move south. That’s a problem, because the Royal Navy pulled out the last five ships they had there. They just don’t have any real offensive punch beyond 100 miles, and so they’d just be targets.”

“Well damn, John, who’s holding the fort?”

“At the moment, the light elements of the Singapore Navy. They lost their frigates, but still have a good number of patrol boats.”

“Patrol boats?”

“I know, its damn thin. Well, the Siberians are down in that area with that hot battlecruiser of theirs, so given the situation, I ordered Hap Turner’s group to meet up with them.”

“Turner… You mean the New Jersey Group?”

“Right. We reinforced it with the last two destroyers that were part of that SAG, Stoneman and Sumner . They were late getting out of Guam with some sensor repairs. There were also a three Virginia Class boats on escort with the Independence , and we assigned two of them to join the British sub Trafalgar. They’ll set up a defensive screen. Beyond that, the Air Force is going to ferry in some air assets to Singapore. We beat up the Chinese airfields down there pretty good, so this will buck up our control of the airspace, and with those three subs, we’ll control things under the wavetops as well.”

“What about Enterprise?”

“Can’t move her just now. That group is holding the watch on the East China Sea. Washington reached Pearl, and will be escorting in the next sealift you set up there, bound for Japan.”

“Sounds like we could use a couple more flattops.”

“Six was plenty for peacetime operations,” said Randall, “and we kept readiness at the top of our list. Never more than one ship in extended maintenance at a time. But with this war, we wish we had ten. They’re rigging out JFK , and if this thing gets any worse she just might cut her teeth in real combat. For now, Ike is in bed at Norfolk, and Truman is in the Eastern Med to provide air support for the Saudis. So the best we can do is get two big decks together, and right now, that’s going to be in the Arabian Sea.”

“At least the Army stopped Saddam.”

“For the moment. Yes, it seems we’ll hold the line there, but we’ll need everything you can bring us to roll them out of there. So with your permission, I’ll issue orders to retool 1st USMC to Salaha as we planned.”

“I hope you keep a sharp eye out for their subs,” said Shannon. “The undersea boys have been having a field day out here.”

That was an understatement.

While those course changes were underway in the Arabian Sea, Kirov and Kursk were still in the Karimata Strait. Karpov had thought to take the Sunda Strait to get into the deep water of the Indian Ocean. Gromyko would certainly prefer that to the shallow waters here. But He had received a message from the Americans, requesting he make a rendezvous with the New Jersey Surface Action group.

The big battleship had lingered to wait for its other two destroyers, which left Guam late. When DDG’s Stoneman and Sumner came up, the Black Dragon got orders to meet up with the Siberians. That would make a seven ship Surface Action Group, and with two of the most powerful ships afloat in that order of battle. Karpov had plenty of time to meet his supply ship in Jakarta, and replaced the Zircons he had fired. He was thankful that the Soviets had even made the missile in this history, but as Fedorov often said, sometimes the details of an altered time were remarkably true, while on the macro scale, things could be must different. That was certainly the case here.