RPG Forums

Go Back   RPG Forums > Role Playing Game Section > Twilight 2000 Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #421  
Old 03-31-2018, 08:01 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Those who have run the Satellite Down module will recognize this class of ship, if not the lead unit...



The Virginia Class Cruisers in World War III


The Virginia class guided-missile cruisers were the largest class of nuclear surface combatants built for the U.S. Navy, until the postwar Puget Sound class strike cruisers. At the outbreak of war, they were the most capable nuclear cruisers in the U.S. Navy, primarily being employed as escorts for carrier battle groups. Planned as a five-ship class, only four were built, while the fifth, which was hoped to be equipped with AEGIS, was never funded.

The ships had an active war, escorting carrier battle groups, protecting their charges from air and submarine attack, and all four survived the war.


U.S.S. Virginia (CGN-38): Commissioned in 1976, she was active in the Atlantic Fleet at the beginning of the war, she had escorted the Eisenhower battle group on its last peacetime deployment. She remained with Eisenhower throughout the war, seeing combat during raids against Soviet-occupied Iceland, the liberation of Iceland, the Kola Raid, and operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GULF HAMMER and the reduction of the Brownsville Pocket). A brief yard period in 1986 had the “Fem Mods” (accommodations for female officers and crew) added. Virginia participated in the sinkings of three Soviet submarines: the Victor-I class SSN K-147 off Norfolk on 27 November 1985, the November-class SSN K-60 during the Liberation of Iceland in May, 1987, and the Tango-class SS B-319 on 8 June 1989, during the transit from Norfolk to the Gulf of Mexico. Virginia, during Gulf of Mexico operations, also took SAM shots at Soviet aircraft engaged in the airlift to Texas and Mexico, scoring several kills in the process. She was overhauled and refueled from 1994-1997, and after routine deployments with both the Sixth Fleet and the Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean, Virginia was decommissioned and stricken in 2014, and has been sold for scrap after defueling and all nuclear components removed.


U.S.S. Texas (CGN-39): Commissioned in 1977, she was active in the Pacific Fleet at the outbreak of war, as part of the Carl Vinson Battle Group. The group had returned from a WestPac deployment when war began, and as soon as war began, deployed to protect the California coast, and conducted carrier air strikes against targets in Baja California. Later, Texas participated in operations against Soviet convoys on the Alaska run, and in strikes against occupied Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula, protecting the carrier from Soviet air, submarine, and missile attack on several occasions. A brief yard period at San Diego followed, with the “Fem Mods” being added. Later, as part of the Vinson group, Texas also participated in the final reduction of the Soviet base at Cam Ranh Bay, before taking part in further raids against Kamchatka, the Kuriles, and Alaska, as well as covering the movement of forces into Alaska after the Soviet surrender in the Northern Theater in October, 1989. During the war, she sank three Soviet submarines: an unknown Whiskey-class SS on 24 March, 1986, the Juliett-class SSG K-63 during the Cam Ranh Bay strike, and the Charlie-I class SSGN K-25 on 6 October, 1989. (This was the last Soviet submarine sunk by USN surface vessels in the war) Overhauled and refueled in 1995-98, Texas resumed WestPac and Indian Ocean deployments with the Abraham Lincoln carrier group, before being decommissioned and stricken in 2015. She will be scrapped after defueling and all nuclear components have been removed.


U.S.S. Mississippi (CGN-40): Commissioned in 1978, she was part of the Nimitz carrier battle group in the Mediterranean when the war began, and she, along with the other escorts, was able to successfully defend the carrier against a “First Salvo” attack by the Soviet Mediterranean Squadron. The battle group then attacked the Soviet squadron, sinking several ships, before being diverted to attack targets in Libya, after the Soviet/Libyan occupation of Gibraltar. Mississippi then participated, with the battle group, in operations in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean for much of 1986-7, taking part in the Liberation of Gibraltar and strikes against Libya and Soviet naval facilities in Syria. She also participated in strikes against both Cuba and Occupied Iceland, before the Liberation of Iceland and the Kola Raid, serving as AAW “Gatekeeper” to Nimitz. After Kola, a brief yard period followed, where she received the “Fem Mods” for female officers and crew. Mississippi then served with the carrier during operations against Cuba, before the Nimitz shifted to the Pacific Fleet, but she remained in the Atlantic Fleet. During her time with the Nimitz group, she sank three Soviet submarines: the Juliett class SSG K-67 on 6 September 1985, the Echo-II SSGN K-22 during the Iceland campaign, and the Foxtrot-class SS B-2 on 7 August 1987. She next provided AAW cover for the amphibious force in Operation GULF HAMMER, and again during the reduction of the Brownsville Pocket. After supporting the Cuba Blockade, she was part of the Theodore Roosevelt battle group, before her nuclear refueling and overhaul from 1997-2000.

After her yard period, Mississippi became part of the America battle group, seeing combat in the Cuba intervention and in the Baja War, supporting operations against the Mexican Gulf Coast. During the fall of the Rump USSR, the America battle group went to sea after DEFCON-3 was called, but saw no action. Mississippi is expected to decommission in FY 2017, and then she will be defueled, have her nuclear components removed, and then scrapped.


USS Arkansas (CGN-41): Commissioned in 1980, she was active in the Pacific Fleet as part of the Carl Vinson battle group. She participated in all of the Battle Group's actions in the initial part of the war, before being shifted to the Enterprise Battle Group in 1987, and the “Fem Mods” added during a brief yard period in San Diego. Arkansas participated in operations against Alaska, Kamchatka, and the Kuriles, and also covered the movement into Alaska after the Soviet surrender in October, 1989. The Enterprise group then participated in Operation FORAGER II, the Liberation of Guam from North Korean occupation in November-December, 1989. After the war, she resumed normal deployments to WestPac and the Indian Ocean, with occasional anti-piracy operations in both Indonesian and Chinese waters. During the war, she participated in the sinking of two Soviet submarines: the November-class K-11, on 5 June 1987, during a raid on Alaska, and the Echo-I class SSN K-259 during the Kamchatka Raid. Arkansas also fired Tomahawks in that operation, and during FORAGER-II, sank an unidentified North Korean Romeo-class SS.

After her refueling and overhaul from 1998-2001, she returned to the Pacific Fleet, joining the Nimitz Battle Group. Arkansas participated in the Baja War in 2010, supporting the blockade of Mexico's Pacific Coast, and firing Tomahawk Cruise Missiles against targets in Mexico. The battle group put to sea during the fall of the Rump USSR, but saw no action. Arkansas is expected to decommission in FY 2018. She will be defueled, have all nuclear components removed, and then scrapped.


Class statistics:

Displacement: 11,300 full load

Length: 585 feet

Beam: 63 feet

Draft: 29.5 feet

Propulsion: 2 steam turbines driving two shafts for 60,000 shp

Reactors: 2 GE D2G Pressurized Water Reactors

Speed: 30+ knots

Crew:

CGN-38: 565 (45 Officers and 520 Enlisted)

CGN-39: 572 (39 Officers and 533 Enlisted)

CGN-40: 613 34 Officers and 579 Enlisted)

CGN-41: 562 (39 Officers and 523 Enlisted)

Missiles:

2 twin Mk 26 launchers for Standard-MR SAM

2 quad Mk 141 Harpoon SSM launchers

2 quad ABL launchers for Tomahawk SSM/TLAM

Guns:

2 single 5-inch 54 Mk 45 guns

2 20-mm Phalanx CIWS

Several pintle mounts for .50 caliber machine guns or Mk 19 AGL

ASW Weapons:

ASROC fired from forward Mk 26 launcher

2 triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes for Mk 46 torpedoes

Radars:

SPS-40B air search

SPS-48A 3-D search in GGN-38, 39, SPS-48C in CGN-40, 41

SPS-55 surface search

Sonar: SQS-53A bow-mounted

Helicopter: VERTREP area only: helicopter hangar with elevator originally provided. Issues with elevators and keeping the hangar watertight resulted in the hangar being sealed, and Tomahawk ABLs installed.

Fire-Control:

1 SWG-2 Tomahawk FCS

1 Mk 13 Weapon-direction system (replaced by Mk 14 WDS)

1 Mk 86 GFCS with SPG-60 and SPQ-9A radars

1 Mk 74 Missile FCS

1 MK 116 ASW FCS

2 SPG-51D radars

EW:

SLQ-25 Nixie

SLQ-32 (V)3 EW
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #422  
Old 04-13-2018, 09:39 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Any comments, thoughts, etc, fellows?
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #423  
Old 04-16-2018, 04:38 PM
madmikechoi madmikechoi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 25
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
Any comments, thoughts, etc, fellows?
Semi-pertinent one WRT to your M1 family write up.

I don't think Uncle Sugar would have dropped the dime for a M1 based heavy recovery vehicle- not when the 88A2 was significantly cheaper. Sometimes a 80% solution that can be delivered sooner and cheaper will win a contract. Interestingly enough, Teledyne Continental have cranked out 1500 hp version of the AVDS 1790 and that's fairly impressive with an air cooled V12 (although power going to the crank's gonna be a lot less since being air cooled you need a lot of power to run those cooling fans and those fans generally have to sit on top of the block). A good fit for the 88 let alone the M60 series which Uncle Sugar would need to retain because at some point numbers count; the US may have enough tanks for a Barbarossa or even two Kursk but what if we need to invade the Soviet hinterland twice and if we need to fight three or four epic battles and/or campaigns?

The Assault Breacher came about b/c of Big Army's failure of the Grizzly. Admittedly, a bucket arm would be pretty damn useful in reducing/neutralizing embankments/trenches and razor wire obstacles, etc. Still an argument can be made that combat engineers need both- a platform to launch line charges under armor and follow on to both plow through and wreck physical obstacles w/ the Garden Trowel of Doom (tm).


Third, building an ADA unit on a tank means one less tank. All things being equal- building tanks generally takes more resources than building an IFV/APC and there was already the LOS-F(H) ADATS (aka the original Bradley Linebacker). In fact a Twilight 2Kesque would have been a Bradley ADATS and a Bradley Blazer w/ two quad Stinger pods plus the GAU-12 w/ wide
FOV thermal, laser rangefinder/designator, and video/optical automatic tracking/lead; would have answered the ADA mantra of 3MI- mass, mix, mobility and integration and probably would have relegated the fiber optic FOG-M to either field arty or maneuver forces where it belonged.

I don't think anybody knows what a M1A3 would have been or will be since tank service lives tends to be extended w/ the new technologies driving doctrine or vice versa.
Reply With Quote
  #424  
Old 04-16-2018, 07:33 PM
madmikechoi madmikechoi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 25
Default

And by failure, I mean failure to procure- either convincing the powers that be to listen that "union" of the army- believe or not every organization has a group of folks who advocate one pet project or the other b/c it benefits them either as individuals or as a group or both- the Wolverine bridge (the one with the Leguan Class 60-70 scissor bridge) or the Grizzly CEV. The ongoing War on Terror despite trying to wage it on the cheap has meant Big Army has had to axe numerous programs to support what amounts to a large brigade/small division sized force in Afghanistan and a kinda sorta corps sized force in Iraq until the Iraqis wouldn't give DC a SoFA agreement and now the US is sorta kinda back in Iraq if only because of ISIL; the fact that Arab armies for the most part are pretty much hopeless at all military aspects doesn't help. Usually most nations have at least a talent in one or more aspects at the art of war.
Reply With Quote
  #425  
Old 04-16-2018, 09:02 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Consider that in the Red Dawn timeline that M-1 chassis were being produced faster than turrets. With the failure of the M-247 (AKA SGT York), the Army needed a replacement for the M-163 Vulcan system right away. The production license for the Gepard turret was covertly acquired despite the neutralist government (Green-dominated) in West Germany, and the Gepard turrets fitted to the M-1 hull.

During the war, the Tunguska system was encountered on a number of occasions, and turned out to be very lethal. The Army wanted a similar system, but had to wait until after the war to get one. Hence the M-105 ADGS. M-1 style turret with two 35-mm guns and 12 ADATS missiles.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #426  
Old 04-17-2018, 07:38 PM
madmikechoi madmikechoi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 25
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
Consider that in the Red Dawn timeline that M-1 chassis were being produced faster than turrets. With the failure of the M-247 (AKA SGT York), the Army needed a replacement for the M-163 Vulcan system right away. The production license for the Gepard turret was covertly acquired despite the neutralist government (Green-dominated) in West Germany, and the Gepard turrets fitted to the M-1 hull.

During the war, the Tunguska system was encountered on a number of occasions, and turned out to be very lethal. The Army wanted a similar system, but had to wait until after the war to get one. Hence the M-105 ADGS. M-1 style turret with two 35-mm guns and 12 ADATS missiles.
The problem with the mounting a Gepard turret on a M1 chassis is the fact the Leo's turret ring- at least from what I've been able to gather is 1980mm or a hair under 78 inches wheres the M1 series and M60s- 2159 or 85 inches. Supposedly the Leo 2's turret ring diameter is the same as its predecessor but don't quote me. That being said unless you start machining a fairly expensive adapter smaller turrets aren't going to fit on larger ring. IOW it would be fundamentally cheaper to develop a new turret with a similar armament setup and radar suite in that case.

Second, is one of the reason the DIVADS got the axe was besides dirty pool from the Left there was no way that any gun system at that time would reach out 6 km at slant ranges- at least not accurately and generally not with the self destruct of the fuzes go off. The Oerlikon KDAs and even the new revolver 35s are still 3500-4000m platforms even w/ the fancy new prefrag rounds and at the time 40mm L70 was the smallest proj that could use a proximity fuze (nowadays you can sort of cheat w/ in bore fuze setting and with a laser rangefinder to initiate detonation w/o putting what amounts to a radio antenna in the pointy end. Again, as a branch forgot it's own doctrine of mix- guns can do certain things pretty good, missiles can do some things pretty good, there is some overlap but not all so you need both.

Tunguska is a twofer. Yes, they wanted to replace the ZSU but at the time the Strela-10/SA-13 was still fairly new although I'm sure PVO SV might have overly worried about US jamming capabilities at the time against their second gen IR seekers. So it was a very expensive system that tried to address current liabilities and add capabilities to hedge future bets IMNSHO.


Finally, remember there were some really fairly cheap or soon to be cheap upgrades that could have been thrown on the M163 and the M48 Chap. Chaparral could have had the Chapfire system which included the ability to use the M299 quad Hellfire launcher, quad Stinger pods, and turret sighting systems of the Stinger Avenger. The Vulcan PIVADS could have lot the range only radar in favor of a Stinger pod, a laser rangefinder, and optics setup similar to the the M56 TOW nose found on the AH-1P/E/F (aka the AH-1S family).

If we go by accelerated development as usually found in war- we could expect the Alpha and Bravo model -92s to replaced almost from the getgo in 1985/86 w/ the Charlies aka Stinger RMP with introduction of the RMP Block 1 by the end of the war. A post war notional RMP Block 2 with an Igla like aerospike, an imaging IR seeker along w/ a laser proximity fuze would be ready for the long war after WWIII b/c there's now way any US administration would allow Mexico or the rest of Latin America to be a threat and by definition it would the annexation of a good deal if not all of Northern Mexico combined with a long counterinsurgency that would no doubt be bloody (Mexicans for all their faults are a fairly patriotic bunch and having lost half their country to the El Norte in 1848 they will not nor cannot abide losing another third even if they threw in their lot with a Red Army that lost)
Reply With Quote
  #427  
Old 04-18-2018, 09:48 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

M-247 was a failure, period. It should be pointed out that Gepard turrets on the M-48 chassis were one of the contenders in the competition, but NIH kicked in,...

In the RD timeline, the Army wants an off-the shelf system NOW, Gepard on modified M-1 hulls met that requirement, as they need a system to keep up with the M-1/M-2 team. (another problem of SGT York: it couldn't keep up with the tanks it was supposed to protect) The M-105 ADGS is viewed by the Army as a logical successor to the M-1 Gepard.

Stinger RMP is fielded in 1987 TTL. Stinger-POST is the main version used from 1985 on, but RMP supplants it.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #428  
Old 04-21-2018, 08:31 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

For the Navy fans, whether T2K or Red Dawn: the Forrest Sherman class destroyers:




The Forrest Sherman Class Destroyers in World War III



The Forrest Sherman class destroyers were the first large class of post-World War II destroyers built for the U.S. Navy. Originally numbering eighteen ships, four were converted to guided missile destroyers with the Tartar SAM replacing the aft 5-inch gun mounts (treated separately), while eight were given ASW modifications, with an ASROC launcher replacing the number two 5-inch turret and having an SQS-35 Variable-depth Sonar installed. Except for the Edson (DD-946), serving as a Naval Reserve Force/OCS training ship at Newport, RI, all were in mothballs in 1985, with three having already been stricken. Two were laid up at Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington State, one at Pearl Harbor, while the remainder were laid up on the East Coast. Within days of the outbreak of war in 1985, orders were issued to reactivate the ships. All eleven ships that were reactivated saw war service, with several becoming war losses. Some of the surviving ships are preserved as war memorials.


USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931): The lead ship of the class, commissioned in 1955 and decommissioned in 1982, she never received the ASW modifications. Laid up at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was reactivated beginning in September, 1985. Recommissioned in 1986, she mainly served as a convoy escort along the East Coast for much of the war, but accompanied the cruisers Salem and Des Moines for both the Liberation of Iceland and the Kola Raid in the fire-support role. She subsequently served in Operation GULF HAMMER, the Cuba Blockade, and the reduction of the Brownsville Pocket, escorting the cruiser Des Moines. Forrest Sherman also escorted the battleships, escorting Iowa, New Jersey, and North Carolina on occasion, and participated in several bombardment missions along the Cuban coast in preparation for the planned invasion. She served for several years in the Sixth Fleet, frequently on anti-piracy operations off Somalia and Yemen, where her gun power was valued. Decommissioned in 2000, she was moored at Wilmington, Delaware, as a war memorial.

USS Davis (DD-937): Commissioned in 1957, decommissioned in 1982, and laid up at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was one of the ships that received the ASW modification package. Reactivated in October, 1985, she was recommissioned in 1986 and assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. With her ASW suite, she was used mainly as a convoy escort, escorting not only Transatlantic Convoys, but Convoys along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. She sank a Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine while on convoy duty north of Bermuda, but she was sunk 20 miles NNE of Cape Hatteras on 12 January 1987 by the Soviet Charlie-I class submarine K-25 (two SS-N-7 “Starbright” SSMs), with 226 fatalities out of a crew of 309.

USS Manley (DD-940): Commissioned in 1957 and decommissioned in 1982, she, too, received the ASW mission package. Reactivated in October, 1985 and recommissioned in 1986, like her sister Davis, she mainly served as an ASW escort. Manley escorted numerous convoys, and when not on Convoy Duty, she provided ASW cover to destroyers on the Cuba blockade line in 1988-9. Manley also participated in several bombardment missions with other destroyers, After the Castro regime accepted the Armistice, Manley then made a number of deployments with the Sixth Fleet, before being decommissioned in 1999. She was stricken in 2006 and sunk as a target in 2009.

USS Dupont (DD-941): Commissioned in 1957 and decommissioned in 1983, she, too,was laid up at Philadelphia. Reactivated in September, 1985 and recommissioned in May, 1986, Dupont was one of the ASW modified ships. With her ASW package, she was used on convoy duty, though she also escorted the battleship North Carolina on her Mediterranean deployment, sinking a Libyan Foxtrot-class submarine north of Tripoli with ASROC. Returning to convoy duty, Dupont escorted both coastal and transatlantic convoys, sharing a kill of a November-class SSN with a P-3 Orion 220 miles East of Bermuda on 12 December, 1986. However, she was sunk on 22 July 1987, while escorting a Norfolk-Alexandria/Haifa convoy 400 miles west of Gibraltar by the Soviet Sierra-class SSN K-236. Of her crew of 309, 85 were lost.

USS Bigelow (DD-942): Commissioned in 1957 and decommissioned in 1982, she was laid up at Philadelphia. Reactivated in 1985 and recommissioned in May, 1986, Bigelow was one of the unmodified all-gun units of the class. Though limited in her ASW capabilities, she was useful in the naval gunfire support role, participating in Libya, Gibraltar, Iceland and Kola operations, She escorted the cruiser Des Moines for Iceland and Kola, and like the cruiser, got in very close to shore to provide close-in fire support to Marines and SEALs on shore. Bigelow also formed part of the NGFS force for Operation GULF HAMMER, before serving on the Cuba Patrol. Bigelow took part in several bombardments of Cuba, as well as sinking a Cuban coastal freighter and an escorting patrol boat. She, too, was tapped for fire-support duties in the planned invasion. After Castro's acceptance of the Armistice, Bigelow transferred to the Pacific Fleet, where she participated in several deployments to Far East and Indonesian waters, escorting convoys and taking part in several anti-piracy operations. She was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force in 1998 and decommissioned in 2003, before being sunk as a target in an exercise off Hawaii in 2008.

USS Blandy (DD-943): Commissioned in 1957 and decommissioned in 1982, she was laid up in Philadelphia, before being reactivated in September, 1985. Recommissioned in May, 1986, she was one of the ASW optimized ships, and was assigned to convoy duty. She escorted numerous convoys between East Coast Ports and the Mediterranean, and Blandy was among the ships escorting Convoy A/HN-30 when the convoy came across a Soviet convoy bound for Cuba. She engaged and sank a Koltin-class destroyer with her 5-inch guns, before sinking two freighters (one Soviet, one Polish) with her guns. Blandy was involved with convoy duty right up to the end of the war, and sank the Juliett-class SSG K-78 on 11 November, 1987 off of Delaware Bay. After the war, she made regular deployments to the Caribbean and the Sixth Fleet, before being decommissioned in 1999. She was sold for scrap in 2007.

USS Mullinix (DD-944): Commissioned in 1958 and decommissioned in 1983, she was laid up at Philadelphia. Reactivated in October, 1985 and recommissioned in April, 1986, she was one of the all-gun destroyers. Mullinix accompanied her sister Bigelow on the gun line for Libya, Gibraltar, Iceland, but at Kola, she was engaged by a Soviet Nanchuka-class missile corvette and hit by a single SS-N-9 SSM in the bow. The missile explosion set off the forward 5-inch magazine in a sympathetic detonation, which destroyed the forward part of the ship. The ship had to be abandoned, and after the survivors were rescued, the hulk was sunk by 5-inch gunfire from the cruiser Salem. Of 326 crew, there were 185 fatalities.

USS Edson (DD-946): Commissioned in 1958, she was the only active unit of the class at the beginning of the war, being used as an NRF/OCS training ship, home-ported at Newport, RI. One of the all-gun destroyers, she was active in local patrols from Newport from the outbreak of war until June, 1986, when she joined the North Carolina Surface Group. She was sunk by the Soviet Victor-II class submarine K-488 (Type 65 wake-homing torpedo) on 15 September, 1986, during an attack on a Soviet Convoy while escorting the battleship North Carolina, with the loss of 195 crew.

USS Morton (DD-948) Commissioned in 1959 and decommissioned in 1982, she was moored at Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington. One of the ASW modified ships, she was reactivated in September, 1985 and recommissioned in April, 1986, she mainly served as a convoy escort for the Trans-Pacific and Australia runs, She engaged Soviet submarines on three occasions, sinking the Juliett-class SSG K-63 on 17 December 1986 425 miles north of Midway Island, the Echo-II class SSGN K-23 on 4 July 1987, 800 miles SSW of San Francisco, and the Echo-I class SSN K-122 375 miles SSW of Pearl Harbor on 23 March, 1988. Morton also provided ASW escort to the Kamchatka Raid, escorting the cruiser Salem as a close-in ASW escort, while also adding her 5-inch guns to those of the NGFS force bombarding Petropavalosk. She also participated in the raid on Itirup Island, before resuming convoy duty. Morton was at sea when hostilities ended with the Soviet Union in 1989, but continued convoy duty until 1990. She made several WestPac deployments in the '90s on anti-piracy duties, before being decommissioned in 2001. Morton was put on display as a war memorial at San Francisco's Pier 41, alongside the WW II submarine USS Pampanito (SS-383).

USS Richard S. Edwards (DD-950): Commissioned in 1959 and decommissioned in 1982, she was laid up at Pearl Harbor. Reactivated in September, 1985 and recommissioned in March, 1986, Edwards was one of the ASW-modified ships. She mainly served as a convoy escort on the Yokohama-San Francisco route, and shared in the sinking of the Echo-I class SSN K-45 on 12 October, 1986, while escorting Convoy SFY-26, 700 miles West of San Francisco. Edwards was sunk on 19 March, 1987, 700 miles northwest of Midway Island by AS-4 (Kh-22) Kitchen Anti-ship missiles fired from a Soviet Naval Air Force Backfire bomber. Only twelve of 324 crew survived the sinking.


USS Turner Joy (DD-951): Commissioned in 1959 and decommissioned in 1982, she was one of the ships involved in the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident. She was laid up at Bremerton Navy Yard, and was reactivated in September, 1985, with her recommissioning in March, 1986. She was the last of the all-gun units of the class, and she mainly operated in Puget Sound and in Canadian waters, providing NGFS to the defenders of Vancouver. Turner Joy was in Puget Sound during the failed Soviet amphibious operation in 1986, and though only armed with her 5-inch guns, her captain charged into the Soviet force, using the confusion of air strikes and the numerous islands in Puget Sound as cover. She managed to get into the Soviet amphibious force, sinking an Alligator-class LST and a captured Alaska car ferry, while forcing another Soviet freighter to run aground on Sinclair Island, where the freighter was later destroyed by air attack. Turner Joy participated in mopping-up operations, escorting ships carrying elements of the 3rd Marine Division to secure islands where Soviet survivors-many of whom were armed, had come ashore, and she provided NGFS on several occasions. After Puget Sound, Turner Joy resumed support of the Canadian defense of Vancouver until the Soviet surrender in February, 1987. After the arrival in the Pacific of the heavy cruiser Salem, Turner Joy escorted the cruiser, and participated in both the Kamchatka and Kurile Islands raids, and also sank a Soviet Poti-class ASW corvette with gunfire during the Kamchatka raid. Turner Joy remained in the Pacific, participating in operations along the coastlines of British Columbia and Alaska, and she was the first U.S. Navy ship to enter the port of Juneau to accept the surrender of Soviet forces there on 17 October, 1989. Turner Joy remained active after the war, making a number of WestPac deployments in company with the cruiser Salem. She bombarded a number of pirate strongholds in Indonesian waters, and did the same along the South China Coast, in cooperation with elements of the Royal Navy. Turner Joy was decommissioned in 1998, and she is currently moored at Bremerton Navy Yard as a war memorial.


Specifications:

Displacement: 2,800 standard, 4,800 full load.

Length: 418 feet overall

Beam: 45 feet

Draft: 22 feet

Propulsion: GE Steam Turbines (Westinghouse in DD-931); 70,000 SHP, 2 shafts

Boilers: 4 Foster and Wheeler (Babcock and Wilcox in DD-937, 943, 944, 948), 1200 Psi

Speed: 32.5 Knots

Range: 4,500 Nautical Miles at 20 knots

Crew: 319-332 (19 officers and 300-313 enlisted in all gun destroyers), 309 (17 officers and 292 enlisted) in ASW-configured ships-those

Missiles: None

Guns: 3x 5-inch 54 DP Mk 42 (3 single in all-gun configuration), 2x 5-inch 54 DP in ASW-configured ships. Several pintle mounts added for .50 caliber machine guns or Mark-19 Automatic Grenade Launchers.

ASW: 1x8-cell ASROC launcher Mk 16 in ASW configured ships; 2 triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes for Mark-44 or-46 ASW torpedoes

Helicopters: VERTREP area only

Sonar: SQS-23 keel mounted on all units; SQS-35 IVDS (variable-depth sonar) in ASW ships.

Radars: SPS-10 surface search

SPS-37 air search in DD-940, 942, 946, 951.

SPS-40 in remainder of class
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #429  
Old 04-27-2018, 03:23 PM
madmikechoi madmikechoi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 25
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
M-247 was a failure, period. It should be pointed out that Gepard turrets on the M-48 chassis were one of the contenders in the competition, but NIH kicked in,...
https://www.quora.com/How-effective-...wn-helicopters

For those of us who tl;dr. The fire control was definitely able to track and engage the doppler return from rotary a/c. In face engaging that mobile latrine w/ the fanblades was actually a good thing since the hardware/software recognized anything with large rotating blades could be detrimental to health of the weapons system. Keep in mind post production software/hardware builds- new systems needs time to mature and/or user input to make them effective.

While a demonstrated failure of the 3000 psi hydraulic systems was to be replaced a 5k psi in production, bottom line Congress killing the M247 meant that Uncle Sugar wouldn't/couldn't make funds available to make the M48/M60 series of vehicles viable long term platforms for the US military.

Second, while much was made of the DIVADS lack of mobility remember Big Army doctrine made a clear distinction between being able to maneuver w/ and "compatible" mobility- ie being able to follow up tanks and PCs/IFVs on road marches. This line of thinking sorta fell by the wayside in 91 during VII Corps envelopment/pursuit of Saddam's forces.

Bottom line Big Army chose a 40mm L70 twin gun system b/c at the time the 35mm KDA didn't fire a projectile w/ a proximity fuze and it's only been in the past 10, maybe 15 years tops that's been rectified (and AHEAD sorta cheats w/ being prefragged w/ a really interesting neat muzzle brake datalink/programming thingie). The APG-66 was also lighweight and air cooled- and that's pretty crucial on a ground based mobile platform.
The issue that cause TACOM the most concern was the automatic feeding
of the twin 40s- the Dusters used multiman crews to top of the 40mm L60s
w/ two loaders feeding 4 rd clips into the thing- Sgt York was supposed to have 580 rounds fed from the turret basket and straight into the breech.


Chosing a Gepard based system may not have fared better. The 35mm guns wouldn't outrange Soviet based helo launched anti-tank missiles and the lack of proximity fuze and a smaller projectile generally may not have made up
for a higher cyclic rate of fire.

Finally, never ever forgot politics and the fundamental ignorance of politicians who have the power of the purse. That while ADA is expensive they accomplish their mission of the enemy pickles off their warload and RTBs or in the case of a helo, they breakoff and head somewhere else maybe w/ many holes in the side to remind the bird's crew they too are mortal and the oozlefinch isn't a creature to be taken lightly. In any even said ADA system still did what it was supposed to prevent air attack on friendly forces.
Reply With Quote
  #430  
Old 04-30-2018, 09:52 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Well, I should be honored: the first person I've ever encountered who was in favor of the SGT York system.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #431  
Old 05-01-2018, 07:45 AM
Olefin Olefin is offline
Banned
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Greencastle, PA
Posts: 3,003
Default

love the work you did on the Forrest Shermans and the heavy cruisers

Love to see a Twilight 2000 version of them and the Virginia's as well for the fanzine - one change from your war is that the USS Richard S. Edwards is alive and well and active off the coast of Kenya performing convoy escort and anti-pirate patrols as part of TF 212

Here is the info on her and on her captain from the sourcebook

USS Richard S. Edwards was pulled out of inactive storage and put back into commission in 1998, with LCDR Moore assigned as her captain, the first female to command a combat USN vessel. She and her ship arrived in mid-1999 as the sole escort for the last shipment of supplies and men to Kenya from the United States. LCDR Moore has led her ship since its arrival on several anti-piracy/smuggling patrols, convoy escort and shore bombardment missions. The Edwards under LCDR Moore’s command has sunk over a dozen pirate vessels of various sizes since her arrival and captured ten more including an ex-Ethiopian LST that was being used as a mother ship by the pirates and is now being used by US Navy.

Moore’s zeal in prosecuting the various pirate groups has made her quite the legend among those she hunts. Since the Somali suicide attack on the refinery she has redoubled her efforts against the pirates, who she sees as supporting the terrorists who killed several of her close friends in that attack on Mombasa. Characters may encounter her either while on a variety of missions on the Edwards or ashore at the bars in Mombasa, where she has shown an ability to drink most men under the table and hold her own in a fight.

She is a striking redhead who also is a black belt in karate and judo and has put those skills to the test in several fights both at home and in Mombasa. For those looking for a romantic adventure with her, they would be well advised to steer clear as she is still mourning her husband who was killed when the destroyer he served on was sunk with all hands in 1997.
Reply With Quote
  #432  
Old 05-01-2018, 09:33 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Did you have a look at the Kidds and the nuclear cruisers?
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #433  
Old 05-02-2018, 07:24 AM
Olefin Olefin is offline
Banned
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Greencastle, PA
Posts: 3,003
Default

I saw the nuclear cruisers and good work there too - missed the Kidds - going back thru and looking for where you had them and also re-reading this from the beginning - love to see this one day collected into a single pdf or word version - definitely a great read
Reply With Quote
  #434  
Old 05-02-2018, 11:50 AM
madmikechoi madmikechoi is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 25
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
Well, I should be honored: the first person I've ever encountered who was in favor of the SGT York system.
Sarcasm aside- ADA needs both missiles and guns. And it's one of the few gigs where making the enemy go away is almost as good as killing him. And like all things in life you need both high and low. Even if Sgt York was adopted and money was thrown at it to upgrade various systems such as a radar and improved fuzing/fragmentation.... Big Army still would have had pressure from the Duck Hunters Union to field a missile based SHORAD system that had a slant range well over 5-6000 meters or 3 plus nautical miles w/ a ceiling of at least 15k ft.

Remember during the 80s, the Left had a real hard on WRT to the Reagan build up and St Ronaldus Magnus in general. Many, many big ticket items for all the services, so the Reds... er, opposition wanted their fair share of flesh. ADA had three systems that were either being developed or already developed and being fielded but all were more expensive than their predecessors. Stinger, Patriot, and Sgt York. And sometimes, most times two out of three. Sgt York was fielded yet in reality it was supposed to be complemented by the US Roland system. Roland was supposed to be in corps based brigades and DIVAD divisional but at the time there was a mix of the Vulcan and Chaparral at heavy division level (the Chaparral would later be kicked up to corps level brigades often paired w/ HAWK and Patriot battalions to provide them SHORAD coverage).

Again, the problem with the real issue with DIVAD is as a branch ADA ignored their own tactical mantras about having a missile gun SHORAD mix. It's not so much the radar didn't work especially tracking doppler returns and shortcomings using a 3000 psi hydraulic traverse/elevation would be replaced with a 5000 psi aviation type hydraulic system to give the turret occupants Captain Insane-o type speeds but the fact is a gun can only reach out so far even if the radar can track a helo popping up or coming around a bend and letting lose a ATGM or three. Again, mobility issues? Big Army still planned on using the M60 series of tanks for a good bit longer at the time.

Twilight 2K sorta solves this by providing a high low mix from the get go although Chadwick and company didn't realize it.
Reply With Quote
  #435  
Old 05-02-2018, 08:42 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

In the Red Dawn timeline, the M-105 ADGS handles air defense at brigade level: An M-1 hull with a turret mounting two 35-mm cannon and 12 ADATS missiles takes care of the mission.

This vehicle:
Attached Images
 
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #436  
Old 05-03-2018, 07:40 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Fellows, this is a story from before my character took command of the 335th. There is some gas available for civilian use, and so four officers in the squadron go off-roading for some R&R.

Read it, and have a good laugh: folks on the HPCA and alternatehistory.com boards had some....And what would you do if you were that Cuban?


R&R


335th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Williams AFB, AZ, 1100 Hours Mountain War Time, 18 November, 1986.



Captain Matt Wiser of the 335th was sitting at his desk in the squadron office. He was deputy Operations Officer for the squadron, and had just wrapped up some paperwork. War or no war, the Air Force bureaucracy had its own rules, and the “paper warriors” had their own ways of going about things. Though the CO, Lt. Col. Dean Rivers, felt that the less paper in the way, the better, and he had no qualms about folding, spindling, mutilating, bending, or just plain ignoring regulations if they got in the way of getting things done. The Exec, Major Troy McPherson, felt the same way, and let that filter down to the other officers, and having the CO of the Marine Air Group to which they were attached, and Major General Richard Tanner, who commanded the Tenth Air Force, agree with that was a big morale booster. They knew what parts of the book to keep and which ones to throw away. Everyone was happy with that, except for another Major, who was an Academy man first, last, and always, and was appalled at the way things were done in the squadron, and was despised by everyone, and not just the other officers, but the NCOs and enlisted airmen as well. The man was even called “Our Frank Burns,” by 1st Lt. Mark Ellis, and the name had stuck.

Now, his squadron paperwork all done, Capt. Wiser was wondering how to spend the rest of the stand-down. The squadron had been pulled off combat operations for two days already, and wouldn't be back flying for another five, and a lot of people were using that time to catch up on sleep, or just plain hang out. The squadron was billeted at the nearby Sheraton in Mesa, and just sitting by the pool and chasing waitresses-or other female officers did appeal to him, but since he had met his WSO, the latter was no longer an option, for he and that officer, 1st Lt. Lisa Eichhorn, had been seeing each other in a way that, prewar, would've gotten them an Article 15 at least, but with the country fighting for its national survival, fraternization regs were among the first things that went out the window, as far as many unit commanders were concerned. Though the eager-beaver Major, much to Rivers' (and both Capt. Wiser's and Lt. Eichhorn's) disgust, had tried to write them up for the rule violation. The CO was more concerned with how his officers did their jobs, and if a couple of officers of the opposite sex were attracted to each other, that was none of his-or anyone else's business, as long as they kept their private lives off base. “What you guys and gals do when you're off base and on your own time is nobody's business, but yours. Just check your private lives at the gate when you come on base,” he had told the squadron at a unit assembly back in July. And yet, the overzealous Major didn't get the word, or didn't care, for he tried to have Guru (Wiser's call sign) and Goalie (Eichhorn's), written up. After summoning the two to his office, Colonel Rivers asked if they were seeing each other on a more.....intimate basis, and they said yes. “Does it interfere with both of you in the cockpit?” “No, Sir,” was the reply. And Guru and Goalie watched with satisfaction as Rivers tore up the paper. The Frank Burns wannabe stormed out of the office in a fit of the sulks.

Guru was looking at his aircraft log book-which was different from his own personal logbook. There were a couple of issues he felt needed attention, with the altimeter giving some trouble, and the INS was starting to get a little balky, so he filled out the maintenance request and was ready to give it to 1st Lt. Kevin O'Donnell, one of the maintenance officers, when Goalie came by. “I just talked to Rivers. We've both got five days R&R if we want it.”

“Serious?”

“Yep. We've been hitting it pretty hard, and he agreed. Hell, half the squadron's going on R&R-as long as it's within the State of Arizona and nowhere near the Mexican border..”

Guru nodded. “Got any ideas? I've been to the Grand Canyon already.”

“So have I,” Goalie said. “And the ski areas near Flagstaff don't have enough snow yet, anyway.”

Then 1st Lt. Kyle Radner came by. He was Guru's wingmate. “What are you guys doing for R&R?”

“I was just asking our flight lead the same thing,” Lieutenant Eichhorn said. “Well?”

Guru thought for a minute. Skiing wasn't on the agenda, and just sitting by the pool didn't appeal to him-as long as Goalie was around. He'd seen her in a bathing suit often-and out of one several times. Then something occurred to him. “How about going off-roading?”

“Where?” Radner asked.

“Either northeast of here, in the Tonto National Forest, or to the west of Phoenix,in the desert,” Wiser said.

“What about the nuclear power plant?” Goalie asked. “That place has so much security you'd think it was Fort Knox.” She was referring to the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant west of Phoenix. The plant provided much of the power for the Phoenix-Tuscon area, including several defense plants in the Mesa and Tuscon areas, as well as military bases. Hence, the DOE guards had been reinforced by military police, and a five-mile “no-go” zone was being strictly enforced. There were checkpoints on I-10 and the local roads, and word had it that anyone straying off the roads could expect to be shot, and to make matters worse, there were minefields around the plant, or so rumor said.

“Not to worry: we get past the plant, get off of the Interstate, and then go off road,” Guru said. “There's some BLM land, and that should be enough. A couple of desert springs, maybe an old ghost town, things like that. Out in the middle of nowhere, so we can forget the war for a few days.”

And it's private, Goalie knew. Which appealed to her a great deal. “Sounds good.” She turned to Kyle “How about it?”

“Why not? I'll get Brad Garrison and our girlfriends,” Radner said. “What'll we be driving? Dune buggies?”

Guru laughed. “No. That Jeep dealer I bought my Grand Cherokee from? They also rent four-by-fours. And I do believe someone you know, Kyle, has a Jeep CJ-7.”

Wiser was referring to newly-promoted 1st Lt. Ryan Blanchard, who happened to be Radner's girlfriend.

“You're right about that.”

“Okay. Got anyone else you want to invite?” Guru asked.

“Not this time: the smaller the party, the better. And we're not an inviting target.”

Guru knew what Radner meant. There were reports of Soviet, Cuban, and even Mexican Special Operations Forces slipping across the border and raising whatever havoc they could create. “Yeah,” he nodded. “All right: go to the Armory and check out four M-16s and some ammo. Bring your sidearm.”

Goalie and Radner nodded. “Will do.”

“I'll call the dealer and rent a Jeep for Goalie and myself. I'm not taking my Grand Cherokee off-road just yet.”

“And I'll get the camping gear from the Base Recreation Office,” Goalie said.

Radner came back. He'd called his WSO, Capt. Brad Garrision. No joy on the trip, Brad said: he had an uncle who lived in Prescott, and the man had invited Brad up for some fishing.


1400 Hours Mountain War Time: I-10, West of Phoenix, AZ:


Guru was driving the Jeep that he'd rented only two hours before, and it was packed with gear. He and Goalie had packed enough to last four and a half days, and they planned to be back at Williams the afternoon of the 23rd. Even with wartime, traffic along I-10 in Phoenix was flowing normally: people still lived along the I-10 corridor, and they had to go to and from work, there were employees at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant, and they had their commutes, truck traffic-both civilian and military, and so on. Except for the occasional HAWK missile site that was part of the Phoenix Air Defense, and the amount of military traffic, one might forget there was a war on.

When he'd rented the Jeep, the salesman-who he'd dealt with when Guru had bought his Grand Cherokee, pointed out a couple of dings. When Capt. Wiser asked what had made them, the salesman replied, matter of fact it seemed, that the previous renters had run afoul of some Cubans, and they had taken some fire. “Lovely,” had been Guru's reply.

After they cleared Phoenix itself, traffic thinned out, but then they came across a vivid reminder that the war was still on. Five miles before the offramp, there was a sign: “MILITARY AREA: CHECKPOINT AHEAD: MILITARY POLICE.” This was part of the security for the Palo Verde plant. “Get your ID out,” Guru said to Goalie.

When they got to the checkpoint, there were plenty of MPs around, along with some V-100 and V-150 armored cars, machine-gun emplacements, even a pair of jeeps with TOW missile launchers. Goalie looked at Guru. This was the first time either one had been in this part of Arizona. “They're not fooling around,” she noted.

“With that nuke plant?” Guru asked. “Would you?”

An MP Sergeant came up to the Jeep as Guru stopped. “ID, Sir.”

Guru handed the MP both his and Goalie's, along with their passes. “Here you go, Sergeant.”

“Sir, Ma'am, would you step out of the vehicle? We need to check beneath.”

Both officers got out of the jeep, and stood aside as the MP checked underneath the jeep with mirrors. “Sir, do you have anything in the vehicle we should know about?”

“Besides our camping gear?” Guru asked, and the MP nodded. “Two M-16s and two pistols, for protection.”

“Thank you, Sir,” The MP nodded. Several of the MPs checked the jeep, and Goalie noticed Radner's jeep being given a similar going-over.

The inspection took a few minutes, and Guru noticed the heavy security off the freeway: there was a barbed-wire fence that was topped with razor wire, along with signs that warned the unwary that not only could trespassers expect to be shot, but there also signs warning of minefields. And there was a UH-1 helo flying over as well.

Then an MP nodded to his Sergeant. “All clear, Sarge.”

The MP handed their ID and passes back. “Thank you, Sir, Ma'am. Just stay on the freeway and you'll be fine. Don't get off the interstate for any reason until you pass the eastbound checkpoint.”

Nodding, Guru and Goalie got back in the jeep and got going. At the offramp, there was another checkpoint at the end, for those exiting the freeway, and there were more Military Police there. Another five miles, and then they came to the eastbound checkpoint, and a sign that said “END MILITARY AREA.” Only then did he open up and head west to the exit they planned to take, Exit 81. Then they headed up on the local road to the small town of Salome, where they stopped to ask where some good jeep driving might be found. A couple of locals pointed out some areas on their map that prewar, some off-road clubs from Phoenix had used, with a warning as well. “Some folks say they've seen Cubans around, but no telling if they're true or not.”

Guru took the jeep onto some of the trails, and both he and Radner gave their jeeps a good workout. That first night, they found a campsite that other off-roaders had used, mainly due to the fire ring present. In the light of the campfire, Ryan Blanchard remarked that one might even be able to forget there was a war on. The night sky was clear, and filled with stars, and that made her point. And when the four went into their tents, they discovered another, more....intimate way of forgetting they were at war.


22 November 1986, 1700 Mountain War Time. North of U.S. 60, La Paz County, AZ:


Three days had passed, and the quartet was getting ready to enjoy their final night in the desert. Radner had found an old mine, but no one was foolish enough to go inside, fearing a cave-in. Several old mining shacks and a few old ranch houses, though, had been worth exploring, and though most everything had been taken with the previous occupants, heavy items like a wood stove, or a metal frame bed, remained. Not to mention finding an old 1920s' era truck that had been stripped and abandoned. “Why's this thing still here?” Radner asked.

“Simple: it's so far off the main roads, and want to bet the scrap metal drives haven't come this way?” Goalie replied.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” he said. “Who'd want to try farming here?”

“Somebody who was either desperate, foolish, or both,” Ryan said. “No wonder they left.”

“Or they left when WW II broke out,” Guru said. “Either way, a job in a war plant or just plain enlisting beats staying out here.”

Nodding, Ryan went out back. “There's a well, and..uh-oh.”

“What?” Goalie asked.

“Boot prints, and they're not that old. Maybe a week.”

Guru and Radner came over, along with Goalie, to have a look. “Whose?” Guru asked.

“Good question,” Ryan said. “They're degraded, though. Wind and rain, I'd say.”

“Didn't it rain, when, Tuesday?” Goalie asked.

“Yep,” Guru said. “That'd degrade any prints. Remember SERE? 'Rain is your friend when it comes to water. Just as long as you don't leave your own prints in the mud.”

“Let me guess: that came back to help on that E&E?” Radner quipped.

“Yeah.”

Goalie looked at the tracks, “Well, somebody's been here. The question is, who?”

“That is a very good question,” Ryan said. Her instinct as a CSP was in high gear. “The well's not dry, so whoever it was probably stopped to get water.”

“Still, we'd better find a campsite soon,” Guru said. “And when we do, just as we've been doing, we keep our rifles close by.”

“Roger that,” Goalie said, and the others nodded.


23 November 1986: 0225 Mountain War Time, North of U.S. 60, La Paz County, AZ:


The party found a campsite near a pond that showed on their BLM maps. There was a rocky ledge about a hundred yards away, but after Guru led Ryan on a search-an old habit from his E&E days, he pronounced the area clear. After a meal of MREs and coffee, they settled down for the night. It would be their last night before heading back to Williams the next morning, and the day after that, for the F-4 crewers, it was back in the saddle, and taking it to the ComBloc. There was some stargazing, and a couple of meteors made sure that part of the night didn't go to waste, then Radner and Ryan went into their tent, and soon after, Guru and Goalie did the same. And things got much more....intimate after that.

Unknown to the party, a six-man patrol of Cuban Special Forces was up on the ledge, watching. They were on a recon, having been inserted by helicopter from Mexico a few days earlier, and they had been watching U.S. 60 and I-10, noting the traffic on both highways. Now, they were about to try and execute the second phase of their mission, and take a prisoner or two with them back to Mexico for interrogation. Civilian or military, it didn't matter. The Team Leader gave his orders, and his men headed down toward the campsite.

In the tent she shared with Radner, Ryan Blanchard woke up. Something just didn't seem right. Whether it was her instinct as a cop-and she had been one before the war, or what, she didn't know, but something was out there, she felt. The moonlight came through the tent, and she could see her bare skin-Kyle was as good in a sleeping bag as he was in bed, and she smiled at that. Still, something was up. So she put on her boots, when there was a sound outside.

Goalie heard that sound, too. “Matt, wake up!” She hissed.

Guru woke up to see Goalie leaning over him. The last time someone had woken him up in a tent, he'd seen that....thing. “What?” He whispered.

“Something's out there, and I don't think it's a coyote.” She paused. “We may have two-legged company.”

“Uh-oh...Get dressed,” Guru said. Goalie was in her birthday suit, and he only had his underwear on. He threw on a T-Shirt and his boots, and was reaching for his rifle, when a shot rang out.

“Oh, Shit!” Goalie said, throwing on a T-shirt of her own, and grabbing her own rifle, when gunfire came from the other tent.

Ryan watched as the intruders-three of them, she could see, approached the camp. She had only time to put on her combat boots and grab her M-16, and wake up Kyle at the same time, before she took matters into her own hands. Ryan poked her M-16 out the tent flap, took aim at the lead intruder, and opened fire, dropping him with a four-round burst. Then AK fire came in reply.

“Great!” Guru said as the bullets started flying. “We come out here to get away from the war, and it found us.” He spotted a target and fired, putting a bullet into the target's shoulder.

“Hey, you're used to this!” Goalie said as she grabbed her own rifle. “I'm not.”

Another burst of gunfire came from the other tent, and in the moonlight, Guru saw another intruder drop to the ground, apparently dead. Then he heard shouts in Spanish. “Cubans.....”

In their tent, Ryan looked at Kyle. He had his own M-16 at the ready. “Remember your small-arms training?”

“Yeah. At the Academy: my Doolie Summer,” he replied.

“Good enough. Cover me.” She said, grabbing her M-16 and running outside, with Radner firing as she did so. Only then did he realize that she only had her combat boots on.

Guru and Goalie saw it as well. “What the??” Goalie said, incredulous at the sight.

“Cover her,” Guru said. He sprayed the ridgeline with his own M-16, and advanced to his Jeep. He cautiously went around the back, and found a Cuban there, clutching his left shoulder. The man tried to go for his own AKM, but Guru put a burst into his chest, killing him. He then saw Ryan running up to the ridge. “Goalie!”

“What?”

“Throw some gas on the fire when I tell you to.” He ordered.

Nodding, she came to the jeep and pulled out a gas can. “Ready.”

“Not yet,” he said, spraying more fire at the ridge, then he grabbed a fresh magazine in the jeep and slapped it into his rifle.


Up on the ridge, the Cuban Lieutenant was having a fit. What had seemed to be an easy mark was clearly not the case, and whoever they were down there, they were more than ready. He recognized the M-16 by its own sound, and he cursed this wretched country, where anyone and their mother could have such a rifle if they were civilians. Now, three of his men were down, and counting himself, there were only three left. And the gunfire from down below had them pinned down. Going to recover the bodies of their comrades, as per their orders, was clearly not an option. He turned to one of the two troopers left. “You two, get to the rendezvous point. I'll cover you. If I'm not there in an hour, proceed to the extraction site.”

“Si, Comrade Lieutenant,” one of the troopers-a corporal-said.

“Go.”


As the two troopers slipped away, the Lieutenant heard a sound It sounded like someone was coming around one of the rocks. He raised his AKM, only to see a flash, and then he felt his right leg come out from under him.

Ryan watched the two Cubans run down the other side of the ridge in the moonlight, but she saw a third. He turned to face her,and raised his rifle, but she didn't give him that chance. Ryan didn't have time to aim, so she sprayed a burst at his lower body, and watched as he went down, clutching his right leg. She walked over to him and kicked the AKM out of the way, then she safed it and after picking it up, she slung it over her shoulder, and taking his pistol as well.. “Nice try, Fidel.” The Cuban looked at her. “Now get up.”


Down below, Guru, Goalie, and Radner were scanning the ridgeline. There was no more fire coming, and they had heard Ryan's M-16. “We go up? Radner asked.

“No,” Guru said firmly. “We wait.” His time with the Resistance was showing, and this was the first time anyone in the squadron had been able to see it.

Goalie looked at him and nodded. He's been through this before, she realized. She turned back to look at the ridge, and saw someone limping, with another right behind with a rifle in hand and another over the shoulder. “I think that's her. Nobody's shooting.”

“Time to make sure. Ryan!”

“YO!”

“Who were the three hosts of That's Incredible!”

“John Davidson, Cathy Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton! Guru, I loved that show!”

“That's her,” Goalie said. “And I liked that show, too.”

Nodding, Guru said. “Come on in!” He turned to Goalie. “Now you can get the gas on the fire.”

Goalie took a metal gas can and flung some gas on the campfire embers, and the fire blazed up. In the firelight, they could see Ryan, wearing only her combat boots, and with an M-16 in one hand, a Tokarev TT-33 pistol in another, and an AKM slung over her shoulder, pushing a Cuban soldier ahead of her. And everyone could see the Cuban was wounded. “Well, I'll be damned.”

“What?” Ryan asked.

“You're probably the first woman to capture an enemy wearing her birthday suit and combat boots.”

Hearing that, Guru and Radner laughed. And both could see Ryan breaking out with an evil-looking smile. “I wonder if Fidel here knows?” Guru commented.

“He's wounded,” Ryan said. “Someone get a first-aid kit.”

Radner went to their jeep and got the kit. He checked the wound in the blazing firelight. “Looks like a through-and-through.” He commented, putting some sulfa in the wound and applying a pressure bandage. Working quickly, he finished bandaging the Cuban, who nodded his thanks, then he started babbling in Spanish.

“What's he saying?” Guru asked. “Anybody speak Spanish?”

The others shook their heads no.

“All right,” Guru said. He stuck his head in the Cuban's face. “Speak any English?”

“Si,” the Cuban replied.

“What are you talking about?” Guru demanded.

“Senor, please, shoot me.”

“What?” Guru asked, shocked. “Why?”

The Cuban looked at Ryan. “Because, not only have I been captured by a woman, but by a naked woman. I will never live this down, and if I make it to one of your prison camps, I will be a laughingstock. Please, Senor, shoot me!”

The other three looked at Ryan. She had put the Cuban's rifle and pistol in the Jeep, but was still pointing her M-16 at the Cuban. And she was still wearing only her combat boots. She looked at Guru, who nodded, then said to the Cuban. “That's your problem.”

“Please!”

“Sorry, but you'll be handed over to the proper authorities who deal with prisoners of war. If you want to try to escape, you can take your chances with them.” Ryan said to the Cuban, who was not at all happy, and was on the verge of crying.

“I beg you! Please! You can say to your own people that I was trying to escape...please!”

“Sorry...” Ryan said as she went back into the tent.

“What'll we do with this loser?” Radner said.

“We do what Ryan said. We'll take Highway 60 back, and we can drop him off at Luke's main gate. Their intel shop will want to have a chat with this guy,” Guru decided. “But this is a first.”

“What?” Goalie asked.

“We never kept prisoners when I was with the Resistance. Lori Sheppard had a habit of shooting them. Either when their interrogations were finished, or she just plain shot them out of hand.”

Hearing that, the Cuban was hoping that this American, who had clearly been with the bandits and terrorists who called themselves the Resistance, might take his old comrade's habit to heart, and finish him. But that was not to be.

“All right,” Guru ordered. “Goalie, find some rope and tie this guy up. I'll take the first watch. You take over in an hour, then Radner, then Ryan.”

“Hopefully, she'll be dressed this time,” Radner observed.

“Maybe,” Guru smiled, then turned to the Cuban, who was practically in tears.


0630 Hours Mountain War Time, 23 November, 1986, La Paz County, AZ.


“Rise and Shine, sleepyheads!” Ryan shouted.

Guru and Goalie came out of their tent. After taking their turns guarding the prisoner, both had gone back to sleep-fully dressed this time, and Radner had done the same. Now, it was time to eat breakfast, break camp, and start heading back to civilization.

As they ate, they noticed their prisoner, who was hog-tied in the back of Guru and Goalie's jeep. “Give him something?” Radner asked.

“If Lori Sheppard was here, she'd be asking about his last meal,” Guru quipped.

“That bad?” Goalie asked. She knew full well what her pilot had experienced on that E&E, and they'd had a long talk about it. Just in case they went skydiving, and and met up with the guerillas.

“She'd be thinking about where to shoot him and how many times,” Guru said. “Lori had no problems about blowing out somebody's kneecaps, and maybe his elbows, too, before finishing him off. Given what they did to her family, I don't blame her at all.”

“From what you told me,” Goalie chipped in, “neither do I.”

As they ate, Ryan decided to give the Cuban a granola bar, which he took gratefully, even though he was hog-tied in the back of a jeep. And he was still begging her to shoot him. She shook her head, then went back to help break camp. “This chump's still asking us to shoot him.”

“He'll be disappointed. When we get to Luke, they'll have a chat with this dude, and send somebody out after his friends.” Guru said.

“Who?” Radner asked.

“Ever hear of the Apache trackers?”

“Oh...Them.” Radner said quietly.

Goalie nodded. “Yep, them. And a lot of their old ways came back with the war.” She turned to the Cuban, knowing that he was listening. “If they had caught this guy, he'd be smeared with honey, left out in the desert, and leave him for the ants.” And the expression on the Cuban's face was one of shock.

“I guess he knows,” Ryan quipped. “You guys remember that Blinder that went down on the reservation? You know, the one near San Carlos?”

“The one where the Army found all three crewmen scalped and left staked out in the desert, after they'd been flayed alive?” Guru said.

“That's the one. The Army and the AF had to remind the tribe that it was hard to interrogate corpses, and that taking a downed Russian or Cuban alive was a good thing.” Ryan said, glaring at the Cuban, who looked properly terrified.

“Well, the trackers will find this guy's friends, wherever they are,” Goalie said. “And they'd better hope the trackers are in the mood to bring 'em in alive. Otherwise....”

The Cuban lieutenant's expression was one of horror. Were these Americans going to turn him over to the Wild Indians? Their savagery was well-known to the Socialist Forces, and apart from a few progressive individuals, the tribes had disdained the efforts of the liberating forces, and had taken to the hills and formed their own groups of terrorists. If a company or a battalion went on a sweep, they found nothing. If a squad or platoon went on a patrol, they never came back, and often, the soldiers had been put to death in ways that their Soviet adviser said “Would make an Afghan puke.”

Guru finished his MRE coffee. “All right, let's break camp and get going.”

“What about the Cuban bodies?” Radner asked.

“What about 'em?” Guru replied. “Take their weapons and ammo, check them for any documents, maps, etc, and just plain leave 'em. The trackers will take care of the bodies.” Even if it's tossing them in that pond, Guru thought to himself. Good riddance.



0930 Hours Mountain War Time, U.S. 60, La Paz County, AZ.


It had taken an hour to break camp, and another hour and a half to get to a road, but finally, the party was on U.S. 60, headed east. They had passed through a couple of small towns, and except for locals, and a couple of delivery trucks making their rounds, there was hardly any traffic. It was a Sunday, after all. When they went through the towns, some folks waved. At a STOP sign, a local deputy sheriff was curious. “Got an extra passenger?”

“He crashed our party last night,” Guru said. “Taking him to Luke AFB.”

“Cuban or Mexican?” The deputy asked.

“Cuban.”

The deputy nodded. “Better you guys got him than the local posse. They've found a few Cubans and Mexicans out this way.”

“Turn 'em over to the Army?” Ryan asked.

“A few. Some tried to escape,” said the deputy. “And they got either shot, or if they were recaptured, the posse didn't bother with the Army. They got strung up from the chaparral.”

“Good way to deal with 'em,” Goalie said.

“You all have a good day,” the deputy said. “If he tries to escape...”

“Don't worry about that.”


A couple hours later, they were approaching the Phoenix area. Goalie was driving this time, and Guru had a map out. “Litchfield Road is the one we want. That takes us right to Luke.”

“Roger that,” Goalie said. “How's our passenger?”

Guru turned to check on the Cuban, pointing his M-16 in the prisoner's direction. He was still hog-tied in the back, half buried under the camping gear. “Still there.”

“Good,” she nodded. Then an intersection came after a few miles. The sign said, “Litchfield Rd. Luke AFB.” She glanced at Guru. “This it?”

He nodded.”Take the right.”

She took the right, and Ryan and Radner were right behind them. Traffic was light for a Sunday, and it didn't take long until they were at Luke's main gate. As one expected, there was a lot of security. “Now what? Just drop this chump off?”

Guru unbuckled his seat belt and stood up. There were quite a few CSPs there, checking vehicles entering the base. One of them seemed to glance in their direction. He waved, and the airman came to the jeep to see what was going on. Guru handed the airman his ID.

The airman looked at the ID, then said, “Sir, what can I do for you?”

“We were off-roading, and had this chump-” Guru motioned to the Cuban, then went on “crash our party last night. Can we turn him over to you?”

The airman-who'd been in the Air Force all of six months, nodded. “Let me get my sergeant, Sir.”

“You do that.”

The airman went back to the gate, and talked to a couple of other CSPs. They came back, and one of them was a Staff Sergeant. “Sir?”

“Got a Cuban for you guys,” Guru said.

“Sir, bring him up to the gate, and we'll take him off your hands.” the Sergeant said.

“We'll follow you,” Guru said, nodding to Goalie.

The airmen waited until the traffic ahead had gone onto the base, then waved the two jeeps on in. Since Guru was the ranking officer, he went to deal with the security people. The sergeant opened the door to the Security Office at the gate. A female CSP Lieutenant was there, “Captain,” She said. “You have a Cuban?”

“That's right, and I want to turn him over to you guys. He's wounded, and there were likely buddies with him.” Guru said.

She nodded, “Let's go see him.”

Guru took her to the jeep and showed the Cuban to her. She nodded to her CSPs, and they got the prisoner out of the jeep.. “No problem, Captain. We'll take it from here.”

One of the CSPs checked the Cuban over. “Sir,” he jokingly said to Guru, “you don't have tags for this one.”

“Open season, Charlie,” the sergeant replied. “And no bag limit.”

“Lieutenant,” Guru said, “You might want to sic the Apache Trackers after this guy's buddies. We killed three of 'em, and he had to have had more.” He took out the map and showed where the encounter had occurred.

“No problem, Sir,” the CSP officer said. “We've got some here, and they'll find the rest of 'em. Dead or alive.”

One of the airmen came up with a EPW form on a clipboard. “Sir, you need to fill this out.”

Guru nodded, then waved to Ryan “Come on up here. You caught him.”

Ryan came up, and both of them filled out the form. After signing it, Ryan said, “He's all yours.”

Guru handed the form to the CSP officer. “One other thing: this guy's been begging us to shoot him since we caught him.”

“Why?” Asked the CSP Lieutenant.

“Because, when Lieutenant Blanchard here caught him, she had on only her combat boots and an M-16.” Guru said. The CSP officer looked at Ryan, who simply nodded.

“We won't let him forget it,” the CSP Sergeant said, overhearing the conversation as two airmen untied the Cuban.

“Good.”

The Cuban tapped the CSP Sergeant on the shoulder, then pointed to Ryan, “Mean Woman!”

And everyone laughed.



1400 Hours Mountain War Time, 335th TFS, Williams AFB, AZ


After turning in the camping gear and weapons, and returning the rented jeep to the dealer, the party went back to the squadron to check in. Colonel Rivers was there, earlier than they expected. “Boss,” Guru said. “Enjoy your time off?”

“That I did. Never been to the Grand Canyon before, so that was a good one,” Colonel Rivers said. “How about you guys?”

They all looked at each other. “Well, Sir,” Goalie said. “We had some offroading, some stargazing, and...”

“Let me guess, each other's company?” Rivers asked.

The couples looked at each other and shrugged.

“Guess that's a 'yes,' I'd bet,” Rivers said.

“Yes, Sir,” Ryan said.

“Now, what's this about a Cuban?” Rivers wanted to know. “First thing I get when I come back is a call from Luke, thanking you guys for bringing in a Cuban prisoner.”

The four all looked at each other. “Well, uh,” Radner said.

“Out with it!” Rivers said.

“It went like this, Sir,” said Ryan. And she told the story. When she was finished, Rivers was incredulous.

“Was it really like that?” He wanted to know.

Guru and Goalie nodded. “Yes, Sir,” Guru said. “It's true. In every detail.”

“Incredible,” Rivers said. “All right, get settled back in, get plenty of sleep, because 0530 tomorrow, it's back in the saddle.”

“YES, SIR!” All four shouted.

“Dismissed,” Rivers said, still shaking his head.

As they left Squadron HQ, Radner asked, “Now what?”

“Follow the Boss' advice: have a good dinner, hit the sack early, and it's SA-6s, Shilkas, and MiGs all over again,” Guru said to his wingmate.


One week later, Radner and his back-seater were dead, victims of SA-6. A painful reminder of how in wartime, life could be short. It was Guru and Goalie who broke the news to Ryan. Ten years later, Major Ryan Blanchard would name her firstborn son Kyle, in honor of a friend who had helped make her first weeks at Williams as pleasant as could be in wartime.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #437  
Old 05-04-2018, 07:28 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

The Kidd (Ayatollah) class DDGs in the war:


The Kidd class Guided Missile Destroyers in World War III




The four destroyers of the Kidd class have been described as “The Ayatollah Khomeni's gift to the U.S. Navy.” Originally ordered for the Imperial Iranian Navy in 1976, they were AAW versions of the Spruance-class destroyers, with Mk 26 twin launchers for the Standard ER SAM and ASROC, as opposed to the ASROC and Sea Sparrow launchers of the Spruance-class ships. After the fall of the Shah, the Khomeni regime canceled the order for the ships, and they were acquired by the U.S. Navy in July, 1979. The ships have been informally called the “Ayatollah class, or the Dead-Admiral Class.” They were the most powerful destroyers in the U.S. Navy at the outbreak of war, giving splendid war service, and all four remain in service today in the Naval Reserve Force.


USS Kidd (DDG-993): Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet at the outbreak of war, she served as an escort for the carriers Eisenhower and America for much of the war. Kidd got around, supporting carriers during operations against Libya and the liberation of Gibraltar. She later participated in the liberation of Iceland and the Kola raid, serving as an AAW “Gatekeeper” for the Eisenhower. During Operation GULF HAMMER, she provided AAW cover for the cruiser Des Moines on the NGFS line, and was the command ship for an ASW group in the Gulf during the endgame in the Gulf in 1989. On several occasions, she took shots at Soviet aircraft inbound or leaving Brownsville, killing several, while she participated in the sinking of several Soviet submarines. Kidd then supported the Cuba blockade, providing AAW support to the destroyers on the blockade line. After the Armistice, she began to carry the SH-60B ASW helicopter in place of the wartime SH-2F, and resumed normal deployments with the Sixth Fleet. In 2004, she was reassigned to the Naval Reserve Force, and is still assigned to the NRF, home-ported at Mayport Naval Station, FL.


USS Callaghan (DDG-994): Assigned to the Pacific Fleet at war's beginning, she mainly served as an AAW escort to the carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) for much of the war. Callaghan supported the Ranger Carrier Battle Group's operations against Soviet-occupied Alaska and the Upper British Columbia Coast, and participated in the sinking of the Charlie-I class SSGN K-308 on 7 May, 1987. She participated in the Kamchatka Raid, and received damage from a near-hit AS-5 antiship missile that her CIWS guns exploded a mere one hundred yards from the ship. After repairs at the Bremerton Navy Yard, she was assigned to convoy duty on the Yokohama-San Francisco run, and was involved in the sinking of two Soviet submarines, the Victor-I class K-38 on 11 May 1988 350 miles east of Marcus Island, and the Echo-II SSGN K-116 1100 miles west of San Francisco on 2 April, 1989. Callaghan was torpedoed by the Akula-class SSN K-191 on 11 June of that year, and spent the next six months undergoing repairs at Bremerton Navy Yard, having lost her propellers and rudder. She returned to service in January, 1990, and after workups, resumed normal deployments with the Pacific Fleet, receiving the SH-60B as well. After several WestPac deployments, she was reassigned to the Naval Reserve Force, with her home port at San Diego.

USS Scott (DDG-995): Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she was assigned to escort the carrier Coral Sea, and left Norfolk with that carrier when war began. Scott participated in operations in the Mediterranean, and after the carrier was sunk by a Backfire strike in January, 1986 while returning from the Mediterranean, she was reassigned to convoy duty. Scott provided AAW cover to numerous convoys, before joining the amphibious force assigned to the Liberation of Iceland and then she took part in the Kola Raid, where she was the AAW “Gatekeeper” for the carrier John F. Kennedy. Scott resumed convoy duty after Kola, and sank two Soviet Submarines, the Foxtrot-class SS B-57 on 22 October, 1987, 200 miles north of Bermuda, and the Hotel-II SSN K-40 on 5 February 1988, 340 miles west of the Azores. She was reassigned to the John F. Kennedy battle group for Operation GULF HAMMER, and remained with the carrier group for the rest of the war, escorting the carrier during that operation, strikes against Cuba, and participated in the final operations against the Brownsville Pocket in 1989. After Cuba's acceptance of the Armistice, Scott returned to Norfolk, and after a yard period, returned to normal operations. She received the SH-60B, and participated in several deployments to the Sixth Fleet and anti-piracy patrols off of Somalia and Yemen. Like her sisters, she was later reassigned to the Naval Reserve Force, and home-ported at Norfolk.

USS Chandler (DDG-996): The other unit of the class assigned to the Pacific Fleet, she was at Subic Bay in the Philippines when hostilities began, as pat of the Constellation Carrier Battle Group. Chandler and the other AAW ships were able to use their weapons to defend against a Soviet air attack from Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam (Tu-16K Badgers of Soviet Naval Aviation with AS-6 missiles). The carrier group left Subic Bay afterwards and the next day, launched air strikes against the Soviet base. Chandler remained part of the Constellation Group for much of the war, and participated in the mopping-up after the Battle of Puget Sound, where she encountered two Soviet stragglers, sinking the Kanin-class DDG Gnevny and an Alligator-class LST. Chandler then assisted in the mop-up on the San Juan Islands, before the carrier group returned to San Diego. Her next combat was back in the South China Sea, where a combined U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and ROC Navy force eliminated the Soviet squadron based at Cam Ranh Bay, and both air and missile attack neutralized the base. Chandler also participated in the Kamchatka and Kurile operations, and sank a Foxtrot-class submarine that nearly torpedoed the carrier. Operations off of Mexico and against Alaska followed, and the Constellation group covered the seaborne force that landed in Anchorage, Juneau, and the Alaskan islands after the Soviet surrender on 14 October 1989. After a brief upgrade that included a SH-60B detachment to replace the SH-2F that had been the ship's wartime helo complement, Chandler resumed routine deployments to WestPac, joining the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Battle Group when that carrier joined the Pacific Fleet. She, like her sisters, was reassigned to the NRF, and is home-ported at Naval Station Everett, Washington.


Displacement: 9,574 tons full load

Length: 563 feet

Beam: 55 feet

Draft: 30 feet

Propulsion: 4 GE LM 2500 gas turbines, 80,000 SHP, 2 shafts

Speed: 30+ knots

Crew: 339 (20 officers and 319 enlisted)

Helicopters: 1 SH-2F LAMPS I, later 2 SH-60B LAMPS III

Missiles: 2x Mk 26 twin launchers for Standard 1 ER SAMs

2x Mk 141 Quad Harpoon launchers

Guns: 2 5-inch Mk 54 single mounts

2x 20-mm Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS

Several pintle mounts for .50 caliber machine guns or Mark 19 Automatic Grenade Launchers.

ASW Weapons: ASROC fired from forward Mk 26 launcher

2x triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes for Mark 46 torpedoes

Radars: SPS-48C 3-D search

SPS-53 Surface Search

SPS-55 Surface Search

Sonars: SQS-53A bow mounted

SQR-19 Towed Array Sonar

EW: SLQ-25 Nixie

SLQ-32(v)2
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #438  
Old 05-04-2018, 10:43 PM
RN7 RN7 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,284
Default

Matt would you be able do that sort of detailed write up for US Navy ships in the Twilight War?
Reply With Quote
  #439  
Old 05-04-2018, 10:49 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

I might try for a few classes: the carriers, battleships, cruisers, and a few of the destroyers. I have also mentioned a few subs in the naval article in the fanzine.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #440  
Old 05-04-2018, 10:56 PM
RN7 RN7 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,284
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
I might try for a few classes: the carriers, battleships, cruisers, and a few of the destroyers. I have also mentioned a few subs in the naval article in the fanzine.
I'd like to have a look at that if you get the time to do it. Naval warfare in T2K is a bit neglected I think. I have thought about doing it myself for some navies but as always I just cant get enough time to finish or even start it.
Reply With Quote
  #441  
Old 05-04-2018, 11:04 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

You're not the only one, and I, for one, didn't buy into the wholesale decimation of the USN, other than the Persian Gulf Task Force.

Btw, guys, how'd you like the R&R story?
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #442  
Old 05-05-2018, 06:56 AM
RN7 RN7 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,284
Default

No pictures of Goalie then?
Reply With Quote
  #443  
Old 05-08-2018, 10:13 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Think Charlize Theron in a flight suit, and that's Goalie.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #444  
Old 05-10-2018, 08:46 PM
RN7 RN7 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,284
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser View Post
Think Charlize Theron in a flight suit, and that's Goalie.
Reply With Quote
  #445  
Old 05-21-2018, 09:36 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Guru sends a letter home. You do get a hint of how things are going on the home front.


A Letter Home


November 1, 1987

Dear Mom,


I'm fine, and hope you are the same. I wanted to tell you right off, but seeing the name on the envelope told you: I'm a Major now. Didn't get it the way I wanted it, though....I'm filling a dead man's shoes. I got the squadron when Colonel Rivers got shot down, and he didn't get out of the plane. And somebody must've thought that I deserved the rank (well, some of it, anyway) that goes with the job. But the hardest thing was writing the letter to his wife. Something they don't teach you at Officer School, let alone ROTC or the Academy. And I've had people tell me that. Took me four tries to finally get something that sounded right, and I hope it went okay. They say this is the hardest thing in the service to do, and believe me, it is. Hopefully, I won't have to do it often, but given how this war has gone, I know I will. Doesn't make it easier, though.

Can you believe it? Me, a Major? Still getting used to it. Only been a Captain little over a year, and now this. It's taking a little getting used to, and half of the sergeants here are old enough to be my father, it seems. But they nod, say “Yes, sir,” salute, and get on with the job. And I'm not that much older than the people I fly with. And I'm still “one of the guys” after hours.

How are things back home? You told me in your last letter that Victory Gardens won't be going out of style anytime soon, and that both Granny and Grandpa were busy with one for the whole ranch. Working there will do him good, and glad to hear that he listened to Doc Coverdale and had that cough looked at. Be glad they were able to operate, and get that tumor in his lung before it really had a chance to spread. He's lucky, given that cancer meds are rationed, my flight surgeon tells me. My flight surgeon? Still getting used to that.

How's Deb? Since she works for PG&E, at least that's an essential occupation, and she couldn't be drafted. Though they'd probably make her an officer and send her into the Engineers. They need people to get the lights back on all over, and she'd probably be in charge of some unit doing that. Anyone with a Civil Engineering background or who worked for a utility company isn't going anywhere near the front lines, I can tell you that.

They still have that posse? Saw on the news that PG&E and Southern Cal Edison hired people who are 4-F to patrol the power lines. Guys with pickup trucks, ATVs, and guns. Hope they don't run into Spetsnatz-who you've heard about on the news. Those guys are bad news, period. At least you don't have to worry about air raids there.

Where are we? Can't say other than “Somewhere in Texas”. They do censor your letters here, so I'd better not say. Still don't know about our relatives near Dallas, but if you watch the news, it's a mess. Hopefully, they're okay, and we haven't heard from them yet, or they're on the bad-guy side of the line and still far enough from the battlefield to worry. As soon as I hear, I'll let you know.

One thing about Texas: they're determined to get things back to normal. One town near here, which one I can't say, got their high school up and going, and this being Texas, guess what they did? They started up their football team. Same thing going on all over this part of Texas. Normal? After two years under Ivan's boot, it'll be a long time before things are normal here. The Army and Federal Marshals run things pretty much here. But you have to start somewhere.

Lisa and I are still flying together, and well, together, period. Don't know if we'll make things more permanent once this war's over, but she's glad to have me and vice versa. I gave her a shoulder to cry on when she found out her older brother got killed on that Kola Raid. I told her that if she wanted a place to cry, scream, yell, whatever, she could use my old office, and if she wanted a sympathetic ear, she had a pair. A half hour later, she wanted to talk. Lisa got it off her chest (pardon the pun), and we went out to fly. She wrote some graffiti on the bombs, then we went out and made some Russians burn, bleed, and blow up. Her sister's doing okay: she's on a destroyer, one of those they got from the old mothball fleet, and is okay so far. Lisa's younger brother? He graduates high school in June, then you know what happens next.

Well, this letter should reach you by Thanksgiving, if all goes well. Got a lot to be thankful for this year, and hopefully, this time next year, it'll all be over. Hopefully.

Hate to end this now, but it's almost time to fly. I'll write as soon as I can, and with this job, I'm pretty busy. Tell everyone I said hi, and if you can, ask Granny for some more chocolate chip cookies. Got some people here with a sweet tooth, and when I put some out on my desk, I leave to fly or whatever, and when I come back, they're gone! Maybe she and some of the old ladies at the Senior Center can get together and bake cookies for a whole squadron? I know that's some stuff that's rationed, namely, eggs, sugar, and flour, but it's for a good cause.

Love you and take care.

Your son,

Matt
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #446  
Old 05-21-2018, 09:39 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Here's the OB for the U.S. Sixth Army, which fought in the Southwest and Central Texas during the war:

U.S. Sixth Army Order of Battle: 1986-1989


Peacetime HQ: Presidio of San Francisco, CA. Wartime HQ: Phoenix, AZ from Jan 1986-June 1987. Albuquerque, NM from June 1987-Aug 1987. Wichita Falls, TX from Aug 1987-June 1988. Austin, TX from June 1988-July 1989. Fort Sam Houston, TX from July 1989-end.


11th Airborne Division

III Corps:

1st Cavalry Division

23rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)

5th Marine Division

3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment


ROK Expeditionary Corps:

ROK Capital Division

ROK 9th Infantry “White Horse” Division

ROK 2nd Marine Division

ROK 5th Armored Brigade


X Corps:

4th Armored Division

40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (CA NG)

14th Armored Cavalry Regiment

1st Republic of China (ROC) Mechanized Division


II Corps: Assigned to Sixth Army for LONG RIFLE and BORDER FURY

14th Armored Division

90th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

7th Infantry Division (Light)

9th Armored Cavalry Regiment

III Corps reinforced with 6th Armored Division for LONG RIFLE and BORDER FURY.

II Corps reinforced with 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) for BORDER FURY from V Corps.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #447  
Old 05-29-2018, 07:40 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

Fellows, the A-4 Skyhawk's war service:

A-4 Skyhawks in World War III


The McDonnell-Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, which had borne the brunt of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' light attack war in Southeast Asia, had a distinguished career in the Third World War. Still in USMC active and reserve service at the outbreak of war, the Skyhawk saw extensive service with the USMC, and also the USAF, which acquired a number of Skyhawks to rebuild former ANG A-7 squadrons that had suffered extensive combat losses. The Skyhawk also saw war service with the RAN, RNZAF, Malaysia, and the Republic of Singapore AF (the latter two on anti-piracy operations). This work will only cover those Skyhawks that saw combat during the war.


A-4E: Major upgrade of C version, with uprated J-52 engine, strengthened airframe with two extra weapons pylons with a total of five, TACAN, Doppler navigation radar, LABS, radar altimeter, and toss-bombing computer.

A-4F: Upgraded E with avionics hump and more powerful J-52 engine. Some used by USN off of Essex-class carriers in lieu of A-7s.

A-4G: F version for RAN, without avionics hump.

A-4K: RNZAF version of F with avionics hump.

A-4L: Upgrade of C with avionics hump, though with J-65 engine and only three weapons pylons. Reactivated from desert storage and used by USMC.

A-4M: Definite USMC version, with ARBS with TV and laser spot tracker. Production restarted at former NAA (Rockwell International) Downey, CA plant during the war to fill attrition and for USAF.

A-4PTM: Modified A-4C and L with most of the features of the M. For Malaysian Air Force. (PTM stands for Peculiar to Malaysia)

A-4S: 50 Bs remanufactured for Republic of Singapore AF; later upgraded again to A-4SU standard.

A-4S-1: 50 Cs remanufactured for Singapore

TA-4G: Training version of A-4G for RAN

TA-4J: Two-seat training version used throughout the war by USN Training Command, and by Navy Composite Squadrons in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guantanamo for local defense.

TA-4K: Training version of A-4K for RNZAF

TA-4PTM: Training version of A-4PTM

TA-4S: Training version of A-4S.

OA-4M: Modified TA-4Fs used by USMC for Forward Air Control duties.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #448  
Old 05-29-2018, 07:49 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

And remember these from the movie? The Yak-38 Forger...

The Yak-38 Forger in World War III


The Yak-38 (NATO code name Forger) was the Soviet Navy's only shipboard fighter to see service in the Third World War. Also seeing service from land bases both in the Soviet Union and in North America, it had the distinction of not only having the highest accident rate of any Soviet tactical aircraft, it was called “worse than useless” by its pilots. The aircraft also had the distinction of not seeing any postwar use by any of the former Soviet States, or the Rump USSR itself.


Yak-36 “Forger”: Initial pre-production version; engines slightly less powerful, and lighter weight than Yak-38.

Yak-38 “Forger-A” Production version; first flight in 1971, and entered AV-MF (Soviet Naval Air Force) service in 1975. No radar. One Tumansky R-28 V-300 turbojet for cruise, two Rybnisk RD-38 turbojets for lift. All ordnance carried externally: GP-9 23-mm gun pods, UV-16-57 57-mm or S-8 80-mm rocket pods, or single S-24 240-mm rockets; Two FAB-500 (1,102 pound), or four FAB-250 (550 pound) or eight FAB-100 (220 pound) bombs. KMGU cluster munitions, or two RN-28 tactical nuclear bombs. Guidance pod needed for two AS-7 Kerry (Kh-23) ASMs, or up to four AA-8 Aphid (R-60/R-60M) AAMs. Ordnance load very limited, and virtually nonexistent under any kind of hot and humid conditions until Oxygen boosting intake system added during routine overhaul.

Yak-38M “Forger-A” Upgraded version with upgraded engines, added payload capability, and oxygen boosting intake system standard. In service 1985.

Yak-38U “Forger-B” Two-seat trainer with no combat capability.

Unbuilt versions:

The Yakolev Design Bureau was well aware of the aircraft's shortcomings, and several proposals were made for improved versions. None were built as the SNAF was waiting on the Yak-41, which would enter SNAF service in 1989, but not see combat in North America. However, these are listed for the record:

Yak-36P: Intended supersonic follow-on to original Yak-36. AI radar and radar missile capability for Fleet Defense mission.

Yak-38MP: Follow-on to Yak-38M with radar and weapons system from MiG-29, including NO19 radar and AA-10 Alamo (R-27R) missile capability. Dropped in favor of Yak-41.

Yak-39: Multirole fighter/attack project from 1983. Multimode radar, Nav-attack system, full EW suite, PGM capability. Not pursued as SNAF was already in favor of Yak-41.

Users:

SNAF was the only Soviet user of the aircraft, and the aircraft was not exported. The 299th Instructor-Shipborne Aviation Regiment was the training unit (Fleet Replacement Squadron in the USN), while the 279th Independent Shipborne Assault Aviation Regiment was the Northern Fleet unit, with the 311th Independent Shipborne Assault-Aviation Regiment in the Pacific Fleet.

The Forger had the reputation of being either a “hangar queen” or of having the distinction of losing more aircraft to accidents than to enemy action. The aircraft saw service from the Kiev-class carriers, and in North America, primarily in the COIN or local air defense roles. Four of these aircraft were destroyed in a famous raid by the Wolverines Guerrilla group near Calumet, CO in December, 1985.

Captured examples:

Several Forgers were captured by U.S and British or Canadian forces during the war; all found abandoned on their airfields. USN and USAF test pilots refused to fly captured aircraft due to the aircraft's poor safety record in SNAF service. One aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL, restored in the markings of the 279th OkSHAP.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
  #449  
Old 06-03-2018, 06:36 PM
rcaf_777's Avatar
rcaf_777 rcaf_777 is offline
Staff Headquarter Weinie
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Petawawa Ontario Canada
Posts: 1,104
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7 View Post
Best I can do
Attached Images
 
__________________
I will not hide. I will not be deterred nor will I be intimidated from my performing my duty, I am a Canadian Soldier.
Reply With Quote
  #450  
Old 06-14-2018, 07:52 PM
Matt Wiser Matt Wiser is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Auberry, CA
Posts: 1,002
Default

A mission concept is born....set during Major Gen. Robin Olds' visit to the 335th TFS:



Genesis of a Mission




335th Tactical Fighter Squadron HQ, Sheppard AFB, TX: 7 November, 1987; 1325 Hours Central War Time
:


Major Matt Wiser, the CO of the 335th, was in his office. The remnants of lunch sat on his desk in a styrofoam container, while he went over some planning material. He glanced up from a TPC chart to look at his Weapons Systems Officer, 1st Lt. Lisa “Goalie” Eichhorn, and wondered aloud, “When's the last time we planned a mission on our own?”

She looked back at him, and nodded. “Probably that mission we can't talk about.” She was referring to a strike they had flown two days prior to PRAIRIE FIRE, and that had been highly classified. “But at least they gave us everything we needed. Here...”

“Here, we've got diddly shit,” the CO noted. “All we've got now is some maps, a few photos that Sin Licon got for me this morning, and some educated guesswork.” Captain Darren “Sin” Licon was the Squadron's Intelligence Officer, and had gotten the CO some of what he needed. “But it was enough.”

“Enough for Colonel Brady,” Goalie noted. “And he was impressed enough to take it up with General Olds.” Marine Colonel Allen Brady was the CO of Marine Air Group 11, to which the 335th was serving under Marine OPCON. And Major General Robin Olds happened to be a living, breathing Air Force legend, an ace in both World War II and in Southeast Asia, who was visiting the base for a few days, getting a feel for how the new generation of fighter pilots-including women, was doing in a war that hardly anyone had anticipated. A saying that was common in the U.S. Military was “The next guy who says he expected to fight the Russians on our soil will be the first.”

Major Wiser nodded. “And now to see if General Olds will buy this. If he does...”

“If he does, we get the intel. After he runs it by General Tanner,” replied Goalie. “Then we fly this.”
She was referring to Major General Robert Tanner, the commander of Tenth Air Force.

“We do,” the CO said. Then there was a knock on the office door. “Yeah? Show yourself and come on in!”

The door opened, and Captain Don Van Loan, the 335's Operations Officer, came in. “Guru, got two things for you.”

“Yeah?” That was Major Wiser's call sign. “Lay 'em out.”

“Okay, you've got a mission brief in fifteen minutes. Kara's putting the stuff together right now.” Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was Guru's wingmate and deputy Ops Officer. “Second? General Olds is on his way over. He said something about you wanting to see him.”

“You got that right, Don,” Guru said. “Push that mission brief back another fifteen-no, make that twenty-minutes. This might take a while.”

“That mission you and Goalie cooking up?” Van Loan asked. Seeing both CO and GIB nod, he added, “What'd Colonel Brady say?”

“He approved it,” Guru said. “And he said if we needed Marine assets for the mission, he'd give them to us.”

Van Loan nodded. “Marine Hornets for flak and SAM suppression, for starters.”

“You got it,” Guru replied. “And if we do this? I'll be leading, Mark will be right behind me, and you'll be behind Mark.” Capt. Mark Ellis was the 335's Exec. “And every element lead is going to be involved in planning this. The people who plan it are going to fly it.”

“Sweet, Boss,” the Ops Officer said. “Just like BOLO back in '67.”

Goalie nodded, then she got up off the office couch and looked out into the squadron office. She saw a familiar figure coming in. “Guys? General Olds at Twelve O'clock. And he's coming this way.”

“Okay,” the CO said. “Don? Tell Kara we'll be there as soon as we can. Have her round up the rest of my flight and tell 'em the same thing.”

“Will do,” Van Loan nodded. “And Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck with the General.”

The CO looked at his Ops Officer. “Thanks, Don.”

Van Loan nodded, then headed on out. On his way back to the Ops Office, he ran into General Olds. “General,” he said.

“Captain,” Olds said. “I see you've come out of seeing the CO.” He gestured to the CO's office.

“Yes, sir,” Van Loan replied. “They're waiting for you.”

“Good. I'd like to hear what he's got in mind. He said earlier that he had a mission concept that he wanted to talk about.”

“He said that to me as well, sir.”

“Then I'd best see what he and his GIB are up to,” Olds said. “You have a good rest of the day, Captain. And good luck in the air.”

“Yes, sir, and thank you.” Van Loan said. He then headed on to brief his own flight.


General Olds nodded, then went to the CO's office.

Guru and Goalie saw him coming, and when the door opened, they both came to attention. Habit, they knew, and they both remembered General Tanner's remarks about unnecessary spit and polish. But still....”General,” Guru said.

“As you were, both of you,” Olds said firmly. “I know, it's habit, and a good one to have. Major, you've taken General Tanner's words to heart about such things in a war zone, but....”

“Yes, sir,” Guru said. Major General Robert Tanner, the Tenth Air Force Commander, had told his commanders to “forget about the jumping up and down nonsense now that the shooting's started.” “Still, when a two-star comes into a room...”

“Habit, Major,” Olds recognized it at once. “So, let's get to it. You've got a mission concept in mind?” He said, changing the subject.

Guru nodded. “Yes, sir. It's just that right now,” he said. “But....we'd like to put the hurt on Ivan's Su-24 force.”

“Some of them, anyway,” Goalie added. “Uh, sir.”

Olds looked at both of them. “Thinking of going down to San Antonio? That's where Intel thinks they're based.”

“No, sir,” Guru replied. “It's too well defended right now, and it'd be low-level all the way. Three tanks, and that would only give us six Mark-82s or CBUs on each airplane.”

General Olds nodded. He knew what the young major was talking about. “If not the main base or bases, you want to hit their staging base. You do realize that there's two Air Armies in Central and East Texas, and that means three regiments of Fencers?” Olds asked. “Each.”

“Yes, sir,” Guru acknowledged. “The ones in East Texas are Ninth Air Force's to handle. But we can hit their staging fields in this part of the state.”

“Know which ones they're using?” Olds asked.

“No, sir, but we do have some ideas,” Guru replied. “Goalie?”

“General,” she picked it up. And had his attention. “There's three possibilities in this part of Texas. First, it's the old James Connolly AFB northeast of Waco. The Air Force left in the '60s, but SAC had it as a dispersal field, I believe. The second one is Gray AAF at Fort Hood. And the last one is Bergstrom AFB by Austin.”

“These would fit, not just for capacity with the fighters based there, but also for security,” Guru added.

“What about civilian fields?” Olds asked. There was a chance of that, he knew, and wanted to see if these two had taken that into account.

'Yes, sir,” Goalie replied. “Brownwood Regional is a possible, as is Robert Mueller Airport in Austin, but we've hit the former several times, and they may not want to risk sending their deep-strike assets to a place we've hit several times, and could go back at any time.”

“And Robert Mueller?”

“Intel says it's used by fighters and transports, as well as VIP flights for the Quisling Government, sir.” She was referring to the Collaborationist government the Soviets had set up in the Occupied Zone.

General Olds nodded. “And defenses?”

“That, General, we do know,” Guru said, picking up the discussion. “Each of the big fields has an SA-3 site, and there's also SA-2s in the vicinity-Waco, Temple, and Austin. Not to mention Triple-A in quantity, MANPADS, and MiGs. Bergstrom is also the Su-27 base in this part of Texas, and.....”

“And not only would you need Weasels and flak suppressors, but also a dedicated TARCAP or BARCAP,” Olds finished.

“That we would, sir,” Guru said. “Colonel Brady has offered Marine Hornets to do some of both,”

“Good,” Olds nodded. “But you'll need Weasels, and you'll get them. Now, Major, how do you plan to fly this?”

“Low level all the way,” Guru replied. “Three flights of four, and it's fast in, fast out. As for ordnance? Twelve Mark-82s or CBUs, each airplane. Plus four AIM-9s and two AIM-7s, an ECM pod, and full twenty mike-mike.”

Goalie thought for a minute, then looked at both her CO and the General. “General, Major?” She asked formally. “I've got an idea for the third flight.”

Both the General and Guru looked at her. “Go ahead, Lieutenant,” Olds said. “We're listening.”

“The final flight comes in, but the lead element has Durandals. The first two flights catch the Fencers with their pants down, refueling and rearming, but the third's got to close the field for at least a day or two. Preferably three or four. So the lead element has Durandals to make nice, deep craters in the runways.”

“Those are used by F-111s,” Guru pointed out. “Uh, sir,”

“That they are,” General Olds said. “Go on, Lieutenant. I like it so far.”

“Yes, sir. The final element has CBUs, but they're loaded with Gator mines,” Goalie said. “Those put the fear of God into runway repair crews. And causes them to delay actually repairing the runways until....”

“Until they've been cleared,” said Olds. “So far, so good.” He looked at both of them. “Now, Major, what do you do to attract Ivan's attention that he sends a regiment north on a strike?”

The two looked at each other. “Sir,” Guru said. “There's three possibles that we can think of, and maybe more. First, we set up a phony Pershing II battalion. Ivan's still fixated on neutralizing any nuclear assets, and a Pershing unit is something they'd want to take out.”

“And you're talking using fake missile launchers, vehicles, and so on,” Olds noted. “And some false radio traffic.”

“Yes, sir. And the same goes for option two: a GLCM squadron.”

Olds nodded. “It would, Major. And the third?”

“Sir,” Goalie said. “A phony Corps HQ. Same drill as for the Pershings or GLCM. Sir, didn't the Army get a bunch of Hollywood types to handle stuff like this? You know, SFX people?”

“They did,” the General nodded. “Guys like John Dykstra, Stan Winston, Greg Jein.”

“Who's he?” Goalie asked.

“He did some of the SFX work on Close Encounters and 1941,” Guru said.

“Oh,” nodded Goalie.

“Which means we'd have to get the Army involved, but they don't need to know why,” Olds said. 'All right, Major: how many people here know about this?”

“General, apart from the three of us and Colonel Brady?” Guru asked? Seeing General Olds nod, he went on. “My Exec and Ops Officer, plus Captain Thrace and the rest of my flight.”

“They only know something's in the works, but that's it,” Goalie added.

Olds nodded. “Okay, keep it that tight for now. When you get the go-ahead to start real planning, you can expand it. Do you have a SCIF?”

“No, sir.” Guru said. “This used to be an ATC base prewar, and the SAC molehole for dispersal crews?Somebody moved in there not long after we got here, and surrounded the place with concertina wire, armed guards, and K-9s. Lots of SF guys, we think. Folks with berets of varying colors, you get the idea, sir.”

“That I do,” nodded the General. “Okay, find a place where you can plan, and I'll get in touch with General Tanner. Not only to brief him, but also to have OSI watch you all. We're starting to hire civilian employees again, and given the PSD threat, seeing any kind of unusual activity around your squadron might get someone on the other side looking at you.”

Guru knew what the General meant. The Quislings had their own secret police, the Political Security Department, with its own KGB, DGI, and Stasi watchdogs, and a PSD agent had been caught near the base a few days earlier. “Yes, sir.”

“Okay, Major. Once I let General Tanner in on this, don't be surprised if you get a call to go out to Nellis to brief him personally. Just like I did with General Momeyer on Operation BOLO.”

Both CO and GIB gulped. '”Uh, yes, sir.” Guru said.

“I wish I could take your squadron back in time twenty-plus years,” Olds said. “This is the kind of mission we wanted to fly, and catch the North Viet Air Force on the ground. But Landslide Lyndon and the Edsel Mechanic wouldn't let us.”

Guru and Goalie knew what the General Meant. Political restrictions on ROLLING THUNDER had given the men flying into North Vietnam no end of trouble. And the micromanagement from the White House and DOD had been.....frustrating, to say the least. “Well, sir, they were worried that if we did that, some Russian advisor would be scratched by a piece of stray shrapnel, and then we'd have World War III. Or if some Chinese flight instructor got a sprained ankle jumping down from a MiG, it'd be Korea, Mark II.”

“Well, if I was twenty years younger, I'd want to fly on this,” said Olds. “You'll get what you need, Major, then you'll fly this. And when-not if-you do?”

“Sir?”

“You'll have everyone who flew into Pack Six with you in spirit. Do 'em proud.”

“We will, sir. And we'll catch those Su-24s like the Navy did Nagumo's carriers at Midway.”

“I like that. Now, I believe you've got a mission scheduled?” Olds asked.

“We do, sir,” Guru nodded. “And one more after that.”

General Olds nodded. “Then you'd best get going. I'll see you in the Club tonight. And Major? Lieutenant?”

“Sir?”

“Your older brothers and fathers who went to Southeast Asia? You'll do 'em proud. Good brief,” Olds said, shaking both of their hands. “Good luck this afternoon.”

“Thank you, sir.” Guru said, and Goalie echoed him.

Olds headed for the door. “I'll get out of your hair. And bring everyone back today.”

“Do my best, sir,” Guru said.

“All you can do,” General Olds nodded, then he went out the door.

Both Guru and Goalie took a deep breath. “Well?” Guru said as he gathered up his materials and put them in a locked drawer in his desk.

“We're going to do this,” Goalie said. “Don't know when, but we're doing this.”

“That we will,” the CO nodded. “Come on. We've got a mission to brief and fly.”

“Yeah. Once more unto the breach, dear friends,” Goalie said.

“Just as long as we leave out the 'Close the walls up with out dead,' crap.” Guru said. “Let's go.

And both CO and GIB left the office, knowing that their plan had a decent chance of approval. But first, they had strikes to fly.
__________________
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 3 (0 members and 3 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:58 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.