The Southern Flank D+15 (24 July, 1987) Part II

Kennedy and Saratoga’s airwings went to work in the pre-dawn darkness of D+15. From midnight until 0500 CVW-3 and CVW-17 aircraft struck army-level headquarters, airbases, and fuel reserve sites in Bulgaria. They were augmented by a small number of US Air Force F-111s flying from bases in Turkey. Opposition was weaker compared to the previous …

The Southern Flank D+13 (22 July, 1987) Part II

Kennedy and Saratoga had moved into the Eastern Mediterranean on the previous night, later than originally planned. COMSIXTHFLT had held them back following their UNREP to goad the Soviets into thinking the two carrier battle groups were going north to the Adriatic instead of deeper into the Med. The enemy, however, did not take the …

Gaming World War III: War at Sea Part II

The first edition of Harpoon was a general-purpose air, surface, and sub-surface naval simulation. It was a playable game based around graspable rules, and comprehensive information on ships, aircraft, sensors, and weapons systems of the era. The game found acceptance in the commercial wargaming community, and the professional naval community in general. Harpoon also helped …

Gaming World War III: War at Sea Part I

Naval wargaming has held an important place in the US Navy for over a century. Alfred Thayer Mahan, when he became president of the Naval War College (NWC) in 1886 supported the use of wargames modeled on the German games known as Kriegsspiel. Naval Kriegsspiel, as the NWC variant beame known, consisted of cardboard ships …

The Southern Flank D+5 (14 July, 1987) Part I

Saratoga’s air wing went back into action in the pre-dawn hours. The morning’s target list included POL facilities and staging areas in southern Bulgaria. CVW-17s airstrikes were not preceded by cruise missile strikes as they had been twenty-four hours earlier. The Los Angeles class attack submarines that had fired most of the TLAMs against targets …

The Southern Flank D+4 (13 July, 1987) Part I

At 0125 hours EEST, the Sixth Fleet went to work. Less than an hour before, twenty TLAMs (Tomahawk Cruise Missile Land Attack Variant) were launched from a trio of Los Angeles class attack submarines, and the single TLAM-armed destroyer in the Saratoga’s battlegroup. The missiles approached the Greek-Bulgarian frontier in a staggered pattern, less than …

The Southern Flank: D+2 (11 July, 1987) Part II

Commander 6th Fleet Vice Admiral Kendall Moranville, USN was anxious to unsheathe his command’s offensive sword and take the fight directly to the Warsaw Pact homelands. The Eastern Med was secure and Moranville wanted to turn his surface ships and submarines to the next phase of wartime operations. Two destroyers attached to the Saratoga battlegroup …

The Southern Flank D+1 (10 July, 1987) Part I

The destruction of the Soviet surface action groups in the Eastern Mediterranean marked the end of the 5th Eskadra. Every major surface combatant belonging to the Soviet Navy’s Mediterranean squadron was at the bottom of the sea, along with their escorts, and a number of submarines. The squadron’s commander, Rear Admiral Vladimir Yegorov had perished …

The View From The Flanks: AFSOUTH, D-2 (7 July, 1987) **

Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINC-SOUTH) Admiral James Busey USN, spent an inordinate amount of time on 6 July on the telephone with Norfolk attempting to pry an aircraft carrier away from SACLANT for the Mediterranean. The US Sixth Fleet only had one carrier in the Mediterranean at present with the Saratoga. Constellation was supposed to …