Book 3 Chapter 63

            Morning came early; my cell was ringing on the night stand at 0500. The first message was from Andy. “Most parts of the plan are in place the rest will be in place in 48 hours.’’

The most parts were that JBG through Andy and Vicky had signed contracts with the Philippine government for a security detail of twenty -five fast ships along with support vessels.  Another ethics issue if someone was counting, I was sure and they were counting.

The fast ships were going to Freedom shoals where the helicopters had assembled the new installation yesterday. They were going to assist the destroyers in keeping the Chinese fishing boats at bay.

 The fishing boats were actually CCP military personnel, navy, army, intelligence officers designed to expand influence when possible and provide aggressive resistance if any Philippine fisherman showed up and run them off.

The second message from Andy,’’ freighter is unloading fast ships and crew in deep water a thousand yards from Freedom Shoals container base. The support ship will be on site before the end of the day. And operational.’’ The freighter was also carrying more supplies for what was now called Freedom Shoals base.

The Morton Jones anchored with dual anchors a thousand yards to the north west of FSB. The Morton Jones had started life as sub tender, USS McKee AS41 before it was auctioned off as surplus. The USS Land AS39 was the other sub tender being sold, both being decommissioned and sold the same day. Marcy bought both of them. For damn near nothing.

Andy and Vicky were trying to fill a gap in the fast ship program as Vicky called it. The McKee was renamed Morton Jones and the Land renamed to the Summers Lane. Both spent almost a year at Dillion ship yards in Biloxi Mississippi.

Andy had researched the ships thoroughly before Marcy put bids on them.  The Navy had spent ninety million dollars renovating each ship only to decide a year later to scrap them sending them to Gov deals auction site for the highest bidder. Every ship’s system had been tested, repaired or replaced.

JBG still had the inside track on the auction site. For a month there were no bids. The scrappers were waiting for the last day, last hour and last minute to bid on it hoping for a steal.

Old navy ships sold for nothing, the message that accompanied the sale listing was red flagged, lead paint, could contain PCB, and other hazardous materials, buyer responsible for all removal to the latest environmental standards before destruction.  On a ship that size it could have been millions.

 But the navy had removed all that stuff during previous dry dock maintenance repairs. We were not going to cut it up for scrap Andy, Vicky and Marcy were going to put it back in service for the Philippine and Vet Nam contracts.

Marcy had exercised our buyers code on the last day and bought the ship away from the scrappers who were waiting to buy it for a penny as they had for the last four aircraft carriers that had been scrapped.

The Morton Jones and Summers Lane were nearly perfect for what Andy and Vicky wanted.  Its main propulsion Steam. The auxiliary power was diesel electric through four big cat generators.

Two were all that needed to propel the ship when coupled to the reduction gears. The other two were multi -function designed to give shore power up to six submarines tied to it during replenishing or repairs. That connection was at a voltage we would never use.

It had huge freezers and refrigerators for foods and storage for canned goods. It also had bunks for one hundred and fifty extra sailors. Ten fast ships could be tethered along the sides. Twenty if they were double tethered. Dillion had added the necessary attachments for that.

Dillion had also added the latest sewage treatment plant and fresh water making equipment replacing the outdated Navy equipment. There was a massive machine shop on board to handle any repairs. Metal brakes, lathes, milling machines. The navy had removed none of the repair equipment. They were just going to send complete ship to auction.

It had one fifty ton over the side crane. It was capable of pulling a fast ship out of the water and setting it on stands on the deck for repairs. They also had two helo pads for helicopters. Andy was going to have a black hawk and a bell assigned to each ship.

The fresh water holding tanks were stainless and epoxy coated. The fuel tanks were cleaned and epoxy coated to eliminate leaks, rust and the latest filtration equipment added. She could carry five hundred thousand gallons of number two diesel fuel. The supply rooms and parts rooms were enormous.

Andy’s plan was to use the two ships as a floating base. Vicky had contracts in the works with several countries dealing with pirate attacks that a mobile off shore base would deny the pirates of intelligence.

They were watching the fixed base operations and when the fast ships departed base on sorties, they would alert their fighters to cease operations in the areas the ships were heading.  The floating bases could be stationed several hundred miles off shore away from prying eyes. It was an ambitious plan.

When the navy used these ships, they were crewed with five hundred plus sailors. After meetings with the fast ships captains many who were ex-navy, it was decided that a ship’s crew of two hundred or less was feasible. The ships were not going to be used for potential 24/7 war time operations so the heavy redundancy in crew wasn’t necessary. 

The armory onboard could be supplied with the weapons we already had from several storage bunkers. There were two bunkers at the gun club, one in Polokwane and another in the security zone.

 Andy still had sources for a lot of different weapons. The Israeli connection was still solid as ever. Frank was still providing things that would raise a lot of questions in some circles. The Philippines had also agreed to supply resupply of food and ammunition as needed.

   The ship had mountings for plenty of 12.5 and the 30mm chain guns we used plus Dillion installed mounts for rockets and missiles we had available in our supply chain. Advanced radar had also been installed on both ships.

When I looked up Frank, General Ingram and the Navy chief were standing at my door.

‘’We had anticipated that it would be another year before Andy assigned missions to your two support ships. I was surprised to learn from today’s satellite and Pacific command intel that they are on station and the two projects are well under way,’’ Frank said.

‘’Vicky and Andy are getting aggressive with some contracts, some of the things were rushed because current events changed the terms and needs of the contract. The changes also opened up some opportunities they decided to take advantage of.

‘’We have worked together before, the Navy and I want to know if we can get intelligence teams on the ships to monitor things while they are in the area,’’ Frank said, ‘’then he added I’m equally sure Marcy would want some compensation.’’

I laughed, ‘’ I see you still know Marcy’s take on things,’’ I said.

I lowered the screen and paged Andy on the VCATS system. I explained what Frank and the navy were wanting. He quickly agreed. He knew that by putting navy personnel and CIA on board any urgent demands would move higher on the ladder faster.

When do you want to put your people on board?’’ Andy asked.

‘’I will have their equipment and the operators at Subic Bay tomorrow. I assume you are going to have routine supply system worked out,’’ Frank said with the navy chief nodding his approval.

‘’Andy has enough fast ships there to run service as needed plus access to several black hawks. Marcy didn’t cancel the contracts with the manufactures. It’s a good thing. Everybody’s want’s JBG coastal ship protection. It seems like everyone with a saltwater coastline is dealing with pirates, terrorist or drug runners now,’’ I said.

‘’I will text Andy to tell him there will be materials and guest to be delivered to the command ships tomorrow,’’ I said.

‘’To build and deploy a force takes a lot of time and then there is the training, Andy and Vicky are staying ahead of the demands so far, ‘’ I said.

‘’The way Andy has the security division built now he can begin the logistics and deploy a force in just days after the paper work is completed to Marcy’s satisfaction,’’ I said.

‘’What started with a need for one hundred fast ships has expanded, Andy now has over two hundred, and he is still getting twelve more a month,’’ I said.

‘’Where are you finding the qualified people to man the ships?’’ Frank said.

‘’Lots of turn over from the Navy, they all cannot go to work as contractors in the pentagon or in the MIC (military industrial complex). JBG pays good the benefits are good. All are attractive if you looking for your place in the world,’’ I said.

‘’Andy now has five ships that are fully female crewed, I never thought I would ever hear that. So far, all reports have been good,’’ I said.

‘’You are going to see a lot of noise this summer. Andy is going to start recurrent training in the bay. The recurrent training cycle that we are doing is not a good fit for our marine division so a new one is being developed specifically for them. Ten ships are going to be based somewhere on the island,’’ I said.

‘’Just have Marcy bill us for the accommodations and the logistics,’’ Frank said as he and the chief left.

After lunch I had two more meetings with two different congressional groups. Google was showing satellite photos of what was taking place at Freedom shoals and running them on their news feed. They were demanding answers and likely to get none to their satisfaction.

The meetings were going to be short and sweet. Then I was going to pack and fly back to my vacation. The generals and Andy could handle it. Dozens of scenarios had been discussed and the expected response that was to be delivered.

Four hours later I was stepping off Lorries landing craft onto the beach. It was too late to take Marine one and land next to the main lodge where my family was staying, just too noisy with everyone winding down for the evening.