CARRIER 3: ARMAGEDDON MODE

That brought his attention back to CATCC’s domain. He could hear a chief at a nearby console calling a rescue helo.

“Aircraft down, aircraft down,” the chief was saying, “Angel One, this is CATCC. We have an aircraft down at bearing one-zero-four, range three miles from the boat”

“Angel One copies,” a voice responded over the speaker. The heavy thup-thup-thup of helicopter rotors could be heard in the background. “On our way. Do you have reports of chutes?”

“Negative chutes, Angel One. No witnesses.”

“Roger, Jefferson. We’ll let you know.”

Tombstone looked at the PLAT camera. Several sailors were still lying on the forward deck where they’d been knocked down by the impact. Black smoke was wafting across the deck between the camera and Jefferson’s bows. A pair of VF-97

ARMAGEDDON MODE

219

Tomcats still sat on the catapult slots, steam boiling around them from the deck.

With a fascinated horror, Tombstone watched as the F-14 on Cat Two began to move, to slide forward toward the bow.

He couldn’t tell if a cat shooter had accidentally pressed the button, or whether a malfunction had triggered the catapult without a signal from the deck. Whatever the cause, the F-14 was moving forward, but slow . . . slow … far too slowly to get airborne.

“Negative launch! Negative launch!” the Air Boss’s voice sounded over the speaker. Another voice in the background was screaming. “Eject! Eject! Eject!”

The Tomcat reached the forward edge of the deck like a canoe reaching the precipice of a waterfall. There was a flash and a swirl of smoke. Two figures could be seen jetting into the sky on rocket trails as the Tomcat balanced precariously for a moment, then swung tail-high and vanished over the bow.

Two parachutes broke in the sky above the flight deck, drifting back toward the ship. One man dropped safely onto the deck a few feet from where he’d launched seconds before. The other drifted aft, landing among the A-6 strike aircraft being readied for Operation Mongoose along the carrier’s port side. Deck crewmen rushed up to him as he struggled with his harness, collapsing his chute before it could drag him over the side.

Tombstone turned away from the PLAT monitor in time to see a sailor marking new information onto the transparent acrylic flight status board. He’d not caught the number of the F-14 that had been shot down.

Tomcat 201, Army and Dixie. The sailor was writing “MIA: 0801” in bold letters across the row reserved for them.

His Tomcat . . . and his place.

/ should have been there. . . .

He dismissed the thought immediately. The fates that determined each twist of life and death in combat were too capricious to be analyzed in so simplistic a fashion.

But it would have been him in that aircraft, should have been . . . had Admiral Vaughn not pulled him off the flight line.

Suppressing a shudder, he walked toward CAG, who was leaning against a console, studying the radar returns of approaching aircraft.

220

“Tombstone!” Hitman said. “Where ya goin’?” “To get me an airplane!” “Well, hey! Wait for me!”

0603 hours, 26 March C1C, U.S.S. Vtcksburg

“Goddamn it to hell.” Vaughn rubbed his chin with one hand. His own skin felt clammy and cold. “God-damn it to hell . . .

“Damage isn’t too bad,” me radio voice continued. “Minor fires in some stored paint abaft die chain locker, but fire parties have those in hand. Casualties so far are light, but a muster’s probably going to turn up some missing men blown off the deck.

“Our worst operational damage is to the catapults. One and Two are both down, and the cat .crews are not real optimistic about getting them up again any time soon. There was some minor buckling to the deck, and the steam lines to the forward catapults are out.”

“Shit,” Vaughn snapped. “Are they still up at the waist?”

The radio operator passed on the admiral’s question.

“Three and Four are still operational,” was the reply. ‘ ‘Good pressure, and no apparent damage. We have DC parties checking them now.”

“Well, that’s something, anyway,” Vaughn said.

“It’s going to restrict operations, Admiral,” Captain Bersticer said, frowning. “They’ll have to shift aircraft aft to die waist to continue launching . . . and they won’t be able to simultaneously launch and recover aircraft Operation Mongoose is supposed to go down in four hours. We’ll never make it without four working cats.”

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