“Ping issued sir.” That was the Jackson alerted, Pike knew that the whole package would be arriving in about one hour.
“There we are XO, Weaps. We’re invited to a fireworks party in an hour, don’t forget the bloody matches.”
GHOST FOUR RAN IN AT 100 feet over the sea on her terminal approach to the Island. She was stealthy, but they were taking no chances, the Chinese base would be equipped with the latest air defence radars and missiles that they had.
“Six miles to run,” Weapons Officer selected master arm on and made sure the targeting computer was active and ready. Ghost four would soon climb to two thousand feet and release MOP to strike the underground submarine pens at Yulin’s PLAN facility.
The MOP GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator is a precision guided bomb of 30,000 pounds, a “Bunker buster.” It was thought it may penetrate and would certainly cause massive shock and possible roof falls inside the pens.
“Two point five miles to strike datum.” The Weapons Officer selected MOP, there was a tone on his headset and a red light blinked on the multi-functional display. The pilot increased power on the four General Electric F118 turbofans, pulled back on the stick and the aircraft entered a climb. The bomb doors opened.
“Strike vector green. Designated release point coming up, one thousand one hundred, three hundred, easy girl.” As they reached the correct point the targeting computer released the weapon.
“Bomb away,” said the Weapons Officer. The pilot banked the aircraft to the left and entered a shallow dive to the southwest. The B 2 would fly low over the sea until eventually climbing for the cruise back to Guam.
Having flown northwest up the Vietnamese coast, just north of the city of Da Nang a flight of Tomahawks turned northeast over the sea bound for Hainan.
As they reached the coast, their targeting radars updated the flight computers and they turned east for Yulin base. The missiles had port dock cranes, known fuel and weapon stores and three frigates targeted.
To the northwest flying down the centre of the Island with the Wuzhi Mountain on their right the second Tomahawk flight headed for their targets. A Destroyer and another fuel store.
Air defence missile and radar installations would get special attention from the Tomahawks and JASSM. Two of the JASSM missiles were targeted on a low building five miles inland from the base. Situated in a forested area the building lay behind a tall barbed wire fence guarded around the clock. It had been surveyed by ROC special forces who sneaked in through the trees and set up electronic monitoring devices. The discovery that it was the true air defence control centre hadn’t been expected. No radars in sight. They didn’t need to be, they were miles away connected by underground cable.
The Pentagon called it The Nest, a nest of SAM’s.
At 2.28am three JASSM from Ghost one went feet dry from Tufu Bay, they turned left and followed the G98 south at a hight of 100 feet, after two minutes one JASSM banked to the left and went its own way. It was the first to make target. It slammed into the forward air defence emplacement linked to many SAM sites overlooking the base. The brick and sandbagged structure was blown apart, debris and bodies flew in all directions men on the periphery ran or took cover.
Soon after the other two JASSM flew into The Nest, the whole structure was ripped asunder in less than a second. Down closer to the Yulin Tomahawks struck SAM sites, radars and vehicle-mounted missile launchers blew apart. One site had got a few fleeting return contacts from Ghost one and was preparing to launch, it too was blasted by a Tomahawk launched from Ghost two.
Then it was as though the world had ended for many in the area both military and civilian. Ghost one’s MOP detonated.
The blast rose hundreds of feet into the sky, but it was the impact and explosion that people remembered. Many swore an earthquake had shook the land like a rag doll. The MOP was devastating. Miles away birds dropped from trees. Voles and rats ran for life. Flocks of birds took to the skies en mass.
What it was like below ground in the pens was a terror, lighting failed. Tons of falling rock smashed into many boat’s hulls. It was the Chaos of hell incarnate. After a time emergency lighting was restored, crews were recalled to their boats. Slowly some sort of order was restored. Reports had been made to Beijing and the order came back disperse the nuclear fleet. Open the pen doors. One was partly opened but both stuck and the Engineering teams spent two hours restoring functions. Finally, the two great doors opened.
It was every man for himself and the first four serviceable boats were three SSN’s and a Song class diesel electric boat. These were followed by a type 94 Jin class SSBN the Auspicious Dragon. The SSBN got part way out of the dock, as its bulkhead six cleared the doors two 660 pound warheads of Aluminised PBX ripped themselves out of the two Stonefish mines. The vessel was pulled open, it’s back broke and it sunk the short distance to the seabed. The pen’s access was now blocked by a 13,000 ton boat with 12 tubes carrying 36 missiles each with the power of 4.5 Nagasaki type weapons.
AT PLAN NAVAL HEADQUARTERS red faced Admirals issued curses not heard since their days as a midshipman, politicians breathed fire down the telephone. Many SSN’s and the remains of China’s SSBN force were still stuck inside Hainan. The order went out. Protect Yulin at all costs, dispatch a large part of the task force.
The order went out to the commander of the straits fleet, he read it with falling spirits. He was angry but more than that he was sad, as the task he’d been given “Operation Dragon’s breath, the liberation of Taiwan” fell from his grasp.
COMMANDER PIKE LOOKED up from his monitor, the periscope had carried out a 180 sweep of the land to his west.
“Take a look XO. Weaps come on, you too. That’s what a right good kick in the bollocks looks like.” The view was in night mode, fires burned all over the base and in the high ground behind. “Uncle Joe will be bowing up and down from the waist for a while.”
“That must have hurt sir,” said Weaps.
“Yes, but some boats will have got out, we’ll have company soon enough. Now it’s the Royal Navy and the United States Navy’s turn. Planesman, trim fore and aft for descent, down fifteen, make your depth 100 meters, hold our position.
Sonar.
Sonar.” Petty Officer Melanie Mercer looked at him wide eyed from inside her white anti-flash hood, a wispy curl of blond hair fell over her forehead. Unlike the rest of the crew she wore black Bowers & Wilkins P7 headphones.
“Yes sir?”
“You know what’s going to happen now don’t you?” she shook her head.
“Uncle Joe’s boats are going to be heading this way. I hope they’re running like a fly into a steaming turd. But they might not be, if Joe’s cool he may try to sneak out. Keep those cute shell likes hunting for him. Catch him Mercer, catch him.”
She smiled, “I will sir.” Mercer turned back to her workstation. Pike knew if PLAN boats were out there, she’d hear them. She’d ears like a shit house rat.
Pike could sense them, they’d be coming out, some of them. They’d have to get by the Billy Ruffian first.
“SIR, I HAVE SCREW SOUNDS from Yalong, it’s shallow in there and they’re mixed, there could be more than one boat.”
“That’s good Benson,” Nathan stood even though there was no need, “Weaps, warload?”
“Tubes one to four Mk 48, five Harpoon, six empty waiting for Scooby to return.”
“Flood tubes one and two.”
A few minutes went by. “Sir, we have a confirmed Shang class SSN leaving Yalong bay. Speed 14 knots heading south,” said Benson.
“Weaps, give him ninety seconds and then slap him with an active ping from Scooby.”