The Leopards strained to make the range, getting right up to the last minutes of available fuel before they released. They got their missiles in the air, and then started the long trip back to Davao, over 300 miles away. That sent the alarms ringing in the Enterprise Strike Group, and the crews stood ready to unleash their SAM’s.
The fast YJ-12’s were going to outrun the YJ-100s and get to their assigned targets first, only to face a streaming cloud of ESSM’s. The Sea Sparrows were out like predatory fish, lancing into the oncoming school of Vampires and cutting it to pieces in that feeding frenzy. Some got very close—laser close, and the CG-21 Class cruiser Atlanta flashed its energy weapons to get two fast leakers before they could find a hull to savage.
That defense held, and as the YJ-100’s finally came on the scene, sea skimmers at 500 knots, Karpov gave orders for Kirov and Kursk to support the defense. They were running out of Gargoyles, but still had plenty of Growlers. The weight of those missiles, combined with the American ESSM’s was more than enough to smash the last of the YJ-100’s. By 10:30 Local, the smoke was finally clearing. Once again, while the cruise missiles had fired in their hundreds, none had scored a hit, while a total of nine torpedoes, including two more fired by Franklin, had hit six ships, sinking three and leaving the other three creeping along as the damage control teams fought to control the flooding and seal all leaks.
Yet the undersea attack was never without risks, especially when so close to a large number of enemy ships. While Franklin slipped away, Chancellorsville was detected and targeted by two ASROC YU-7s fired by the cruiser Zanshi, the Warrior. Those, with the aid of two helicopters, were able to get hits on the American sub, and end its war.
The battle had been intense, confusing, and costly for both sides. Escorts and strike planes both took hits, and of the 36 F-35’s Admiral Cook took to sea, there were now 27 remaining, with a lot of empty chairs in the briefing rooms. All twelve Avengers were safe after two strike missions, and the six SuperToms were now up on BARCAP in case anything else came their way. Submarines Shenandoah and Chancellorsville were gone, but the enemy had suffered much greater harm, at least in overall tonnage and ships lost.
Admiral Wu would return to the South China Sea, missing six ships already sunk, including carrier Zhendong and the Rain God, Yushen, with three more badly damaged. His mission was a complete failure. He had been unable to destroy any of the American bases, while Beiying in the Philippines, was badly damaged, and with heavy plane losses. His grand campaign was now a broken arrow….
The 36 bombers at Clark AFB were trapped, as the runways and access points were so beaten up that they could not take off. The base commander, under orders to get those bombers back to China, fretted the hours away, knowing American bombers might strike them again at any hour. Two B-1’s were taking off at noon to do exactly that, and stir the embers there with more JASSM-ER’s. If necessary, the B2’s were rearming with that missile, using up almost all the remaining inventory on that ordnance at Anderson. A pair of B-52’s also sat ready with them if needed.
Aboard the Enterprise, Admiral Cook looked at his watch and figured it would be 16:00 before he was ready to contemplate another strike, so he turned and began moving back up towards the bottleneck of the Makassar Strait. From all reports, the Chinese fleet was still strung out on a long formation, and running for Zamboanga at the end of the Elephant’s Trunk of Mindanao. They would look to refuel hungry ships, and then his best guess was that they would return to the South China Sea.
A little after 13:00, Local, the two B1’s were in position to release on Clark AFB again. A few of the crewmen had spent time there, and as the missiles started to drop away and ignite their engines, one blew a kiss at a departing missile and spoke wistfully of a favorite restaurant and bar. “Now don’t overshoot your goddamned target and hit my Lomi House. I slogged down a lot of good food and beer there in my time.”
The missiles went in, eventually engaged by a defending HQ-9 battery, which got eight kills. But the rest delivered another pounding to Clark, this time the fires and shrapnel slashing at those big bombers all over the field. When it was over, only 21 of the 36 that had been based there remained, and the Air Force Generals were screaming bloody murder.
Captain Shill on the USS Washington was also about to deliver the same treatment to the airfield at Davao. His destroyers were laden with Tomahawks, and he would send out 72 to cover all the main targets at that field, including open parking and tarmac space. While the Tomahawk had proved to be a very inept ship killer, this was a mission it was built for, precision ground strike operations. It would be a 300 mile journey to the target, with the missiles traveling 500 knots, so they would get there within the hour.
The first Vampires were spotted over the eastern highlands at 14:44, which prompted an immediate scramble order for all twelve J-20’s based there, and one KJ-200 AEW Plane. The 20 flying Leopards were all laid up in the hangars and parking spots, surrounded by ordnance crews that now raced to get to shelters as the air raid sirens blared all across the field. Two SAM batteries switched on radars and begin processing the contacts to get firing solutions. A minute later they started sending missiles at the leading Vampires.
One battery sawed off the tip of the spear, buying the fighters just enough time to get airborne, which allowed them to fire their PL-12’s at the main body of the Tomahawks to get many kills. The KJ-200 thrummed skyward just as the first leaker got through and struck one of the tarmacs. Of the 72 missiles fired, only ten would get through that combined SAM and air defense to strike the base, but even those ten killed eight Leopards on the ground, and smashed the control tower and cargo terminal. The runway itself was also damaged to a point that the emergency crews had to radio the J-20s and tell them they could not land. They had no choice but to turn away and head northwest to Puerto Princesa AFB on Cebu, so the strike had effectively driven off all the remaining fighter defense at Davao.
With Carrier Strike Group Washington now under 300 miles to the east, the US would soon dominate the skies over Mindanao. TF Bougainville, was now ordered to begin preparations for the landing of US Marines on the west coast of the Gulf of Davao southwest of the city. They were tasked to come ashore at Binagao Beach south of the big Davao Therma South Power station complex, and also north of that site at Merco Beach.
It was expected that landing would be unopposed, and then the Marines would move overland up Highway 1 to take on anything the Chinese had at Davao in the way of garrison troops. The first ground counterattack of the Pacific War would be underway within 48 hours.
Chapter 9
“I don’t know what it is, Dimitri, but something feels odd.”
Admiral Volsky eased off the examination table as Doctor Zolkin finished listening to his heart and lungs with a stethoscope.
“I know what you mean,” said Zolkin. “But it isn’t up here.” He pointed to his head. “It’s just a gut feeling. Tell me about these dreams you say you have.”
“Well,” said Volsky. “It starts with a great sea battle, but it is nothing like the things going on here now.”