Chapter 173

I opened the folder with the CIA supplied satellite pictures from this morning and handed the two to Frank, “Did you know about the covered boat pens across from AD Dammam?’’ I asked.

‘‘No, we knew there was construction in the area several years ago, but it was abruptly stopped during the Iran Iraq war. Then there was a group of fishing huts there for a while until they fell down,’’ he said.

‘‘The fishing huts were cover for what they were really doing. I think you need to have someone go back and look at the whole Iranian coast for abnormalities. I hate those kind of surprises and don’t want to see any more,’’ I said.

‘‘It is already under way,’’ he said.

‘‘I think we know where they are headed with all their maneuvers. It also means they have another method of communication other than the General’s coded broadcast by Tiam - likely buried cables. There were no broadcasts from Tiam so you need to look for the connections where they all come together,’’ I said.

‘‘I will put a specialist on it,’’ he said as he stood to leave.

A call came in from King Eluad of Saudi Arabia - it lasted thirty minutes - expressing his sympathy for the losses on the Hammann. When the call ended I had an agreement from the Saudi’s to furnish fuel for the fleet and additional bases for the US forces to use.

Next in were the Joint Chiefs for the second time this morning.

‘‘All leaves have been canceled and those on leave have been recalled to their duty stations. The other orders you wanted are in the works,’’ the Chief of Naval Operations said.

The other orders were ‘‘I want the Stennis and its task force, the Thomas and its task force at sea in three days.’’

That was the time it would take to finish the nitpicky things the uniforms wanted done from the overhauls.

They also needed to load fuel, arms and food. The same would apply to the escort group of destroyers, guided missile cruisers and submarines. The air groups would land on carrier deck once they left port.

In the Pacific the Reagan task force was ordered to depart Russia tomorrow and refuel the aviation tanks, take on additional weapons and supplies at the naval base in Japan and wait for additional orders.

The Roosevelt task force was ordered to depart for the coast of East Africa in three days. The Lincoln task force was ordered to depart for India in three days. In seven days all the carriers would be within two days sailing of the Indian Ocean if a call to action was ordered.

That would leave only the Fordson - with all its problems - at the docks.

The next one for the hot seat was the State Department. I listened for thirty minutes while Secretary of State Dean read messages from various allies and from countries aligned with Iran.

All of those that were allied with Iranian were urging that the US use restraint in responding to the Iranian attack. Some were even pressuring that we take no actions. I ordered the Secretary of State to advise all our allies to remove all citizens from Iran.

Even though I couldn’t say it out loud, I had shown all the restraint I was going to show when I had not pushed the nuke button ten minutes after the attack. Absolutely everything else was on the table.

The Generals laid out the general plan for a retaliatory military action. The Navy was up to bat first and second then the Air Force third, fourth and finally the Marines and the Army.

The Marines were leaving in the amphibious assault ships by the end of the week. The amphibious assault ships in the Atlantic ports would follow the same route as the carriers.

The amphibious ships in the Pacific would sail to the Indian Ocean and stand by until the Navy and Air Force bombing campaigns were done.

The close in support would be from the Air Force and Marine A10s and various ground support helicopters. The Army would be flown to Saudi Arabia then ferried across the Strait of Hormuz in the assault ships. I liked the plan.

All the Atlantic Navy task forces would transit to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. The target date for the first round was ten days; that was when all the carriers would be in the Indian Ocean.

The joint chiefs selected the Indian Ocean as the center of activities for the opening round because aircraft launched from there could hit all of Iran without needing flyover permission from countries that were in favor with Iran.

If they were launched from the Mediterranean Sea, they would have to fly over Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. All of which had people aligned with Iran who would certainly warn them. Plus Iran still had several military bases in Iraq from the supposedly demise of ISIS in the area. Those bases would soon be rubble as would be many more.

I called Frank to come back in and he did quickly.

‘‘I believe there are several sites publishing our Navy’s ship movements every day and one or two doing the same for aircraft. Politely ask them to cease reporting US ship movements for a month. If they don’t, shut down their operations. If all else fails, threaten to have the Air Force destroy the satellites they are using and then do it,’’ I said.

The joint chiefs, Troy and I looked at the thumb drives Tom had given me this morning of the action as captured by the Go-Pro cams the JBG men were wearing. We were looking for shots that could be released to the media tonight at the 1800 news conference.