Shelter: Book 2, A Long Days Night (4 page)

“Sir, we’re ready, all positions report manned and ready. We’re leading the combined battle fleet. The fleet is comprised of six carriers, one hundred destroyers and cruisers and twenty-four subs which are spread out in a large circle around the task force. We’ve received information that more ships and subs are in transit, anything the Pentagon could scrape together is being sent to us. We’ve been designated Task Force 77. Every ship has reported their readiness to Admiral Long, who’s on the George Washington.”

“What's the status of our integrators who are getting a free ride into the battle?”

Captain Jefferson smiled to himself remembering in order to get the ship ready for action, the ship had left the dock with work crews from the various government contractors; integrators still working on the ship’s battle systems. They worked on the ship in shifts 24 hours a day as she sails into harms way. They’re working harder than they ever did, they know the lives they save, could be their own.

Laughing, the OOD (Officer of the Deck) responds, “Captain, most are performing final adjustments to our sensors and systems, a few have demanded we put them ashore. They don’t want to be sailing into harms way. All of them are working in shifts 24 hours a day, they know their own skins are at risk if they don’t complete their tasks by the time we open fire.”

“Have the XO remind them they’re safer on the Missouri than any other ship in the fleet. Most of the other ships only have a quarter of an inch of armor, we have over twelve inches. When the shooting starts, escort the civilians to the armory that was used to store the nukes, they should be safe there. Have a couple of the Marines make sure they don’t get lonely, we can’t have them wandering the ship while we’re in battle. I want them all where I can reach them if we need them to adjust the systems. How far away is the Chinese fleet?”

“Sir, our recon birds show the Chinese fleet is 550 miles away, we’re approaching each other at a combined speed of 50 knots. We’ll be within missile and sabot round range very soon.”

“Thank you.”

Captain Jefferson reaches up to grab the microphone, “Weaps, Captain, what’s the status of the experimental sabot rounds for the main guns?”

“Captain, weaps, sir, we have forty-eight rounds, the designers say if fired with a full charge they have a range of 535 miles. Their GPS package checked out. They should come as a nasty surprise to the Chinese. They may be sabot rounds, but each round is 12 inches in diameter.”

“Weaps, load turrets one and two with them. I think they will give the Chinese something to worry about while the carrier’s planes visit their ships.”

The weapons officer smiles thinking of the surprise the special rounds are going to have on the Chinese fleet. He lifts the IMC, “This is the weapons officer, load turrets one and two with sabot rounds, load full charge. Make all preparations to fire.”

The sailors in turrets one and two are an unusual mix of young and old. It’s been over thirty years since a Battleship had been on an active mission. There were no active BB sailors, most of the crew is comprised of recalled sailors and retired sailors who volunteered to serve on the Missouri for the chance to be part of the last battleship to see a surface battle. The balance of the crew are young volunteers who want to be part of history. The old sailors teach the young how to load the 16” cannons. The first step is checking that the barrels are clear, next the special sabot shell is loaded, followed by the powder. Six silk bags of powder are pushed into the barrels by a hydraulic ram which loads the powder behind the experimental shells. One of the young sailors looks at the shell, “Sure don’t look like the ones in the history books.”

One of the experienced gunners smiles, “Son, if we’d had these when I served on board, we could have cleared the seas. These babies are sabot rounds, they’re 12 inches versus the old 16-inch shells. These are also rocket powered which extends their range. They are sitting inside a shoe or sabot which suspends them in the barrel, when fired, the pressure of the exploding powder pushes the sabot forward, when the shell leaves the gun, the sabot falls away leaving the shell to fly towards its target. Small fins pop out to stabilize and guide it. There’s a small rocket motor in the rear which increases the range by a factor of 20. The GPS allows one shot hits. Man, if the Navy had had these in WW2, nothing the Japanese had would have been able to stand up to our battleships. Battlewagons could have stayed outside of the carrier’s range and pounded them to scrap metal. The Battleships would have remained the queens of the seas. Nothing could have gone toe to toe with them. Our armor protects us from everything except a nuke. President Reagan was right when he brought the Iowa class back into active service. We could have supported the Marines while also clearing the sea lanes of any enemy threats. Man, I wish I could see the look on the Chinese Admiral’s face when these suckers arrive on target to ruin his day.”

“You mean this little shell is really a missile?”

“It’s a combination of shell and rocket, it's a hybrid. If  I remember correctly, the Navy was trying to develop these in the 1980s hoping they would be able to do what we’re now about to do. We’re going to reach out and touch the Chinese, we’re sending them our best to show them how much we care.”

“When do we fire?”

“When the cap tells us to. Make sure you’re wearing your face mask and ear protection. You’ve never experienced anything like these babies when they fire a full charge. You’ll feel the shock through your entire body.”

Admiral Long is reviewing the battle plan on the flag bridge of the USS George Washington, “Ladies and gentlemen, is there anything we’ve forgotten? Is there anything any of you want to add or update before we release hell on the Chinese?”

Captain Lawrence, the Admiral’s aide, replies, “Sir, the fleet reports they’re ready for action. The carriers have their attack packages ready to launch, the Missouri is ready to surprise the shit out of the Chinese’s day.”

“Very good. We’re going to open hostilities with the Missouri. The Chinese will be looking for us to start the dance with flights of Hornets and Tomahawks. We’re going to target their carrier, which is their only platform capable of long range attack. Once the Missouri takes out the Liaoning, I’ll send the Hornets in to soften up their surface fleet. Our subs should be in position to add their firepower to the battle. We’ll simultaneously hit them from the air, surface and subsurface. Any Chinese ships that survive will be mopped up in our second strike.”

“Admiral, what about the Chinese subs? We lost track of most of them. Many of their boats are diesel-electric, they are almost totally silent when they’re traveling on batteries. They could sneak up on us and give us a rude surprise.”

“Captain, I’m hoping our P8s and helicopters are able to find them and hold them down. We’re going to have to send fighters and electronic warfare planes to escort the anti-submarine planes and helicopters. Yesterday we lost four Hawkeyes. Their long range anti air missiles are better than we thought. The Chinese are looking for our Hawkeyes, they think if they bring our eyes in the sky we’ll be blind.”

“Admiral, why not fly the few E-2Ds over our carriers, they have the range to see the Chinese fleet while staying out of the Chinese missile range.”

“Captain, that’s a good idea. I’ll discuss it with the CAG. I don’t want the Chinese Admiral to see our radar coverage and know our attack is coming. I was thinking if we kept the Hawkeyes on deck our attack would surprise the hell out of them. They don’t have enough planes to worry me. AGEIS should be handle anything they send against us.”

“Yes, sir.”

“My real fear is their subs. I’d hate for them to pop up in the center of our fleet. They could ruin our day and turn the tide of battle in the Chinese’s favor. Make sure every ship is searching for them, permission to go active. I don’t like surprises.”

“Sir, won’t going active tell the Chinese where we are?”

“Captain, don’t you think their overhead birds have told them where we are? They know where we are to within a millimeter. We’re going to open the party at the top of the hour.”

“Aye, sir.”

Except for the admiral’s chief of staff the rest of the Admiral’s staff leaves the flag bridge, Admiral Long looks at his CoS, “Their subs scare the shit out of me. Since we lost track of them, they could announce themselves by popping a fish into one of our carriers. Remember in 07 when a Chinese Song-class submarine announced itself to the carrier Kitty Hawk by surfacing next to the Hawk. Surprised the shit out of the Admiral. If a Chinese sub makes it past our outer perimeter, they could fire one with one of the damn Russian type 53 wake homing fish at us. We have no defense against a wake homer.”

The Admiral’s CoS asks, “Sir, won’t our nixie anti-torpedo system decoy type 53s?”

“Captain, I wish they would. The Nixie system was designed to decoy torpedoes what track targets by sonar. The nixie emits sonar signals that mimic the ship’s sonar return, only stronger. The incoming torpedo is attracted to the strongest signal, it attacks the nixie. A type 53 follows the churned water a ship causes moving through the sea. The torpedo zig zags so its sensor can center the torpedo in the ship’s wake. The only thing that can stop a wake homer is an anti-torpedo torpedo. We tested one last year on the Bush. It only intercepted a wake homer 60% of the time and only if launched when the wake homer was at least 1,000 yards away. Captain, send orders to the destroyers and LCS to shadow every carrier. Every carrier should have one of them using active sonar in their wakes. In the worst case, I’ll sacrifice one of my smaller ships to protect the carriers. Tell the captains of the shadowing ships to be on collision alert. 

“Admiral, are you really planning on using a destroyer as a sacrificial lamb, to suck up incoming fish?”

“The carriers pack the majority of our offensive weapons. Each one costs billions, she takes four years to build, we can’t quickly replace one. Each carrier has a combined crew of 5,000 people. We haven’t lost a carrier since the Second World War, losing one would instantly end my career, hell I could get court-martialed for losing one. Yes, I’m planning on using my small ships to suck up the fish. Can you think of any other way to protect the carriers?”

“No, sir. I’ll issue the orders to the commander of the destroyer squadron. Sir, I’ll make sure the ship captains understand how critical it is to find the Chinese boats.”

“Fill the water around the carriers with sonar buoys, I want to be able to walk on them without getting my feet wet. Let’s start the party, raise the fleet battle flags for the first time since World War 2.”

“Aye, sir.”

Captain Jefferson watched the battle flags rise into the wind above the George Washington, he smiles thinking he’ll be the last captain of a battleship to take part in a surface battle. He picks up the 1MC to make an all ship announcement.

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While we licked our wounds and tried to figure out what to do next, the gangs above us were partying. Big Dutch, the president of the Sons of the Devil motorcycle club, set himself up in my house. The loss of electrical power barely inconvenienced them. Living in a mansion was much better than living on the road. Dutch and his chief advisors tore my house apart, they consumed the food and liquor we’d left behind. Cases of Lacy’s wine are opened and consumed, empty bottles of wine cover our dining room table. Stacked next to Big Dutch are four cases of my imported beer, his feet are propped up on our $6,000 dining room table. Dutch has already finished four beers, he’s working on his fifth while holding a council meeting trying to figure out where we went. “Look assholes, there were around one hundred people here. They were shooting at us. The fuckers were killing us. They set off smoke bombs and just disappeared, where the fuck did they go? No one, let alone one hundred people just disappear. It don’t happen. They have to be here someplace. I want them. They killed and wounded many of our brothers and their old ladies. They destroyed many of our bikes, I want them found.”

Robert, one of the two mob leaders, stands, he approaches Dutch saying, “We lost over four hundred people. You used us as human shields. You hid behind my people, most of whom were unarmed. You used us as the bait so the defenders would kill my people versus yours. All because you have most of the weapons, you used us to soak up the asshole’s bullets, so you could swoop in and take the loot. You wanted us out of your way. You fucked us big time, now you want us to risk our lives trying to figure out where the owners went? No way, you want them, you find them.”