Deadly Sea

At almost the same time without any human intervention, the Goalkeeper CIW’s radar detected a threat which was Red 2, the lead hovercraft. With a mechanical whirring noise the big gun swiveled on its base to point toward the incoming threat. Without warning, there was a tremendous “Braaaaaaap” from the gun. It sounded similar to a chainsaw but that’s where the similarities ended. A tongue of fire 5 feet long erupted from the seven barrel GAU-8 Gatling gun, the same gun used in the deadly A-10 Warthog. A single one second burst of the 12 inch depleted uranium shells from the GAU-8 could cut a main battle tank in half. Goalkeeper had no trouble with the lightly armored North Korean vessel. The 30mm rounds were fired at a rate of 3900 per minute and traversed the short distance to the lead hovercraft moving at 3,600 ft per second. On the Sunchon The Commander was watching the distance to the US ship and gave the order to all hovercrafts to turn on their fire control radars. “Acquire then fire! I repeat acquire then fire immediately.” He yelled to all hovercraft commanders. He wanted the Americans to have no time to react to his incoming anti-ship missiles. He felt immense pride as the order left his lips. This would go down in history as a defining moment for North Korea. They would finally be seen on the World stage as a force to be respected. Out of the corner of his eye to port he watched as the left most hovercraft disintegrated in front of his eyes. One second it was roaring across the ocean and the next there was just pieces of metal and fiberglass splashing into the ocean. He could not comprehend. Just as quickly he heard a whoosh and the hovercraft to his starboard met the same fate. This time he saw glass blow out of all windows before the entire structure disappeared in a ball of flame and debris splintering all over the ocean. If he had been able he would have seen the streaking payload of the Harpoon missile which had approached the ship now just 12 feet above the surface of the ocean skimming the waves at approximately 530 mph. The 1500 lb rocket slammed into the bow of the hovercraft exploding on contact. The 487 lb high-explosive core was the business end of this weapon and the explosion tore into the hovercraft with a blast wave ripping the 60 foot craft in half. The resulting shock wave pulverized everything else that was left including humans and hardware. “They are attacking us!” the Commander’s brain finally kicked in. At that moment everything in front of him exploded. Windows. Panels. Seats. People. The CIWS initially laid down two quick bursts of cannon fire followed by a third longer burst. The initial bursts of about three seconds each first impacted the sea in front of the hovercraft but the path of the directed fire was like a laser and walked directly into the bow area and along the front deck of Red 2. During that first burst of the CIWS, approximately 300 HEI (High Explosive Incendiary) shells each left the gun traveling 3/4 of a mile per second. The second burst of 300 shells impacted the port side of the ship and angled across the deck slicing through anything in its path including the Bridge where the Commander and his crew were strapped into their seats. For the Commander, there was a blinding white light as his whole world lit up like it was on fire. His last cognitive thought was the naval officer to his left who was steering the craft no longer had a head. He never felt the five shells punch through his arm and chest. No trace of the Commander or his crew remained a few seconds later. The GAU-8 gun ceased firing but the radar of the CIWS continued to scan in all directions for possible threats. Detecting nothing new, it switched automatically into Standby mode. Smoke drifted out of the long barrel. “Captain…all threats neutralized.” said Weps. “Great job team.” Captain Johnson said to the crew around him. “Now the fun really begins.” he muttered to himself knowing this was going to be an international incident like no other.