sharlin
Banned
Somewhere in the North Atlantic – 1994
The last survivors from the Krondstadt had been hauled aboard from the flaming hulk that had once been a 7000 ton cruiser, that was now sliding under the seas 12 miles astern of the formation, victim of a mercy hit from the Udaloy class Vice-admiral Kulakov, the big destroyer was now racing to catch up with the fleet, her two Helix helicopters scouring the water round the last known contact of the sub that had got the hit on the Krondstadt.
They had dropped two torpedoes on a possible contact and there had been one explosion underwater but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Even with land based cover from Iceland and the helicopters from the various heavy escorts and precious Kiev class carriers in the centre of the formation there was casualties. The Krondstadt was simply the largest. Two RAF Tornadoes had put Sea Eagles into the Burevestnik (better known as the Krivak class by NATO) Druzhnyy which had set her ablaze, the fire had reached her Osa-MA SAM and detonated, ripping the small frigate apart with only a handful of survivors. The Project 671RT submarine B-244 had also stopped reporting, another loss to cursed NATO hunter killer SSN’s.
Letting out a soft sigh Vice-Admiral Nikolai Fillipov lowered his binoculars as the smoke from his latest casualty faded into the distance. He had been told to accept losses, he knew to expect them but it still hurt. And unlike the army or Airforce the navy could not throw away ships and submarines, each one was a considerable investment of resources for the Rodina.
The Kalinin rode the Atlantic swells easily, her long clipper bow cutting through the chop as her nuclear reactor pushed her through the seas at 28 knots. Not flank speed by far, but fast enough to make it difficult for any NATO submarine to intercept them without making too much noise which could be detected, and if they could be detected they could be destroyed.
Lost in his own thoughts the Admiral walked into the bridge, nodding at the Commissar who awaited him. He thought back to the coup, General Secretary Gorbachv had been killed and those in his Cabinet professed to know nothing. Of course they were lying. KGB and NKVD investigations had found that the cause of death had been poison, and the poisoner was in the pay of America. The Government denied this and the Military stepped in, replacing the weak lackeys who were bargaining away Russia’s strength and defence in return for grain and food.
Relations had deteriorated with the West, whilst rioting broke out in East Germany which was firmly stepped on by internal security forces. Heightening tensions led to an exchange of fire north of Berlin and rightfully, fearing a NATO attack the Soviet Union had acted to defend itself and its Warsaw Pact allies.
By all accounts the fighting on the ground was murderous for both sides, the Army paying a heavy cost for its advances into Germany, whilst the Airforce was also taking a pounding. The key to victory in Europe was to cut the supply chain of the Western Allies, to stop them shipping men, equipment and supplies from the USA.
This task fell to the Navy. TU-22 and TU-160 attacks against Convoys and NATO warships were yielding results, especially with the cover of fighters from occupied Iceland. Fillipov smiled grimly. He’d read Red Storm Rising, it was scary to think how accurate the American author Clancy was with his idea on how the Soviet Union planned to occupy Iceland in the event of War.
The surface fleet had rushed through reinforcements to the Island as well as air defence missiles to help dominate the space round the island although constant air battles had whittled down the fighters and replacements still had to run the gauntlet of NATO fighters to reach Iceland. Especially from the still dangerous Norwegians who refused to yield yet having over half their country occupied.
With their comrades in the submarines and AVMF doing their part to defeat the Capitalists the Surface fleet had been called on, from the comparatively safe waters north of Iceland and was now sailing into battle. Russia had not deployed a fleet of this scale since The Russo-Japanese war of 1904, and it was hoped there would not be a repeat of that disaster.
Two Kirov class battlecruisers, two Slava Class, and the refitted and rebuilt Kievs Kiev and Baku with their compliment of MiG-29s guarded the Carrier Kremlin at the center of the fleet, whilst a dozen destroyers, frigates and older anti-submarine cruisers as well as four Akula class attack submarines formed the most powerful Soviet fleet to sail since the fleet exercises of 1982.
RORSATsatellites had detected a US lead Carrier battlegroup heading to intercept the blatant Soviet challenge to the security of the sealanes. Already there had been success, the AVMF had promised full support from their strike and reconnaissance forces and the small Spanish Carrier Principe de Asturias had been located and sunk by Su-24’s from Iceland as it steamed to join the NATO battlegroup along with one of her escorts.
It was a huge risk, placing so many ships, almost the entire striking strength of the Northern Fleet in one location, Admiral Goshkov would be turning in his grave if he knew how much of his precious fleet, that he had shaped and moulded into the force it was now, was in harms way, but orders were orders. Fleet Admiral Chernavin had been quite explicit in his orders and he was a man you obeyed, unless you wanted to spend time in the company of the KGB or a ‘retirement’ to Siberia.
“Admiral, we have a message from Leningrad. It reads ‘Cross the Volga.’”
Fillipov nodded, that was the ‘go’ signal. His counterpart onboard the Kremlin already had SU-27’s out near the reconnaissance planes to protect them from American interceptors. Indication that the TU-22’s and 160’s were on their way as well as the TU-16s from Iceland. Other assets were deployed that he had no command over, the three lurking Granit class submarines (Oscar class) with their massed missile batteries who would launch only when the AVMF attacked to overwhelm the NATO defences with sheer numbers for example.
It now became an electronic game of hide and seek. The winner would get the first blow in, the looser would suffer thousands of casualties in an already costly war.
Something I wrote because my muse went berzerk for some reason...
Any thoughts or comments? And why does this look so much bigger on MS Word :S
The last survivors from the Krondstadt had been hauled aboard from the flaming hulk that had once been a 7000 ton cruiser, that was now sliding under the seas 12 miles astern of the formation, victim of a mercy hit from the Udaloy class Vice-admiral Kulakov, the big destroyer was now racing to catch up with the fleet, her two Helix helicopters scouring the water round the last known contact of the sub that had got the hit on the Krondstadt.
They had dropped two torpedoes on a possible contact and there had been one explosion underwater but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Even with land based cover from Iceland and the helicopters from the various heavy escorts and precious Kiev class carriers in the centre of the formation there was casualties. The Krondstadt was simply the largest. Two RAF Tornadoes had put Sea Eagles into the Burevestnik (better known as the Krivak class by NATO) Druzhnyy which had set her ablaze, the fire had reached her Osa-MA SAM and detonated, ripping the small frigate apart with only a handful of survivors. The Project 671RT submarine B-244 had also stopped reporting, another loss to cursed NATO hunter killer SSN’s.
Letting out a soft sigh Vice-Admiral Nikolai Fillipov lowered his binoculars as the smoke from his latest casualty faded into the distance. He had been told to accept losses, he knew to expect them but it still hurt. And unlike the army or Airforce the navy could not throw away ships and submarines, each one was a considerable investment of resources for the Rodina.
The Kalinin rode the Atlantic swells easily, her long clipper bow cutting through the chop as her nuclear reactor pushed her through the seas at 28 knots. Not flank speed by far, but fast enough to make it difficult for any NATO submarine to intercept them without making too much noise which could be detected, and if they could be detected they could be destroyed.
Lost in his own thoughts the Admiral walked into the bridge, nodding at the Commissar who awaited him. He thought back to the coup, General Secretary Gorbachv had been killed and those in his Cabinet professed to know nothing. Of course they were lying. KGB and NKVD investigations had found that the cause of death had been poison, and the poisoner was in the pay of America. The Government denied this and the Military stepped in, replacing the weak lackeys who were bargaining away Russia’s strength and defence in return for grain and food.
Relations had deteriorated with the West, whilst rioting broke out in East Germany which was firmly stepped on by internal security forces. Heightening tensions led to an exchange of fire north of Berlin and rightfully, fearing a NATO attack the Soviet Union had acted to defend itself and its Warsaw Pact allies.
By all accounts the fighting on the ground was murderous for both sides, the Army paying a heavy cost for its advances into Germany, whilst the Airforce was also taking a pounding. The key to victory in Europe was to cut the supply chain of the Western Allies, to stop them shipping men, equipment and supplies from the USA.
This task fell to the Navy. TU-22 and TU-160 attacks against Convoys and NATO warships were yielding results, especially with the cover of fighters from occupied Iceland. Fillipov smiled grimly. He’d read Red Storm Rising, it was scary to think how accurate the American author Clancy was with his idea on how the Soviet Union planned to occupy Iceland in the event of War.
The surface fleet had rushed through reinforcements to the Island as well as air defence missiles to help dominate the space round the island although constant air battles had whittled down the fighters and replacements still had to run the gauntlet of NATO fighters to reach Iceland. Especially from the still dangerous Norwegians who refused to yield yet having over half their country occupied.
With their comrades in the submarines and AVMF doing their part to defeat the Capitalists the Surface fleet had been called on, from the comparatively safe waters north of Iceland and was now sailing into battle. Russia had not deployed a fleet of this scale since The Russo-Japanese war of 1904, and it was hoped there would not be a repeat of that disaster.
Two Kirov class battlecruisers, two Slava Class, and the refitted and rebuilt Kievs Kiev and Baku with their compliment of MiG-29s guarded the Carrier Kremlin at the center of the fleet, whilst a dozen destroyers, frigates and older anti-submarine cruisers as well as four Akula class attack submarines formed the most powerful Soviet fleet to sail since the fleet exercises of 1982.
RORSATsatellites had detected a US lead Carrier battlegroup heading to intercept the blatant Soviet challenge to the security of the sealanes. Already there had been success, the AVMF had promised full support from their strike and reconnaissance forces and the small Spanish Carrier Principe de Asturias had been located and sunk by Su-24’s from Iceland as it steamed to join the NATO battlegroup along with one of her escorts.
It was a huge risk, placing so many ships, almost the entire striking strength of the Northern Fleet in one location, Admiral Goshkov would be turning in his grave if he knew how much of his precious fleet, that he had shaped and moulded into the force it was now, was in harms way, but orders were orders. Fleet Admiral Chernavin had been quite explicit in his orders and he was a man you obeyed, unless you wanted to spend time in the company of the KGB or a ‘retirement’ to Siberia.
“Admiral, we have a message from Leningrad. It reads ‘Cross the Volga.’”
Fillipov nodded, that was the ‘go’ signal. His counterpart onboard the Kremlin already had SU-27’s out near the reconnaissance planes to protect them from American interceptors. Indication that the TU-22’s and 160’s were on their way as well as the TU-16s from Iceland. Other assets were deployed that he had no command over, the three lurking Granit class submarines (Oscar class) with their massed missile batteries who would launch only when the AVMF attacked to overwhelm the NATO defences with sheer numbers for example.
It now became an electronic game of hide and seek. The winner would get the first blow in, the looser would suffer thousands of casualties in an already costly war.
Something I wrote because my muse went berzerk for some reason...
Any thoughts or comments? And why does this look so much bigger on MS Word :S
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