US Navy, Third Fleet
Naval Base Point Loma, San Diego, CA
“And where is the Liaoning now?”
“Approximately 1,000 miles northwest of Hawaii. Current heading is due east.” The commander giving the daily briefing didn’t like the look in Admiral Lensten’s eyes.
The Liaoning, one of three PLAN (Chinese Navy) aircraft carriers, had performed deployments in the past including around the Japanese island of Yonaguni which is just east of Taiwan. However, this time, after passing north of Taiwan, the carrier and her escorts had turned east into the pacific. While the US Navy regularly operated all around the world in international waters, the PLAN had previously only done this in limited fashion. This is the farthest away from the Chinese coast that the Liaoning had ever ventured. This development coupled with what was going on in Mexico set alarms off all over the US military. The Third Fleet, with operational responsibility for the eastern half of the Pacific was about to have a PLAN Carrier Strike Group (CSG) enter their area of responsibility for the first time. According to the Chinese government, the carrier would be in support of the UN peacekeeper mission in Mexico.
“Status of the P-8s?”
“VP-4 is forward deployed to Hickam. We have a bird overhead 24/7.”
“And Rosevelt’s strike group?” The USS Theodore Rosevelt (CVN-71), based in San Diego was the flagship of one of three CSG’s based there. Recent budget cuts meant that the Rosevelt was the only carrier on this side of the earth at the moment.
“Still in the Gulf. They have not been released by the Fifth Fleet yet.”
“Goddammit. Get on the horn to J3, we need that CSG.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is the status of CVW-17?”
“Sir?”
Carrier Air Wing 17, based in Lemoore, California was normally assigned to a carrier at sea or “embarked” on a carrier as the Navy terminology went. However, the lack of carriers in the Pacific should mean that an air wing was ready to deploy but didn’t have a ship. “Wasn’t CVW-17 scheduled to embark on Lincoln before her sortie was cancelled?”
“Let me check.” The commander consulted his computer briefly. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“OK, let’s get them staged out to Hickam.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And let’s get some tanker support. How many KC-130s do the Marines have down at Miramar?”
More checking. “We show fourteen birds in operational status.”
“OK, let’s push six of them over to support CVW-17. They’ll need the gas to get to Hawaii, and they can stay at Hickam to support any sorties we need to make from there.”
“Yes, sir.”
Admiral Lensten studied the map on the wall. Was he being paranoid? Or not paranoid enough? What would the Admiral do? Only one way to find out.
“Call J3 at Pearl. Ask them to set up a situation room for SacPac to use.”
“SacPac? You’re joking!”
“No commander, I’m not.”
“Jesus Christ. Who gets to call him?”
“I do.”
Grinning, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. The Admiral didn’t like to admit it, but he did have a cell. Only a few officers in the Navy knew his number. Lensten had been stunned when The Admiral had given him the number and told him to call any time. He dialed the number.
“Admiral? This is Bill Lensten. I need a favor, sir.”
Oh i see where this is going. Great job! Right now, to read the latest episode, I have to go through all the episodes starting from the one linked in the email until I reach the last one.
If you go to the home page, you can scroll down and the latest will be there just under episode 1. A little cumbersome, let me take a look to make it easier.