Procedo con il terzo scenario del Battleset, che si svolge in contemporanea con i primi due. Sembra uno scenario davvero bello tosto. 13 Febbraio 1994, ore 13:00 Zulu, 08:00 Locali Nel porto di New York è una tranquilla domenica mattina. Fa freddo e c’è vento. L’argomento principale di discussione alla stazione della Guardia Costiera di Sandy Hook, nel New Jersey, è il fiasco avvenuto alle Olimpiadi. Questo scenario è giocabile da entrambe le parti, ma è molto più stimolante giocarlo dal lato americano e, inoltre, fornirà interessanti spunti per gli scenari futuri. Giocarlo dal lato sovietico è divertente ma piuttosto facile. In qualità di giocatore sovietico, il vostro obiettivo è di disturbare il traffico marittimo nell’area del porto di New York. In qualità di giocatore americano, invece, dovrai condurre le normali attività di pattugliamento della Guardia Costiera. La situazione si svilupperà. Come consigliato, quindi, giocherò dal lato americano. Prima o poi giocherò anche dal lato sovietico ma, visto che la NATO gioca in difesa e si trova spesso e volentieri in inferiorità numerica, essendo in corso un attacco più o meno improvviso da parte dell’URSS, guidare il lato NATO è senza dubbio una sfida maggiore. Passiamo quindi al briefing. Non ho molta voglia di tradurlo, onestamente, perciò, a chi non ha dimestichezza con l’inglese, consiglio di utilizzare Google Translator. US Side Brief: You are the shift commander at USCG Station Sandy Hook, you started your 12 hour shift half an hour ago at 0730, most of your 6 man shift has worked together for many years and they know their business - but Sunday morning shifts are always the hardest, people lose focus and talk about last night’s Hockey or ball game. This morning it’s the Olympics! Situation: Weather: 28° (-2C), winds moderate from the NW, cloud cover heavy, Sea state 3 moderate. Precipitation, wet snow or sleet, moderate but some chance of squalls. Resources: • USCGC Dallas is departing on a 4 day fisheries patrol, will exit our area in a couple of hours • USCGC Tahoma is inbound from Kittery Mane for scheduled maintenance at Governors Island • WPB Adak is on routine harbour patrol out of Staten Island • Coast Guard Rescue has 1 x JHawk and 1 x Dolphin ready at Gabreski • 102 Rescue Sqn up at Gabreski Air base has 1 x C-130 on standby, a second Hurc should report in shortly - in time for the day-sailors to show up, although with weather like this, there won’t be many. 101 Rescue is on stand-down today but has two Pave-Hawks on quick reaction if needed. Military: It was pretty quiet until just before your shift. There must be some sort of an exercise going on because there are National Guard F-16's patrolling out of Gabreski ANGB, and some Marine F-18's out of Oceania doing the same. Before that the only military traffic we had was the USS Mahan coming in to do some testing at the Bayonne Naval Yards. (Note 1) We also have a notice that a submarine will be transiting our area, but we never see those guys anyway! Civil traffic: Surface: Fairly light overall: Outbound: 7 Inbound: 10 including the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Transiting: 4 Pleasure craft: 2 large, two dozen or so small craft, will likely climb to over 100 by noon (not in game) Other: A Soviet surveillance vessel has been patrolling the area for the past two weeks, we've tasked the Dallas to check her out but she keeps well out to sea and beyond the 12 mile limit. Air: Standard Sunday morning stuff. Private aircraft will be out in force shortly after 0800 when the weekend warriors and flying schools go into full force. Concerns: One of the outbound ships is a Bulgarian fishing trawler, she is very far from home and was in port for maintenance. You have just tasked the Adak to board her and inspect for contraband. You settle down with a hot cup of coffee and the Sunday morning paper – two more shifts and you have a week off. Note 1: The Farragut Class DDGs have been retained due to increased threat environment, The Mahan was the testbed for the NTU (New Threat Upgrade) project which is being refitted to all 10 of the class. Six have been completed including the Mahan, all are based on the East Coast and will appear in future scenarios of this battleset. Note 2: There will be quite a few messages delivered to the player early in the game, this simulates the hectic pace in an operations room during an unexpected emergency. In order to replicate your staff, you would be well advised to have a word or spreadsheet program running in the background to keep track of events and tasks Note 3: Special messages should be turned ON in the message log. If possible the message log in a separate window is very helpful due to the high volume of messages. Scenario events should be turned OFF as many events occur in the game and it could become distracting, all key events have a message to keep you up to date. Note 4: On a typical Sunday morning JFK international will have over 100 departures and 120 arrivals per hour; LaGuardia and Newark will each typically have over 40 departures and 20 arrivals per hour. Small aircraft based at the 20 local airports represented in scenario number over 3100, with over 2000 flights per day. In the interest of manageability this has been drastically reduced in this scenario Note 5: This is not a standard war fighting scenario but adds depth to the Battleset storyline. As such, victory is not critical but by playing through you learn several key factors affecting decisions yet to come in future scenarios.
Lo scenario ha inizio alle ore 13.00 Zulu del 13 febbraio 1994, quindi contemporaneamente ai primi due scenari del Battleset ambientato nel Nord Atlantico. Come si può notare dallo screen, già dall’inizio vi sono parecchi contatti e sarà impegnativo riuscire ad identificarli tutti, per farsi un’idea di quali siano le mie oppure no. Nell screen ho indicato solamente le tre unità della Guardia Costiera, il Sentry in volo al largo della costa orientale, 2 Hornet che si trovano a sud-ovest del Mahan, la base di Oceana, il transatlantico britannico Queen Elizabeth 2, una nave da sorveglianza elettronica bulgara, la Mayak e la base aerea della Francis Gabreski, Guardia Nazionale, presso cui sono basati diversi velivoli della Guardia Costiera (elicotteri e C-130), elicotteri dei Marines, 2 F-16 dell’ANG e due aerei tanker, uno dell’USAF ed uno dei Marines. Per il resto si tratta di traffico civile, aereo e navale. Non passano che una trentina di secondi ed ecco che arriva il primo messaggio importante: Sir: I know why the Air Force is playing around this morning - we have just received a notification that all US military forces are now at DEFCON 4! What is going on! OK, that means increased security measures all around, and increased intelligence gathering. You shout over to your Air Ops section: Get that Hurky bird in the air! Get us Coms with those fighters! Get the Tahoma and Dallas to fire up their Helos and take a look around! And see if we can get a P3 fired up from Oceana. To your Surface Ops guy: Have the Dallas stop and search that Surveillance Vessel now! Get the Adak to stop that trawler while you’re at it - we need to find out what's going on. Note: Cause a small amount of damage to the suspect ship and it will shut down engines and await boarding (+VP) When a USCG Cutter remains in close proximity to the ship for a short period of time, it will be considered boarded and will teleport away (+VP) If you sink the suspect ship you will lose VPs (investigation and evidence is required) Dunque, riassumendo, mi viene comunicato che il presidente ha ordinato DEFCON 4. Devo far decollare gli elicotteri a bordo dei cutter della USCG, oltre a qualche Orion, F/A-18 ed Hercules. Il tutto per poter dare una copertura alla zona di mare di mia responsabilità. Con le mie unità navali devo abbordare la nave per sorveglianza elettronica, colpendola e danneggiandola leggermente. Questo la costringerà a fermarsi ed ad attendere l’abbordaggio per l’ispezione. Ma devo stare attento a non affondarla, per non perdere VP. Onestamente non mi importa un gran che dei VP in questo Battleset, ma cercherò di seguire le indicazioni. Lo scopo militare è anche quello di mettere le mani su queste unità nemiche, per vedere di quali apparecchiature sono dotate.
Passa un solo altro minuto ed ecco un altro messaggio, ancora più minaccioso. Missile Alert!! Air Force AWACs is reporting missiles inbound heading toward New York! We are configuring our systems to receive a direct feed from them. I’ll spool up the rescue birds! Si tratta di sei missili che sono improvvisamente comparsi sui miei schermi radar. Sembrano, in effetti, diretti verso New York. Qualche secondo dopo ne vengono rilevati altri 3. Questa volta, però, sembrano diretti verso la Mahan. Il numero dei missili avvistati aumenta, ma, nel frattempo, il Dallas fa fuoco con il suo pezzo da 76mm contro la SSV Kursograf, la nave per sorveglianza elettronica, colpendola e costringendola a fermarsi. Salta poi fuori che batte bandiera finlandese ed è registrata in Algeria. In ogni caso ordino al Dallas di avvicinarsi per l’abbordaggio. Sir – we have forced that Surveillance Vessel to halt – she is the SSV Kursograf, under Finnish Flag and Algerian registry. We believe she is Mayak type trawler hull and the Navy is telling us the Soviets have converted several of them to Intelligence gathering vessels (AGI). Apparently she has so many antennae she looks like a Porcupine! Boarding party is away. I messaggi continuano ad arrivare, a brevi intervalli l’uno dall’altro Your communications guy runs over and hands you a message: FLASH FLASH FLASH To: All US Military Forces FROM: CINCLANT SITUATION: Soviet forces have attacked Norway and other NATO countries. Significant air operations developing throughout Europe. NAS Keflavik reports a large Cruise missile strike inbound. MISSION: All USN, USAF, USArmy and USCG units are to adopt a High Alert posture and guard against hostile activities. Await further clarification and orders. COORDINATING INSTRUCTIONS: USCG Districts 1, 5 & 7 have been placed Under Command CINCLANT effective immediately. Godspeed! Message Ends FLASH FLASH FLASH Holy crap! (Note: USCG Station Sandy Hook is in District 1) Dunque ci siamo, siamo in guerra con l’Unione Sovietica. Ora sono libero di fare fuoco a mio piacimento. Il Sentry indica come probabile bersaglio dei missili 7 navi mercantili, soprattutto petroliere. Cercherò di intercettarli con gli F-16 ed F/A-18 già in volo e con i SAM della Mahan. I missili nemici volano a 18 metri dal pelo dell’acqua, perciò non sarà per nulla facile. A conferma che il probabile bersaglio sono le navi mercantili, ricevo questo nuovo flash. Sir Those missiles are striking civilian shipping, we need to get the rescue birds out there ASAP. Surface Ops pipes up – Sir – Rescue RHIB 1 is launching, 2 will be ready in a few minutes. We are calling in crews and should have #3 ready in 30 min and working on getting #4 ready in an hour or so. Note: You will be provided VPs for: · Flying a C-130 rescue AC over the rescue beacon (drops emergency supplies, beacon and provides situational awareness) · Hovering (speed 0, alt Min) a rescue Helicopter over the life boat for 10 min OR · Moving a rescue RHIB next to the rescue beacon for 10 min (More details later. Events and points triggered by HC-130H and SAR helicopters, no matter the load-out, even if in ferry or maritime patrol.) (In game terms there are Ref points fixed to the ships: when the ship sinks the rescue beacon and/or life boat(s)/raft(s) are teleported to that area, the Life boat(s) are then given a mission to move to the rescue locations while the rescue beacon remains in the area defined by the Ref Points and it is this area that triggers the events.) La prima ad essere colpita è una nave mercantile da 40'000 tonnellate, la Happy Mariner. Sono le 13.06 Zulu, 08.06 Locali. La situazione si fa subito critica e l’equipaggio abbandona la nave. Purtroppo la scialuppa di salvataggio viene sorprendentemente colpita da un altro dei missili in arrivo e scompare senza lasciare traccia. Questa non me l’aspettavo! Nemmeno ho avuto la possibilità di salvare i naufraghi.
Poco dopo ecco che arriva un altro messaggio: A Radio message comes in from a NYC Port Authority Pilot Boat Wanderer: USCG Station Sandy Hook – This is NYC Pt Auth Pilot Boat Wanderer Observed Bulgarian Flagged Trawler ‘SS TROG’ depositing large objects 3 NM North North East of Sandy Hook, directly in the sea lanes between Sandy Hook and Breezy Point Tip. Approached to investigate and was fired on by hand held weapons. Have veered off but am observing. Appears that 20 – 30 large barrel sized objects have been rolled off the stern. No oil slick or garbage detected. At this point it is unlikely to be garbage or other waist material. Dumping of Drugs are unlikely in this location. Ex-USN crewman identified them as possibly mines. Have alerted Harbour Police. Request instructions. OVER -------------------------------- To your signaler: Tell Wanderer to keep an eye on that trawler and warn any traffic to stay away To your Surface Ops officer: Get the Adak to stop, board and seize that trawler NOW! And find out if the Navy has any minesweepers around. To your Traffic officer: Warn all shipping to stay clear of the harbour… and the missiles … well just tell them to be careful…. To your Air Ops officer: Find out if the air force have anything to help us out here? To your Rescue coord officer: Get ready, there may be more work heading your way! Note: Cause a small amount of damage to the Trog and it will shut down engines and await boarding (+VP) When the Adak remains in close proximity to the Trog for a short period of time, it will be considered boarded and will teleport away (+VP) If you sink the Trog you will lose VPs (investigation and evidence is required) Mentre dirigo l’Adak per intercettare il trawler bulgaro, i due F/A-18 in volo nei pressi della Mahan riescono ad abbattere un paio di missili antinave sovietici diretti verso la petroliere Alabama Bell, in navigazione 15 miglia a nord del Mahan. I messaggi si susseguono: The Air Ops desk pipes up: Sir, we are keeping an open line to Gabreski ANG Ops Centre. They are cranking birds up as fast as possible. Status at the moment is: · One J-Hawk ready, the second one is available with the crew being called to work now · One Dolphin ready, a second should be ready in 40 min or so, the third is available, crew on the way in · 101 Rescue Sqn can have two birds up in an hour, crews being called in for the remainder. One bird is down with an engine change · 102 Rescue Sqn has two Hurc’s ready, one rigged for SAR, the other for Search. They have a second SAR bird readying now and two more available. They have one A/C down with a major electronics fault. · There is a visiting USMC C-130 Tanker which was readying for a trip down to Jacksonville, but they have commandeered it for the time being and it will be ready in an hour or so. · Two more F-16s are ready to launch, but the rest of the 138th Sqn is up in Canada for the weekend doing some live bomb runs and are unavailable for the next 12 hrs or so. · Finally there is a flight of MH-53 Sea Dragons up here to do calibration and testing. They are working today and Ops has pressed them into service for Search or SAR should we need it. I’ll keep track when birds become available, from their point of view - we have priority on tasking until further notice. I compiti da svolgere in questo scenario sono davvero molteplici ed è davvero stimolante riuscire a svolgerli tutti. Non altrettanto efficienti sono gli F-16 dell’ANG, che non riescono ad abbattere, almeno per ora, alcun missile. Ed a farne le spese è un piccolo mercantile, l’Atlantic Hermes. VESSEL SINKING Name: Atlantic Hermes Type: Factory Trawler Displacement: 2,700 Tons Crew size: 18 Lifeboat deployed: Yes Rescue Beacon deployed: Yes Situation: MAYDAY report received via SATPhone indicates large explosion in the wheelhouse, ship sank in less than a minute. Suspect many casualties, chief engineer reports everything forward of the main winch boom disintegrated. Lifeboat proceeding NORTH to Monmouth Beach with 6 souls, including 4 injured. 12 Souls un-accounted for.
Ore 13:08 Z Sir We are linking in with the Air force, we should have direct data communications in a few minutes. Also the Navy is spooling up a couple of P-3s at Oceana and should have a couple more shortly. Ore 13:08:31 Z Sir Gabreski Ops is reporting that a civilian type aircraft has not responded to the challenge and is requesting permission to force it down. Sicché, forse abbiamo un aereo civile intruso che sta tentando di infiltrarsi in mezzo al traffico aereo. Che scopo avrà? Non ho molto tempo per pensarci su, perché due minuti dopop arriva un altro segnale di allarme. Ore 13:10 Z VESSEL SINKING Name: Atlantic Companion Type: RO/RO Displacement: 18,000 Tons Crew size: 34 Lifeboat deployed: Yes Rescue Beacon deployed: Yes Situation: MAYDAY report indicates 5 dead, 7 injured. Lifeboat proceeding NORTH to Jones Beach with 21 soles including all injured, towing 2 life rafts. 8 Souls un-accounted for, at least 3 seen in the water and alive. I miei mezzi aerei, che ho inviato per soccorrere i numerosi naufraghi, iniziano a rendersi utili. Ore 13:10Z Sir The first Helo Rescue bird is at the site of the Tahoma sinking. They have dropped a SARTech to assist with injuries and establish communications. Too early to tell but there are at least 30 survivors in the water. Note: HH-65 can lift two casualties HH-60 can lift six casualties Ma non c'è tregua. Le vittime dei sottomarini sovietici si moltiplicano. Ore 13:11Z Sir – the Tahoma has been hit. All communication has been lost. The Rescue beacon has been deployed but no MAYDAY call or communication of any type. She is only 1500 Tons, so if she took the same type of missile as are hitting the bigger ships – there won’t be much left. Crew plus Air Det is 124. Air Ops: Sir we need to get a Hurc out there to see what is going on Anche i mezzi a mia disposizione, però, aumentano. Ore 13:11Z -Oceana is on the phone. They have a Helo from ‘The Fleet Angels’ spooled up and ready for tasking. They hope to have 3 more available in the next hour or so. They are OK with re-basing them to Gabreski or McGuire if we need to. -Gabreski says that the MH-53's are loaded for mine hunting and the first one will be available in about 20 min ------------------------------------- Note: HC-2 'Fleet Angles' is a shore based squadron out of Oceana which flew a variety of Helicopters in the CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) and MedEvac (Medical Evacuation) roles. Principally they used the CH-53E and SH-3G but also the UH-3H and VH-3A (all in secondary role configuration) prior to converting to MH-60's in 2006. For convenience in triggering events I have equipped HC-2 with HH-60's as these have the primary role of SAR in game and will trigger the proper event responses. This makes minimal impact on scenario play and because the numbers are small and this is a single scenario there is no need for additional DB entries. Alle ore 13.11Z le cose peggiorano drammaticamente. Sir you have to see this one!!! VESSEL SINKING Name: RMS Queen Elisabeth 2 Type: Cruise Liner Displacement: 49,000 Tons Crew size: 1052 Passengers: 1698 Lifeboat deployed: Yes – unclear on how many managed to deploy, Rescue Beacon deployed: Yes Situation: At least one and possibly 2 cruise missiles struck on the Port Quarter approximately 10 feet above the water line. She is taking on water by the stern, losing speed and listing to port. There is fire on the upper decks and smoke coming from the stern. Lifeboats from the Starboard side are being deployed, passengers mustering on the upper decks. No estimate on casualties available. Le scialuppe di salvataggio da raggiungere sono davvero molte. Tutti i miei elicotteri stanno facendo la spola avanti ed indietro, mentre i C-130 lanciano aiuti a più non posso. Lo scenario, se militarmente non è complicato, è davvero complesso dal punto di vista logistico. Ed è questo che mi impedisce di seguire la parte militare al meglio e di trovare i sottomarini sovietici.
Ore 13:12Z, le vittime si susseguono: VESSEL SINKING Name: Sea Devel III Type: Fishing Boat – 23M Displacement: 100 Tons Crew size: 4 Lifeboat deployed: No Rescue Beacon deployed: No Situation: No MAYDAY call, no apparent rescue beacon. Smoke visible from shore. Large explosion and flash reported by local police. Survivors unknown. Anche il cutter Dallas, della USCG, viene colpito ed affondato. Sir – The Dallas is going down! On the loudspeaker: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY USCGC Dallas, Abandoning Ship USCGC Dallas, Abandoning Ship Crew and Air det onboard - 192 all ranks Rescue Beacon Deployed (LATxxxxx LONGxxxx) High Speed missile impacted ship Starboard Bow. On Fire, going down by the bow, listing to Starboard 10* Life boats and rafts deployed, launching RHIBs now, men in the water. Many casualties. Request assistance USCGC Dallas, Abandoning Ship MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY Air Ops: Sir - We need to get a Hurc overhead ASAP and get a better understanding of what is going on... (Note: RHIBs will likely select 'RHIB Refuel Point' as new base and auto plot course to it. You need to unassign 'U' them from this mission and manualy plot them) Per lo meno un sottomarino sovietico viene individuato ed affondato. Si tratta di un nucleare, del tipo PLA-971 Akula I Improved [Shchuka-B]. Your signaler, looking much more haggard than a few minutes ago scurries over again and hands you another message. FLASH FLASH FLASH To: All US Military Forces FROM: CINCLANT SITUATION: Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces have precipitated war throughout Europe and probably the entire globe. NAS Keflavik has been successfully attacked and is now closed to air operations for at least several hours, probably days. MISSION: DEFCON 2! Adopt a war footing, await further instructions. COORDINATING INSTRUCTIONS: Consider all Soviet or Warsaw Pact forces hostile and prosecute without hesitation. Use of Nuclear weapons is NOT, repeat NOT authorized. Message Ends FLASH FLASH FLASH No surprise there! You relay the message to your staff but they are too busy fighting this war to acknowledge it! La situazione in Europa peggiora di pari passo con quello che succede al largo della costa orientale degli States. Gestire tutte le informazioni e gli ordini da solo è davvero difficile. Sto cercando di non utilizzare sempre il pulsante stop, per poter avere sempre il brivido del tempo reale, altrimenti diventa meno difficile (notate che non ho detto "facile", perché questo scenario è davvero tosto), però la cosa è, come si dice in inglese, "overwhelming". Vieni sopraffatto da tutto il flusso di informazioni che ricevi e degli ordini che devi dare.
Your Rescue Officer pops up! Sir! Various SAR (Search & Rescue) assets are coming on line, we’ll have to make the most out of them I think! Both the New York and New Jersey Offices of Emergency Management (OEM) have stepped into action. The Mayor of New York City has announced a ‘State of Emergency’ and has called for both State and Federal levels of assistance. Local Police, Fire and Rescue services are responding and calling in extra shifts. The Governor of New York has called a news conference which should happen in the next few minutes. USCG District 1 HQ in Boston has called and they will handle all shore based coordination and communication on our behalf. They want us to focus on rescue operations. The Sector Commander and Station Chief are both on the way in. ----------- From the OEM: They are setting up rescue centres in three locations and assembling police, fire and ambulances as well as mobile trauma units and Red Cross centers at each one. They are Rescue Areas: · Jones Beach: latitude'40.6745929712284', longitude'-73.0433718291958' · Monmouth Beach: latitude'40.6745929712284', longitude'-73.0433718291958' · Brighton Beach: latitude'40.6745929712284', longitude'-73.0433718291958' We need to direct all mobile life boats to one of these areas and any of our Rescue RHIBs will be able to drop off casualties at these sites. Local authorities will use ground and air transport to move casualties to local hospitals In an effort to de-conflict the airspace our air assets should avoid these rescue areas, 3 hospitals have assigned for the exclusive use of our evacuation assets: Hospitals: · Winthrop University Hospital: latitude'40.7539097036692', longitude'-73.6147930156054' · Staten Island University Hospital: latitude'40.5948319831125', longitude'-74.0998375942276' · Jersey Shore University Hospital: latitude'40.2218210004254', longitude'-74.0817795714843' Note: When a ship is sunk, one or more lifeboats, life rafts and/or a rescue buoy will be deployed. You will be provided VPs for: · Flying a HC-130H rescue AC over the Rescue buoy (drops emergency supplies, beacon and provides situational awareness) (load-out irrelevant) · Hovering (speed 0, alt Min) a rescue Helicopter (load-out irrelevant) over the Rescue buoy for 10 min OR · Moving a rescue RHIB or USCG cutter next to the Rescue buoy for 10 min · Hovering (speed 0, alt Min) a rescue Helicopter over a hospital for 5 min · Moving a rescue RHIB to an evacuation centre (rescue areas) and leaving it there for 10 min · You will receive VPs for lifeboats which reach the rescue centers, they are not under your control and generally move slow so may not arrive before the game ends. If they do the lifeboat will disappear and you will get a message to that effect. You may need to protect them however! · If a ship is only damaged, events will not trigger and the ship is considered to be conducting damage control and self-rescue. It may seem odd that the USCG does not get involved in this rescue but there are other priorities. (attempting to limit complexity) Caveat 1: Once enough rescue helicopters or RHIBs spend the appropriate amount of time to rescue survivors at any one site the rescue buoy it will teleport away. Caveat 2: It is very possible for a player to cheat by constantly running their Helicopters over the hospitals and there RHIBs into the Rescue Centres without first rescuing casualties from the rescue buoys. If you wish to do so, fine, but don’t consider it a win. Design note: Watch your speed on the RHIBs. At high speeds they will drain their fuel tanks quickly. As an experiment, the hulk of a decommissioned LST is placed near the USCG station, all weapons, sensors, helicopter facilities and engines are disabled. By loading RHIBs on the still functioning boat dock they should refuel. Oramai mi rimane pure poco da aggiungere. I messaggi che arrivano uno dopo l'altro rendono abbastanza chiara la situazione.
Si davvero. Ad ogni evento che può capitare vi è il suo messaggio correlato. Quando l’ho iniziato sembrava facile, ma è uno dei più difficili che mi sia capitato di fare.
Sir: The NYPD has assigned one of its Patrol Boats – PB 315 - to halt vessels leaving the harbor. The Port Authority has halted all vessels from leaving from ‘New York’, ‘Jersey Terminal’, ‘Brooklyn’, ‘Red Hook’, ‘Howland Hook’, and ‘Newark’. Police, Fire and Port Authority boats intercepting all traffic and turning everyone back to port of departure after questioning. Con questa PB mi sento molto più tranquillo ora... E’ un susseguirsi di messaggi. Sir A NOTAM has just been issued by NORAD in Colorado Springs authorized by POTUS : All civilian air traffic is to land immediately. The last heavy liner coming into JFK is Air France 22 in-bound from Paris, she doesn’t have enough fuel to divert. LeGuardia and Newark should be closed shortly. All outbound heavies were halted about 15 min ago with the first sign of trouble. Halifax, St Johns, Toronto, North Bay, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Detroit are stacking up. Getting a grip on the light traffic will be more difficult but NY ATC is working on it. Surface Ops pipes up Sir: District HQ is working on a NOTMAR telling all civilian shipping to: · Report in to USCG ASAP stating ‘Name, Type, Origin, Destination, Purpose, Course & Speed’ · If possible enter nearest harbor and report to authorities · Report all suspicious activity to USCG · Standby for mandatory instructions --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTAM = Notice to Airmen POTUS = President of the United States NOTMAR = Notice to Mariners Sir: The NYC Port Authority has just called. They have arranged for one of the Staten Island Ferry’s to assist us with the QE2 Rescue efforts. Note: VP will be added once the ferry remains close to the QE2 Rescue buoy for 2 hours. Cercherò di portare il ferry vicino alle scialuppe della QE2, sperando che non venga fatto a pezzi prima. Sir: Update on the QE2 rescue operations. There is a new rescue center opening up at Montauk (latitude='40.9859878179544', longitude='-72.149557039719). Also the police have closed the Montauk highway to everything except emergency traffic Con le centinaia di naufraghi che arrivano sulle coste (sempre che riesca a portarli in salvo), mi sembra un'idea molto saggia. Ma non ho il tempo di congratularmi con il comando, che un'altra tragedia si verifica al largo della costa. VESSEL SINKING Name: Steel Titan Type: Dry Bulk Carrier Displacement: 25,000 Tons Crew size: 27 Lifeboat deployed: Yes Rescue Beacon deployed: Yes Situation: MAYDAY report indicates large explosion forward, ship breaking up and sinking fast. Lifeboat released and proceeding WEST to Jones Beach, 20 souls including 2 injured. 7 Souls un-accounted for. E la situazione continua a peggiorare: Your Ops desk calls your attention to the overhead TV in your operations room, and turns up the volume. In a matter of about a minute you surmise that there have been several bombs on the NYC subway system. A truck bomb exploded at the World Trade Center, at first the footage looks like the explosion last year but this is new! A bomb at the NY Stock Exchange as well! The Holland Tunnel is closed with smoke billowing out both ends. Worse yet – some sort of explosion on the Manhattan Bridge, causing one span to collapse just as a commuter train was crossing, that train as well as several vehicles including a bus have crashed into the East River. Well this day is going to be a bad one! You task your Deputy to figure out what is going on and get back to you in 30 min! Evidentemente squadre di agenti infilitrati sovietici stanno compiendo atti di sabotaggio contro obiettivi sensibili. Non posso però intervenire, solo apprendere le notizie. Sir – We are now receiving a direct data feed from the Air Force. We’re not the only ones getting hit – Miami, Charleston, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle are all under missile attack. NORAD is on full alert and from what I can tell, they have about 60 fighters and 10 AWACs up around the continent. National airspace is shutting down, within an hour all civilian aircraft should be on the ground and the only thing flying will be military. It also looks like the Navy’s ‘TACAMO’ and USAF ‘Looking Glass’ aircraft are up as well as ‘Nightwatch’! Your deputy turns to you and asks – “Should we think about breaking out the Nuc Suits?” You nod. He says ‘Roger that, I’ll call in an extra shift as well – I think it might get busy here’ TACAMO – ‘Take Charge and Move Out’, Command and Control system designed to survive nuclear war and to maintain communications between the National Command Authority and nuclear assets. Looking Glass – Replaced by TACAMO in 1998, ‘Looking Glass’ has the capacity to directly control nuclear resources. Nightwatch - Advanced Airborne Command Post enabling POTUS (President of the United States) to exercise National Command Authority over all forces but in particular Nuclear forces.
A Navy van drives up to your HQ, 5 USN personnel start unloading a bunch of laptop computers and communications equipment. Their supervisor, a Naval Lieutenant report to you: Sir: I’m Lt Jenkins, your new Navy Liaison Officer, we just came over from USN Station Earle. Do you have a place we can talk? You bring him to your office: Sir: We’ve been on the road for the past hour and my normal day job is ammunition accounting – so you’re probably much better informed than I am at the moment. What I do know is that USS Hayler (DD997) and USS Sides (FFG-14) should have sortied from Norfolk as the ready reaction ships about 30 min ago. Once I get communications up with them they are assigned to assist you for the next few hours until Fleet gets things sorted out. They should have Helo’s inbound to them shortly and their main task is ASW. Do you have any idea where the threat submarines are? Sir The Montauk Fire Department just called! Didn’t know they had one! Anyway they have a RHIB and their putting it under our control to assist with the Queen Elisabeth rescue. OK then! Put her to use! They’re putting her in the water up at Napeague Bay – Where the F#$%# it that! Wait I’ll get a Lat/Long… latitude='41*01, longitude='-72*05 ---- Out near East Hampton! Have we got coms? Yes sir and she’s ready now. Sir the first Rescue of the injured from the Dallas are in the air. A SARTech (Search and Rescue Technician) assessment is that 22 will need immediate evacuation. We should task some H-60’s out of Gabreski to get things moving. The XO of the Dallas is in local command of survivors, the Capt has not been located. They have found 6 bodies and 7 of the injured have already succumbed to their wounds. Note: HH-65 can lift two casualties HH-60 can lift six casualties Ore 13:52Z Sir: The National Guard has been called up in both New York and New Jersey. We have requested some help to secure our parameter. We got a solid ‘Maybe’! I’ll keep on it Mi spiace che sia diventato un AAR in inglese. Ma i messaggi che continuano ad arrivare mi tolgono praticamente il tempo di aggiungere commenti miei. La situazione, a livello di sicurezza interna, sta peggiorando velocemente. Ore 14:05Z You Deputy grabs your attention and asks for 5 min of your time to brief you on what else is happening. Boss – this is big! It looks like WW3 has started in Europe! No Nuc’s yet but everything else is being thrown in! Reports from Germany are confusing to say the least, some are saying nothing is happening while others are showing tanks and aircraft all over the place, I think there may be some propaganda going on because it just doesn’t jive. Here in the States – Shipping off the ports of Miami, Savannah, Mobile, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Long Beach and Seattle have all been hit with missile attacks, nothing as severe as we have here, except off LA and Long Beach. Upwards of 40 vessels are reported damaged or sinking. Other Cities have been hit with ground attacks as well, mostly bombings but also ambushes of police and fire rescue services with small arms and ante vehicle attacks. The big one seems to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – a Semi truck exploded mid-span and has closed the bridge in both directions, dozens of cars were engulfed in the explosion and many were simply blown off the bridge! Other than that, bridges and tunnels, government buildings are the main targets, they seem to be staying away from military installations. Up in Canada, the flight locks on the Welland Cannel have been hit, the rail tunnel through Rogers Pass in the Rockies and some other strikes. In the City it’s a mess! You saw the news earlier, it seems that about 20 targets or so have been hit by various sized explosions: At least five in the subway, Penn Station, the World Trade Ctr, NY Stock Exchange, Holland Tunnel, The Manhattan and two other bridges, City Hall, three police stations, two fire stations, the Hillview Reservoir water distribution station and the Croton Filtration plant, two power plants East River and Brooklyn and a few others. The police stopped at least three attacks, one on the Brooklyn Bridge and another at Grand Central Station – but they are maxed out. There are at least 3 standoffs with gunmen ongoing, probably more. As you know the National Guard has been called out and we should see some of them helping secure our compound shortly. I’ll keep track of this stuff as best I can. I called your wife – she won’t be expecting you for dinner tonight…
Sir Gabreski Ops is reporting that a civilian type aircraft has not responded to the challenge and is requesting permission to force it down. Ore 14:30 Zulu Finalmente una buona notizia. The Navy LnO rushes up to you Sir! The Hayler and Sides have just checked in, they’re about 45 miles out of Norfolk, are OpReady, fighting mad and hunting for bear! Three Helo’s on board, a 60 should be ready in about 15 min and the others within the next hour. What would you like them to do sir? Ore 14:45Z Sir A Platoon of B Coy 114th Infantry Regt has been tasked to secure our parameter. They are departing Trenton now. Ore 14:50 Sir – and update on the Dallas: Sir 102 Rescue Sqn has just done a run past. Dallas is completely gone! 2x60 PAX life rafts are deployed and are signalling Red Smoke. The Hurc has dropped a small raft and some packaged supplies. Radio contact indicates that there are 89 PAX aboard the rafts, many injured, plus 9 bodies Two Life boats are also deployed and are maxed out at 30 PAX each and the two RHIBs, each with 8 on board. 18 are still un-accounted for. District Command has told us to restrict rescue to the seriously injured until we can get a handle on the rest of this mess. Recommend we cycle the Dallas’s RHIBs to Jones Beach and back to pick up the injured. We can task a Helo to respond and pick up some of the injured. In the meantime we should get the Life boats moving toward Jones Beach as well. Recommend we leave the Rafts in the area to continue the search for survivors. Ore 15:00 Zulu Sir The NOTAM has been in force now for about 40 min and there are still a few aircraft flying around. We should probably task the F-16’s from Gabreski to challenge them. Note: You will need to fly a Fighter type A/C in very close proximity to these civilian aircraft for a short period of time. If they are truly civilian, they will get the message and RTB. If they are not you may have to dispense with them. Warning – there is a sever VP lose should you shoot down the wrong AC. Seguo le richieste ed abbatto 5 monomotori tra Piper e Cessna. Sembrerebbero proprio ostili, in quanto erano equipaggiati con radar di ricerca aria-superficie. Un po’ strano, altrimenti, che fossero equipaggiati in questo modo. Un quinto Cessna viene intercettato da un F-16 della ANG e, dopo essere stato identificato, cambia rotta e rientra verso la costa orientale, per atterrare. Ore 18:10Z Mi sono stufato di avere in giro la nave spia sovietica Kursograf che, sebbene danneggiata, continua ad essere una spina nel fianco. Mi avvicino a sufficienza con il Mahan, per poter lanciare un Harpoon e mandarla a fondo. Non è stata una mossa apprezzata dalla marina, ma questi si sono messi a lanciare anche dei SAM contro un Orion di passaggio. Sir, the Kursograf is going down. The Navy is pissed, and they want you to call the Intelligence Chief for Atlantic Fleet – here’s the number. In the meantime, they are sending a team down to collect any photos we took and to interview anyone who had a close look at her. They should be here tonight. Decido di far fare la stessa fine anche al trawler bulgaro Trog. Anche in questo caso, qualcuno non sarà contento. Sir: That Bulgarian Trawler Trog is going down. The NYPD is on the phone, they are pretty upset. There are FBI and US Marshals descending on them from every direction. I think we’ll be answering questions on this one for a while! Poi altri due mercantili vanno a fondo. Uno era già danneggiato da un bel po’ di tempo e l’incendio che la stava avvolgendo ne ha infine causato l’esplosione. L’altro viene affondato ancora da un sottomarino nemico. Nel frattempo le prime scialuppe di salvataggio della Queen Elizabeth II, con a bordo i superstiti del grande transatlantico, raggiungono la costa meridionale di Long Island. Un P-3 dell’US Navy raggiunge invece il luogo in cui è stato affondato il mercantile Nordic Bothnia e, grazie al massiccio utilizzo di boe sonar, individua il responsabile del disastro. Si tratta del sottomarino atomico lanciamissili classe Osca, K266 Severodvinsk, che viene presto attaccato con siluri ed affondato. Lo scenario continua e termina senza altri sussulti. Gli unici eventi sono le varie scialuppe di salvataggio che raggiungono la costa di Long Island.
