Chains of War Bonus Scenario 2 - Armed Diplomacy 21/3/96

[fitzpatv]

In 1996, against a background of rising tensions between China and Taiwan, the US sent a carrier group through the Straits of Taiwan, with orders to answer force with force. Historically, things simmered down without any hostilities breaking-out, though the crisis helped stimulate the modernisation of China’s armed forces. In this ‘what if’ scenario, the Chinese choose to contest the passage of the American ships.

You can only play the US side. No victory levels have been set, though you lose points for casualties and score them for getting CVBGs through the Straits. Nothing is scored for destroying Chinese units.

The latter is mainly because the US has a heavy preponderance of force in this scenario. China in 1996 was far from having the might it wields in the main Chains of War plotline in 2017. Their destroyers and frigates are weak in SAM and ASW protection, their subs are old Hans and Mings and, in the air, they have only a smallish core of Flankers with Alamos amongst a horde of obsolete MiG-21s and MiG-19s and not-much-better Finbacks. Moreover, the Flankers are based well away from the Straits opposite Hainan at Suixi and at Nanchang in the interior. Many of the lesser fighters’ A2A missiles are rear-aspect or even stern-chase. They do have a large number of Badgers with YJ-6 anti-shipping missiles but these need to get to within 54 km of their targets to fire – they otherwise have some Fantans with bombs or rockets. Some Silkworm/Seersucker sites dot the coast but lack surface search radar and need data from other sources. China’s SAMs are mostly Guidelines/HQ-2s, though they have a few more effective Grumbles and HQ-61s.

The USN, by contrast, is in a state of rude health. Off NE Taiwan, the Nimitz and her two accompanying auxiliaries are escorted by the CG Port Royal, two destroyers and a frigate. USS Independence lies off SE Taiwan with two Spruance destroyers and a frigate, with the CG Bunker Hill detached to the W. Both carriers have plenty of fighters armed with Phoenixes, AMRAAMs and Sparrows, with no logistical worries and the full selection of strike and support aircraft available.

Additional support can be provided by the land base at Kadena, Okinawa, where there are F-15s, Sentries, Orions, KC-135 tankers and Aries ELINT/search planes.

Nimitz is supported by the SSN Portsmouth, while Independence has two SSNs, Bremerton and Columbus, nearby. Like the carrier groups, these have a modest but useful stock of TLAMs to hand.

21/3/96 09:00L: You are told to send at least one CVBG through the Straits. I opted to have Nimitz make the transit, with Independence in support off SW Taiwan, though I’d probably have scored more points had I sent both groups through in opposite directions. Bunker Hill was sent back to rendezvous with Independence. The SSNs would run interference with both torpedoes and TLAMs readied.

I was delighted to find that (with v.1328.2018 installed) one can now set EMCON for multiple aircraft at once instead of having to go through one plane at a time. My heartfelt thanks to whoever coded this change!. In general, this playthrough was a far less buggy affair than many of late (no issues with malfunctioning Grumbles or sonar detection, though tankers still fly to their customers instead of the other way round and have to be watched like a hawk), so well done to the developers!.

China starts Neutral, with the choice of when to start hostilities. Theoretically, I could have done so myself but it seemed contrary to the spirit of the scenario.

I posted a Sentry to observe goings-on at the Badger base at Danyang, near Shanghai but the other one at Guiping Menshu was a little far to scout in safety and I had to rely on Independence’s Hawkeyes to spot bombers coming from the W. Recon soon located the two Chinese SAGs, each consisting of three Luda destroyers and three Jianghu frigates, SE of Shanghai and off Shantou, the latter being SW of the Straits. In addition to numerous Guideline sites dotted around the mainland, there was a Grumble at Fuzhou, near the Straits, supported by two HQ-61s.

10:00L: Two Harbin flying boats flew down from Ningbo and made a pass over the Nimitz group before proceeding to scout Independence. In theory, they posed a threat to Portsmouth, so I shadowed them with fighters but otherwise let them pass.

12:00L: Two MiG-21s overflew the Nimitz group. Again, in theory, they could have dove and dropped bombs or rockets on the carrier, so it was a case of watching them intently for any sign of them descending while keeping fighters and SAMs handy. They passed by. Tense stuff.

13:00L: In an attempt to provoke the Chinese, I sent a TARPS recon F-14 past the mainland and overflew Huian airfield, where the Fantans were reportedly based. Perhaps because I flew too high, it found nothing and was then covered in MiG-21s as it headed home. At that moment, for whatever reason (maybe a timed event), the Chinese went Hostile. Despite best efforts, diving below the floor for the MiGs’ PL-7s, the F-14 was short of fuel and was eventually hunted-down and destroyed, though it took one with it. This cost me 100VP. Aerial combats then broke-out near both CVBGs, with another dozen Fishbeds downed without further loss. The survivors withdrew and Nimitz’s Hornets duly picked-off the two loitering Harbins.

14:00L: A combined HARM/Harpoon attack from Independence’s Hornets crippled the Southern Chinese SAG, sinking two destroyers and two frigates while damaging the others. In the process, we spotted a Silkworm site near Xiamen, covered by a Guideline. USS Bremerton knocked both out with TLAMs. Some Fishbeds chased the strike planes and Independence’s CAP splashed two.

A six-plane Harpoon strike from Nimitz’s Hornets and Intruders then sank five of the ships in the Northern Chinese SAG, leaving a damaged frigate in no state to interfere with us.

15:00L: A pair of Intruders finished-off the Southern SAG with Harpoons. Another sank the remaining frigate from the Northern Group, ending the surface threat.

Five more Fishbeds were downed as CAP adopted a more aggressive posture, contesting the airspace over the Straits.

Meanwhile, F/A-18s searched for Silkworms along the coast, finding a site on Pingtan Island, near Fuzhou. Bremerton was enlisted to dismantle this with Tomahawks.

16:00L: A posse of Fishbeds launched from Fuzhou’s Longtian airport and were wiped-out by Nimitz’s Hornets and some tanker-supported Eagles from Okinawa.

17:00L: A Hornet took-out a coastal Bar Lock radar with a Maverick and an F-14 loosed some TALDs at the Grumble site, making it waste ammo.

Nimitz officially entered the Straits at 17:30, prompting a reaction from the Chinese. Eight Fishbeds launched from Quzhou, to the N and were slaughtered by Naha’s F-15s. Some Farmers launched to the W and a quartet of Flankers came down from Nanchang but adopted a defensive stance over the mainland.

18:00L: Two Hornets with ‘heavy’ AMRAAM loads engaged the Farmers, downing five plus one of a group of Finbacks that reinforced them, retreating as more Finbacks arrived and ammo drained away. Meanwhile, a pair of Phoenix-armed Tomcats duelled with the Flankers, shooting down one without loss in a more even contest, with much firing and afterburnering away.

While this was going on, the Nimitz group detected a Han SSN. ASW torpedo damage forced it to the surface, whereupon the FFG Ford bizarrely began to fire RIM-66s at it to no effect until restrained. Gunfire and another torpedo finished the job.

An F-15 bagged two Fishbeds, while two Hornets knocked-down 5 Finbacks and two Farmers.

19:00L: A Ming diesel sub was detected and sunk by an Orion providing close support to Nimitz.

F-14s with ‘light’ Phoenix loads took-on a second quartet of Flankers from Nanchang, disposing of two without loss. Meanwhile, Hornets destroyed another four Farmers.

Bremerton wrecked a third Silkworm site detected by Hornet near Shantou, which proved to be the last of them.

Another four Flankers arrived from Nanchang and two Tomcats totally failed to hit any of them. More Finbacks approached from Guangzhou, almost catching me unawares as I concentrated on fighting the Flankers. Recovered in time to save the Hornet they were targeting, which took-out the lead J-8 and got clear.

While this was happening, a second Ming was detected and sunk at the NE end of the Straits.

20:00L: Hornets downed the remaining three Guangzhou Finbacks. TLAM strikes destroyed several radars (which were off by default) and the Guideline site at Shantou, which was a navigation hazard. USS Port Royal launched a flock of TLAMs in an effort to eliminate the Huian Fantan squadron (which was limited to daytime attacks) on the ground before dawn but somehow only destroyed one plane.

21:00L: Crisis point as the Chinese launched a massive, co-ordinated Badger strike, with crocodiles of bombers and escorts approaching from N and W. I’d reserved most of my Phoenix-armed Tomcats for this eventuality and set-up two ‘Kill Zone’ missions at the likely engagement areas (the reference points could be adjusted as needed). Fed-in the Tomcats, supported by some Eagles and Hornets while some HARM F/A-18s neutralised the Fuzhou Grumble site to give the fighters elbow room. The Northern bomber stream and its Finback and Fishbed escorts were annihilated well short of Nimitz. The HARM Hornets were then sent against the Western stream, along with Independence’s CAP and reserved ‘heavy Phoenix’ Tomcats.

22:00L: The massive battle against the Badger strike continued, along with HARM strikes on inconveniently-located Guidelines. It was ‘all hands to the pumps’ and stretched CAP almost to the limit. One Hornet was lost to the escorts but the Flankers from Suixi who were accompanying the Western Badgers ran short of fuel and, with no tankers, withdrew to base. Carnage continued and, in the end, the Chinese lost 51 Badgers and numerous escorts without getting in range to launch a single YJ-6.

23:00L: We were now short of carrier fighters as everyone re-readied, so reinforcements were called-in from Okinawa. Thankfully, the Chinese were similarly exhausted. The DDG Hewitt made a TLAM strike against the Flanker base at Nanchang but the J-11s weren’t on tarmac spaces, as I’d guessed and none were destroyed. Worse, four got airborne just before the missiles arrived. A similar attack on the Suixi Flanker base, intended to coincide with them readying, suffered from the same lousy guesswork. Recon wasn’t really practicable.

Five Intruders tried to close the runway and taxiway at Huian with Skippers before dawn broke. They encountered problems with a lack of buddy illumination but a Hornet helped-out here and both targets took heavy damage, hopefully grounding the attack planes. The strikers got clear before the Flankers arrived.

22/3/96 00:00L: Two F-14s re-readied and flew to engage the Flankers, downing three without loss. These duels involved a lot of manual control and needed my full attention.

For what it was worth, Nimitz crossed three Victory Areas and scored a total of 1,000 VP, making the score +800. She then carried-out a strike which eroded the remaining SAMs around Fuzhou.

02:00L: Further strikes on the Fuzhou SAMs left two components standing.

03:00L: Had some issues with two F-15s and a Hornet refusing repeatedly to RTB, re-setting to Unassigned several times. I solved the problem by Unassigning them and trying again. Somehow, they had not been fully released from a previously-assigned Mission.

04:00L: Nimitz was now out of the Straits and steering to join Independence, though this scored no more VP. Four F-14s downed four Nanchang Flankers after a prolonged duel.

05:00L: Mounted HARM strikes on SAM sites far and wide, finishing-off Fuzhou and discovering a similar Grumble/HQ-61 complex around Guangzhou which I mostly left alone. Intruders cluster-bombed Huian but, remarkably, only hit one Fantan. Where were they?. All attempts to spot them with recon had failed.

06:00L: More Intruders thoroughly bombed Huian with Paveways but hit no Fantans. Their location remained an unsolved mystery.

09:00L: Carried-out more air and TLAM strikes at will across the map, inflicting widespread damage to little real purpose.

So it finished with an undefined score of +800, which could have been increased, in all likelihood, by taking the extra risk of sending Independence through the Straits as well as Nimitz.

The US lost a Hornet and a recon Tomcat.

China lost an SSN, two diesel subs, 6 destroyers, 6 frigates, 86 fighters including 10 Flankers, 53 bombers, two flying boats, 9 SSMs, 81 SAM elements, 16 radars and 10 other ground facilities.

Overall, though exciting and hectic at times, this was a fairly easy scenario (though more complex than the rating suggests). It emphasised, as intended, that the Chinese were wise to back down in 1996 and then modernise their armed forces.

It was also nice to have a relatively bug-free game of CMO. Thanks again to those who did the fixes.

One more Chains of War scenario to go (a big one). I’m away on holiday shortly and will consider whether to soldier-on with Indian Ocean Fury next or continue Falklands.

[Eboreg]

Honestly, judging from what I know about the scenario, I think the Chinese declared you hostile when you violated their airspace.

[FrangibleCover]

Sounds like a good time, I might have to give this one a go myself. I think the TARPS run might have been a mistake though, if you're going to violate someone's airspace, go all in !

[fitzpatv]

Know what you mean, but I didn't want to start the fighting, as it seemed against the spirit of the scenario. Having enemy aircraft repeatedly overflying the fleet with a risk of them suddenly attacking was trying my nerves, so I felt that a little provocation was needed to give me an excuse to get the gloves off. While violating their airspace might have caused them to go hostile, they didn't do so until the TARPS Tomcat was off the NW tip of Taiwan, a little while after it had flown over Huian on the mainland.