Jihad 2.1

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Jihad
2.1 America
by Red MacDonald
Copyright © 2013 Red MacDonald
All Rights Reserved.

The Faithful, North African and Middle Eastern Islamic nations, are plotting to seize the oil resources of the Middle East. By controlling the earth's oil and its major trade routes, they plan to bring the world to its knees. Then, when the entire world is kneeling, the Faithful of Allah will read to them from the Koran, preaching the message of Islam, the True Faith. The Faithful will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. But how far will they go? And how many lives will it cost?

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2 Early Moves

2.1 America

2.1.1 Admiral Duncan

Vice Admiral James Thomas Duncan was jet-lagged all to hell by the time he arrived at the Admiralty. Fleet Admiral George Flagett greeted Duncan warmly and quickly put his mind at ease. The Admiralty would honor their commitments by deploying both of the Royal Navy’s carriers. They would be a huge help, especially since Britain had finally gotten back into the Navy business for the first time since the Second World War.

Britain had downsized its fleets for decades. Even after the Falklands debacle, the British had shied away from a commitment to their historic strength, the Royal Navy. They had kept two small ships, suitable only for jump-jets, through the first quarter of the 21st century. America’s continuing downsizing, combined with Britain’s remarkable economic growth, had brought about a resurgence in national pride and a recognition of the need to protect its interests throughout the world. Great Britain had built a real carrier, calling her Victory, a name that had lived in fame and glory for centuries in the RN.

H.M.S. Victory was a pretty ship. She was about the same size as the Halsey, but the Brits had done the job right by designing her as a full-fledged nuke. She had an angled flight deck like her American cousins with a complement of about sixty planes. Victory had two twelve-plane squadrons of Sea Typhoon interceptors, plus an equal number of Sea Fury fighter-bombers. She also had ten twin-jet attack bombers, American Hawkeyes, and her own propeller-driven ASW aircraft. All in all, H.M.S. Victory was a good ship. And, when she sailed with the old Ajax and her two dozen jump-jets, they were a formidable presence.

Following his meeting with the Brits, Duncan flew to Paris where he talked at length with the French Naval Minister, Monsieur DuPreiss, and Admiral Angelou, the Naval Chief of Staff. The French had officially stated that they were not ready to commit their armed forces and were awaiting NATO’s decision. Regardless of the official French position, Admiral Angelou confided that Foch was already on station about 100 kilometers off the southwest coast of Corsica, while cautioning that the carrier’s maneuvers were strictly defensive in nature. Duncan could get no French commitment regarding French protection of NATO ships in the Mediterranean.

Admiral Duncan was bitterly disappointed with the results of his meeting with America’s oldest ally. He believed that the French were as involved in this as much as anybody else, if not more. The very least they could have done was commit to the oldest of all treaty obligations -- freedom of the seas. Further, since he couldn’t count on the French to protect his PhibRon, he would have to turn Halsey around to ensure that the Marines weren’t attacked on their way to wherever they were going.

"What a way to start a tour of duty," he fumed.

His driver interrupted him, "Change of plans, Admiral. They want you over at the embassy."

"Why?"

"Didn’t say, Sir. They just said do it."

The admiral nodded, and the big car whipped a U-ey much to the consternation of several Parisians, who tooted their little horns and shook their fists at the big Yankee limo. "Screw them!" Duncan fumed, "If their admirals had even that much courage, they’d be in this thing where they belong." By the time he arrived at the embassy, Jim Duncan had worked himself into a towering rage.

Ambassador Dillon greeted the admiral upon his arrival. Dillon was a political hack from the word go, but he had spent years in the political arena. He knew how to put people at ease and how to get things done. Within minutes, he had seated Duncan in the Naval Attaché's office next to a security VisiPhone with a large pot of strong coffee at his side. Duncan punched in his code. The screen blinked a couple of times as the satellite synchronized the transmission frequencies.

Doug Smalley’s face appeared on the screen. "Admiral, how are you? Sorry to interrupt your vacation, but there’s some news I’d better tell you. I tried to get you before you met with the French.

"This morning Iran and Iraq invaded Kuwait. The Kuwaiti army was destroyed. The President has declared a State of Emergency. Kimmel is sailing from Diego Garcia along with her PhibRon. The prepositioned ships there will put to sea ASAP. The 82nd and the 101st are alerted as are the Ninth and Twelfth Light. Air lift will begin within the hour.

"On top of that, it looks like the Syrians and Iraqis are going to attack Israel. Syria has moved three divisions into the Golan Heights area, and Israel has mobilized. The Iraqis are sending at least one division overland towards Syria.

"NATO is meeting as we speak. The French are dragging their heels, but everybody else is on board, except for the Turks and Greeks, that is. They’ve both tied their cooperation to Cypress!

"I’ve talked with the Admiralty. We’ve set up hunting preserves. The Brits will take the Eastern Atlantic, coast of Morocco and the Straits of Gibraltar. If the French come in, they’ll take the Western Med. You’ve got the Eastern MED until CentCom comes up to speed. You will also have the full cooperation of the Italian Navy, including escort vessels if you need them.

"Your orders are to patrol and to protect American interests in the Eastern Med. Your base will be Crete. You are to engage any Iraqi or Irani flagged vessels. Capture them if you can, sink them if you have to. Same goes for aircraft. You will make direct contact with the naval and civilian authorities in Tel Aviv through our ambassador. If this thing turns into a shooting war, you will provide air and naval support for Israel. By the way, keep your eye on Egypt and the Canal!

"As you know, your PhibRon was increased to a MAB under Blacky Breckenridge. I didn’t want to delay his sailing until his entire brigade was assembled. I’m sending Blacky and his MAU right away. The rest will follow in eight days under Rear Admiral Ellingstone. He’ll be your ComSurfPhibRon.

"That’s about it. Anything from your side?"

Duncan shook his head emphatically. "No, Admiral. My meeting with the French was a waste of time. However, f the French do commit, they won’t have far to go. The Foch is already off Corsica. By the way, who’d they select for CentCom?"

"Gator. You know him?"

Yes, indeed, Duncan knew Hector Luis Lopez Algarro. The admiral’s thoughts flashed back to his days at the Naval Academy. Algarro had been at West Point at the same time as Duncan was at Annapolis. Hector was a little shit, but quick as a cat and tougher than nails. He was the Army’s best wrestler and had even gone to the Olympics. The Naval Academy had only accomplished two things during the Algarro era. They had considerably increased West Point’s number of wrestling wins over Annapolis, and they had given Hector Algarro his nickname. A middy who had just lost to him came out of the ring moaning that wrestling the skinny spic was like wrestling an alligator.

Since then, Algarro’s career had been one of steady and sometimes spectacular success. Both he and Duncan had been involved in the Second Korean War when they were still fresh out of school and wet behind the ears. Gator had gone on to get his pilot’s wings, parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes to earn his paratrooper wings, and then, probably because he was bored, took a couple of turns in Special Forces.

In his last command position, he had commanded the Twenty-Fourth Armored Infantry. In the big war games down in Ft. Bragg, his division had wracked up the most points ever won in a war game, ever. Theoretically, he had both the highest number of kills and the lowest number of casualties ever recorded. After that, he had spent three years at the Pentagon bringing all the Army’s units up to that same level of proficiency.

Gator! General Hector Algarro! Those rag-heads were in deep trouble. Last time they’d played with Stormin’ Norman, The Bear. This time, they had a Gator by the tail.

The CNO was still speaking, "I’ve gotta get going. Anything else?" Duncan shook his head. "OK, JT, give ‘em hell, and bring my ships back in one piece!" The screen went blank, leaving only the afterimage of a smiling, confidant CNO.

Jim Duncan was in a far better mood as he headed for the airport. His reminiscences had driven his anger with the French completely from his mind. As he boarded his plane to Naples, his brain seethed with potential battle plans. He concentrated, once again, on a game plan that’d protect the entire Eastern Mediterranean, including the Suez Canal, with just one undersized carrier and a handful of escorts. Slowly, he linked scraps of thoughts together, and a single strategy emerged.

Without the French, the small ships and gunboats of the Italian Navy would be spread too thinly for Duncan to use in the defense of his fleet. He could count on the Egyptians to protect their most important asset, the Suez Canal. He knew that the Israelis would be able to handle things close to their shores. If he positioned Halsey off Gaza, he could cover both the Canal and Israel at the same time. It’d be a long haul for Halsey’s planes to get to Syria and back, and they’d have damned little time over target, but it just might work.

At Naples Airport, Fleet Admiral Cesare Robustelli greeted his American counterpart as though he were the long sought savior. They exchanged formal salutes. Then the huge Italian totally embarrassed Duncan by hugging the stuffing out of him and planting a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek!

As they drove to Italian Naval Headquarters, Duncan tried to explain the problem with the French to Robustelli. The Italian answered, "Don’t you worry. We will handle it." He tried to explain his concerns about Blacky’s PhibRon and its passage through the Straits of Gibraltar. Once again, Robustelli answered, "Don’t you worry. We will handle it." No matter what problem Duncan raised, the answer was always the same, "Don’t you worry. We will handle it." By the time they arrived at HQ, Duncan was pissed off all over again.

Robustelli led Duncan into the Italian Naval War Planning Bureau. It was only then that Duncan began to understand Robustelli’s confidence. The Italians had established three identical war rooms, each developing a different scenario on its computers. Italian, American and even British naval and air units were engaged in a series of trial combats. Huge electronic screens showed the battle results in "real time", compressed to a one hour per day time scale. In the first scenario, the French were assumed to have remained neutral. In the second room, the scenario involved the full participation of the French. In the third scenario, the variables were the Greeks and the Turks. When Duncan asked about this, the Italian just shrugged and smiled, "Don’t you worry. We will handle it."

With his staff working feverishly on the different scenarios, Robustelli suggested that they should eat a little lunch. Duncan readily agreed. He loved Italian cooking, but was unaware that in Italy, the words "eating" and "little" are mutually exclusive terms.

They started with a little wine and a little antipasto. Then, they had a little more wine and a few shells in marinara sauce. That course was followed by a little more wine and a wonderful veal Marsala. In turn, that led to a little more wine and a superb pastry that tasted like honey, but melted in their mouths. Their meal finally ended with a little more wine and a fine cigar.

Duncan was stuffed! If he ate like that every day, he’d be as round as he was tall. Now, he understood why the Italian Fleet Admiral was so portly.

Yet, in spite of their gargantuan meal and the relaxed pace of eating and drinking, JT was surprised at how much they had accomplished. They developed areas of separate responsibility and of joint responsibility. They worked on the problem of getting the PhibRon safely from Gibraltar through the Straits of Sicily. They worked on the defense of Pantelleria and of Malta. Duncan found that, in spite of Admiral Robustelli’s easy-going temperament, he had a quick, active intellect that cut to the heart of even the most difficult problem. By the time the two of them waddled away from their two-and-one-half hour "lunch", Admiral Duncan was convinced that the Italian Navy was one of the best kept secrets in the whole world.

Duncan’s opinion was further substantiated when they arrived back at the war rooms. At first, nothing appeared to have changed. Computers were still humming with their screens flashing. Worried-looking staffers were hunched over readouts comparing notes. As the admirals walked in, one of the senior officers rushed over to them with a portfolio. "Sirs, we have tested several scenarios, both with and without the French. Here’s what we have so far."

The staffer led them into a miniature theater where a large overview of the entire Mediterranean was displayed on its screen. Lights of different colors and shapes alternately appeared and disappeared as the senior staff officer described the positions of each of the vessels within the fleets. All the scenarios assumed that North Africa from Morocco to Libya was hostile.

The first two runs ended in disasters. The Moroccans attacked Blacky’s PhibRon as it attempted to run Gibraltar without additional support. The Moroccans fired missiles from their positions near Ksar es-Seghir. Their high speed gunboats hit the convoy, while their air forces overpowered the meager Marine Air CAP. The second scenario was equally disastrous as the PhibRon ran the Straits of Sicily. The distances were so short that hit and run raids by the Islamic air and sea forces caused major damage.

In the next set of scenarios, the variable was the presence of the British carriers during the passage through Gibraltar. With the small Ajax in support, the PhibRon still got hit hard. But, if Victory were present, the fleet had more than enough air and missile power to get through without any hits in five consecutive runs.

The Straits of Sicily remained a problem. The Italians had no carrier, but did have a sizable complement of missile-armed destroyers and frigates. When they were combined with increased Italian Air Force participation, the convoy got through unscathed in two of three computer runs. In the third, Hornet was badly damaged. Yet if any of the big carriers were present, no ships were damaged in five successive computer simulations.

The next few runs showed the same scenarios after initial air and naval assaults on North African air and naval bases. Although the PhibRon got through after each of these simulations, the cost to Halsey in terms of aircraft and crew losses was considerable. Yet, when the same attacks were made by any combination of two carriers, even including the combination of Ajax and Foch, losses were more than acceptable, and the PhibRon sailed on to Cypress without loss.

Admiral Duncan was amazed. He knew that naval planners used computer simulations all the time, but he had never before actually seen an operation of such magnitude and scale. When he expressed his amazement, Admiral Robustelli just laughed. He then picked up the receiver of a VisiPhone, and almost instantly Douglas Smalley, George Flagett, Elridge Ellingstone and Blacky Breckenridge appeared in split screens.

"Well, what do you think of our toy, JT?" the CNO asked.

Before Duncan could reply, the Sea Lord interjected, "You’ve been using the entire NATO computer network for over eight hours. Do remember to reimburse His Majesty’s government, or submit a properly authorized expense chit!"

"Yes, Sirs, I shall," Duncan joked. "In the meantime, I think I’d better get back to my fleet. I’m heading to Spain in an hour, and then I’ll fly out to Halsey."

"OK, JT. We’ll have a plane waiting."

"Elly, where are you?"

"We’re into our second day headed for the Azores. If all goes well, we’ll be there day after tomorrow."

Duncan nodded, and then asked the question that must have been uppermost in everyone’s mind, "I guess that leaves us with the rest of the game plan. How do we handle it?"

Everyone sat quietly waiting for either the CNO or the Sea Lord to answer. Duncan knew whichever spoke first would be bearing huge responsibility, including the lives of 2,000 Marines and another 4,000 sailors.

Fleet Admiral Flagett broke the extended silence. "We feel that Halsey is probably needed more in the East, to protect the Canal. Victory and Ajax will get your people through the narrows. After that much depends on the French, but we still don’t know about their intentions."

Duncan was relieved, but Admiral Flagett’s dispositions still left his plans wide open. Doug Smalley carried on from there. "JT, I’m sending Jefferson and her battle group your way, but they won’t be there for at least a week. At this point, unless the French come into it, you’re NATO’s answer to control of the Mediterranean Sea. Admiral Flagett and I have talked about detaching Ajax to help you, and we’ve even considered sending Victory in."

Admiral Flagett agreed. "Admiral Duncan, if the Frogs don’t move on this, we’re going to use Victory to keep Gibraltar open, and we’re sending Ajax to help the Italians defend the Straits of Sicily." The CNO glanced quickly at the split-screen image of the Sea Lord. A surprised look crossed his face, and then he grinned broadly.

Flagett continued, "That means, quite precisely, that you and your ships are all we have to send to help the Egyptians, the Israelis and the Saudis. Your fleet from the Indian Ocean will take five days to get there. Your Air Force is flying in right now. Your light divisions are on their way, but it will take a week to get them all there by air lift. I wish you the very best of luck, Admiral Duncan, and I can only tell you to hold on. Help is on its way."

The CNO, still beaming widely, cut back into the conversation, "JT, you heard your orders. Admiral Flagett has hit it on the head. Get back to your fleet, and bring them through.

"Remember one thing, however. Morocco has not, I repeat not, made any statements one way or the other regarding their intentions. They’ve paid a lot of lip service to Islamic unity and made long glowing speeches from the Koran. We haven’t seen anything that’d indicate they’re going to war with us, but keep your guard up, just in case. Questions or comments? No? OK, I’m going to bed." With that all four screens went dead.

Six hours later, Admiral James Thomas Duncan was piped aboard Halsey. As he stepped upon her decks, he assumed supreme responsibility for Allied control of the MED.

* * * * *

2.1.2 Halsey-Off the Azores

Vice Admiral Duncan sat pensively in his stateroom staring at the big screen and thinking about the threat assessment and planning meeting scheduled in just five minutes. In the center of the screen was a small rectangle representing Halsey. Just to the north of the rectangle were a bunch of irregular shapes that JT knew were the Azores. Out in front of Halsey were the fleet’s three FiGs. FFG 89 Klakring, FFG 83 Elrod, and FFG 74 Hiram Jones were spread in a fifteen-mile front listening for submarines. Five miles off each bow the Burke-class guided missile destroyers, DDG 66 Carson, and DDG 79 Neill, had established their antiaircraft stations. To the south, along the theoretical threat axis, lay the big guided-missile cruiser, CG 52 Bunker Hill. Just off the port beam was the huge fleet replenishment ship, Albert Strong.

The admiral snorted in contempt at the paltry fleet around him. The FiGs were his first bone of contention. The Perry-class frigates had been inaugurated back in 1977, and, after sixty years, the United States Navy still hadn’t come up with a replacement for the design. At this stage of the game, it was the most numerous class of warship ever produced.

The biggest reasons for the Perry’s longevity were that they were cheap and used common off-the-shelf systems. They were good ASW platforms. They had a good sonar. Their electronics had been steadily upgraded. They had fine Sea Emperor helicopters equipped with the world’s best dipping sonar, generally called a "dip stick". They had been armed, disarmed, re-armed and re-re-armed over their long lifetimes. In their most recent variation, each was armed with the latest and greatest version of the Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles launched from two twelve-missile box launchers situated beneath the bridge, augmented by a single Close-In Weapons System mounted in the superstructure above the helicopter bays. As a sop to naval purists, they were also armed with an Italian 3-inch gun on the foredeck. But, they were firetraps!

Congress had decided long ago that their superstructure would be made out of aluminum to save money. Nobody could convince them, even after the Stark and the Roberts incidents, that aluminum burns. Instead, they’d added Kevlar here and there as though those halfway measures would improve the tiny ship’s survivability. It hadn’t. In fact, it only made things worse. Regardless, the Perry-class FiGs were cheap, and that was all Congress cared about.

Then there were his two Burke-class DDGs. They were a lot better than the FiGs. They had excellent missilery, good speed, and even an element of stealth built-in. They had Aegis multi-phase radar system, but only three guidance radars located amidships, in order to save money. The forward radar was suitable for guiding missiles launching ahead; the aft was equally suited for guiding missiles to the rear of the ship. The middle one was tasked with guiding missilery to both port and starboard. Obviously, this was impossible for it to perform both functions simultaneously. As a result, both of the DDGs were vulnerable to mass attacks.

Duncan raged inwardly, 'How stupid! If it’s a missile ship, it has to be able to defend itself from multiple attacks from any direction!' Because of the inadequacies of his Burke-class DDGs, the fleet needed one of the obsolete, Ticonderoga-class CGs to provide at least one Aegis-equipped missile ship with four guidance radars and a full, three-hundred and sixty degree defensive capability.

On top of that, not one of his escorts was nuclear powered. Nukes cost too much. So, he needed a huge, 63,000-ton target called a fleet replenishment ship. Albert Strong was armed with only three CIWS. So, rather than being assets, the fleet’s oil-fired turbines had turned into huge disadvantages. Duncan wasn’t sure that Congress had saved a nickel by opting for oil. How much did the Strong cost, for instance? But, he had argued all of this before, and lost.

Angrily, he returned to thinking about his fleet dispositions. If the Moroccans contested his passage, what would he do? What was their strength? Were they neutral? What could go wrong? Time dragged, as he waited for his experts to arrive.

A Marine sentry knocked and opened the hatch. Captain Edward Teegin, Halsey’s CO, walked in accompanied by his CAG, "Buck" Henry, his J-2, Commander Jimmy "Mr. Threat" Johanson and several staff officers. One of the staffers moved over to a computer console and hit a few keys. The display changed to show the region of the Straits of Gibraltar, from Cadiz to Casablanca.

Mr. Threat stood and began addressing his senior officers. "Our problem is the Strait of Gibraltar. As we all know, the strait is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, here," he pointed to the display, "between Spanish Tarifa and the point, here, northeast of Ksar-es-Sheghir. The Moroccans can hit us anyplace between Cape Spartel until we pass Point Almina. We know that they have anti-ship missiles with ranges of up to 60 miles off Tangiers, at Seghir, and on the heights, here, next to Spanish Almina. So, we could be running a gauntlet for about 100 miles.

"In addition to their missiles, the Moroccans have a mixed bag of aircraft. Aircraft identification will be a big problem. The North Africans have always bought from one of the major arms producing countries. Once they started buying from one country, their entire maintenance and supply system became devoted to that source. Even after the cold war ended, they kept buying from their old sources. When the Russians found out that foreign arms sales were a great source of revenue, they really started hammering out the deals. This pushed us, the Brits, and the French into a frenzy, and we all sold them just about anything they wanted.

"They have about six squadrons of aircraft. They have one squadron of F-16s and two of F-15s. One of their F-15 squadrons is of the interceptor/air superiority types. The other is made up of two-seater Strike Eagles. They have one squadron of British Tornadoes and one of the advanced version called the Typhoon. The final squadron is F-31s!" Several low whistles were heard. The F-31 was a modern, bad-assed fighter.

"The Falcons, Eagles and Strike Eagles are old by our standards, but we had all better remember that they’re damned fine aircraft. Falcons are quick as greased lightning and are still one of the best dog-fighters around. The Eagles are big, have good radar, and shoot AAMRAMs. Strike Eagles can hit hard and fast. The Tornadoes and Typhoons are superb, low-level attack planes. The F-31s could be used to protect a fast, heavy strike package, and we’d have damned little time to do anything but grab our asses.

"Their naval assets aren’t much to speak of, until we remember that we’ll be in a narrow, restricted passage. They’ve got two Italian frigates in the same class as the Perrys. I’m not too worried about them. They don’t have much of an offensive punch. The ones that worry me are their Pegasus-class, hydrofoil boats. They’ve got six of them. They’re capable of sixty knots and carry four Harpoons each.

"The Intentions guys aren’t being a whole lot of help on this. Morocco is on a heightened alert status. Although, they’re making a lot of noise about Islamic unity and all that crap, they haven’t made any changes in their fleet or air dispositions in the past twenty-four hours.

"They have moved one additional regiment into the Tangiers area and another into Seghir. These moves appear to be defensive in nature, as though they were preparing to ward off an invasion. They have also increased their patrols along the border with Spanish Cueta, but again, this appears consistent with defensive, not offensive intentions.

"The long and short of it is, if they want to contest our passage, they can. But, it doesn’t look like they want to. Of course, this could change in a moment. Well, Sirs, that’s about it. Anything else?"

"No, Jimmy. Good brief. Ed? Buck? What do you have?"

CAG stood and spread out his notes. "Admiral, the Moroccans have more than enough to give us a hard time. And, it’s in the time department that we have our difficulties. In a stand-off fight, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Our long range stuff would murder them. But, if they use their terrain, they could have a flight time of two to three minutes before they were on us. So, we have to be prepared for that.

"I’m going to launch every T-2 we have with Hawkeye, Snooper, and Regulator support. We’ll rotate Holsteins and augment them with "Ersatz-Cows", that is Vikings set up for air-to-air refueling.

"We’ll put one Hawkeye out front to detect anything looping around us from the front, two along the threat axis, and one behind to make sure they don’t sneak up our six. We’ll put the Snoopers out behind the corner Hawkeyes to listen. And, we’ll keep Regulators on the corners to jam anything that comes our way.

"We’ll keep two T-2s with each of the Hawkeyes as standard CAP. We’ll use Rocky Rocco’s Pumas for that, which’ll leave us with Cassey Ludinski’s Knights for fleet defense along the threat axis. I’ll pretty much leave that part up to Spring Sprang since VF-6 is his air group.

"We’ll keep the Hornets as close CAP. I’ve talked this over with DJ Duncan. He’s going to put Betz Chapiro’s Mad Dogs over the carrier to catch any leakers. They’ll be armed with air-to-air. He’ll keep Tiny Small’s Talons on the deck armed with suppression munitions.

"Pepe Gonzalez will have his A-29s readied with air-to-ground ordnance. They’ll be aloft, flying off our stern quarter. We wouldn’t have the time to launch them, so we figured we’d put them up and to have them if we needed ‘em. If so, DJ’s VF-8 will lead ‘em in behind a wall of angry Hornets.

"Now, the T-2s and the Intel birds will be high flyers, so we’ve got no problem there. The Hornets and stuff will be low. So, we’ve established a 5000-foot deck and a 90-degree arc. Anything below 5000 feet and in the 90-degree arc from 135 though 225 degrees will be a target for the fleet’s missiles. Needless to say, everybody will be squawking just in case. Even DJ’s Hornet drivers get a little squeamish when SM-3s and -4s are whizzing around! So, that’s the air plan so far. What do you think?"

The Admiral and Ed Teegin sat quietly for a few minutes, studying the tactical screen. Like CAG, they were trying to determine what could go wrong and how to counter it. "How’d this test out in the computers?" Teegin asked, a little apprehensively.

"Not bad, Captain. We never lost the carrier, if that’s what you mean. But, in one or two scenarios we did lose a FiG. A lot depends upon our fleet disposition as we go through the Straits."

"Well, I can help you out there," said Duncan. "We’re going through armed for bear. I’m going to leave the Strong behind to wait for the PhibRon. We won’t need her; they will. She can only do twenty knots, and that’ll slow us down. Besides, the PhibRon will have both British carriers with it, which will increase everybody’s chances of getting through safely.

"I want the three FiGs out front doing ASW, and I want their choppers up, just in case. If there are any subs out there, they’ll be short range diesel-electrics, which will be quiet as ghosts when they’re on batteries. We’ll put Carson out front with the FiGs to give them anti-air. Charley Taylor will be the screen commander.

"We’ll put Floyd Albertson’s Neill just ahead of us, off the starboard quarter. We’ll be last in line with Bunker Hill to starboard as goalkeeper. Grigory Yuhovitch will be Missile King. Between his and our Aegis systems we can cover the rear, and be in position to rescue any of the smaller ships if they do get hit.

"I want everyone on their toes. We’re going to be in very restricted waters. A collision between two of our own vessels would cause as much if not more damage than an actual attack."

As the admiral spoke, the rating rearranged the fleet’s disposition on the screen to match his orders. The staffer looked inquiringly at Duncan, who nodded his approval. Teegin, Johanson and Henry stared at the scenario. At a word from Captain Yuhovitch, the fire zones for each of the ship's missile arrays were displayed. The computer played with the variables for a few seconds to optimize the mix. Then, CAG ordered the air cover to be overlaid to show the full range of sensors, fire zones and ASW coverage.

Once they were satisfied, the screen was stored, and sent down to tactical for further study. It looked impressive, but it would be up to CAG and the intelligence group to punch holes in it. If they could, so could the Moroccans. The Intel Group had only one day to get it right. Any mistakes could mean dead Americans.

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Comments

The wealth of detail here is

The wealth of detail here is astonishing. Not just the military hardware, but also the tactical and strategic thinking.

I had to laugh too, because one passage reminded me of a gag the late, great Bill Hicks told about the 1991 Gulf War. It went something like this:

'How do we know the Iraqis have all these weapons?'
'Well Sir, we uh...we checked the receipts.'

Ban nothing. Question everything.

Hi, Nicki

LOL!!!!

Ain't it the truth?

Red MacDonald

Kudos for the attention to detail

As Nicki wrote, the scenario is quite well developed. Reminds me of the early Tom Clancy, before he got too lazy to do his research and started to pull stuff from where the sun never shines.

So far, I like the story. It comes across as a pretty decent techno-thriller rather than a typical transgender story, but that is fine - we have enough stereotypical stuff already :-)

The F-22 Raptor, B-1, and B-2

bombers are far superior in stealth, speed and bomb carrying capacity. With refueling, any of them have the ability of global flight. It is very doubtful that any older jets could take them out. And America has nuclear subs quite capable of launching anti-aircraft missiles along with destroyers of equel lethality. I just find it hard to believe that America would neglect it's military superiority.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Military superiority

There is a phenomenon that takes place after every single war the U.S. has been involved in. We finish a war and then the politicians (both parties) dismantle our military. The only exception was the Cold War. The Cold War enabled our military to maintain much of it's ability until after the end of the Soviet Union. We were fortunate that the military had not been dismantled enough by the Doves in government before Desert Shield/Storm. Unfortunately, after Desert Shield/Storm our military has slowly been gutted. We used to be able to fight two major wars at the same time but now we would be hard pressed to fight one major war. If you want an even bigger example, just look at the level that the UK's military has been gutted since the Falklands. Especially their navy.

Good Points

Very good points.

There is a complex equation, which Red deals with superbly, that involves military expenditure, political in-fighting and the struggle to control public opinion - in other words to win votes.

To address the last point you made, I can only speak as a citizen of the UK, but there is no threat to the territorial integrity of my country and I don't think there ever will be. Demilitarisation is a logical and civilised response to a geopolitical situation that has changed enormously over the past 30 years. There's also the uncomfortable fact that we're flat broke.

And that ain't gonna change for a while.

Ban nothing. Question everything.