Primary Target

17

Captain Nancy Jensen, USN, the first female skipper of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, leaned back in her cushioned chair and watched the last of the F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets trap aboard Washington. Tall, blond, athletic, and outgoing, Jensen was a distinguished graduate of the prestigious Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland.

After leaving TPS, the vivacious aviator had flown Tomcats with the “World-Famous Fighting Black Lions” of VF-213, served as executive officer of the “Jolly Rogers,” and later CO of the skull-and-‌crossbones squadron, commanded Nashville, an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, then served the obligatory stint at the Pentagon before advancing to her present position.

Always the professional naval officer, Jensen took great pride in the fact that she was in command of the enormous nuclear-powered, self-contained floating airport. From keel to mast top, USS George Washington measured twenty-four stories high and weighed over 99,000 tons when loaded to her maximum combat displacement. With a full complement of more than eighty embarked warplanes and helicopters of Carrier Air Wing One, the 1,094-foot-long-‌behemoth could travel to the far corners of any ocean and be ready to fight on arrival. Like the other U.S. carriers, GW provided the commander in chief with an air option that didn’t need the permission of a host country.

Jensen raised her binoculars and studied the variety of ships operating between Washington and the opening to the channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Only twenty-nine miles wide at one point, the crowded Strait of Hormuz is of great strategic and economic importance, especially since a continuous flow of oil tankers passes through the narrow bottleneck. Jensen walked to the starboard side of the bridge and gazed at some of the other warships in the flotilla. Guiding the huge carrier through the narrow choke point would be a stressful time for her.

When Rear Admiral Ed Coleman, the task-force commander, left the bridge to return to the tactical flag command center, Jensen turned her attention to a Grumman E-2C “Miniwacs” Hawkeye on the starboard bow catapult. The airborne warning-and-control aircraft would orbit high above the carrier while the Washington battle group traversed the Strait of Hormuz and steamed toward their operations area.

Rotating shifts with three other VAW-123 “Screwtops” crews, the close-knit group would provide continuous surveillance while the warships were in the Persian Gulf. In order to enhance coordination, the tactical picture from the Hawkeyes was data-linked to Joint Task Force Southern Watch.

The “Hummer” pilot came up on the power and the “shooter”—the yellow-shirted catapult officer — gave a snappy hand signal to launch the twin-engine turboprop. The E-2C squatted, then charged down the deck in a vortex of steam.

Immediately after the Hawkeye cleared the bow, two VF-102 “Diamondbacks” F-14s taxied forward to the starboard catapult. The heavily armed warplanes would serve as the group’s combat air patrol until they were relieved by two fresh crews. The bridge was hushed as Jensen watched the first Tomcat go into afterburner, then thunder down the deck, rotate sharply, and make an immediate clearing turn.

While the pilot of the second F-14 taxied into position, Jensen walked aft on the bridge to check the Alert Five birds parked behind the island. The pair of F/A-18 Hornets were manned and ready to launch on five minutes’ notice. Hearing the Tomcat go to burner, Jensen returned to her chair in time to watch the big fighter blast down the deck and claw for altitude.

“Howszitgoin’?” a familiar voice asked.

Jensen turned to greet her executive officer when he stepped beside her elevated captain’s chair.

“Well, we haven’t been gassed or hit any mines yet.” She smiled, absently tapping her Naval Academy ring on the side of the armrest. “What more could I ask for?”

“Yeah, life couldn’t get any better.” The XO chuckled as he glanced at the departing F-14. “I thought you could use a change.”

“Thanks, Jim,” she said, accepting a steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee. “I’ve had about all the tea I can stand.”

“Same here.” A smile twitched his mouth. “It’s starting to taste like warmed-over jet fuel.”

Captain Jim Lomas, a dashing Hornet pilot and fast-tracker on his way to flag rank, was a likable man who had no qualms about Nancy Jensen’s history-making status. “I hope the folks in the puzzle palace know what they’re doing.”

“So do I,” she admitted with icy calm.

Lomas studied Washington’s escort vessels and the two mine countermeasures ships, then turned his attention to the continuing action on the crowded 4.5-acre flight deck. “I’m sure uncomfortable about taking our boat into Sindbad’s sea.”

“You think you’re uncomfortable.” Jensen chuckled under her breath. “I’d like to know how many of these dilapidated tankers and tramp steamers are actually floating bombs?”

She pointed to a nearby bulk ship going the opposite direction. “If that rusting hulk came hard over to port, he’d nail us straight through the bow.”

“You’re right about that,” Lomas declared. “But I’m more worried about our Achilles’ heel.”

“Getting through the choke point?”

“Right,” he said, and lowered his voice. “We have a deck full of armed and fueled planes, and we’re looking at dozens of new Iranian surface-to-surface missile sites along the straits.”

He picked up a pair of binoculars and studied the shoreline. “They’ve been enlarging their underground facilities and at least nine of the caverns are equipped with Scud-C missiles. We’re sitting ducks if someone gets trigger-happy.”

She sipped her coffee and nodded in agreement. “I’m more worried about their new Shahab-3s. Fire enough ballistic missiles around the Middle East and all our troops are in trouble.”

“Deep trouble,” Lomas drawled.

Jensen glanced at the cruiser Normandy, their lead ship in the battle group, then scanned the array of ships funneling in and out of the Gulf. “We’ve been spoiled by blue-water operations.”

“I like being spoiled,” Lomas said as he watched the destroyer John Rodgers. “I’ll take maneuvering room and wind over the deck anytime.”

“And,” she said with a smile, “plenty of warning time.”

“You bet.” Lomas’s pleasant expression turned solemn. “With all these ships confined in an area approximately 440 by 155 nautical miles, we might as well be floating around in a farm pond.”

Jensen nodded and gazed at the escort ships. “If the cannonballs start flying, it’s going to be like Dollar Day at the Mustang Ranch.”

“Yeah.” Lomas grinned. “Everyone gets screwed.”

Concerned about a supertanker that appeared to be closing on the carrier, Jensen concentrated on the advancing ship, then glanced at the officer of the deck. He ordered a slight course correction and the oil tanker also turned away from the carrier.

Jensen turned to her XO. “You look like a man with something on his mind.”

“Nothing important,” he said evenly, noticing the fatigue etched on her smooth face. “Any chance I can talk you into catching a few winks while I drive for a while?”

She smiled wanly. “I really appreciate the offer, but I better stay on the bridge until we get through the strait.”

Lomas grinned uneasily. “Don’t trust me, huh?”

“You know I trust you.” She laughed quietly. “You wouldn’t be able to sleep either.”

“I can’t deny that.” Lomas chuckled and glanced at the hatch leading to the flag command center. “How often does the ol’ man drop by?”

“Oh, I’d say about every thirty to forty-five minutes,” she answered without any obvious emotion.

Rear Admiral Coleman, a man of prodigiously false humility, didn’t leave any doubt about what he thought of women serving on ships, let alone allowing a female to command an aircraft carrier. The pairing of Nancy Jensen and Ed Coleman had not happened by chance.

“Well, don’t let it bother you,” Lomas said, somewhat self-‌conscious. “He’s a leftover from the steam-gauge era.”

Jensen simply nodded, adding to the sudden uneasiness of the moment.

“I’ll keep the coffee coming,” Lomas said, turning to leave the bridge.

“Jim.”

He stopped and turned back. “Yeah.”

She smiled warmly. “Thanks.”

“You’re gonna do fine,” he said with a rush of enthusiasm.

Darkness had quietly settled over the Gulf when the captain of the Iranian guided-missile patrol boat Neyzeh cautiously closed on the starboard side of the American aircraft carrier and her nine-ship battle group. Ordered to shadow the mighty warship and her flotilla of cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, the skipper was nervous about getting too close to Washington.

On a previous reconnaissance of Enterprise, he had ignored several warnings from an escort vessel and ventured too close to the carrier. In response, U.S. Navy warplanes put on an aerial firepower demonstration that left everyone aboard Neyzeh paralyzed with fear.

Other than viewing the latest in military training films, the men had never seen anything so frightening and devastating. The thunderous display of overwhelming firepower left an indelible impression on the young sailors. An hour after the patrol craft docked, every officer and sailor in the Iranian Navy knew about the incident.

Although the young captain of the Neyzeh didn’t know it, his counterpart in Shamsher, the other Combattante 11B-class guided-missile patrol boat, was even more concerned. By the time he’d heard the embellished story of the awesome American firepower, F-14 Tomcats purportedly walked cannon shells along the side of the craft. Matching the speed of the formidable battle group, Shamsher remained over two miles away from the port side of the giant carrier.

The patrol-boat commanders were aware that the Americans were monitoring and recording all messages they sent to Tehran or received from headquarters. Likewise, Iranian intelligence specialists were receiving a steady stream of information about the movements of the American ships.

In addition to his anxiety about the U.S. warships, the captain was equally concerned about the sudden concentration of American surveillance aircraft over Iran and the Persian Gulf. According to senior Iranian military leaders, signals intercept and spoofing were being carried out by intelligence-gathering aircraft like the U.S. Navy’s EP-3s and the Air Force’s RC-135s. Along with the manned aircraft, the medium-altitude, long-endurance, all-weather Predator unmanned aerial vehicles were sending real-time sensor data to the Pentagon and to the carrier battle group.

Sporting forty-eight-foot wings, the 1,873-pound UAVs contained a payload sensitive enough to monitor low-power radio transmissions, including small handheld walkie-talkies, cell phones, and messages flowing between microwave towers. Equipped with real-time video, synthetic aperture radar, and infrared sensors, the Predators allowed controllers to see through clouds and operate at night. The radar could also be directed under metal buildings and be reflected with enough energy to reveal aircraft or missiles inside.

Shouting matches had broken out in the Baharstan Palace when one of the unmanned intruders repeatedly buzzed the seat of the Majles. The members of the Iranian parliament angrily ordered their military forces to destroy the American’s toy airplanes.

High above Iran, another advanced unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was busy vacuuming electronic signals of interest. Loitering at 62,000 feet, the stealthly UAV was preparing to depart the country after being on station for twenty-eight hours. Joining the bow-tie pattern, another UAV took up station as the first aircraft rolled wings level and flew toward the Gulf. Roughly the size of a medium corporate jet, the highly classified reconnaissance planes represented the latest generation of UAVs.

The skipper of the Neyzeh cast a long look at his Chinese-made antiship missiles. With a range of sixty-five miles, the C-802 Silkworm was Iran’s first new sea-launched missile since the United States sank an Iranian frigate armed with American Harpoon antiship missiles. The captain of the Neyzeh fervently hoped Tehran would not order him to fire the Chinese missiles at the American armada. He knew that attacking the U.S. forces would be tantamount to committing suicide.