The War of the 21st Century

Chapter 7: Operation Trident

In a bold move to win the Battle of the Caribbean, the Chinese fleet moved towards the islands of Puerto Rico. If they were to capture them, they would establish a base of operations from which they could operate freely through the Caribbean and the gulf of Mexico. President MacArthur firmly ordered that Puerto Rico be defended at all costs, and green-lighted operation Trident: an ambush in which they would annihilate the Chinese fleet in the Atlantic trapping it between the Port of Ponce and the US Navy forces. US intelligence already knew that Ponce was the target for the Chinese, giving the Americans the advantage. They also knew the Chinese fleet's location due to satellite technology...The Americans were ready. They were not going to let what happened in Taiwan happen again.

The Chinese had other plans and destroyed the American satellites providing the location of their fleet by using their anti-satellite missiles hours before the attack. This created a confusion among the Americans, and put the operation in danger. It was admiral Paxson who stayed firm on the decision to focus on maintaining the ships near Ponce instead of spreading them in case the enemy had changed plans. By the time the Chinese strike force had sent its fighters to attack, the US air force greeted them in the air before they reached the port. This alerted the Chinese to the fact that the surprise was on them, and while the air force defended the port, the navy sent its planes to attack the invading fleet. The enemy was caught off guard, and not many planes were around to defend their ships from the incoming aerial onslaught...

While the Navy decimated the enemy fleet, the Chinese commander, admiral Shen was faced with a hard choice; move out of range of the American planes, or move forward towards the port and attempt to capture it like they had planned. He decided on the latter...

"We have come too far to go home empty-handed. We will take Ponce no matter what the cost. Our will shall not be broken! Courage is the only thing that can save us now. Move forward!"

The admiral's decision proved to be the best option. Little did they know that another American naval strike force  was waiting for them as soon as they retreated. It was all part of the plan...

And move forward they did. Though many ships were destroyed, they had plenty to spare. The American Navy planes were already returning to their fleet after emptying every single ammunition they had, and their own remaining aircraft were on their way back. The Americans were impressed. The operation was going well, but they were not going to have it easy. The Chinese proved to be as brave as they come...

When the Chinese landing craft began to move towards the beach, the American submarines appeared out of nowhere firing torpedoes towards the Chinese ships, while another wave of USAF planes attacked the landing forces.

Admiral Shen ordered the remaining aircraft back to the sky to defend the landings. The Americans were repelling the invasion effectively. And that's when suddenly everything changed...

Out of nowhere, a squadron of Chinese bombers appeared on the horizon and started decimating the defenses around the port. The USAF could not react in time because their planes were too busy dealing with the landing craft. Nobody saw it coming...it was the Chinese Air Force coming from the only Caribbean nation allied to the the Dragons of the East: Cuba.

After the bombing run, the Chinese dropped paratroopers to the rear defenses around the port.

As the battle progressed, it became clear that the American garrison was going to lose the port. The Chinese strike force was overwhelmingly large. Even though they had lost so many warships, they still took the bay. The commander of the garrison called admiral Paxson to report the situation...

"The Chinese have established a foothold on the beach. The airstrike destroyed most of our artillery units. And we have enemy paratroopers engaging us on our rear. We cannot sustain the defenses for long."

Admiral Paxson believed the Chinese fleet to be the most important objective rather than defending the port, and decided to focus the attack on the warships instead of the landing craft. He called for the air force to join in on the attack by targeting the Chinese flagship: the aircraft carrier Yangzte. This decision cost them the port of Ponce which was overrun by the invading forces, but gave them a chance to deal the Chinese a deadly blow, when USAF and Navy fighters crippled the Chinese flagship, enabling the American cruisers to fire missiles and finish it off. It was a disaster for the Chinese. They captured the port, but now they had no carrier from which to launch their fighters, giving up air superiority to the Americans. The Chinese fleet retreated to Cuba where the Chinese air force shielded it from the American navy's planned ambush. The Americans had achieved in Ponce what they didn't achieve in Taiwan; they effectively isolated the Chinese army in Puerto Rico while neutralizing the Chinese fleet in the Atlantic. The US Navy entered the port, and sent the Marines to trap the invaders between them and the US Army garrison. The invaders abandoned the port and moved to the west side of the island to evade being encircled by the army coming from the northeast and the marines coming from the south. They reached the western coast, and awaited the Chinese navy's return to extract them. They planned to use their remaining warships covered by their air force to extract them, but the US Navy had already blockaded them. They had no choice but to surrender or carry on with limited supplies.

Operation Trident was a success for the Americans. The Atlantic Chinese fleet threat was partially neutralized; it managed to survive complete annihilation but at the cost of abandoning an entire army on the island surrounded by all sides. The fleet would stay in Cuba for a while until called for new orders which left their air force around Cuba to deal with replenishing their army in Puerto Rico. The Americans had scored their first real victory of the war. This outcome rendered the Venezuelan oil shipments more secured and enabled the American industrial might to continue as strong as ever.

But not everything was peaches and cream...Even though surrounded, the invading army in Puerto Rico still remained engaged and determined to make the Americans pay highly for their victory at Ponce. The battle of Ponce is over; the battle for Taiwan continues. The War of the 21st Century increasingly complicates with countries gradually being dragged into the war forced to join one side or another, engulfing the whole world into chaos...