Eagle Guardian: The War of 2010

Should anyone be doing citations for US service personnel, I discovered an interesting fact about the wording for the Medal of Honor,

If the recipient lives to receive the award the citation starts,
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor

If it is a posthumous award the citation is worded,
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously)

I hope this is of interest to the forum.

I look forward to Mr Putin's response to NATO's airstrikes on the Rodina.

Eighty

The 5th Guards Tank Division, one of the best-equipped formations of the Russian Army, had yesterday broken through NATO defences aiming to keep them on the eastern side of the Narew River. They’d crossed over at Wizna after forcing the Americans back and then stopping an attempt by the Dutch and the Germans to push them back over. The costs had been enormous in terms of men and equipment for the 5 GTD. Orders coming from the First Guards Tank Army were for them to keep pushing onwards today though despite losses inflicted: onwards would mean lancing through the NATO rear and cutting off thousands of Poles and other Americans to the north. A great victory would be won by doing so, maybe enough to win the war. Engineers and air defence troops had been pushed into the wider Wizna area and there had also been the addition of the Belarussians too with their 6th Guards Mechanised Brigade brought up. The Belorussians had suffered losses on the way overnight when American A-10s had hit them, and SAMs lofted back at the attacking aircraft, focusing on their tanks especially, but it was mechanised infantry which was required here. The German 10th Panzer had its own infantry with included man-portable missile teams and so did the attached 13th Mechanised Brigade from the Netherlands: it was those tank hunters with Spike missiles who had been instrumental in blunting the 5 GTD from getting further late yesterday. Today, the plan was for dismounted NATO troops with their missiles to be overcome by friendly – Belorussian – riflemen, along with artillery and attack helicopters, before Russian tanks could start moving again. NATO air attacks were expected yet nothing like what came in the form of Operation Dragon’s Fire had been foreseen.

Should something similar to Dragon’s Fire have been tried twenty-five years ago – in the mid-Eighties, over the divided Germany let us say, against a Soviet force – it would have involved a far greater number of aircraft and a taken a much longer time to achieve. The morning of August 11th 2010 saw the US Air Force make an attempt to utterly destroy a Russian Army tank division on the move through Poland after it had forced a breakthrough with far fewer numbers of aircraft. There were just four of them used and making just one pass; in would have been as many as hundred aircraft (from various NATO nations) to try to do this in 1985. This would be different. Starting their mission the previous evening when leaving their base in Texas, the two pairs of B-1B Lancers carried a full weapons load leading to significant mid-air tanking on the way. They refuelled over Florida then again over the Atlantic before ‘taking a drink’ once again above France. The tanker which provided that last refuelling would wait for them to come back on their way to the wartime operating base for the 28th Bomb Squadron in southern England. Over Germany and then the Czech Republic the American bombers flew: they arrived over Poland just before it started to get light. They were in the skies north of Warsaw when they launched their payloads before then turning back away. That payload for the four B-1s combined consisted of ninety-six AGM-154 JSOW glide bombs in total. Each of those weapons, similar to a cruise missile, carried itself one hundred and forty-five submunitions to be dispensed in mid-air. Ninety-six multiplied by one hundred and forty-five equals thirteen thousand nine hundred and twenty. That figure was the number of falling projectiles targeted upon the Russians and Belorussians below. Not all of the JSOWs worked as advertised and neither did all of the submunitions. Russian SAMs were fired upwards at the last minute and while they were unable to get those departing bombers, they hit several of the incoming bombs before they could unleash their contents. Air defence weapons like the S-300V and Tor-M1 would have massacred NATO aircraft coming in on close-attack missions and did have some success with these weapons used yet not enough. Equipment failures and Russian SAMs saw just over ten thousand live falling projectiles left to descend upon the men and their equipment below. That was going to be enough. All of those tanks, armoured vehicles, support vehicles and especially Russian soldiers were right in the way of what fell from above. German and Dutch soldiers to the west, but unfortunately not those many Poles who were fighting around Wizna itself as cut-off irregulars, had received a warning to do their best to get into cover but there were a lot of them in the way just as the Russians were. This really was close air support.

Seemingly a million firecrackers went off at once.

5 GTD and 6 GMB were caught near-perfectly. A circling E-8 JSTARS aircraft some distance away had been monitoring their progress and last-minute information had been feed to the JSOWs before they were launched. The US Air Force really put a hurting on the invaders below and it was mostly accurate too with few friendly casualties inflicted. This was because the forwardmost Russians and Belorussians were not in the way of this attack and instead everything behind them was. There were still some stray submunitions which hit NATO troops, the Dutch especially, but it could have been a lot worse. Those which came down on target saw the bomblets explode with everything that they came into contact with. Impact with armoured vehicles, unarmoured vehicles, buildings and the ground saw them detonate on contact with them. Soldiers were within those or near to them. The ‘lucky’ ones were those killed outright. Others, so many others, weren’t so lucky when they were left with horrible wounds ranging from broken bones to burns to shrapnel wounds. Medical personnel were caught up in the tidal wave of thousands upon thousands of individual explosions: there would be no real effort to save lives which could have been on any serious scale when faced with all this destruction and casualties caused.

Russian tanks weren’t going to be striking out westwards from Wizna today. Dragon’s Fire had done its job in stopping them.


Other JSOWs had been used elsewhere over Poland through the several days of war so far though not in such numbers. There were other similar missions planned then called off yet more in the works. The situation to conduct such a strike as what was Dragon’s Fire had been waited for and done there because the need was desperate. It was also a case of the ability to do this away from friendly forces. NATO intelligence was scrambling to get an accurate fix on what they knew were several Russian divisions – with of their Second Army – moving through Belarus to do the same to them. Another Dragon’s Fire was aborted before launch (the B-1s flew from Dyess AFB to RAF Fairford with their missiles unused this time) because the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, Russia’s Taman Guards, were in too close contact with the Polish 11th Armoured Cavalry Division. The risk of blue-on-blue there was too high. The Poles there, fighting to the northeast of Wizna and also in the US V Corps area against First Guards Tank Army, could have done with such a strike. They had other air support, yes, but nothing like that. Dragon’s Fire only stopped that Russian tank division from cutting them off: it did nothing to directly aid them in their immediate fight. They were unable to hold back the drive forward made against them. The Russians added another division, their 3rd Motor Rifle, plus soon diverted helicopter support away from the devastation which was the remains of their planned strike from Wizna. The First Guards Tank Army had just suffered grave losses overall yet where today’s main effort was now going to be for them, they had the numerical advantage on it. This was put to good use. The Taman Guards and the 3 MRD pushed onwards. They forced NATO defenders from their defensive positions, backwards deeper into Poland. Rather than stand and be crushed, V Corps ordered a withdrawal made. The Poles did as instructed and fell back, getting away from the immense enemy firepower used against them backed up by Russians tanks and infantry advancing onwards. Their withdrawals made their opponents pay for the ground they took and they understood the staying in-place meant dying. Higher up though, from the Polish general commanding his division under American command, there came strong objections to such a retreat. More and more of Poland was falling under occupation. There were civilians left behind. He wanted to stay and fight, believing that he could win even against such odds. The orders stood though. Anchored on the Germans & Dutch who were still in the Wizna area in the centre of the V Corps’ line, the Poles to the north were to fall back through more of Podlachia into Masuria. There would be NATO reinforcements who would be coming to join them and to turn things around, just not here and not today.

The rest of both the First Guards Tank Army and the V Corps were fighting each other to the south of Wizna over a long stretch of frontline. NATO reinforcements showed up here allowing for an advantage in V Corps’ strength significantly: those in the north would have been furious had they found out. What was left of the Polish 1st Mechanised Division was replaced at the frontlines by the 12th Mechanised Division. The former was pulled back into the rear as the latter came forward. The Poles were fighting the Belorussians east of Warsaw. Coming into position overnight, these fresh troops advanced in a series of multiple localised counterattacks once it got light. Americans with the 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team joined them on the flank. Enemy strength was known to be weak and it was from out of occupied territory there where they remained firing missiles – at a lesser rate than what they started with – towards Warsaw. The Belorussians gave ground in some places but held in others. They’d been digging in and were able to whether the storm… if one wanted to call it a storm. Broken apart and used in many places, the Poles didn’t have the ability to make a breakthrough in attacking like this. Gaining what little ground they did, they weren’t going to cease the Scud attacks on Warsaw. Should they have concentrated, they would have forced an opening but that would have meant leaving gaps elsewhere. More men were needed overall and instead of them, a compromise had been reached where it was assumed that – despite evidence to the contrary – the Belorussians were weak and would collapse everywhere. That had been wishful thinking and assumed too that the untested men of the 12th Division would achieve miracles their first time in battle. What they were met with was a storm against them of defensive fire supported by recently-laid minefields as well as physical obstructions created by Belorussian engineers. There were also plenty of anti-tank guns and missile teams used by the Belorussians with their defence. The Poles couldn’t, wouldn’t maybe, sacrifice themselves in the face of all of that no matter how high their patriotism was to liberate their soil.

As to the Americans, they did concentrate their strength and got forward. Near to Treblinka – yes, that Treblinka – on the River Bug, the 172nd Brigade opened up the Belorussians on the southern side of the river and chased those who could get away over it. They were looking ahead at to what would come next and intending to get over the river to charge onwards. What they weren’t expecting to face was an immediate Belorussian counterattack which came seemingly out of nowhere. All the reconnaissance support given in the form of distant surveillance and forward scouts didn’t see the mass of riflemen and dismounted missilemen thrown into the attack instead of enemy armour that the Americans were anticipating would be used against them. These Belorussians were from their 38th Guards Mobile Brigade, that airmobile unit which had smashed apart the Germans a few days ago. Helicopters and light vehicles brought the attackers into the fight. American tanks and missile teams of their own engaged those yet were soon re-tasked to aid their infantry just as distant heavy guns fired on Treblinka from covered positions far away. It became clear that the 172nd Brigade had been led into an ambush where the Belorussians were just waiting for this. The humiliation at falling for it would follow later consequences for the brigade commander. In the meantime, where was his air support? His question was answered by the news that Belorussian SAMs – this time S-300Vs & Tor-M1s doing what they had failed to do over Wizna – had taken out several F-16s (American & Polish aircraft) and forced the cancellation of other missions. V Corps ordered a retreat, one to be done as fast as possible in the face of this. It was done but at a cost. M-1 Abrams’ and M-2 Bradleys were taken out by missiles and artillery shells ripped into American soldiers. They fell back, fighting their way south and west to where they had come and took out many attackers while doing so. However, the battlefield was yielded to the enemy to hold again. The Treblinka Catastrophe was something that would have long-lasting effects.


On paper NATO reinforcements already in Poland, not those committed from all those various countries to join the fight, were huge. The German 10th Panzer and Polish 12th Mechanised Divisions – the former including that Dutch brigade – had been sent into battle but there remained three more divisions in Poland plus two more Dutch brigades as well all uncommitted before today. The German 1st Panzer, British 3rd Mechanised & American 4th Infantry Divisions had yet to see action and were available; the Dutch 11th Airmobile & 43rd Mechanised Brigades were covering the Polish-Ukrainian border until the plan was for them to be later relieved by lower-grade NATO units but in larger numbers. Only the Americans were sent into action today though. The British had yet to reach full strength and the Germans were held as a counterattack force, alongside the shattered US 3rd Infantry Division, less Dragon’s Fire had failed on the Narew.

The 4th Infantry Division was dispatched to join the Allied I Corps fighting in Masuria.

Untested like those Poles east of Warsaw, these Americans sent into action near to Olsztyn did better. This was their first time fighting in Eastern Europe yet this US Army unit had many combat veterans within who while they hadn’t seen a war like this, they had been in battle before. Still, this was different. Russian heavy guns and aircraft attacked them when they took over the fight that the French had been in yesterday facing the 4th Guards Tank Division. ‘The fourth fought the fourth’ in the centre of the I Corps’ line. The Americans won the day where they stopped the 4 GTD from getting any further into Poland and caused them major losses. This entry of reinforcements into the battle here was needed. It allowed the rest of what was once the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps to be able to concentrate better on fighting the rest of the Russian Twentieth Guards Army. Lines were straightened in the form of tightening things up between component parts, supporting those in need and shortening the defensive zones. The French 2nd Armored Brigade came under British command on a temporary basis – the 1st Armoured Division now had four combat brigades assigned though with one of its own severely weakened after yesterday – and the Polish 16th Mechanised Division was able to focus more on the Russians on the left-hand side of the I Corps’ line. The main fight today was on the right though, over where each side had its physical connections maintained with friendly forces and the other would like to break open.

Russian tanks and paratroopers, their 10th Guards Tank & 98th Guards Airborne Divisions, kept up the advance forward. The British and the French were in their way along with the Americans with their 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team also fighting to if not keep the Russians back, then maintain the staged withdrawal. The Russians advanced slower than yesterday. Yet they continued to move forward. NATO units here fell back as they were doing in so many other places. Staying where they were and trying to fight a static battle was suicide. They tried to make local counterattacks while withdrawing, seeking out opportunities, yet this was found to be impossible. It just couldn’t be done in the face of murderous fire from Russian artillery. They had brought forward so many heavy guns onto Polish soil. Plenty of those were older weapons yet they could still fire and fire well. This part of Poland was being blown to pieces. NATO yielded further territory to the invaders as Russia’s war machine here had slowed down but it was still moving forward. From above, aircraft fell from the sky. NATO and Russian aircraft clashed with each other and also air defence assets firing up from the ground too. Each side sent aircraft in to influence the fight underneath yet failed today to play an important role. Those below them needed that air support for countless close air support missions but were unable to get it. The only meaningful results from committing so many aircraft here were dead aircrew and many wrecks littering Masuria. Russian SAMs would claim many of those kills, plenty being friendly aircraft as well. They were filling the skies with missiles which hit what they could. Supply officers were watching the numbers of weapons on-hand dwindle while they waited for incoming resupply… and they waited. Meanwhile, NATO air planners threw everything they had at attempting to change their operational patterns in the face of all of those air defences: they had the knowledge though that unless everything they had done with air strikes in the rear having somehow failed when it looked the other way, there would be no munitions resupply coming forward for the Russians.

A likely result after Russia's defeat will be: regime change in Belarus and Ukraine, the withdrawal from Transnitria and other Russian-propped areas, and probable demilitarization of several areas like Kaliningrad, reductions in the size of Navy, etc.. If there's no regime change in Russia, there will be likely be severe sanctions for the foreseeable future.

 james the allies rely heavily on air power to counter the extra ground fire power of the Russian army. I am assuming that the number of planes committed to counterair and SeAD missions on the frontlines is limiting just how many airplanes you have for close air support missions

Nice update James G, think we will reach the 100th part in no time with both you and forcon pushing out these great updates.

Eighty-One

The United States Navy has been said to be more powerful than the next ten combined. Statements such as these were not without merit. Even so, the US Navy was not having a particularly good war so far. There had been many losses in combat, mostly to submarines but some to air attacks as well. The list of ships lost included the gigantic nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The Oscar-II submarine which had destroyed the American aircraft carrier had a crew that was as skilful as it was lucky. They’d needed both of those things in great quantities to sink the Truman. So far, in less than a week of global conflict, cruisers, destroyers and frigates alike had been lost in combat with the enemy. A great many lives had been lost too, with the Pentagon reporting that the US Navy alone had suffered over two thousand killed in action, nearly half of those having been killed aboard the burning aircraft carrier before the order had been given to abandon ship.

Although the loss of the carrier had been devastating both politically and militarily, the most surprising naval loss to American commanders was that of the submarine USS Boston. She’d been sunk in a duel with a pair of Russian submarines and although she had been outnumbered, American skippers had until that moment in fairly confident in their ability to handle Russian submarines without too many problems. The fact that one of their own had been lost changed this viewpoint dramatically.

Other NATO navies had suffered fewer losses outright, but proportionately they number of casualties sustained stacked up similarly. Over the course of the first five days of the war, warships from across Europe and North America had set out with the intention of destroying Russia’s submarines out in the Atlantic and thus securing the Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs) for the huge convoys that were leaving places like New York and heading out towards mainland Europe. NATO naval command, deep underground at Northwood, had grouped its available assets into hunter-killer groups to hunt for Russian submarines. According to NATO estimates, Russia’s Northern Fleet had about twenty submarines, both nuclear and diesel-electric powered vessels, under its command, not including the SSBNs which had gone into hiding beneath the ice caps, to be used only if and when Armageddon came. It was thought that Russian submarine commanders would be operating independently rather than as part of wolf-packs, and there was an awful lot of ocean to cover.

One of these NATO hunter-killer task forces operated in a triangular area between the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and Ireland that would quickly become known as the ‘Iceland Triangle’ despite the slight geographic inaccuracy. Within this area, seven warships from four nations scoured the choppy waters for their stealthy underwater foe. Leading the group was the French destroyer Primauguet and it also included Spanish, Canadian and German warships, making the task group patrolling the Iceland Triangle a highly-capable one. The mission that they had been allocated, however, was going to be truly challenging. There were thousands of miles of ocean in which Russian submarines could be operating in this sector of the Atlantic alone, and the enemy, when found, would not merely be defenceless prey. A major victory would be achieved when the Spanish frigate Santa Maria tracked and sank a Russian submarine on the eastern flank of the task force. The Russian vessel, believed, but not confirmed to be, the Victor-III submarine Petrozavodsk, had been picked up as she tried to make her way through the GIUK Gap. First the US Navy had tracked her, using their P-3 Orion’s flying from Scotland, but then she had managed to lose the trailing aircraft before it could attack. The Spanish had then picked up a sonar contact and a determined effort had been made to sink her before she either sank one of the NATO ships in the hunter-killer group, or broke through their defensive effort and went on to start attacking merchant ships coming in from the States.

Victories like this didn’t weren’t a given and the celebrations didn’t last for long.

The next day, August 10th, had seen the Russians achieve a victory of their own against the French-led surface task group. Another one of their submarines had clandestinely sneaked past NATO defences through the English Channel. The more modern Akula-class vessel known as Volk got off several torpedoes before turning and running southwards once again. Her munitions hit and sank the French frigate La Fayette, taking many of her crew down with her as rescue operations were not initiated until the Russian submarine was thought to have been chased away. Volk would strike again later on in the war, having run towards the shores of the United States. Both sides clashed heavily in the more western reaches of the Atlantic too. Operating this close to the mainland US was a huge risk for Russian submarines and their crews, but it was deemed to be a necessary sacrifice if the convoys coming over the ocean were to be stopped. Ships had been seen leaving New Orleans carrying what the Russians believed to be the bulk of the equipment of the 4th Infantry Division, including many hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles, as well as copious amounts of fuel and ammunition. Escorted by US Navy and Royal Canadian Navy ships, these transport vessels were far from easy pickings.

Two Russian submarines were sunk trying to get close enough to sink one of the huge RO/ROs. Another Victor-class boat, aged but capable, came within seconds of achieving a great success in taking down a dry cargo ship which had been filled with ammunition stocks desperately needed by NATO troops at the front. The Obniksk was forced to run from her target when American and Canadian ASW helicopters launched from nearby frigates closed in on her location; she was lost to an ASROC as she tried to dive away into the depths. Another submarine, this time a smaller Kilo-class submarine, the Lipetsk, was sent down to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico by a P-3 operating from Corpus Christi NAS.

Oher NATO ships did fall victim to Russian submarines; the Royal Canadian Navy lost their frigate HMCS Halifax to a cruise missile while she tried to escort several cargo ships through the Labrador Sea. Tragically, the Canadian frigate took her whole crew down with her when the ship’s magazine exploded. If any of the sailors aboard had survived that tremendous explosion, they would not have lasted long in the sea regardless, and the transport ships nearby were under standing orders not to attempt rescue operations to avoid presenting themselves as stationary targets for further attacks by more Russian submarines. This advice didn’t save the USNS Dahl, one of the many Roll-on/Roll-off cargo ships under US Navy command. Fewer fatalities were suffered aboard the Dahl when she was torpedoed and sunk by the Russian submarine Vladikavkaz while crossing through the GIUK Gap. Even so, a great many tanks and other vehicles were lost when the ship went down, denying their use by troops in Europe.

The Third Battle of the Atlantic would continue for many days as NATO naval forces worked to eliminate all the Russian submarines at work here.



Out in the Pacific Ocean, US forces were having somewhat more success than they had since the dramatic losses suffered on the war’s second and third days. After suffering heavy, but not crippling, losses on the first, second, and third days of the fighting, Pacific Command moved to reorganise itself and begin implementing a coherent strategy. At Camp Smith in Hawaii, Admiral Willard and his staff formulated plans to begin striking the Russian Far East and engaging Russia’s Pacific Fleet. There were many Russian mechanised units spread from Siberia through to the Pacific Ocean, and those units had to be tied down in some way to prevent their movement westwards. Even using B-2 stealth bombers, strikes deep into Russia were not considered feasible, and so any air campaign would have to be focused on coastal targets.

A carrier strike group centred on the USS George Washington was sent northwards towards the Sea of Okhotsk, where many Russian surface ships, aging but still very heavily-armed, sat in wait. The Washington group sailed with orders to engage and destroy Russian Pacific Fleet ships wherever it met them, before initiating a campaign to secure air superiority over Sakhalin and begin harassing Russian units based within range. Many additional forces were assigned to the Sakhalin region to assist in these tasks. Two more aircraft carrier strike groups were headed towards Sakhalin, with the carriers Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln leading these groups. Vinson, along with several cruisers and destroyers, was further south. She had initially been in the Philippine Sea under the command of the Seventh Fleet, keeping an eye on China while also maintaining the ability to move closer to Russian forces. She set sail north-east, towards the gauntlet of firepower offered by the Russian Navy and Air Force. Soon to be joining the Vinson was the USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been up in the North Pacific. The Lincoln group was set to arrive some days after the Vinson. Until either of those ships arrived, the George Washington was on her own.

On August 9th, George Washington’s carrier air wing attempted to launch a major strike against the Russian surface action group sitting in the Sea of Okhotsk. Resistance in the air was heavier than expected when Russian land-based fighters engaged the US Navy F/A-18s. Sukhoi-30s along with older MiG-29s made efforts to intercept the first wave of the American strike, with a major dogfight developing over the sea between Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The Russians had problems with their fuel usage and couldn’t remain active over the combat-zone for long, but nonetheless three Hornets and two Super Hornets would be shot down before the battle was over. This engagement hadn’t been expected and the Russians had been surprisingly well-coordinated with the use of one of their A-50s circling far away over Vladivostok providing much-needed support. During the engagement, the Americans had come out on top with as many as nine air-to-air victories of their own, but many of their F/A-18s had been forced to ditch their AGM-84 Harpoons and so the strike was called off. Navy commanders then reluctantly enlisted the help of the US Air Force.

The next day, just before dawn, Navy and Air Force strike planes – the latter flying from Andersen Air Force Base – sortied for another mission. The Japanese were still reluctant to let the Americans use their bases in that country to launch these missions, so Admiral Willard was unable to utilise a major portion of his firepower. Aircraft from bases in South Korea – F-16s primarily – had been allowed to fly ‘defensive’ air patrols from ROK territory and had seen some successes in knocking down several Russian patrol aircraft. The South Korean’s weren’t letting them fly offensive missions though, leaving the Navy pilots and aircrews from Guam with fewer resources to support them.

This time, major successes would be met. Two groups of F/A-18s flew as part of Operation Pacific Wind. One strike group, consisting of Super Hornets armed with AIM-120s and AIM-9s for air-to-air combat flew westwards, luring Russian fighters into another engagement. The Flankers and Fulcrums eagerly walked right into a trap set by the US Navy. American fighters took part in this trap, but so too did a pair of Aegis destroyers of the Arleigh Burke-class, using their powerful Sm-2 anti-aircraft missiles. The fighters and the ships far away and to the east kept Russian fighters busy, sending many of them plummeting down to earth, while more F/A-18s launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles and several Russian ships. A third aircraft group, this one of B-52H Stratofortress aircraft, flew behind the Navy jets, launching Harpoons of their own. All in all, the US Air Force and Navy launched in excess of one hundred and fifty Harpoon missiles towards seven Russian cruisers and destroyers.

The Russians had air defence systems of their own but of the same quality of those Aegis systems. Their missiles were launched into the clear skies of an otherwise beautiful summer day, knocking down several AGM-84s, but not enough as they should have. Much of the Russian Navy’s strength had gone westwards to the Barents Sea before the war, and although the Russians had moved heaven and earth to get their ships into a better fighting condition, the vessels available to the Pacific Fleet were often old and there were still some issues with communications and fire-control that had yet to be sorted out. All of this showed when Harpoons slammed into several Russian ships.

The RFS Varyag, a Slava-class cruiser packed with sailors and firepower, sustained no less than four Harpoon missile hits in quick succession. Unfortunately for those aboard, the US Military was not a fan of non-lethal options. The ship suffered not one, but two explosions as various storages of ammunition and fuel were ignited by the flames. The destruction of the cruiser’s bridge and the subsequent death of the captain and first officer ensured that no orders to contain the fires or even to abandon ship could be issued. Varyag went down to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, leaving only twenty-two survivors out of a crew of nearly five hundred. More Harpoons hit the Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Panteleyev. She would be the second ship to sink due to Operation Pacific Wind. Damage control efforts and communications systems aboard the Panteleyev were more intact after she was hit, giving her crew a better chance of survival. There were still many men who couldn’t get away, but over half of Panteleyev’s complement would live to fight another day even after their ship finally sank. Missiles would damage, but not successfully sink, two more destroyers; the Burnyy and the Marshal Shapashnikov. Though neither of those heavily-armed ships would be destroyed today, they had been severely damaged enough to force both to return to Vladivostok.

The American airstrike had gone well, but not as well as Willard and his staff had hoped or even dared to expect. The most lethal element of the Russian fleet, the nuclear-powered battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov, remained afloat and undamaged, along with several more destroyers and frigates. Fortunately, more US Navy ships were on the way along with some vessels from the Royal Australian Navy; the battle would be finished another day.