57-millimeter, 37-millimeter, and 25-millimeter gunfire, rattling every inch of the big jet with shells. The B-52’s cockpit windows shattered, decapitating the two pilots and sending the stricken aircraft crashing into the sea. The crash of the B-52 not more than three kilometers away was the most incredible sight any of the seventy-man crew of the Haijui-class patrol boat Yingkou had ever seen. The mushroom cloud of fire had to be a kilometer high, and flames were so big and so hot that the captain could swear he felt the heat from inside the bridge. The fireball skipped across the water, rolling and rushing along like a huge orange-and-red tidal wave. It was utterly spectacular. After a few minutes of awe, the bridge crew broke out into wild cheers as the flames began to die away-and then the crew ran for cover as bits of flying metal and thick clouds of smoke rolled across the water. “Radar contact, second and third B-52 bombers, ” came the report from his fire-control officer. “I have a good track on both planes-they should be turning this way just like the first. Five minutes before the next one passes close enough.” This was going to be incredible, the captain thought-he might easily kill a second, and perhaps even a third B-52 with his 57-millimeter gun tonight. He would certainly get his own frigate after tonight… “Move farther west, ” he ordered his helmsman. “I want to be as close as possible to these last twO bombers.” The helmsman went to flank speed in order to get a few meters closer to the bomber’s track-every hundred meters closer was another dozen rounds on target. “Second bomber turning east, range decreasing . . . he’s coming this way, sir… I’m getting jamming on my fire-control radar . . . forward 57 switching to electro-optical sights with data link from Jinan. . . target reacquired, forward 57- and port 30-millimeter report ready.” This was perfect, really perfect. The other patrol boat escorting the destroyer Jinan had no data link with the destroyer $ air-search radar, so all he could do was follow Yingkou ‘s tracers. He would never be credited with a kill… “Thirty seconds… twenty seconds… all gun mounts report ready. . . fifteen seconds. . . all guns stand. He never finished the sentence. The first CAPTOR torpedo mine had armed immediately upon hitting the water and, despite the incredible sounds of destruction from the B-52 crash, had locked onto the engine sounds of the Haijui-class patrol boat as soon as he gunned his engine, and ejected its deadly torpedo. The torpedo switched on its active sonar, acquired and locked onto the patrol boat, accelerated to nearly fifty miles per hour, and hit the patrol boat near the engine compartment one foot below the waterline. A shaped charge rammed a titanium nosecap through the patrol boat’s hull, and the torpedo actually swam three feet inside the port engine room before its eight-hundred-pound warhead exploded. With most of its stern blown apart, Yingkou slipped under the surface in less than two minutes-about as long as it took the last of the burning debris of Trick Zero-One to hit the water. The other two B-52s in the first south attack group avenged their leader’s death with a flurry of Harpoon missile launches, and within minutes three more of Jinan ‘s patrol boats had been destroyed. Jinan itself, overwhelmed by Harpoon missiles from the south as well as the flight of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the southeast, was hit by both a Tomahawk and a Harpoon and was put out of action. ABOARD THE EB-52C MEGAFORTRESS DIAMOND ONE-ONE It was a surprise for Major Kelvin Carter to see the COLA (Computer Generated Lowest Altitude) computer command a climb after so many hours at one relatively stable altitude, but as the Megafortress approached the tall, rocky peaks of the Nenusa Archipelago islands, the EB-52 wanted to climb six hundred feet to clear the tallest peak. Carter edged his Megafortress slightly south of the tiny radar dots, and, after the computer realized it would safely clear all the terrain, the Megafortress sank back to one hundred feet above the eastern Celebes Sea. Alicia Kellerman was busily plotting the positions of the other planes in the strike team as she heard position reports come over the radio. “All right!” she said. “All six BUFFS in the number-two east group and Diamond One-Two made it through. They’re two minutes ahead of us.”
“What about the others?” Carter asked. “The south group got hit real bad, ” Kellerman summarized. “One of the B-2s and a B-52 from Castle got shot down…” “Our B-2? Cobb and McLanahan?”
“Cobb and McLanahan made it through OK. It was a Whiteman bird. One other 509th Black Knight from the north group aborted when they lost an engine; all the other planes from the north group made it. “The other five B-52s from the south group look like they took out that destroyer to their east and a few patrol boats, so they might make it through. There’s another destroyer battle group coming in from the west-that might be a problem when the strike package egresses to the south. No other reports: everyone else appears to be heading in on schedule. Kane on the EB-52 escorting the east number-two strike group got two Chinese fighters.”
“Search radar at eleven o’clock, ” Atkins reported. “Golfband search . . . Sea Eagle 3-D air-search radar, Luda-class destroyer. GCI signals, possibly more fighters coming in from the northwest.”
“That destroyer’s at forty miles, and he’s got five escorts with him, ” Kellerman added, checking her updated ISAR radar display. “We’ll be going in about sixty seconds ahead of the south B-52s. We’re within TACIT RAINBOW range, EW. Line em up and let’s get those suckers.” BANGOY STRAIT, NEAR DAVAO, MINDANAO, THE PHILIPPINES SAME TIME It was the largest assembly of Chinese warships since the Korean Conflict, all concentrated within ten miles of the city of Davao-and they were ready to begin their assault. The assault group was split into two groups, each led by a People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyer. North of Samar International Airport in Bangoy Bay was the destroyer Dalian, with six patrol boats as escorts, in overall command of five ex- United States LST- I -class tank-landing ships, each with two hundred and fifty People’s Liberation Army Marines, ten light tanks, and twenty armored personnel carriers; and four Yukan- class landing ships, each with over four hundred Marines and one thousand tons of cargo and equipment. Each amphibious assault ship had several smaller landing craft that would each drop thirty Marine engineers ashore to clear wires or traps and soften up beach defenses; then the landing ships themselves would drive to shore, beach themselves, and disgorge their fighting men in massive waves. Helicopters from the Yukan-class ships would then begin to drop Marines and artillery pieces nearby, and the whole company would fan out across the countryside, secure the coastal inlands north of the airport, then drive south. The main attack force was four miles south of Davao, in Davao Gulf itself. Led by the destroyer Yinchuan, its amphibious assault force had ten LST-I-class tank-landing ships and eight Yukan-class landing ships, plus numerous smaller landing craft, minesweepers, and support ships. This group had the responsibility of securing the highlands west of Davao, encircling the city itself, and then linking up with the northern group to help secure the airport. By 0135 hours, two hours ahead of schedule, the two Ludaclass destroyers had moved to within eight miles of the landing area and opened up with their I 30-millimeter cannons, peppering the beach and treelines near the intended landing zones with one round every second per vessel. The rounds were of all different types-most were standard shells weighing fifty pounds and carrying eight pounds of high-explosives, but some were shells that carried infrared sensors that horned in on heat sources such as vehicles or machine gun nests, incendiary warheads that spattered napalm to set buildings or heavy brush afire, or bomblets that spread out over a wide area to increase the destruction of each shell. Helicopters with infrared spotting scopes were used to spot targets for some of the guns, but mostly the Chinese were content to bombard the area without regard to specific targets. The destroyer Yinchuan turned a few of its rounds on the area surrounding Samar International Airport, hoping to scatter some of the defenders that were certainly waiting for the Chinese to come ashore. After twenty minutes of continuous bombardment, the Chinese assault ships began launching wave after wave of small landing craft with Marine engineers and security guards to clear a way for the assault ships to beach themselves. The gunfire from the destroyers became much more selective, targeting and hitting a few large-caliber shore-gun emplacements to provide covering fire for the landing craft. While raking the shore with 37- and 25- millimeter gunfire, the landing craft dropped some frogmen overboard to search for water traps or mines, while the others went ashore to begin hunting for minefields and to suppress heavy gun emplacements on shore. Except for a few widely scattered mines, they encountered almost no resistance. It took the first waves of landing craft less than ten minutes to reach the beach. After twenty-five minutes of bombardment, each 1 30-millimeter gun on the destroyers had expended one-third of the rated life for its barrels, so the heavy shelling ceased and the search began for attacks against the landing craft. They found a few snipers and encountered light resistance from hit-and run grenade attacks, but the Chinese Marines sustained only a few casualties. “Sir, report from Rear Admiral Yanlai, ” Captain Sun Ji Guoming, the chief of staff for Admiral Yin Po L’un’s flag staff, said. “The amphibious assault has gone better than he expected. The first landing craft are ashore with few casualties; the second wave will land in a few minutes. No heavy resistance is being encountered from Samar’s forces.” A tremendous weight seemed to be lifted from Admiral Yin’s shoulders. Ever since Captain Sun and a few of his other advisers had recommended against Marine landing until the American Air Battle Force was dealt with, he had been worried that his decision to proceed with the assault was a bad one-now it seemed to be remarkably prescient. “Does Admiral Yanlai have any suggestions?”
“No, sir, ” Sun replied. “He is proceeding with the planned operation.”
“The plan supposed Samar’s usual stiff guerrilla resistance to the landing forces, ” Yin said. “Samar has obviously fled. It is time to step up the attack-with the American force nearby, it is essential. Order Admiral Yanlai to land the LSTs and troop-landing ships after the second wave of Marines ashore.” The flag staff turned toward Yin
