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Amphibious Assault ships along with over two hundredYunana II landing craft to
an operation that appeared to be the onset of their amphibious attack on the
island. Escorting this force were severalLuhu class destroyers. The entire
group was steaming directly towards Taiwan and was now well out into the
straits with what the ROC leadership considered to be marginal air cover. The
feeling that this armada represented the main amphibious assault at a time
when the ROC had significantly thinned the numbers of aircraft that the PRC
had to defend the assault had enticed the ROC air force into the current
operation.
It was the remaining ROC AWACS aircraft that noticed the approaching Chinese
surface vessels and the disposition of their air cover. These remaining AWACS
aircraft were very valuable to the ROC. They were E-2C aircraft purchased from
the US Navy. Only two remained in the ROC inventory as a result of the Chinese
expending large numbers of their lower tech aircraft in downing the other four
in the weeks since the beginning of hostilities. As a result, one aircraft was
flying on the opposite side of the island at all times, escorted by over one
dozen of the best aircraft the ROC possessed, manned by the most experienced
pilots. This allowed for good radar and electronics coverage over the straits
in the general area of where the PLAN task force was approaching. But the
location of the ROC AWACS aircraft on the eastern side of the island also
meant much-decreased coverage over the Chinese mainland and points well to the
north and south over the East China Sea and the South China Sea. The PRC was
counting on this blind spot in the ROC surveillance and was now taking
advantage it as over three hundred high-performance aircraft approached from
the mainland to thewest, and from the carrier groups to the north and south.
They were coming in on the deck from the dead or dark zones of the E-2C
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coverage, and then rocketing skyward once they were detected.
Tiger lead! Tiger lead! This is Overseer-1.Many bandits approaching, climbing
through angels-5 at a speed of Mach-1 and accelerating. Break off your
attack& I say again, break off your attack
!
But the warning came too late, and the Battle of the Taiwan Straits was
joined.
July 8, 2006, 00:29 local time
PLAN Amphibious Assault Ship
Chongqing
Taiwan Straits
Kao Pham had been at battle stations for well over an hour when they came,
dozens and dozens of sleek and deadly aircraft from the west, like wraiths in
the moonlight. They had flown in between and to either side of theChongqing
and her sister ship, the Guangzhou, at incredible speed& just twenty meters off
the water. Then, one after another, with a visible tongue of fire and an
audible BOOM followed by rumbling thunder, they had ignited their
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afterburners and gone into almost vertical ascents just to the east of the
leading escorts of the formation that included the Kao. It was an
awe-inspiring sight that he would never forget, and it was a sight that
steeled him to what he knew was coming& combat.
The anti-aircraft missile launchers were on the forward portion of the ship,
as they were with every one of the new Chinese conversion ships regardless of
design. It was one of the many modular features that made them easy to build
and maintain, and cut costs. These missiles were KS-2 missiles and were very
capable in the anti-air defense role against either aircraft or anti-shipping
missiles. All of the tasks associated with targeting, launching and engaging
the missiles were the responsibility of several weapons officers in the
armored combat information center located beneath the bridge of the ship. The
loading of the vertical launch tubes that housed the missiles was handled
below deck by automated machinery. That machinery was maintained by other
sailors whose battle stations were located next to and below the missiles
themselves. The maintenance of the hatches for the vertical launch missile
tubes above deck was the responsibility of the section of personnel to which
Koa belonged. Their posts were located on a special deck just below the open
deck where the missile hatches opened to the air. They had special observation
ports that allowed them to visually monitor the hatches while observing all of
the various parameters of their status on computer displays located at each
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