May 23, 14:00 hours local
CINCPAC Headquarters
Honolulu, Hawaii
8:00 hours western Pacific
Admiral Jim D. Kirk was in the operations center monitoring the situation in the Western Pacific. He had been there all morning and had taken lunch there while being kept up to date by his staff on other situations across the Pacific Ocean.
Kirk was the Commander in Chief of all U.S. Navy forces in the Pacific, or CINCPAC. He had been in the position for eighteen months now, having been the commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 forward deployed to Japan before that, the Captain of the USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76, before that, and the 1st Captain of the U.S.S. Zumwalt, DDG-1000, before that. The Zumwalt was the first in class of the Zumwalt class, of which the Monsoor, which was part of what he was currently monitoring, was the her sister ship and 3rd in class.
“They pegged me for a fast mover back then,” he thought, “and I suppose they pegged me correctly in light of events since then.”
He had not conceived back at that time, when he had taken command of the pre-commissioning unit (PCU) USS Zummwalt, that his star would have risen as far as it did.
“Boy did I get some ribbing back then,“ he thought, “especially after we got that letter from William Shatner congratulating us on the upcoming christening of the vessel back then.”
“How did he put it?” thought the Admiral, ”let’s see…it went something like:
“…obviously your captain, Captain Kirk, is dear to my heart.”
“Jeez, I had never met the man,” the Admiral mused, “well, no matter, that command was really the start of some very special experiences for me.”
“I have to admit, how apropos it would have been had I been given command of the new USS Enterprise when she was launched. But, having had the Reagan, then Strike Group 5, and now being here at CINCPAC, I would not trade.”
Admiral Kirk believed he was acutely qualified for his current command…particularly given the geo-political and military conditions of the time.
He had commanded and become intimately acquainted with the highest technology that the U.S. Navy could bring to bear, with the ships, the personnel…and with the political leaders who ultimately decided how they were to be used.
While in Japan, he had met the Chief of Naval Operations of the Chinese People’s Republic Navy. He had sat in conference with the Chinese President. He had worked closely with the Japanese, Australian, Indian, and other chiefs of naval operations and their principle commanders.
The fact was, he was correct…no one in command position on the U.S. Navy side could have been better prepared for current events.
He personally knew Captain Henry Stevenson commanding the Monsoor and Task Force 21, and had helped mentor him. He had shared a lot of information, both via his own reports from the time, and with more recent conversations, about what he had learned about the Zumwalt class.
Kirk also personally knew Admiral Tim Stoker, who was the commander of the U.S. Navy 7th fleet which was forward deployed out of Yokosuka, Japan…where Kirk had commanded CSG 5 from, as well. In fact, Stoker was online now, as a part of the ongoing video-conferencing and monitoring of CSG 5s and TF 21’s progress this afternoon…or this morning over in the area.
“Henry, what is the George Washington’s disposition?” Kirk asked.
There was a slight delay as the question was relayed via satellite over the almost four thousand miles between Honolulu and Yokosuka.
“Sir, the George Washington Group is on station, now some 270 miles to the East of TF 21. He lead elements are about 75 miles closer.”
“Great, Henry,” Admiral Kirk responded. “How are her air assets deployed?”
“Well, she has an HV-22 that is preparing to leave the Monsoor right now. That aircraft just completed a COD to the Monsoor. She has a filight of three F-25 Charlies directing four MQ47 Bravos in the closer vicinity to the Monsoor.
“Those UCLASS aircraft, controlled by the Hogs, are monitoring the situation about 50 miles to the Monsoor’s west at this point. A Hawkeey, protected by four Super Hornets, is orbiting another 75 miles back.”
Kirk took all of this in.
He was pleased. The OPLAN was playing out as they had planned it, and they had plenty of insurance.
“Okay, I am going to step out for a couple of hours to address some other maters, but I will be back around 1600 hours as that PLAN Task Forces closes with the Monsoor. Keep me appraised in the mean-time of any important developments.”
Over the last year, Kirk had pushed specifically to make sure that CSG 5, which embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, had had her air wing augmented. For that matter, all of the other carriers in the Pacific had gotten the same treatment.
“His,” carrier air wings were comprised of the following:
18 x F/A-18E Super Hornet Strike fighters
18 X F/A-18F Super Hornet Strike fighters
12 X F-35C Thunderbolt II Strike Aircraft
06 x EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Aircraft
06 x XQ-47B UCLASS unmanned Patrol/Strike aircraft
10 x SV-22 Osprey ASW aircraft
02 x HV-22 Osprey COD aircraft
06 x E2-D Advanced Hawkeye AEW&C aircraft
Kirk well knew that this amounted to a wartime deployment of 78 aircraft aboard the carriers in the Pacific. Those in the Atlantic and over in the Med and the Persian Gulf areas were deployed with a more modest 58 aircraft.
But Kirk has championed the Pacific effort (which he had referred to as the “Real” Pacific pivot), and insisted upon it in the current environment. He had received support all the way up the chain. The CNO, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of Defense, and the President himself had all agreed. Oh, they had received some push back from the minority party in congress, and several media outlets had attempted to paint the effort as an overreaction at best, and provocative at worst.
“But, heck, that’s what you would expect from those folks,” he thought, “those are the same people who insisted on ‘leading from behind’ a couple of administrations ago and, at least in my estimation, helped create the conditions which demanded these measures…which I sincerely hope will help avoid any hostilities.”
In addition, the makeup of Carrier Strike Force 5 had also been augmented. Under Kirk’s leadership, it now consisted of:
1 x Nimitz nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Geroge Washington, CVN-73
1 x Ticonderoga AEGIS cruiser, USS Anteitam, CG-55
1 x Burke Flight III AEGIS destroyer, USS Olendorf, DDG-121
1 x Burke Flight IIA AEGIS destroyer, USS Lassen, DDG-82
1 x Burke Flight II AEGIS destroyer, USS Steham, DDG-63
1 x Small Surface Combatant Frigate, USS Samuel Morrison, FFG-
1 x Small surface Combatant Frigate, USS Reuben James, FFG-
1 x Virginia Nuclear Attack Submarine, USS Texas, SSN-775
1 x Los Angeles ADCAP Nuclear Attack Submarine, USS Hampton, SSN-767
Nine powerful vessels comprising the CSG.
Kirk’s other four carrier groups, CSG 1 with the Carl Vinson and CSG 9 with the Ronald Reagan home ported at North Island and San Diego, CSG 3 with the John Stennis and CSG 11 with the Enterprise home ported at Everett and Kitsap in Washington, were all now configured very similarly.
At the current time, CINCPAC had the Ronald Reagan deployed over in the eastern Indian Ocean, west of Sumatra and Java, exercising with the Indian Navy’s Vikrant group. He had the Enterprise, the latest Ford Class Carrier, and first deployed to the Pacific, deployed west of Midway Island, performing exercises with the new Japanese carrier, which was their first purpose built carrier for fixed wing aircraft since World War II.
The USS Enterprise group and air wing were even more heavily augmented…and were conducting those exercises with the JMSDF after having recently completed their Composite Unit Training Exercises (COMPTEX) three months earlier.
It was going to prove that Kirk was right to have had all of those groups augmented…but not for the reasons he thought.
Those whom he and the U.S. political leadership were seeking to deter, and the events, nations, and leaders that they hoped to influence, were not going to react as they expected. (Copyright 2015 Jeff Head)
