One of the electronic warfare officers yelled, “They are going to start targeting us and every other ship in the fleet! Start jamming the enemy signals, and prepare the ship’s defensive systems!”
Less than a minute after they were targeted, the first cruise missiles began to appear. At first it was just a handful, then the numbers steadily rose, until there were 120 anti-ship missiles headed towards the battlegroup. As if things couldn’t get worse, they received a FLASH message from NORAD letting them know they detected the launch of eighteen ballistic missiles. These were most likely the famed “carrier killer missiles,” judging by where they were launched from.
Captain Jensen immediately jumped out of his seat and began issuing orders. “Engage the incoming missiles with our SM-2s once they get in range. Start having our SM-6s engage their carrier-killer missiles immediately. We need to try and take them out while they are still in their first phase of launch,” he directed, hoping they might be able to get lucky and take a couple of them out.
Jensen grabbed the mic as he addressed his bridge crew. “Bridge, CIC. Move the ship to flank speed and have us start to tighten up our position with the rest of the fleet for defense.”
He could feel the power from the ship surge as the engines began to hit their peak capability, driving them closer to the rest of the fleet and what he hoped was mutual protection. Thirty-seconds later, the first of a series of SM-6 missile interceptors began to fire from their magazine towards the carrier-killer missiles. “Please Lord, let this work,” he prayed. “We can’t lose another carrier after the Bush.”
Minutes seemed to tick by as they stared at the big board, watching the cruise missiles bear down on the battlegroup. They were just about to enter their SM-2 engagement range; at that point, they would most likely empty their entire magazine in their attempt to swat the missiles from the sky. Though Commander Jensen knew it was coming, the sudden firing of their entire battery of missiles, one every second until all 67 missiles in the battery were exhausted, still startled him.
The sky above and around the battlegroup was starting to fill with missile interceptors as the other destroyers and cruisers began to add their own ordinance to the conflagration. The carriers’ airwings would soon be going after the cruise missiles as well. It was now a race to see how many missiles they could take out before the enemy started to score some hits.
The sea was a bit choppy as the USS Carl Vinson moved with the waves, causing Captain Michael Richards to work a little harder to balance his coffee a bit more than normal. He had just finished a cold cut sandwich the galley had brought up to the bridge crew when they received a FLASH message from one of the destroyers. He took the paper from the petty officer and quickly began to read it.
“So, they are finally coming for us eh? Well, we’ll make them pay for it,” Richards thought.
He immediately turned to his executive officer and said, “Sound general quarters for a probable air attack. Order the CAG to get his aircraft airborne and intercept those bombers. If the Chinese bombers fire off their cruise missiles before our fighters can intercept them, then have our fighters attempt to engage the missiles before they hit our air defense screen,” he ordered.
Following the destruction of the George H.W. Bush strike group in the Black Sea, the Navy implemented an immediate change in strategies to combat future potential missile swarm attacks. They removed nearly all the Tomahawk cruise missiles from the carriers’ destroyer escorts and replaced them with additional SM-2 missile interceptors. For the Pacific fleets, they also added SM-3 and SM-6 missiles to the destroyers, to counter the possibility of the Chinese or North Koreans using ballistic missiles. It looked like those decisions might just save the fleet.
“XO, you have the bridge. I’m heading down to CIC with the Admiral,” Captain Richards said.
The XO nodded and responded, “XO has the bridge, Sir.”
While the Captain was walking out, he saw a flurry of activity as everyone on the bridge continued to put on their helmets and flak vests.
Even after Richards had left the room, the crew on the bridge continued their preparations. The armored blinders were soon covering the bridge windows (they did not need to see to steer the ship, and this move would help ensure that flying shrapnel did not explode into the bridge, damaging equipment or injuring sailors). The carrier then turned slightly to angle itself into the wind, providing the alert fighters more lift during their take offs.
The roar of jet engines increased steadily until the air sounded like it was filled with a very loud rushing wind; multiple alert fighters went to afterburners, getting themselves airborne quickly. Dozens of crew members began to move the next set of fighters on the catapults, while others worked to bring additional aircraft to the flight deck from the hangers below. It was a mad fury of activity on the flight deck as the crews worked to get the carrier’s airwing into the air to intercept the enemy bombers, or at least the cruise missiles which they would certainly launch.
As Captain Richards moved from the bridge down into the gangway that would lead him to the CIC, he could see dozens of sailors running to-and-fro, heading to their various battle stations. Several of the sailors yelled, “Make a hole!” as he continued to walk past them on his way to the CIC.
When he walked into the CIC, he saw it was a buzz of activity. Admiral Lomas was on the radio, presumably talking with Vice Admiral Dan Kinkaid, the 7th Fleet Commander, who was aboard the USS Blueridge, the command and control ship that was sailing at the center of the battlegroup, flanked by the Carl Vinson and the Reagan carriers.
“Captain! The Hawkeye’s are reporting the Chinese recon birds have activated their targeting search radars. We are being painted by them!” yelled one of the chief petty officers who had been manning one of the myriad of radar screens. A second later, the same petty officer announced to the group, “Vampires, Vampires, Vampires! We have missile launches from the bombers.”
Everyone in the CIC tensed up at the announcement, even though they had all expected it when they saw the formation of bombers.
“What type of missiles are they shooting at us?” demanded Admiral Lomas (who had concluded his call with the 7th Fleet Commander).
“Sir, they appear to be YJ-12 ‘Eagle Strikes,’” responded the chief petty officer.
“Those are going to be incredibly hard to shoot down,” he thought, remembering that those missiles could reach speeds in excess of Mach 3.
Another radar operator, who had been monitoring the Chinese shoreline, yelled out, “Vampires, Vampires, Vampires! We have coastal missiles inbound from Yancheng and Qingdao!”
One of the battle managers quickly moved to the petty officer calling out the new threats. “How many missiles are we looking at?” he asked.
Many of the officers turned to hear what the petty officer would say in response. “The computer is still tallying…” he began. “There are 350 missiles coming in from the coastal area.”
At first, no one said anything, almost ignoring the fact that 350 additional missiles had been fired at the fleet; then they quickly went back to their collective tasks of vectoring missile interceptors, aircraft and other defensive systems towards the incoming threats.
Every few minutes, the men and women in the CIC could hear the roar of aircraft taking off from the flight deck above them. The CAG was working hard to get his aircraft airborne as quickly as possible. In addition to the fighters, they were scrambling several of the EA-18G Growlers. These were the Navy’s electronic warfare aircraft, and would be pivotal in defeating the incoming missiles. The fighters below decks were being equipped with additional AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles, to assist in going after the incoming cruise missiles. It was a race against time to get enough missile interceptors and aircraft in the air to take those threats out before they started to hit the fleet.