Nimitz Class

off the shores of potential aggressors.

Unreachable by air or sea attack, virtually unsinkable by any conventional underwater weapon, surrounded by a wall of guided missiles and tracking electronics, protected twenty-four hours a day by a sweeping, computerized radar field, home to its own fighter-attack supersonic air strike force…

No word in the English language accurately describes the invincibility of the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers, save one: impregnable.

Almost.

Cast of Principal

Characters

Senior Military Command

The President of the United States (Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Armed Forces)

General Joshua R. Paul (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs)

Vice Admiral Arnold Morgan (Director, National Security Agency)

Carrier Battle Group

USS Thomas Jefferson

Rear Admiral Zack Carson (Flag Officer)

Captain Jack Baldridge (Group Operations Officer)

Captain Carl Rheinegen (Captain of the Jefferson)

Lieutenant William R. Howell (fighter pilot)

Lieutenant Freddie Larsen (Radar-Intercept Officer)

Lieutenant Rick Evans (Landing Signal Officer)

Ensign (Junior Grade) Jim Adams (Arresting Gear Officer)

Captain Art Barry (Commanding Officer USS Arkansas)

Lieutenant Commander Chuck Freeburg (Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer [ASWO] USS Hayler)

Lieutenant Joe Farrell (Navy pilot)

U.S. Navy Senior Command

Admiral Scott F. Dunsmore (Chief of Naval Operations)

Admiral Freddy Roberts (Vice CNO)

Admiral Gene Sadowski (C-in-C Pacific Command)

Admiral Albie Lambert (C-in-C Pacific Fleet)

Admiral Schnider (Head of Naval Intelligence)

Vice Admiral Archie Carter (Commander, Fifth Fleet)

U.S. Navy Personnel

Lieutenant Commander Bill Baldridge (Naval Intelligence)

Lieutenant Commander Jay Bamberg (Assistant to the CNO)

USS Columbia

Commander Cale “Boomer” Dunning (Commanding Officer)

Lieutenant Commander Jerry Curran (Combat Systems Officer)

Lieutenant Commander Lee O’Brien (Marine Engineering Officer)

Lieutenant Commander Mike Krause (Executive Officer)

Lieutenant David Wingate (Navigation Officer)

U.S. Navy SEALS

Admiral John Bergstrom (Commander, Special War Command, SPECWARCOM)

Commander Ray Banford (SEAL Mission Controller)

Lieutenant Commander Russell Bennett (Platoon Leader, SEAL Number Three Team)

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) David Mills (SEAL SDV driver)

Political and Presidential Staff

Robert MacPherson (Secretary of Defense)

Harcourt Travis (Secretary of State)

Dick Stafford (White House Press Secretary)

Sam Haynes (National Security Adviser)

Louis Fallon (White House Chief of Staff)

CIA Officers

Jeff Zepeda (expert on Iran)

Major Ted Lynch (Middle East financial specialist)

Family Members

Grace Dunsmore (wife of CNO)

Elizabeth Dunsmore (daughter of CNO)

Emily Baldridge (mother of Jack and Bill)

Ray Baldridge (brother of Jack and Bill)

Margaret Baldridge (Jack’s wife)

Royal Navy Personnel

Admiral Sir Peter Elliott (Flag Officer Submarines)

Captain Dick Greenwood (FOSM’s Chief of Staff)

Lieutenant Andrew Waites (Flag Lieutenant)

Admiral Sir Iain MacLean (Retired FOSM)

Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Shaw (Commanding Officer HMS Unseen)

Family Members

Lady MacLean (“Annie,” wife of Sir Iain)

Laura Anderson (daughter of Sir Iain and Lady MacLean)

Senior Foreign Officers

General David Gavron (Military Attache, Israeli Embassy, Washington)

Vice Admiral Vitaly Rankov (Head of Russian Naval Intelligence)

Foreign Navy Personnel

Leading Seaman Karim Aila (Dock Sentry, Iranian Navy)

Prologue

Deep in the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between the Greek mainland and the long western headland of