Chapter Forty-Nine End of November

“Continue then,” says the president.

“Thank you, sir. This next image you see is of the tanker traffic coming in and out of the Persian Gulf. If we launch this strike, it is vital that we have complete control of the sea lanes inside of the Strait of Hormuz, that critical thirty-four miles. If we don’t, Iran could make a last-ditch effort to disrupt the sea lanes. They could sink enough tankers in the Strait that it would take decades to clear.

“I assume, Admiral Smith, that you and your staff have considered this matter and have a plan to see that we are successful?” says President Egan, turning to address the admiral.

Smith stands up at his seat, “Mr. President, the Navy’s plan is to coordinate time tables with the Air Force so we’re hitting them on all fronts at the same time. We see the Strait as our biggest challenge. We recommend attacking at a time when the Strait has the least amount of tanker traffic. There’s a window, between 2100 and 0500 hours that most tanker captains avoid the Strait, which isn’t the easiest thing to navigate, as you can imagine. Once in a while you get a die-hard who’ll attempt it. We would want to be able to plan against that eventuality,” Admiral Smith says, then pauses. Killing defenseless merchant mariners, he thinks. I just couldn’t let that happen.

“The Navy will have two squadrons of fighters over the Strait at any one time to deal with Iranian air craft or missile launches from those Chinese missile sites. However, we need to understand one thing. Once a battle starts, all of the greatest plans go to pieces. Then it’s up to the men and women fighting them to make them successful. Can we do this? We believe so. Is this going to be a cake walk? Hell no! This isn’t fiction, no military thriller.”