The Kidd Incident

PHIBRON 3, USS America (LHA-6)

Straits of Malacca

Captain Lensten was a career naval officer.  Coming from a Navy family, he had never wanted to do anything else besides be in the Navy.  Being accepted to Annapolis at eighteen has been one of the greatest moments of his life. One of only two times he had ever seen his father, a retired master chief, cry.  It had not sat well with him that the ‘phibs had been largely ignored thus far into the war.  Aside from the highly successful F-35 strike, the “gator navy” as was sometimes called, hadn’t done much.  Their recall to Pearl Harbor had come as a disappointment until he had gotten his current mission brief.

As the commander of Amphibious Squadron Three (COMPHIBRON3), he was ultimately responsible for all the ships in the squadron but not her marines.  This close working relationship between amphib commanders and their Marine counterparts was as old as the concept of an amphibious ship.  Like transports, the ‘fibs main job was to get the Marines to the fight and to support them.  Unlike an aircraft carrier, they weren’t normally considered a “strike” asset.

However, their current mission was something PHIBRON 3 could do well, even if it wasn’t on their normal mission profile.  Many years ago, it was the revenue cutter’s job to perform maritime patrol and interdiction.  Now, it was a bit more complicated.  Today, the mission was to close the Malacca straight.  Doing that would be VERY unpopular with the locals and would likely cause some unrest.  Having a Coast Guard cutter try to close the straight was just an invitation to Chinese air strikes or local intervention.

Thus, the very powerful PHIBRON 3 and an escort of four destroyers had been given the mission.

While stopping or even boarding a freighter was no great challenge, responding to the inevitable military response from China or other local powers was a different matter entirely. At about 2,500 miles from Diego Garcia and about the same distance from Australia, the ability to support the ARG by air was slight.  This meant that while they had a good supply chain and plenty of consumables, they were largely on their own when it came to fighting power.   They did have some patrol coverage from P-8’s from Diego Garcia and Australia, but there was no way a tactical aircraft could get that far on their own.  With the attack on the Vinson, there were no other friendly air assets in the vicinity.

“Sir, the Malays are calling again, asking for my commanding officer.”

“Thanks, Jim.  Tell them the same thing.  We are operating in international waters enforcing a ban on Chinese shipping.”

“Yes, sir.  I already did.  They seem to think we’re encroaching.”

“I am sure they do and we probably are.  Nothing for it.  Warn them to stay clear.”

“Aye, aye sir.”

Having a couple of thousand pissed off marines ready to attack pretty much anything that got in their way had a way of encouraging people to stay clear.

Not everyone had gotten the message yet, however.

“Chinese vessel, This is the United States Navy vessel to your port side.  Stand to and prepare to be boarded.”

“US Military, you have no legal right to board our vessel.”

“Chinese vessel, stand to.  This is your last opportunity to comply.  Shut down your engines immediately.”

The sailors staffing the CIC looked to their captain.  So far, the boarding actions had gone well.  International crews wanted no argument with the US Navy.  This ship, however, was Chinese flagged and an intelligence said the crew was mainly comprised of Chinese nationals.

“She’s not stopping sir.”

“Thank you petty officer. I see that.  Air boss, let’s get a couple of Zulus over there to convince him.”

The AH-1Z “Viper” attack helicopter was the latest in a very long line of attack helicopters going way back to Vietnam and the original “Huey” that had carried so many Marines there. Also known as Cobra Zulus, they were tried and true.  Not fancy, but they got the job done.  Moving up to the “flight bridge” Lensten took a pair of binoculars from the watchstander there.  He could see a pair of the narrow helicopters flying in formation to the huge cargo vessel.

While one of the helicopters orbited, the flight lead brought his helicopter and it’s very ominous looking forward mounted machine gun level with the bridge of the huge cargo vessel.  Flying backwards, he was able to maintain enough speed to “hover” over the ship even though it was moving at ten knots.  Even if you didn’t know anything about military helicopters, the machine gun and hellfire missiles hanging off the stubby wings of the attack helicopter were tough to miss.  These marines meant business.

“US Navy, this is an illegal action.”

A new voice joined the radio conversation.  “Chinese vessel, I really don’t give a fuck.  I say again, stand to.  Stand to or we will fire.  Do not test me sir; you will not enjoy the experience.  This is the US Marine corps speaking and we don’t bluff.”  It took all of Lensten’s will power not to laugh outright.   Major Lingborne was a “marine’s marine.”  A Mustang, he had been a Sergeant when he went into OCS and everyone agreed he was as tough as they came.  

“US Navy, do not fire, we are shutting down our engines.”

“Confirmed sir, she is slowing.”

Sometimes, it took a Marine’s touch.  Lensten walked down to CIC where the Major was holding fort.  “Major, I believe we can begin boarding operations.”

Although impounding a single ship was not going to make a dent in the Chinese economy, the complete curtailment of any oil or other goods into China would have a catastrophic effect. China’s economy was largely driven by exports and her domestic oil production was not nearly enough for her needs. Thus, the sea was a vital lifeline. A lifeline that could be interrupted.

USS Ohio (SSGN-726)

Point Tango

“Action message, sir.”

Marklee set his tea down on the console and took the offered message.  “Thank you chief.  Ask the XO to join me, please.”

“Aye, aye sir.”

Marklee took his time reviewing the action message.  Although the message was expected, he wanted to be sure he understood the intent of his orders.  Submarine commanders were the last bastion of the “Master Under God” theory of ship’s captain.  Modern satellite communications meant that command could and did jostle the elbow of surface commanders with distressing regularity.  For a submariner, the assumption was that the boat would be out of contact the majority of the time.  For this reason, orders to submarines tended to set objectives and leave implementation details vague.

In this case, he had his target list and precise time to hit those targets.  Other than that, he had leeway on how to implement.

Commander Leyland came into the compartment cradling a mug of coffee.  “Still on the tea, Skipper?”

“Navy coffee?  Shudder the thought.  We got the go order.  Case Bravo.”

Leyland grimaced as he read the action order.  “That’s a crap ton of ordinance for such tiny little islands.”

“They don’t call it ‘Area Not So Nice’ they call it ‘Area Denial’ as in nobody left alive.”

“How you want to play it?”

“By the numbers.  The Seawolfs on two sides, we go up the gut.  Full spread, time on target attack.”

“How many you think they can knock down?”

“Intel says at least one SAM battery, assume they have two.  Say fifty.”

“We go in hard, one fifty?”

“Yeah, triple tap each target, fifty targets.  That leaves the Seawolfs Winchester and we are half done.”

“We have resupply at Guam?”

“Yeah, confirmed yesterday.”

“OK, attack at O-Dark-Thirty from 600 miles.”

“What about Chinese airborne radar?”

“Two squadrons of F-15’s will be doing sprints to try and catch them off guard.  Either they bag one or they get them to go off the air.  Either way, the Tomahawks should be a surprise when they arrive.  Land-based radar will only have about a minute or two to acquire and engage.”

While Marklee was very confident that the strike would work, he was less confident about the ultimate outcome.  Yes, the Navy could pound these small islands into dust, but that wasn’t the same as gaining control of the South China Sea.  In order to do that, the Marines would need to take and hold the islands.  As the Ohio and her sisters were about to prove, defending a small island like Woody Island was not an easy thing to do.  Islands didn’t move so you could target them with satellites or other high flying recon assets.  Anything the US put on those islands was subject to the same treatment they were about to dish out on the Chinese.

His more immediate concern was with Chinese submarines.  In all reality, Chinese ASW was not up to tracking and engaging a Seawolf class SSN or even the much older Ohio.  That plus the aggressive surface sweeps going on overhead meant it was unlikely that the Ohio or her sisters would be tracked by Chinese surface or air assets.  That just left a diesel sub.  While the Chinese had a couple of ‘nucs, the reality was that these boats were research and development platforms, much like their sole aircraft carrier.  At the moment, the only real submarine threat was from the diesel boats.  With the addition of air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems, they had the ability to move quietly and stay submerged much longer than a traditional boat.  Their main downside was endurance.  They didn’t have the ability to make their own air like a nuclear boat and they had to surface occasionally to ventilate the boat.  The P-8’s had already found a couple this way.

However, the Chinese knew this and had adapted their tactics.  There could easily be a diesel boat or two between Marklee and his planned launch point.  In order to balance the risk of detection by a Chinese sub with the risk of having the cruise missiles detected in flight, he was choosing the middle ground by attacking at six hundred miles.  By launching at night, they would decrease the chance of visual detection, but radar-based detection from aircraft was still very likely.  If the F-15’s could not get the Chinese AWACS to move back or shut down their radars, it was likely the Chinese would detect the missiles well before they reached their targets.