Wave of Destruction; Ch. 22

"Incoming!"
The Russian 'Sunburn' anti-ship missiles closed fast on the American fleet. They came in low and fast. Once they were close they popped and started dropping toward the ships. The American 'Phalanx' guns sprang to life. The guns quickly tracked the missiles and spun up their guns. What sounded like a quick zip nearly descinigrated the missiles before they could hit the fleet. The Americans responded in kind. Soon anti-ship missiles filled the sky, but this time their heading was toward the Russian fleet. The Russians, surprised to see retaliation, sounded the alarm for everyone to go to battle stations. A couple Russian cruisers managed to launch a few missiles before going on the defense. The Russian and American anti-ship missiles past eachother in the air. The American missiles got close to the Russian fleet when suddenly the 'Kashtan' defense system opened up and threw a wall of missiles and lead. The missiles smacked into the , not one making it through. The Russian missiles had a repeat scenario from the first wave.

With both fleets realizing the missiles were ineffective is was time to resort to the way naval battles were fought in times of old. The fleets raced at each other. Carriers from both fleets launched their fighters and soon the sky looked like a cloud of nats. The two fleets gathered and fired at once, it's debatable who fired first, but it didn't matter at the time. The guns shook their ships and sent ripples in the water. The first shots missed entirely on both sides. The fighters soon joined in diving at the fleets and launching their AS missiles. Again the Kashtan and Phalanx defensives unloaded their ammo into the sky. AS missiles and aircraft alike were swatted out of the sky. Few fighters made it threw the flying lead. Those that survived switched to unguided rockets. With a storm front hitting the area the sea was wild with waves. The waves made aiming impossible. Though they couldn't aim well the ships still opened their guns. Every shot with a flaming twenty foot burst. The storm was not developed enough to produce thunder yet the air filled with hundreds of deep, loud, grumbles. The sea splashed as if kids were playing in a pool.

Finally, an explosion! One of the old American battleships took on a lot of fire do to it's size it was an easy target. Russian fighters dove down and eptied their rocket pods on to the battleship's deck. The ship splintered and popped. Anti-aircraft batteries lit up the fighters in revenge. They exploded in mid-air, making it look like the fourth of July. The American fighters were likewise on the war path. They moved in to make a strike on a Russian cruiser when suddenly more Russian fighters appeared in the sky. The American fighters were comprised of the F-35's and F-18's. The '18's dove for the ships while the '35's climbed toward the Russian Su-33's. The '18's, like others that tried to attack the fleets, were pulled out of the sky and thrown to the sea. The '35's and '33's were coming at each other head on. Once in range they all fired their missiles and manuevered. Both suffered losses. It became a close dog fight with absolutely no organization. From the view of the ships all one could see was dots swirling in the dark gray sky. Occasionly one of the dots would flash orange followed by a thick black streak of smoke. Both group of pilots were seasoned and knew it would last forever, so they called in the long range SAM's from their fleet. The fighters broke off from chasing each other, not knowing they had similar fates. The missile popped out of their launchers and instantly gained altitude. They swirled and closed on their targets. All at once every fighter up was knocked out of the sky. One Su-33 pulled away from a missile with a successful 'Kulbit' manuever. However, during it's perfect flip shrapel from a fellow comrade rained down tearing the Sukhoi thousands of aluminum shreds. With air cover destroyed both fleets moved in even closer. They fired their guns at near point blank range. An hour into the battle they most of the ships were damaged, but still managable. It would be another two hours until every ship was sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic. The American fleet was wiped out except for one carrier and the transports. The Russians managed to save their Carrier. They also had their submarines intact. Both sides, though seemingly at a draw left the crucial strategic targets alone that would bite them back soon.