Brown, Dale - Independent 01 (57 page)

           
The Soviet
attack on the
Nimitz
carrier group
was going as planned.

           
Five
minutes after the last GL-25 cruise missile hit its initial point, the
Kiev
and
Novorossiysk
attack carriers began launching the first of a dozen Sukhoi-24 Fencer
supersonic bomber aircraft off their ski- ramp launch platforms toward the
American vessels. Each swingwing bomber, a synthesis of technology borrowed
from the American F-lll and British Tornado strike bombers and modified for
carrier operations, was armed with four “launch and leave” AS-N-16 laser-
guided antiship missiles, a thirty-millimeter cannon and an undercarriage pod
with twelve laser-guided missiles. The missiles would be used to attack random
targets as the fighters left the target area.

           
The
bombers’ task was to penetrate the
Nimitz's
outer fleet protection immediately after the GL-25 cruise missile attack, when
the fleet would be at its weakest, and attack the
Nimitz
itself with its high- explosive antiship missiles. Using
their advanced jammers and flying only a few meters off the water, the Fencers
would be hard if not impossible to spot after the havoc of the cruise-missile
strike. On withdrawal the fighters had the weapons to pick off any targets of
opportunity.

 
          
USS NIMITZ

 
          
In the opening activity after the
Mississippi
sounded the alarm, the Fencer launches from the
Kiev
and
Novorossiysk
went almost unnoticed.

 
         
The missile-frigate FFG-48 USS
Vandergrift
was the first naval vessel
to feel the impact of a Soviet GL-25 missile. She was the northernmost
antisubmarine ship protecting the
Nimitz
,
and because she was primarily an antisubmarine vessel her antiair capabilities
were limited: she carried only one Mark 13 antiaircraft missile launcher on her
forward deck. Although the
Nimitz
rebroadcast the
Mississippi
's
warning for all her escorts it was
impossible for the
Vandergrift
to
defend itself against the attack. Once the oncoming missile had acquired and
locked onto the frigate with its homing radar, it accelerated to nearly mach
two for the last thirty miles of its flight and hit the
Vandergrift
square in the center of her helicopter hangar before
she could fire a shot. The frigate was nearly sawed in half....

           
Some
escorts fared better, but one by one a path was being cleared by the GL-25 s
that led straight to the
Nimitz
herself. The Aegis-class cruisers were set to confront the
Arkhangel
carrier group to the west and were not positioned for
such a massive assault from the north. Though the newer, faster Standard-ER and
the new NATO Valkyrie vertical-launch missiles did a credible job against the
oncoming swarm, the older Standard missiles could barely keep up.

           
The GL-25s
were winning. Although only one ship was killed for every three GL-25 s, the
northern escorts were giving way to the Soviet attackers.

           
“Get as
many Tomcats airborne as you can, Captain,” Admiral Clancy said over the phone
to Air Ops. “I want two air patrols to counter the
Arkhangel
to the east. The rest head north with the Hawk- eye radar
planes and find those damned cruise missiles. Keep four Tomcats and two Hornets
on alert.... Yes, that’s right, only four. If we don’t chase down those cruise
missiles it won’t matter how many we keep in reserve.”

           
“Aye
... .”

           
The sound
of staccato thunder penetrated the noise of the flight deck below
Nimitz'
s bridge. Edgewater and Clancy
hurried over to the port observation deck, and saw one of the northern escort
vessels lighting up the night with a spectacular rocket display, rapid-firing
missiles.

           
“Bridge,
CIC.
Shiloh
engaging hostile targets.”
Shiloh
was one of four
Aegis-class
antiaircraft vessels operating with the
Nimitz
assigned to protect the carrier’s northern flank.

           
As the
message was transmitted to the bridge an explosion lit the horizon,
silhouetting the entire five-hundred-thirty-two-foot cruiser. There was no
fire, no magazine explosion, and the sudden glare subsided.

           
“Got ’em,”
Edgewater said.
“
Shiloh
must’ve tagged the
cruise missile—”

           
Edgewater
was cut off by a boom that erupted just across the flight deck from their
observation position. At the same time a loudspeaker blared, “Collision
warning, all hands, collision warning______ ”

           
The direct
phone to CIC rang, but Clancy had no chance to answer it before a blinding
flash and a wall of fire washed over the flight deck of the
Nimitz
, thick clouds of oily smoke
obscuring everything, even the enclosed bridge.

           
“Damage
report, all decks,” Edgewater shouted but from behind the heavy steel wall of
the bridge. “All decks—”

           
Another explosion, this time on the flight deck itself.
One
of the F-14s ready to launch had caught on fire, the loudspeaker was calling
for fire crews and crash crews on deck--------

           
The phone
rang again. This time Clancy snatched it up.

           
“Bridge.”

           
“Bridge,
this is Crash One. We had a cruise missile explode right off the port side. One
elevator, one catapult, one CIWS and one Sea Sparrow launcher out. One F-14
caught by collateral damage, two casualties. No casualty reports from below
decks yet.”

           
“Get me
word soon as you do.” Clancy phoned to CIC as Edge- water picked himself off
the deck. “CIC, what’s the story down there?”

           
“Soviet
missiles all round us, Admiral,” Commander Jacobs, senior CIC officer, told
him. “Our close-in weapons system got that last one just before it hit.
Shiloh
was blind after the
missile that almost got
them
.... No
way
they could
knock it down.... Stand by, sir...” And
a moment later: “Message from the
Bronstein”

           
The
Bronstein
was a thirty-year-old
antisubmarine frigate positioned as the innermost antisubmarine warfare vessel
astern of the
Nimitz
and carrying
only a three-inch gun and a close-in Gatling gun for self-defense. “She’s still
under way but listing badly and calling for help.”

           
“Better
dispatch three HH-65 Dolphin helicopters with engineers and rescue gear to
help,” Clancy said, glancing at the surface radar to assess the position of the
rest of his escorts. “We’ll use all the Dolphins for rescue if necessary; if
there are subs around, we’re really in a world of hurt.”

 
         
“Aye, sir.”

           
“That was
too close,” Edgewater said. “With
Shiloh
out of commission we’re going to be playing tag
with more of those missiles pretty damn soon. Should we place
Hue
City
up to the north to replace
Shiloh
?”
The USS
Hue City,
the
first
U.S.
vessel
to be named after a battle from the Vietnam
War,
was
Nimitz'
s westernmost Aegis- class ship.

           
“We’ve got
no choice,” Clancy said. “A blind Aegis cruiser is no help to us—”

           
“Admiral, message from CIC.
Our Tomcats are reporting enemy
aircraft one hundred fifty miles east of the
Ticonderoga
.”
Ticonderoga
,
the most heavily armed vessel in the support group, was cruising the “point”
between the
Nimitz
and
Arkhangel.
“No report
yet from
Ticonderoga
.
The Tomcats are—”

           
“Collision warning.
All hands, collision warning.”

 
          
ARMSTRONG SPACE STATION

 
          
Saint-Michael had just given the
order for Ann to hit the switch that would send power from the backup batteries
to the Skybolt ignition circuits when a huge explosion hit like a wrecking ball
against the outer hull of the command module. Smoke billowed from a halfdozen
spots in the debris-clogged module, quickly becoming so thick that the general
could no longer see.

           
As Ann
called out to him, trying to find out if he was okay, he half-floated, half-crawled
to the jury-rigged control panel and activated a switch that depressurized the
command module into the connecting tunnel. Almost immediately the smoke was
gone as the last bit of air left on the station rushed into space.

           
“I’m okay,”
he said, moving back to the SBR control console. “I had to depressurize the—”

           
Ann heard a
barely audible intake of breath. “Jason?”

           
“My...
head....” He reached down to his chest-mounted space- suit control panel and
checked to be sure the pressurization switch was still on EMER.

           
“Jason
... I’m coming across.”

           
“N-no.”
The pain was a knife, but he thought he could fight
it off without feeling as if he would lose consciousness.

           
“Stay
there....” He refocused his eyes on the planter-box power junction. “It looks
like the SBR dropped off line. It’s not tracking. I’ll try to reset the
auto-track circuit. .. . Marty, what do you see out there?”

 
         
“One of the batteries on the keel
exploded,” Schultz replied. “Blew right off and hit the command module.”

           
Saint-Michael
wedged a small flashlight against his helmet to steady its beam into the
planter box. He fought to concentrate against the surge of pain. “Damage?”

           
“Negative.”

           
He finally
managed to find the wire bundle from the auto-track circuit to the main bus and
unplugged it. He had no way of monitoring the circuit, no way of knowing if
just unplugging the thing would reset it or if it had suffered any damage or
was permanently burned open.

           
With
unsteady fingers he plugged the wire bundle connectors back in. “All right,
Ann,” he said. “We’ll give it one more try....”

 
          
USS NIMITZ

 
          
Another blinding flash of light off
the port side of the
Nimitz,
but this
one was accompanied by a ball of flame that rolled up from the deck of the
Shiloh
.
The heat and the concussion even from miles away could be felt by
the whole
Nimitz
crew.

           
Edgewater,
feeling the intense heat, understood it meant the death of
Shiloh
.

           
“Bring
Callaghan
north alongside her,” Clancy
ordered, wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared for a moment at his
smoke-blackened hand. “Have the destroyer help transfer the wounded. Have them
take over the antiair duties until
Hue
City
moves into position. Air
Ops,
bring Bravo flight north to help find those Soviet
aircraft. Looks like
Arkhangel's
getting into the act.” As Edgewater turned to issue the orders, Clancy picked
up the phone to CIC, at the same time looking out through hazy oily smoke at
the burning Aegis-class cruiser on the horizon. Another secondary explosion
sent a mushroom of flames skyward. He waited until the sound of the explosion
rolled across the
Nimitz
a few
seconds later before speaking. “What’s the tally, Commander?” He almost didn’t
want to know.

           
“Valley Forge, Vandergrift,
Arkansas
and
your
old
Persian
Gulf
flagship
Lasalle,”
Jacobs said, his voice flat. “All badly damaged or
destroyed.
Vandegrift
.
. .
was lost with all hands.
Sorry, sir.”

           
Sorry
..
.just
sorry
as
hell.... Would it have happened if the armchair boys hadn’t held the tight
leash on him for so long... ?

           
Two Aegis
cruisers dead... it was worse than Clancy had thought.