Fourth Crisis: The Battle for Taiwan Read Online Free PDF Page A

squinted through the armored,
tinted windows and looked to the other ships spread around the supercarrier.
    A bit smaller than the cruiser at just over 500 feet, two
guided-missile destroyers— Mahan and Paul Hamilton —steamed with George Washington and Lake Champlain .   Bringing up the rear and rounding out the
posse was the smallest ship of the group, the guided-missile frigate Rodney M. Davis .   Ten miles ahead of this main body of ships, the
nuclear attack submarine California ran
200 feet beneath the choppy surface leading the charge.
    California was a
377-foot high-tensile steel shark.   Although
she looked like most submarines, with a hemispheric bow, dive planes, a tall
sail, and a long black cylindrical hull that tapered at the stern, California went beyond common
appearances to represent the cutting edge of American submarine
technology.   Like other boats of the new Virginia class, California sported a wide array of advanced sensors and
weaponry.   She could dominate shallow
green and deep blue water against any submerged foe, conduct covert
surveillance, deliver special forces, or pummel land and sea surface targets
with cruise missiles and torpedoes.   With
the alignment of complex factors like availability, personal desire, rotation,
and shipyard experience, Commander Max Wolff had the good fortune of being California ’s very first skipper.
    Commander Wolff came from a long line of submariners… German
ones.   His great-great-grandfather was a
U-boat captain for von Tirpitz during the Great War, and his grandfather manned
one for Dӧnitz.   Max was born in
Philadelphia a few years after his father left the rubble of Germany for the ‘Land
of Opportunity.’   He graduated from the
US Naval Academy in 1985, attended submarine school in Groton, Connecticut, was
assigned to a Permit -class boat and,
a year later, received the coveted gold dolphins, pinned on his uniform.   Several boats and decades later, Wolff
distinguished himself with a first command on a Los Angeles .   Possessing
recognized proficiency in nuclear propulsion and an instinct for submarine
tactics, the stars came together for Commander Wolff, and he took command of California .   With the big white hull number on her sail
and her new skipper’s ethnicity, California was informally referred to as ‘Unterseeboot-781’, or, simply, ‘U-781.’   When Wolff was informed of the boat’s new
nickname, it was the only time his crew had seen him smile.   Used to his expressionless face and frosty
steel eyes, they knew full well that behind this façade lived a deeply caring
man and a consummate submariner who would give anything for those who served
with him.   As California sailed into dangerous waters, Commander Wolff’s inherent
stoicism became amplified, leaving greetings unanswered as he finished lunch in
the submarine’s wardroom.
    Wolff’s tense jaw flexed and churned the soft sandwich.   His crew-cut of blonde hair was spiked back
to attention with a backward sweep of his hand.   Wolff punched the air to look at his watch.   It’s time ,
he thought, and stood.   A pillar of a man,
he headed for California ’s control
center.   He passed and respectfully
brushed with his fingertips, a brass plaque stating California ’s motto: Silentium
Est Aureum —‘Silence Is Golden.’   Although
quiet at most speeds, California was
racing at 32 knots with the rest of the carrier strike group.   She was making plenty of noise and her
ability to collect sounds from the water was degraded.   Wolff entered the submarine’s control
center.   He announced his presence with
an order to reduce speed and deploy the towed sonar array.
    ◊◊◊◊
    Chiayi Air Base sat on Taiwan’s northwestern coastal plain,
one of the many Taiwanese military complexes that lived under the gun.   Home to the 455 th Tactical Fighter
Wing, 4 th Group, Chiayi was well within range of Chinese
missiles.   Like the rest of Taiwan’s