The Crucible. Joaquin De Torres

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СКАЧАТЬ to our front line ships.” Antonio turned his head away and dropped his eyes to the floor. “I regret to say that. . .Kristina is near the top of that list, Ray. She’s slated to be the CO of one of our newest missile cruisers, the Rosa Parks. It’s one of the super Arleigh Burke destroyers, refitted with all of Kristina’s weapons systems.”

      “Oh my God!” A tear began to pool at the corner of Ramon's right eye.

      “Ray, it wasn’t my doing. I was told--”

      “You spineless, SON OF A BITCH!”

      “Ray, there’s still time. Maybe I can--”

      “When were you planning on telling me? During the fucking ship christening!?” The boom of Ramon’s voice made the secretary outside the office and several coworkers slide nearer to the door to listen in. Ramon moved forward slowly, almost stalking Antonio who fell defenselessly into his chair. He moved in closer, raising his index finger like a bayonet. His tone was threatening.

      “If you don’t stop this, Antonio, and something happens to my daughter out there--” The malice in his voice and the look in his eyes were horrifying. “If something happens to her, friendship and family be damned, I’m coming after you!”

      “Good evening, Baltimore, and welcome to a special addition of Channel 4 Baltimore Evening News. I’m Anita Chavez.

      “Today North Korea took another aggressive step towards anti-American diplomacy by deploying five of its newly-purchased warships in close proximity to American and allied warships monitoring the Iron Clad blockade.

      “Naval sources tell us that one of the warships, a Slava-class guided-missile cruiser, approached within 10 meters of the U.S.-made Japanese cruiser Kojiro, shadowing her for several minutes before moving off.

      “The North Korean government issued a statement that more of their capital ships will come on station in the coming days, and that they will be ready to attack the blockading forces if the order is given. Sources say that Pyongyang’s aggressive maneuvers are a result of their confidence in their new fleet of powerful ex-Soviet combatants, and the fact that the U.S. has no active carrier stationed within Korean waters. In fact, all U.S. carriers are in or around the Taiwan Strait, keeping watch over the Chinese navy whose threat of a Taiwan invasion now seems imminent.

      “The area around Taiwan has been dubbed by the Defense Department as the “Ring of Fire.” Presently there are over 75 U.S., Taiwanese and Japanese ships on alert in the Ring. China continues its aggressive force build-up and has amassed over one million landing troops on their side of the Strait; scores of bomber, fighter and air-to-ground attack aircraft squadrons have been moved from all over China to the coast; and several fleets of rocket-attack, landing and transport ships stand poised for what may be a cataclysmic encounter with U.S. and Taiwanese forces.

      “There is no word on whether any more carriers are coming to reinforce those already in the Ring. Because the U.S. fleet is stretched so thin, experts believe that North Korea will continue to show increasing aggressiveness towards allied ships the longer the deadly Iron Clad blockade goes on. This has been a Channel 4 Baltimore Evening News update, I’m Anita Chavez.”

      Chapter 4

      Resurrection

      Pier 28

      Najin Naval Base

      Najin, North Korea

      The Kim Il-Sung sat droning at the misty pier like a dragon engulfed in its own breath. Work lights illuminated the ship as groups of workers quietly attended her. The paint was still fresh, her decks gleamed clean, and her flags snapped crisply in the wind.

      But it wasn’t always like this. This was a ship that had come back from the dead. She was one of a few vessels saved from the white-flamed heat of a scrapper’s torch and the metal block crusher. Sitting like a condemned building, reduced to an iron shell, she sat at Abrek Harbor near Vladivostok, stripped and left for dead for more than 15 years. Her name was Lazarev.

      The Lazarev was the second of four siblings from the monstrous Kirov-class of nuclear-powered battlecruisers first laid down in 1977. Although they were considered four of the Soviet Union’s greatest surface force achievements, the Kirov and the Lazarev, steamed for less than 20 years. The funds to maintain and refit these behemoths dwindled as the nation struggled to finance their arsenal and their forces stationed abroad. The Lazarev joined the growing population of ships decommissioned before their prime in the early ‘90s. Sitting pier-side as historical monuments, or left to rot in dilapidated harbors, the greatest examples of Cold War technology sat in decay, and their highly trained crews were sent home or reassigned.

      In the summer of 1996, China’s Force Budget chairman contacted the head of Baltic Shipyard #189 in Leningrad, to talk about the possibility of buying members of the dying fleet. A deal was struck and thus began a purchasing partnership between the PRC and Russia that would see the transferring of over twenty-five vessels. Months later, North Korea signed a partnership with the PRC to buy several of the vessels at a reduced price. They specifically asked for a large vessel; they got two: the Lazarev and her twin sister, the Ushakov. They would become the largest vessels ever commissioned in the history of the Korean Peninsula. Even more alarming to Asia and the U.S. was that the Chinese would also provide the North Korean navy the weapons and electronics for the new inventory of thirteen total ex-Soviet ships.

      After 21 months in dry dock, the Lazarev was alive again. Refitted and refurbished, she was now the Kim Il-Sung, named after their great Communist leader of the twentieth century. The Ushakov became the Kim Jong-il, named after his son. In separate ports, both ships sat like proud centurions, once again prepared to stand guard over their embattled nation.

      Only two-thirds of the ship was equipped and operational by the time she was ready to sail. Without the full range of systems, the crew consisted of only 735 officers and men, 165 less than Lazarev’s original crew. Massively armed yet stripped down for speed, she was a juggernaut designed to slam into an enemy navy like a tsunami. She was assigned one of the nation’s most experienced captains, Admiral Park Woo-kuen, who was quoted as saying he would bring down the Iron Clad blockade singlehandedly if he had to.

      As workers, engineers and sailors loaded supplies under the blanket of dense cloud cover, many paused to gaze up at the ship. The Kim Il-Sung dwarfed every vessel in the harbor with her sheer mass: 820 feet long, 92 feet wide, and displacing over 24,000 tons. The summits of her fore and aft split superstructures towered over 100 feet above the waterline. Deck by deck, tier upon tier, she exuded the cold invincibility of a vessel flawlessly engineered for war. On her forward deck, the forecastle, flush forward of the bridge laid 20 iron doors, the deck silos for her vertically-launched SS-N-19 Shipwreck anti-ship cruise missiles, one of the most feared weapons of her arsenal. These were the weapons that were configured with thermobaric warheads and feared most in the world. Twenty-four hours later, the Kim Il-Sung would be heading northeast through the Sea of Japan in search of her prey.

      “Good evening. This is a CNN special late-breaking report. I’m Gloria Hawk. This just in.

      “U.S. Navy sources report that three North Korean fighters intercepted a Navy AWACS reconnaissance plane in international waters over the Tsushima Straits just 30 minutes ago. Navy officials said that at approximately 5:30 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, three North Korean MIG-29 Fulcrum fighters, recently purchased from China, intercepted the AWACS and briefly locked their fire control radars onto it.

      “The AWACS, flying from the USS John C. Stennis, was СКАЧАТЬ