Task Force Archie, 200 NM North of Brunei
USS Kidd (DDG 100)
In theory, the mission was very simple. Place the task force BETWEEN the Chinese mainland and the rapidly building US forces within the Kingdom of Brunei. This meant that any ballistic missile attacks against Brunei or the forces there would need to go OVER the task force. Simple geometry.
The reality was quite different. Intercepting a ballistic missile in flight was a very difficult task. In addition, they needed to be constantly on the move to avoid anti-ship missiles like the one which had missed the Kidd a month earlier. Just to add to the excitement, there were several Chinese submarines operating in the area who would love to bag a couple of US warships.
The Chinese were clearly aware of the US task force. The ships continued to detect Chinese aircraft at the limit of their radar envelope. At the moment, the cruiser Shiloh (CG-67) was almost one hundred miles from the rest of the Task Force, radars completely dark, trying to tempt a Chinese aircraft to stumble into her engagement envelope. The operational concept was to keep her dark until the other ships detected an aircraft and then light up to acquire the target.
Having a cruiser play the role of bait wasn’t exactly in the manual, but the Captain of the Shiloh had agreed that his command had the best chance of taking out any aircraft and also avoiding any possible Chinese response. Again, in theory.
“Captain, air contact. Two zero zero miles, bearing due north, target is bearing 160. Estimate target is a Chinese surveillance aircraft. Perhaps a Y-8X. Estimate that she will acquire the Shiloh in ten minutes or less.”
“Range to Shiloh?”
“One five zero miles.”
“Long shot for her.”
“The aircraft is moving deeper into the engagement envelope. Recommend firing at one hundred miles.”
“Concur, pass tracking data to the Shiloh.”
Now the waiting game began. Would the aircraft track the Shiloh? Would they veer off? The Shiloh was completely dark, so the aircraft may take some time to identify her. Meanwhile, the aircraft was coming deeper and deeper into engagement range.
“Sir! Raid warning! We have multiple early warning alerts, it may represent a DF-21 launch.”
“Order the Shiloh to engage. Light her up.”
The tactical display erupted in colors. Light red icons representing the possible anti-ship attack, a bright red icon representing the Chinese ship, blue icons representing the US task force and new smaller blue icons representing the SM-6 launches from the Shiloh.
“Vampire! Vampire! We have multiple ballistic tracks inbound. Confirming, ten tracks inbound. Range two zero zero, bearing three two zero, time on target five minutes. Positive track towards the task force. Say again, the missiles are tracking the task force.”
“Send to all Task Force members: Weapons Free Anti Air.”
“Aye, weapons free, anti air.”
“Track is firming up, we have multiple inbounds on the Shiloh.”
“Is the new code working?”
“Affirmative, sir. The task force has launched twenty SM-3 interceptors so far. Zero SM-6 launches against the missiles. Shiloh is launching SM-6 against the aircraft now.”
“How much magazine depth?”
“We are only ten percent expended on SM-3. Ten more launches. Aegis is triple targeting each inbound. Good tracks outbound. Vampire! We have a second set. Much larger group. Estimate four zero additional inbounds.”
“Let’s get Shiloh back here. Triple tap the Chinese aircraft and withdraw.”
“Tracks firming up. All forty tracking on Shiloh.”
A blizzard of missiles erupted from the task force. Harris could hear and feel the interceptors leave the Kidd and the display showed a similar eruption of missiles from the other members of the task force. It wasn’t going to be enough.
“Hit! Sir, the Shiloh is reporting major damage. She is taking on water. Hit! Shiloh is off the air.”
“SAR! Get me some helos up there!”
In the end, only forty of the Shiloh’s crew were rescued. She took three missiles, the last one breaking her in half with a direct hit amidships. The ship sank in under ten minutes.
I have a reply…… hurry up and post some more please….. I am an old Navy man, Vietnam War, and I must say, you have an uncanny ability of telling a story. I do not feel like I am reading a book, but that I am in the CIC tracking all the data once again. I started to read you first episode yesterday around one in the afternoon, and did not stop till I noticed that it was 4:30 in the morning. I just caught up to your last posting. I can not wait till you are able to post some more. I called up a few of my friend, (the ones still alive), and got them to start reading your story. they agree with me, you are one hell of a writer. Keep up the great work. My email is my old Navy Id number, that will show you how long ago I was in.
Thank you!!
Thank you for your service, you and your brothers and sisters are not forgotten.
I have to say that comments like this from Navy and other vets are what keep me going on this project. Please don’t hesitate to point out where I’ve made technical errors, comments and corrections have improved the story already and I’m sure there are more places where it can improve.
Hurry up!!!!! What else do you want me to say?
LOL. Working…..
That’s a lot of ICBMs for one Cruiser.
Why don’t you have a BONE on picket duty out in front of the Navy Picket screen? Their sensors are good enough to pick up most patrol aircraft and they have the F16 fire control and a big magazine. And the P8 is also an option.
Yes, those are good options. However, BONES are very rare. They also have a low availability rate. A BUFF would be more likely but we already committed a large number of them to interdiction missions.
TF Archie is doing what they can with what they have. In a shooting war like this, you make do with what you have available.
There are several missions for the BONES that we’ll discuss in future episodes.