Another voice came on the frigate’s speaker.
“Ardent, This is Cover Two. I have a torpedo moving toward my position, still moving. Slow rate of speed. Torpedo approaching the surface, yes, surfacing. I have a visual. I have a missile lock on and firing at the torpedo. It’s on a straight course on the surface. Estimated speed twenty knots.”
Murdock heard the explosion from a mile away and a great geyser of water spouted into the air.
“We have a hit, mine people. Splash one torpedo.”
A great cheer went up on the frigate.
The voice of Commander Johnson came on again. “Now repositioning the chopper between the next two mines. We’re ecstatic here, hope for good results eight more times.”
The next report from the radio came four minutes later. The chopper was in position and had begun sending the magnetic force into the water aimed at the second two mines.
The voice of the chopper pilot came on again. “Yes, frigate and mine ship, we have one, now two torpedoes coming to the surface. They seem to be converging at the point where the chopper is with the array in the water. Still converging. Chopper with the array, get out of there, move it fast, these two torpedoes could converge all the way and seek out each other.”
“Yes, we’re out of there, moving away quickly,” the chopper pilot said.
The next thing they heard was a pair of dramatic explosions that came so quickly they sounded like one. The helo watching the scene was shaken in its flight but did not go down.
“That’s three torpedoes destroyed, Ardent. Are we going for more?”
Before the afternoon was over, the sub-hunting helicopters had destroyed seven of the mine torpedoes with their missiles and two more had triggered at the same time and come to the surface and sought out each other and detonated.
The Ardent and the Dextrous plowed through the Strait of Hormus for an hour, but their sensitive metal detectors could find no more metal on the bottom except the sunken tanker, which was about half a mile toward the Gulf of Oman and in three hundred feet of water, so it posed no transit problem. Neither did they attract any more mines.
Word was passed to all tankers backed up on both sides of the strait that the mines had all been removed. To prove the point, the United States sent through an empty, midsized tanker after giving the captain and owner an ironclad guarantee that if it hit a mine and sank, the U.S. government would replace it. The crew and the watching naval vessels’ personnel held their collective breaths as the big tanker plowed through the strait at twenty knots. When it was well clear, the radio crackled with ships getting permission from home ports to let them transit the strait.
On the helo ride back to the carrier, Murdock asked the pilot what would keep Iraq from planting more mines in the strait.
“Hey, we know what they did, there will be a round-the-clock watch on that strip of the gulf. If we see any size ship messing around in there night or day, it will come under considerable attack.”
Murdock grinned. “Just wondered. Once burned, twice you not gonna get me again, you turkey.” They both laughed.
15
“Bahrain is the name of the place,” Don Stroh said to the assembled SEALs in their room on the big carrier. “Bahrain was a traditional monarchy, with an emir at the head. It’s an island nation of two thousand two hundred square miles. That’s the same size as an island forty-six miles one way by forty-six miles the other way. About the same size as the land mass of the city of San Diego.
“Not a big place. But it has a half million people. Three or four days ago, there was a coup there. The emir was gunned down at a soccer match, and a general of the Bahrainian army took over to ‘stabilize the government.’ He’s still there. There has been a request through the United Nations by the former premier of Bahrain who escaped to Saudi Arabia, that they send a force into his country to free it from the conspirator/murderers who control it.
“The U.N. has agreed and assigned the U.S. to make the amphibious landing on the island kingdom. That’s where you guys come in. You just did a beach clearing. This is another one. There are only two places where amphibious landings are practical on the island, and both will probably be stoutly defended. Your team and a platoon from Marine Recon will go in there.
“After the beach is secure, you will move with the Marines inland to suppress any enemy fire and to secure the beachhead for the landing.”
“All thirty of us?” DeWitt asked.
“Not sure how big a Recon platoon is, JG,” Stroh said. “I’ll find out. We’re not sure, either, how many of the former ten thousand Bahrainian military are loyal to the new commander in chief. I’ve heard we’re sending in seven hundred Marines.”
“We’ll go in with the rest of the troops?” Murdock asked.
“Not the plan now. After the Marines are ashore, the colonel in command said he would keep the SEALs and Recon in reserve for special assignments.”
“Anything the Marines can’t handle, they give to us,” Jaybird cracked. The men laughed.
“So that’s it. You’ll be choppered over to the amphibious ship Boxer. It will move into position tonight and be ready for a dawn landing. There will be no shelling of the area, no bombardment. The idea is to do as little damage to the real estate as possible yet still kick butt.”
“Any contact mines in the surf?” Dobler asked.
“We don’t know,” Stroh said. “There could be anything there. However, the new regime hasn’t had much time to install defensive measures, and the former emir did not think he needed any. So it could be just a walk in the park.”
“That’ll be the day,” Tony Ostercamp said.
“We’ll go in cammies and face masks,” Murdock said. “Sounds like most of it will be in the surf. We’ll know more after our briefing on the other ship. Regular loads of ammo, usual weapons. Bradford, bring the big fifty, leave the PSGl. Bring a hideout if anyone wants to; ankle holsters are best. Any questions?”
“How much TNAZ per man?” Jaybird asked. “We might have some blowing up to do.”
“Two pounds per man,” Murdock said. With eight timer/detonators.”
“I’ll draw some more,” Jaybird said.
“How we going to work with the Jyreans?” Franklin asked.
“We don’t know. They get UDT training, too. We might each take a section, be near but separate.”
“Yeah, separate but they’re unequal,” Jefferson said. The men cheered again.
“Let’s get with it,” DeWitt said. “We have an hour to chow, then another hour to get on the flight deck, ready to rumble.”
Three hours later, the SEALs landed on board the USS Boxer LHD 4. Officially, she was a Wasp Class Amphibious Assault Ship. In actuality, she was an 884-foot-long mini-carrier that specialized in helicopters and vertical-takeoff Harriers. She normally carried eight Harriers and 42 CH-46D Sea Knight helos. She had the capability of carrying almost any helicopter the Navy used including the Super Cobra, Super Stallion, Twin Huey, and Seahawk helicopters.
In her holds she could also pack l,850 combat-ready Marines. Each chopper could move eighteen Marines on vertical assault missions. In the hold were also landing craft and air cushion landing craft.
The SEALs found their quarters and sacked out. They would be going in shortly after dark to start their beach-clearing work. Any demolition they needed to do wouldn’t start until daylight, with the Marines hard on their way to the beach.
The briefing for the officer was about what Murdock expected. He did learn that half the Marines would be coming in on one beach and half on the other side of the island at another good landing area. The Recon Marines would clear one beach, and the SEALs the other. Separate and equal.