[chico20854]

May 11, 1998

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

Another dirty trick is played on President Munson, when the canteen manager reports that the supplies of fresh food have run out and that there are only canned baked beans and tuna to feed the staff of the Presidential Bunker. Munson, who has developed a sensitive stomach as a result of the stress of his near-impossible job, spends much of the day unable to function.

Mexico City is wracked by unrest as Army units supporting the PARM party clash with shadow paramilitary groups loyal to the PAN caretaker government or the PRI party, the traditional ruling party of the nation. Rumors swirl that the anti-Army militias contain military deserters, policemen and enforcers from the many narcotics cartels.

5th Squad, operating in northwestern former East Germany, accepts its first non-American recruit, a Canadian Army deserter from the outskirts of Toronto. He is subjected to a beating as an initiation ritual into the gang.

In southern Germany, Italian troops join Hungarians, Czechs and Soviets in attacks all along the NATO main line of resistance, probing for weak spots and trying to run down their opponent's carefully husbanded supplies. Behind the NATO lines, commanders attempt to rush replacements and supplies to the front.

A naval battle erupts in the South Atlantic when the nuclear guided missile cruiser USS Virginia blazes into contact with the massed Soviet Atlantic fishing fleet, which has been sheltering in remote waters since the outbreak of war, unable to return home but able to provide limited support to Soviet raiders and submarines. The battle finds the Soviets harboring two raiders - the Sovremmeny-class destroyer Rastoropny, thought lost in the Battle of the Norwegian Sea 18 months ago, and the Akula-class submarine K-154. Rastoropny has been sheltering with the fishing fleet for over a year after being damaged in the Norwegian Sea, but successfully breaking out and joining the fishermen. The fleet has been unable to repair the destroyer (it is now running on one shaft and has but two older-model P-80 SS-N-22 Sunburn missiles remaining) but it has recently proved itself able to defend its countrymen, having shot down the SAAF Boeing a few days prior. The fleet's Ka-26 helicopter has been grounded for many months, so early warning is maintained by a screen of picket trawlers. The Sierra-class sub K-231, which inadvertently caused the fishing fleet to reveal its location, is also in the area, en route to join it.

Virginia launches her sole SH-2G helicopter to gain visibility of what lurks over the horizon. The Seasprite's radar reveals a virtual Soviet flotilla of over 75 vessels; the Soviet force's location is relayed back to the ship and then back to South African and American commands ashore. Within 20 minutes the South African Air Force has launched another Boeing 707, playing the multiple roles of ELINT aircraft, airborne command post and tanker for the accompanying strike force of four Buccaneer light bombers armed with AS.30 anti-ship missiles. Virginia launches her three remaining Harpoon anti-ship missiles at what its commander hopes is the Soviet destroyer; during the five minutes the missiles take to arrive over the target the cruiser's crew detects one of the submerged Soviet submarines and LtCdr Hans Brupp, the helicopter pilot, is recalled to localize and prosecute the contact as the American cruiser charges at the Soviet fleet at top speed. The Harpoons close on the Soviet fleet; one hits the factory ship (a vessel that processes fish caught by other trawlers) Vasili Krennekov, one is shot down by the Rastoropny's point defense 30mm cannon and the third hits the Soviet destroyer 25m short of the bow, knocking the dual 130mm gun turret off its mounting, starting a fierce fire. The shock wave from the explosion knocks most of the destroyer's electronics offline and ruptures pipes throughout the ship.

As Virginia closes in, she engages the outlying picket ships with her 5-inch guns, concentrating fire on the trawlers' bridges to disable their ability to maneuver and communicate. Brupp is able to obtain a MAD (magnetic anomaly detector) hit on the K-154 and turns and drops a Mk-46 lightweight torpedo on the Soviet sub. The torpedo hits within 30 seconds but its 96-pound warhead is insufficient to breach the subs inner pressure hull. The helo turns back to its parent ship to rearm (it carries only a single torpedo), allowing the damaged sub to slink away at low speed.

While Virginia's helicopter is on the aft deck (halting fire from the aft 5-inch gun), the Soviet destroyer restores enough fighting capability to launch its two remaining anti-ship missiles at the American cruiser, its location being relayed by the picket ships. One of the missiles fails to lock on the nuclear cruiser and the second is hit by Virginia's Phalanx anti-missile gun systems. Shortly thereafter the South African Boeing appears over the horizon and begins verbal relays of ship locations to the American ship (there being no data link system in common between the two nations) as well as the approaching bombers. The Buccaneers launch all eight of their AS.30 anti-ship missiles at Rastoropny, five of which hit, breaking her back and making the fires aboard even worse; within four hours the battered ship slips beneath the waves.

Brupp returns to the air having rearmed with two more Mk-46 torpedoes, discarding the spare fuel tank he had on the prior flight, and attempts to re-locate the Akula-class boat. He fails to do so, Virginia's hull-mounted sonar of little use and with crude jamming of the sononbuoy relay circuit by the Soviet fishing craft. Virginia slows its rate of advance when it receives word of Rastoropny's condition, concentrating its effort on sinking the largest Soviet support ships while dispatching a motor whaleboat to capture the Soviet tanker Captain Pershin. After 45 minutes the cruiser has nearly run out of ammunition for its guns and shooting comes to a halt, allowing the gun barrels to cool as the whaleboat comes alongside the tanker. After a short firefight the Captain Pershin's Soviet ensign is struck and the Stars and Stripes flown; unfortunately the tanker's cargo tanks are nearly dry. As the remaining trawlers scatter in all directions a flight of B-52s arrives overhead; the high-flying bombers are laden with unguided munitions (all that were available in Kenya) which are of little use against the Soviet fleet. Virginia pulls alongside the fish transport ship Motovskiy Zaliv, capturing it and its cargo of 4000 tons of frozen fish. The trio of American-controlled ships soon departs, aware of the presence of enemy submarines, having sunk eight trawlers, two factory ships and the Soviet destroyer.

Nhaziern Khazi, a drug smuggler turned Pasdaran militiaman, decides to strike out on his own. He slips away from the camp at night and makes contact with an old acquaintance who he knows has contact with the communist Tudeh guerrillas. A meeting is scheduled.

The gas tank in CIA agent David Hudson's stolen Lada finally runs dry, forcing him to abandon the rugged car and resume his journey on foot. The vehicle had, however, enabled him to cover over 800 km of hostile territory in less than 72 hours, leaving him outside the town of Võru in southeastern Estonia. Hudson sets out on foot for the Baltic coast.