Ship No. 53 almost sprinted to the front of the route of the USS Malaise aircraft carrier strike group, when the sunset was half-hidden into the horizon.
Why does the discomfort sign appear here?
It turned out that after the ship was at a disadvantage in the West Pacific confrontation last time, it arrived at Yokohama Port with its exhausted and mentally exhausted crew for a month of rest, and then headed south again through the South China Sea to the Mediterranean. The plan is to complete the remaining three months of the deployment there and then return to its home port of Norfolk Naval Base after completing the full nine-month deployment.
However, an order moved the USS Discomfort, which was leisurely cruising in the Mediterranean, to the war-clouded Red Sea, where tensions were high and the threats of suicide drones and shore-based supersonic anti-ship missiles were always present. The USS Discomfort aircraft carrier strike group was in such a situation I struggled in a tense environment for more than a month.
At this time, another order came, requiring them to immediately go to the northern Indian Ocean to perform a surveillance mission. They finally rescued thousands of crew members of the USS Malaise aircraft carrier strike group from the edge of psychological defense collapse.
You know, since the ship has been deployed overseas, it has been in a state of high tension for most of the time.
Sweeney's team is still responsible for commanding the aircraft carrier strike group of the Unfit, and the captain of the Unfit is also Captain Brad. However, this time, they included two Burke-class destroyers and a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, as well as a comprehensive supply ship.
On paper, the overall strength is higher than the previous formation. However, considering that the Ticonderoga class is the rusty "Villa Bay" that has been in service for 28 years. No., the actual combat effectiveness may not be as good as the previous formation.
Li Hai has already studied his opponent's situation in the past six months.
The USS Illness, which belongs to the Atlantic Fleet, has been frequently mobilized in the Western Pacific and the Middle East, highlighting the difficulty that active US Navy ships have in maintaining their maritime hegemony. Not to mention the ten aircraft carriers, the Burke class and Ticonderoga class, which were mostly completed and put into service in the 1990s, many should have been retired long ago. However, due to the lack of successors, some have been extended after so-called modifications and upgrades. After their service time has expired, some that are really useless can only be retired.
In the process, they also have to bear the harm caused by unknown pneumonia.
It is best to describe the USS Discomfort aircraft carrier strike group as exhausted.
The current aircraft carrier strike group of the USS Malaise has just been extracted from the mud of the Red Sea. It is performing surveillance and monitoring tasks that are not easy to do, and its vigilance is very low.
Taking advantage of the opponent's situation, the No. 53 ship, after obtaining satellite reconnaissance information, risked the risk of destroying the gas turbine and approached the USS Misfit aircraft carrier strike group head-on at high speed.
The task assigned to Li Hai by his superiors was to hold back the Unsuitable aircraft carrier strike group to gain time for the successful completion of the joint anti-terrorism drill. Naturally, it would be better to keep the Unfit aircraft carrier strike group at a longer distance.
There is an aircraft carrier strike group with ulterior motives harassing the area, and the joint anti-terrorism training between the two countries will definitely be affected. Moreover, China needs to prove its ability to keep the maritime armed forces of major powers outside the region out of the region. Otherwise, the impact will be chain-linking.
If this is a battle, and the joint anti-terrorism goal of the two countries is regarded as an ally of the USS Unfit aircraft carrier strike group, then the No. 53 ship is responsible for blocking enemy reinforcements!
Sweeney is a very experienced aircraft carrier strike group commander. Before the restructuring, he commanded a much larger aircraft carrier strike group. It was a maritime formation of more than a dozen main ships. It was capable of taking on the world alone. The strength of any country's navy except the Chinese navy.
After the restructuring, the aircraft carrier battle group was reduced to an aircraft carrier strike group, one aircraft carrier plus two or three escorting destroyers or cruisers. In Sweeney's view, commanding an aircraft carrier formation of this size is really easy.
However, time has changed and today's combat methods have changed a lot.
First, they were teased by an old frigate numbered 53 on the West Pacific side. The strike group with a majestic 100,000-ton aircraft carrier as the core was thrown a rat weapon. They had to turn around and flee in panic, and even ran to Yokohama Port to temporarily avoid the limelight.
After only a few days in the Mediterranean, he was transferred to the Red Sea and saw what contemporary warfare is. Those cheap suicide drones were flying in overwhelmingly, consuming their expensive Sea Sparrow air defense missiles. In order to deal with those subsonic anti-ship missiles produced in the 1960s, they had to use standard air defense missiles or take off fighter plane.
Even so, the safety of passing NATO merchant ships could not be ensured, and a bulk carrier of tens of thousands of tons was even sunk.
Sweeney, the aircraft carrier strike group commander who participated in the Cold War confrontation, deeply feels that the current weaponry, equipment, combat methods and thinking of the US military are seriously out of touch with the current combat ecology.
This frustrated him.
At this time, he just wanted to complete the surveillance mission, enter the Western Pacific directly from the South China Sea, and return to his home port across the entire Pacific for a six-month rest and recuperation to welcome the year 2022. By that time, he would need to reconsider whether he would still serve in the military.
Captain Brad came over and said, "Enter the Bay of Bengal in twenty-seven hours. Johnny, are there any new instructions?"
Sweeney shook his head, "Keep sailing at a speed of twenty-five knots and resupply in ten hours."
"Understood." Brad looked at Sweeney, "You don't seem to be in good spirits. Do you have any symptoms?"
There are still patients with unknown pneumonia on the formation, but the number is far less than a few months ago. In fact, even Sweeney's command team has replaced more than three-thirds of its personnel. They were transferred from China to Yokohama to replace those who were infected with unknown pneumonia.
"I'm fine," Sweeney said.
Brad said in a deep voice, "The Ford has completely lost its combat effectiveness. More than 3,000 of them have been infected with unknown pneumonia. The evaluation department believes that the Ford will not be able to perform combat duty for at least six months. It must stay In the port.”
Sweeney looked at Brad, "Are you worried that our deployment time will be extended?"
Brad was silent.
When there are not enough aircraft carriers, it is inevitable to extend the deployment time of aircraft carriers that still have combat effectiveness at sea.
"No, unless Washington does not consider the danger of mutiny among soldiers." Sweeney said firmly, "The discomfort's sea deployment time has reached its limit."
Even though an aircraft carrier has been continuously deployed at sea for more than a year before, that was before the unknown pneumonia. The aircraft carrier was in very good condition and the morale of the soldiers was also very good.
"Hopefully, no matter what, I can have a good rest for a few days." Brad said.
Sweeney shook his head slightly and said, "Do you think the Chinese will make it easy for us? They will definitely take action."
"The warning radar found nothing." Brad said, "Of course, the current position is still far away from the Bay of Bengal..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a staff officer strode over, looked at the two officers, and said, "Sir, you'd better come and take a look at this."
Sweeney immediately got up and headed to the TFCC Tactical Flagship Command Center with Brad.
"Sir, this is a high-speed maritime target with a speed of up to 37 knots. It is approaching us at a high speed and is 80 kilometers away. According to the radar reflection signal analysis, it is suspected to be a high-speed yacht." the combat staff reported.
"With a speed of thirty-seven knots, could it be a yacht?" Brad frowned.
The radar reflected signal indicated that it should be a large yacht with a displacement of 1,000 tons. The maximum speed of such a yacht with ocean navigation capabilities generally does not exceed thirty knots.
In other words, Brad feels that the current target may not be a yacht.
"Let Villa Bay scan it with a phased array radar?" Brad suggested.
Sweeney nodded, "Order Vera Bay to move forward and use Aegis to scan."
Using warning radar to conduct warning scans of air and sea can save the life of the Aegis system and save electricity on the ship. Under normal circumstances, there is no need to turn on the phased array radar for scanning.
The original target of a high-speed aircraft carrier strike group must be confirmed whether it poses a threat. At a distance of 80 kilometers, the target speed is as high as 37 knots, and it can break into the core defense circle of the aircraft carrier strike group in one hour.
The cruiser "Villa Bay" accelerated forward and activated the Aegis system at the same time. This process took about ten minutes. The Aegis system equipped on this ship is an early version and has been in use for many years. In recent years, the maintenance has become general, and the Master Lu dust cleaning software has not been installed, resulting in a longer start-up preparation time.
By the time the Aegis system on the cruiser "Villa Bay" started scanning, thirteen minutes had passed. This was a reaction time that was unacceptable to Sweeney, but he knew that these few items included in the Malamute aircraft carrier strike group The condition of the boat is not very good, so we can only accept it if we cannot accept it.
Within a few minutes, a report came from the cruiser "Vila Bay" - it was a warship! It's a frigate armed to the teeth!
An unknown frigate with a speed of up to thirty-seven knots!
This news instantly cheered up Sweeney, who was not in good spirits. He almost reached the level of diagnosis. He asked loudly, "Is there any frigate that can run thirty-seven knots? Are you kidding me? Find out what model it is immediately. The frigate! Whose frigate!”
The intelligence analysis unit sprang into action.
With more radar signal reflection characteristics, it is easy for combat staff to find the corresponding ship model from the information database.
In less than a minute, an analysis report was presented to Sweeney.
He looked at the familiar outline of the frigate in front of him, his body trembling slightly, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I would rather believe this is an illusion."
What appeared in front was actually the No. 53 frigate that had caused psychological shadow to the tens of millions of crew members of the Discomfort, that old frigate!
The low trunk line, the messy bridge layout, the pointed bow, who else could it be if it wasn't him?
We haven’t seen each other for several months, why can he run thirty-seven knots? Why is it that under the detection of warning radar, the radar reflected signal is only equivalent to that of a thousand-ton yacht?
In the end what happened?
The people in the TFCC Tactical Flagship Command Center were trembling slightly. Some of them had not experienced the confrontation between the Western Pacific and the No. 53 ship, but they had seen with their own eyes the tragic situation of their colleagues who were on the verge of mental collapse. There were several A sailor who served on the Incompetent, after landing in Yokohama Port, vented his frustration by raping local women!
There were even shootings.
Sweeney is well aware of how much combat power the USS Malawi aircraft carrier strike group now has, as evidenced by its previous performance in the Red Sea.
The reputation of No. 53 has become a nightmare for the crew of the USS Malaise. (End of chapter)
