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bombers and their escorts.
After their earlier engagement against the carrier-based aircraft from the
Zenim and the Xia, there had been far too few American aircraft to overcome
the Chinese numbers and so the sky had literally filled with cruise missiles.
At the same time, another seventy-two Killer Whales were inserted into the
water by their ballistic missile carriers only a few miles from the task
force.
The first wave of Killer Whales, twenty-seven in number, swept in on the task
force as the ships were fighting the scores of cruise missiles. The Port
Royal, already dead in the water, took three more cruise missile hits before
she was struck simultaneously by three Killer Whales.
Before the smoke from those explosions could clear, four more Killer Whales
flew into that maelstrom and exploded, adding to the pall of smoke and debris.
When all of that had cleared& the Port Royal was simply gone.
The Townsend and the Decatur suffered similar fates, each of them being
attacked by many more
LRASD weapons than their defenses could possibly handle& seven for the Townsend
and eight for the
Decatur. The Townsend had already been rendered a floating and defenseless
wreck by the cruise missiles, but the Decatur went down fighting.
The Hampton Roads was able to heroically fight off the five Killer Whales that
targeted her from that first batch of ballistic missile delivered weapons. But
the cruise missiles scored no less than twelve additional hits on her, setting
her ablaze from bow to stern and holing her in six places.
She was just going dead in the water when the last wave of seventy-two Killer
Whales rushed in. A part of the Decatur was still afloat above the waves and
attracted twelve weapons& but all of the rest, all fifty-seven of them targeted
on the Hampton Roads.
It was the most sustained Killer Whale attack on any allied vessel in the war
and for over thirty-five seconds huge geysers, explosions and clouds of debris
rose in the air every few seconds, as multiple hits occurred on what was left
of the vessel under the developing pall of smoke.
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As with the Port Royal, but coming as no surprise to the naval aviators who
had watched her end, when that awful cloud of smoke drifted far enough away on
the wind to allow them to view where their ship had been& the Hampton Roads was
gone.
After conferring briefly with his staff, Admiral Styles issued orders to
Lieutenant Commander Morgan.
Commander, you are to render whatever assistance you can to those in the
water. Both your and the
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patrol aircraft are authorized to pick up as many survivors as you can carry
and to leave whatever supplies you can.
But under no circumstances are you to risk your aircraft or those whom you
now command. This battle is far from over and your assets are valuable and
must not be wasted.
Am I clear on this? the Admiral demanded.
Joshua Morgan was brought right back to the here and now by the command tone
in the Admiral s voice.
Aye aye, sir....Loud and clear.
Having achieved the desired result and hearing the discipline and confidence
returning to the young officer s voice, the Admiral continued.
Good. Then as soon as you must, return with the F-35s to this position and
you will be taken on board the GWB.
We have four other Ospreys coming that way at this moment with a large
escort& but they are about two hours out. Make sure the people in the water
understand and have them prepared to get the most critical personnel on those
aircraft when they arrive.
Tell them to hold on& vessels will try to be in the area within twelve hours.
As the Commander received his orders, he couldn t help but share one last
thought with the Task Force commander while he had him on the horn.
Admiral& you know Captain Thurmond was right.
Admiral Styles had two other ongoing battles to manage& but hearing the emotion
and plea in the young man s voice, he decided to loosen a little and break
communications protocol for a moment and respond.
What do you mean son? How was the Captain right?
Knowing he was possibly out of order& but not being able to help himself in
wanting to bring some order& some closure to the horror he had witnessed in the
destruction of the entire task force, Morgan continued.
Sir, he told us our task force should be proud, that we had accomplished our
mission& that this huge attack was intended for the entire force and that we
had won the day by taking it all upon ourselves.
The Admiral remembered Captain Thurmond s last words over the secure net& and
he knew then, as he knew now, that Thurmond and this young Lieutenant
Commander were right.
Son& your Captain was right. You did accomplish the mission& though not as we
had planned.
Know that what your comrades purchased here today will lead to our ultimate
victory & and that their loss will be avenged.
As he ended communication with Morgan, Styles thought to himself, Sometimes
the line between
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victory and defeat can be hard to ascertain, particularly depending on your
reference point. Sometimes the successful accomplishment of a mission can
bring as much personal and individual tragedy as a bitter defeat.
September 4, 2009, 06:45 local time
Two Miles west of the PLAN Carrier Zenim
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240 kilometers northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands
Koa could see the silhouette of the Zenim off to his east, plowing through the
waves in the pre-dawn light. Further to the north he observed the smoking Xia,
which had been hit at least three times but had not lost headway and was still
traveling in formation with the Zenim. With most of the damage occurring on
her flight deck and the hangar spaces below it, the Xia was clearly unable to
receive any of the aircraft that were now returning to the carriers from their
attack on the Americans.
The Zenim, on the other hand, was feverishly conducting flight operations. Koa
could see the planes landing& and lined up to land, approaching from the rear
of the carrier. At the same time, she was launching other aircraft from
positions near the bow as she continued to maintain a heavy combat air patrol
over the retreating task force, while accounting for all of the returning
aircraft as well.
And it was this task force that had been significantly reduced in numbers over
what it had been less than two hours ago.
Hang on,Jing, Koa said to the man next to him.
The helicopters will be here soon. It s only a matter of time.
Until thirty minutes ago, Koa had not known Jing. He was a sailor who worked
in the laundry facilities aboard the Chongqing who took his duty watch on the
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