Other Books by William C. Dietz
THE WINDS OF WAR SERIES
Red Ice
Red Flood
Red Dragon
Red Thunder
Red Tide
AMERICA RISING SERIES
Into the Guns
Seek and Destroy
Battle Hymn
MUTANT FILES SERIES
Deadeye
Redzone
Graveyard
LEGION OF THE DAMNED SERIES
Legion of the Damned
The Final Battle
By Blood Alone
By Force of Arms
For More Than Glory
For Those Who Fell
When All Seems Lost
When Duty Calls
A Fighting Chance
Andromeda’s Fall
Andromeda’s Choice
Andromeda’s War
RED TIDE
THE WINDS OF WAR
WILLIAM C. DIETZ
Wind’s End Publishing
Copyright © 2019 by William C. Dietz
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover art by Damonza
This book is dedicated to all members of the United States Navy past and present.
Thank you for your service.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Author’s Note
About the Winds of War Series
About William C. Dietz
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the people and organizations without whom this book wouldn’t have been possible:
Mark Bebar
Mark Bebar received a B.S. degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in 1970 and a M.S. degree in Ocean Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.
Mark has over 48 years of experience with a focus on total surface ship system research and development, design and acquisition support.
Mr. Bebar began his career with the U.S. Navy Department – Naval Ship Engineering Center in 1970 and by 1971, was assigned to the concept/ feasibility study effort which led to the Patrol Hydrofoil – Missile (PHM) Class.
He was Design Integration Manager for PHM, a member of the Navy design team through lead ship testing, technical issue resolution with Boeing Marine Systems (BMS) and collaborative development of PHM-3 Series follow ship specifications.
In 1978, Mark was assigned to the PHM Program Office (PMS-303) at Naval Sea Systems Command HQ during the early stages of follow ship detailed design and construction.
Martin Grimm
Martin Grimm studied Naval Architecture in Sydney in the late 1980s and spent his career as a naval architect in the Australian Department of Defense in the field of Ship Hydrodynamics. Martin’s university thesis project had been a numerical simulation of the motions of surface piercing hydrofoils in waves.
Eliot James
Eliot James is an entrepreneur who, with fellow adventurers Bill and Bob Meinhardt, purchased the Aires when the government put her up for sale and subsequently, with the help of his wife Diana James, founded the USS Aries Hydrofoil Museum.
Eliot also served as a technical advisor, and was kind enough to coordinate input from other subject matter experts during the writing of this book.
Captain Carl Weiscopf USN (ret.)
Captain Weiscopf graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned as an Ensign in 1970. After serving on the USS Waddell (DDG 24) during the Vietnam war and other ships thereafter, he was named commanding officer of the USS Aries (PHM 5), patrol, hydrofoil, missile ship, which served as the model for the PHMs depicted in this book.
Expertise was garnered from the men and women who invented, built and supported the PHM fleet and the experimental hydrofoils that came before.
Those individuals include John Myer, Marylin Martin, John Monk, Vern Salisbury, Sumi Arima, Harry Larson, Ray Vallinga, Martinn Mandles and countless others—as well as former PHM crew members; Chuck Shannon, Dennis “Mac” McCarthy, Mark “Buz” Buzby, Jan Downing, and Robert “Buzz” Borries.
Many thanks to the following organizations as well:
The USS Aries Hydrofoil Museum, located in Gasconade, Missouri: https://www.ussaries.org
The International Hydrofoil Society (IHS): https://www.foils.org
The Historic Naval Ships Association https://www.hnsa.org
CHAPTER ONE
Yulin Harbor, Hainan Island, China
Because of the Yulin navy base, the neighboring city of Sanya was subject to a 2100 curfew and blackout. So, when the ships left the harbor at 0100, there was no fanfare.
The ships were mostly dark, their engines thrumming, as the vessels proceeded single file toward the temporary gap in the closely guarded breakwater. A tug was waiting to pull the sub net back into place.
The carrier strike group’s code name was Nan Feng (South Wind), and it consisted of six ships. A pilot boat led the way, followed by the destroyers Changchun, and Macau. The aircraft carrier Henan came next. Once the carrier slid past the bombproof sub pen, the attack submarines Changzheng (Long March) 401, and the Changzheng (Long March) 706, slipped out to join the nearly invisible procession.
The subs were followed by something new to the Chinese navy, and to the entire world for that matter. And that was the semi-submersible cruiser Hailong (Sea Dragon).
She was 667 feet long, powered by a nuclear reactor, and shaped like a submarine with two conning towers. One was located forward, and the other aft, providing redundancy in the case of battle damage.
But what made the Sea Dragon so dangerous was her cutting-edge design. Thanks to the cruiser’s sleek hull she could travel semi-submerged, so as to reduce drag, and keep pace with a fast-moving naval strike group. Or, the Dragon
