“Yes, sir,” Ricks said. There was no feeling in his voice.
“Look, Ricks, you’re one of the best non-commissioned officers I have. I need you. It’s going to take a long time to get this over with and without you it will make it tougher on me and everyone else. So be a little more careful will ya.”
Ricks smiled. “Okay, Boss. Paul already gave me the Su Lynn speech.”
“Just another reason I want you to be careful. The other one is me having to write your parents and tell them how you died an honorable death. Don’t make me do that,” he said pointing his finger in Ricks’ face.
Ricks threw up his hands. “I give up. I promise not to be a hero, Papa,” he said.
Peterson shook his head. “You jerk.”
The truck with the mortars and ammunition came up. Ricks took charge of unloading them and setting up the stations, three there and three at the other compound. Lt. Colonel Peterson assigned a young Captain to be in charge of the station along with some new men. At 3 am the position was shelled from across the line knocking out the mortars and killing half the new crew. More reinforcements were rushed in and a line of field artillery set up on the opposite hill. The artillery on the north side was located and bombed. There was something about that crossing that the North wanted.
USS Ronald Reagan was operating just thirty miles off the Korean coast. Her F-14s and Intruders were conducting nearly round the clock operations against the North. Today’s mission had taken off just one hour before. They were attacking an arms plant discovered deep in the mountains of North Korea. This was the first time a carrier operated this close to shore, but the close proximity to targets made for faster turnarounds. Two F-14s were providing air cover for the carrier and were stationed along the coast. Two escorts were with the carrier while the others were in port refueling. USS Iowa was assigned the same sector to patrol and was coming up on her port side.
Many of the sailors came up on deck to see the battleship as she approached. Few had ever seen one before. Signal lights were flashing and signals being exchanged. Nearly everyone was impressed by the sight.
The pilots of the F-14s were keeping up a steady stream of banter on the radio. On three occasions the ship came on to remind them to keep their radio traffic to a minimum. At several sites inland, operators plotted the bearing of the radio transmissions. The information was relayed via telephone to a central location. The lines were plotted, giving the exact position of the American carrier. The position was called into two Silkworm missile batteries within range. It took only two minutes to launch the missiles.
“Silkworm launch!” cried one of the F-14 pilots as he saw one of the last ones leave the launcher. In all, eight missiles were in the air and he and his wingman banked hard to follow the missiles in order to shoot one down. Unfortunately the missiles were already streaking along at over 600 miles an hour. Even with full afterburner it would be almost impossible to catch up in time.
On the carrier the combat information center was tracking the inbound targets and designating them to the escorts. Two more planes were on the catapult and being readied for launch. There was no time.
USS Haliburton was stationed forward of the carrier. A white SM-1 shot onto the rail and rotated outward. It was immediately launched into the beam of the SPG-51 radar. A second one quickly followed it. The missile tracked outbound and headed for the lead Silkworm. In seconds the missile turned downward and exploded just four feet from the side of the missile, peppering it and detonating the warhead. The second of Haliburton’s missiles tracked outbound, striking the third missile and causing it to fly into the sea.
USS Semmes was on planeguard duty behind the carrier. Her missiles were sent against the second and fourth Silkworms. The first self destructed when it lost the beam signal. The second reached its target and exploded 10 feet from the Silkworm, knocking it out of the sky. A second missile was fired, but not before it passed within the minimum firing distance. There was no time for the next five missiles.
When the pilot called out the warning, Hammond reacted. “This is the Captain. XO, put this ship right next to the carrier at a range of about 300 yards. And do it fast!” Hammond shouted into the bitch box from Strike.
On the bridge, the XO took charge. “This is the XO, I have the deck and the conn, right standard rudder, all engines ahead flank indicated 999 for maneuvering combinations,” he shouted.
USS Iowa sped up along its track and turned in toward the carrier. The men on the bridge could hear the turbines for the forced draft blowers suddenly speed up and a froth of white begin boiling up from the stern. The bow pointed toward the bow of the carrier and the ship seemed to lurch toward her. Striking one of the swells, a huge plume of spray shot over the bow and was flung upward as the ship muscled her way through the seas ever faster. At a range of 500 yards the XO had the rudder swung back hard left and the ship turned to match the course of the carrier.
By now the battleship’s 5-inch guns were blazing away. The ship’s ancient systems had never been designed to hit targets going that fast, but as the director’s radars kept locked on, the guns threw out the rounds. Inside, the mount captains took control by hand and tried to lead the missiles as they came in. They were rewarded when they began to see the puffs as the variable time fuses in the projectiles began to sense they were near the target and detonated. Suddenly the second Silkworm disappeared in flame from a direct hit. The XO kept up the speed until the Iowa was in the direct path of the incoming missiles.
The crew had already moved inside the skin of the ship. The entire bridge crew ducked into the thick armored citadel and closed the big 17-inch thick doors. The ship’s guns continued firing rapidly though the chances of actually hitting a target were practically nil. The variable timed fragmentation rounds continued to fill the air and several went off near the incoming missiles without having any real effect. The 20mm PHALANX close-in weapons systems trained out and began to fire, but they had each targeted the same missile. It exploded within 100 yards of the ship. There was no time to retarget the rest.
The first Silkworm struck turret one on the port side. It’s 800-pound warhead detonating with a tremendous bang. A bright yellow flame engulfed the side of the turret as the remainder of the rocket fuel ignited. The second missile struck turret three’s barbette, blasting upwards, shredding the weather seal, and flinging bits of the missile across the deck. A third struck near the black cap of the after funnel. All three sent missile fragments and flames streaking skyward. The force of the explosions shook the old battleship violently, rocking the ship to starboard, knocking men off their feet and rupturing the eardrums of the closest men.
Immediately Hammond left Strike and headed to the bridge. He arrived on the port bridge wing to see smoke and flames pouring from the forward turret. Looking aft, there was a similar black cloud. Amidships he watched as the wind blew the smoke away.
The top of the after stack was gone. Turning back forward Hammond watched as a damage control team turned water hoses on the side of the burning turret. As the water hit the turret it hissed from the heat, but slowly the smoke cleared and the fire died away.
Hammond almost couldn’t believe his eyes. Turret one was still intact. The missile hadn’t even dented it. The thick steel designed to withstand the pounding from another battleship completely absorbed the blow.