It was much the same for him now. Tombstone was convinced that he was
right, that Jefferson’s best hope lay in staying close to the Norwegian coast
and striking hard at the Soyuz once again, before the two Russian forces could
unite. Stonewall Jackson had used much the same strategy in the Valley
Campaign of the American Civil War, hitting first one Union army and then
another … and in the end defeating them all.
“If we run,” he pointed out, “we’ve got two Russian forces on our heels.
In fact, we’ll have to cut right past the Baltic Fleet’s bows. They’re bound
to spot us once we’re clear of the coast, and they’ll be launching alpha
strikes of their own. Any ships in this battle group that are damaged will be
snapped up in pretty short order.
“But if we head north, we can deal with one force at a time. Hit the
Soyuz, sink her, sink or scatter her escorts. We’ll draw Kreml after us and
give II MEF a chance to get through to the coast. Maybe we can find a new
hideout in a different fjord and coordinate with the Marines as they approach
the beach.”
“What about expendables?” Emerson said. “The admiral just pointed out
we’re almost out of Harpoons.”
“Almost. We have enough for one more alpha strike, though. Maybe two.
If we get in really close this time, I’m convinced we can break through their
air defenses and do some real damage. But we’re going to have to move damned
fast.”
“Another twelve hours,” Brandt said from his seat in the front row of
chairs, “and Kreml will be in range to launch an alpha strike of her own. God
help us then.”
“Stores is a big problem,” Tarrant pointed out. “We’re going to have to
rendezvous with the UNREP ships sooner or later.
“Yes, sir.” Tombstone pulled a notebook from his khaki shirt pocket and
thumbed it open. He’d been making some notes already, toying with the
resupply problem. “The UNREP ships carry CH-46 Sea Knights for vertical
replenishment, and there are Sea Knights with the Marine amphib ships. Their
cargo capacity would let them carry two Harpoons each internally … or eight
slung externally from a cargo net. Even ASW Sea Kings could manage one
Harpoon apiece if they skimp a bit on fuel for the trip. We could press them
into service off the Marine amphibs, or from our frigates.”
“That takes care of Harpoons,” Brandt said. “What about jet fuel? We
must be running close to critical. Helos can’t bring in enough fuel for the
whole air wing.”
“Yeah, fuel’s a problem,” Tombstone conceded. Jefferson was
nuclear-powered and needed no fuel, but her aircraft burned tens of thousands
of gallons of JP-5 each day. Shiloh and the other ships in the battle
group–all save Galveston–were not nuclear powered either. They needed fuel,
a lot of it, to keep going. “But we should be able to proceed with air ops at
this level for two more days before that becomes critical. We could also
stretch things a bit by tapping helo fuel from Shiloh or the escorts.”
“Negative,” Tarrant said sharply. “I will not reduce our ASW capability.
Not with the threat from Russian subs as great as it is in these waters.”
“Okay,” Tombstone said. “We still have enough JP-5 aboard for one more
alpha strike, especially if it’s a short one. In two days we can rendezvous
with the UNREP ships and resupply. But north somewhere, near the coast.
Maybe in the Vestfjord.”
One of Tarrant’s staff officers shook his head as he turned in his seat
to look at Tombstone. “Nice idea, Commander, but I still don’t see why the
Kreml battle group doesn’t just chase us all the way up the coast. If they
could catch us while we’re running southwest, they could do the same with us
going north.”
“They might. But they’re going to be cautious if we manage to deep-six
the Soyuz. And, if we time things right, if they do follow, it will be them
getting trapped between CBG-14 and the Marine carriers.” He grinned. “The
Russians are not dumb. Sink the Soyuz, and I don’t think they’ll be in a mood