Battlefield Korea

Ant Hive

The two American Supercarriers were almost constantly either launching or recovering aircraft for the past three hours. The Korean War had started just like the Iraq War in 2003, with complete and utter shock and awe, which was a stark contrast to how things had started with Russia. The US hit North Korea with nearly 1,500 cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions, destroying much of the country’s command and control bunkers, air defense and artillery positions in the first thirty minutes of the war.

The KPA (Korean People’s Army) was being pounded from the air, sea, and land by the US and ROK Forces in a very well-planned, and rehearsed attack plan. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the US had kept detailed and up-to-date plans on how they would disable and occupy the North, should it ever come to that. Once it became clear that a war with North Korea was unavoidable, those plans were once again combed over and updated. So far, things were basically going according to the grand strategy.

Captain Michael Richards, the Captain of the Carl Vinson stood on the bridge, watching as the next wave of aircraft was recovered from a successful bombing run. The pair of F/A-18s that just flew in, had been hitting suspected artillery positions near the beach area, where the US and ROK Marines would be assaulting once the ground war started.

Richards looked on as the Hornets were guided to the elevators, where they would be lowered to the next deck, so they could be refueled, rearmed, and then returned to the flight deck so they could hit the next target. The whole process moved so quickly that the pilots were only on the ship long enough to use the restroom, rehydrate, and get a brief on their next target before they got back in the air.

The maintenance and ordinance crews below were working feverishly to get the aircraft turned back around and ready for another mission. It was relentlessly hard and backbreaking work getting everything done like this. When things were running smoothly, it was impressive to watch. When things went awry, it could get crazy fast.

Captain Richards picked up a pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse of one of the aircraft coming in. It was streaming smoke from one of its engines. The F/A-18 had taken a hit from some enemy ground fire and was trying to limp its way back home. The aircraft moved a bit awkwardly through the air as it approached the carrier, streaming a light trail of black smoke from one of its engines. He could see it was in a bit of trouble; it was coming in too high and too slow.

The air boss tried to wave the aircraft off, but the pilot was determined to set her down. He descended quickly, thinking he might overshoot. Then, just as the aircraft looked like it was going to make it, its remaining engine stalled out and the F/A-18 slammed into the rear of the ship, just below the flight deck, killing the pilot and injuring nearly a dozen people. Black oily smoke began to billow from the stern. Firefighting groups immediately rushed forward to douse foam and fire retardant on the flames.

“No! The pilot should have gone around or ditched in the water!” yelled Richards. Then the Captain let out a long stream of obscenities. He’d mourn the loss of the pilot later; right now, he had other aircraft needing to land, and this foul-up had just cost him precious time.

One of the other officers from the CIC came up to the bridge and got his attention. “Captain, there’s a message coming in from the Reagan,” he said, handing Richards a piece of paper. The officer paused long enough to look out the window and see the black smoke coming from the rear of the carrier, and then unceremoniously headed back down to the CIC.

His CAG looked at him. “What’s it say, Captain? Anything good?” he asked trying to take his mind off the pilot he just lost.

The Captain read it over, then looked up at the CAG. “One of their Hornet pilots spotted a mobile missile launch vehicle moving through a valley where he was bombing some artillery positions. The pilot didn’t have any ordinance left, but sent the grid back to the carrier. Looks like the North may be trying to get in position to launch some ballistic missiles,” he replied, which made the bridge crew a bit nervous.

No one knew if the North would try and use their nuclear weapons, or if the missiles would be conventional or possibly chemical in nature. A nuclear missile could just as easily as take out the battle group as a coordinated strike by the Chinese or Russians.