Episode 59

PHIBRON 3, USS America (LHA-6)
Ten Miles Northeast Fiery Cross Reef

Captain Lensten awoke to the sound of groaning. It took him a moment to realize that he was the one groaning. He tried to open his eyes, only to realize he couldn’t see. He raised his hands to his eyes, they came away wet and sticky.

“Easy there sir, that’s a nasty cut on your forehead and you have a concussion.”

“Sitrep. What is the condition of the ship?”

“Sir, I need to treat this cut, now.”

“WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF MY SHIP!?”

“Sir, the XO has the deck. We are flooding in all compartments below D deck. Cheng says a torpedo broke her back. We took three hits amidships. XO has ordered all hands to abandon ship. I need to treat this cut RIGHT NOW so you don’t bleed out when we take you out of here. Please, sir.”

Another voice broke in. Commander Baker, the XO. “Captain, please let the corpsman treat you.” Then as Lensten struggled to sit up again. “Captain… Bill. Let the man do his job. Live to fight another day. We can’t hold the flooding. We need to get you out of here.”

With a sigh and a helpless gesture, Lensten relented.

“Chief, muster by division to the evacuation points. I want a full count. Bosun, get that DDG off the port side. RHIBs and Amphibs off starboard. Damage control, move those pumps starboard, this list is getting worse.”

Through the pain, the fear and the sense of loss, Lensten felt a sense of pride. The crew was holding together. Working to save their shipmates in the most terrible conditions possible. Hours of relentless drill were paying off even as the crew moved to save themselves instead of the ship.

VMFA-121 (The Green Knights)

Angels 20, Forty Miles Northeast Fiery Cross Reef

“Romeo Lead to Zulu Foxtrot.”

The America had reported being under attack and then had fallen silent. Captain Charles continued to try and raise the ship. “Romeo Lead to Zulu Foxtrot.”

“It’s no good Kit Kat. They’re either too busy to answer or they can’t. Try the Bonnie Dick. I think they’re Tango Zulo, right?”

Charles consulted his thigh pad for code name and frequency. “Romeo Lead to Tango Zulu, can you hear us?”

“Tango Zulu, we hear you.”

“Tango Zulu, we are unable to raise the America. Is she off the air.?”

“Affirmative Romeo Lead. She took three torps amidships. We are taking the crew off now. You need to divert to alternate.”

Well, Goddamn. He didn’t have to look on his thigh pad to remember his diversion location. Fiery Cross Reef.

As they came closer to the island, they could see a pillar of smoke in the distance. The America was doomed, but the battle wasn’t over. The cruise missile strike was still inbound and the outlying picket destroyers were engaging the incoming missiles as they got close enough to “see” them on radar. In theory, the orbiting AWACS planes should have been providing airborne radar coverage for the entire area, but in practice, they were held hundreds of miles away to keep them safe. At that distance, it was difficult for them to localize such small moving objects flying at wavetop height. The movement of the ocean created “clutter” which made it difficult to detect objects close to the surface. The longer distance meant a more oblique angle and thus a harder problem to solve.

Because of this, the sea skimming missiles were coming into the engagement envelopes of destroyers a couple at a time. As this happened, the ships would only have a few seconds to engage. For this reason, all the Aegis-equipped ships were configured for fully automatic firing. Kit Kat was very glad he wasn’t flying a helicopter down there. One wrong move by one of those destroyers would ruin your whole day. Flying at 20,000 feet, the fighters were largely immune to this and he was far less concerned about himself or other members of his squadron.

“Romeo Lead, this is Alpha Whisky. Come to heading One Two Zero. Decend angels 10. Your signal is buster.”

“Romeo, one two zero, my signal is buster. Be advised that Romeo Flight is Winchester.” As Kit Kat pushed his throttles up and into full afterburner, the descending airplane quickly became supersonic.

“Romeo, understood. We need visuals on those Vampires. AWACS has lost track, we need you to queue the AA.”

“Roger Alpha Whiskey. Romeo flight, form up on me, echelon right. Two miles separation.”

With a small sigh, Charles began his search.