(Slava-class warship Moskva in the Bosphorus last year, looking better than this morning, by report).
We tried to swing the conversation away from Ukraine in the Weather Report this week. You saw a glimpse of the drumbeat from overseas. China is restive. Japan is considering re-orienting its military, once strictly limited to defensive purposes since the horror of the Pacific War. Object?
‘Defend against regional threats’ is the theme, and there are several, as you know. China’s desire to subsume the Republic of China, the former mainland government that fled Peking for Taipei just after the conclusion of that global conflict. The echoes of that war remain, and closer than comfortable, as Russia still occupies the islands- Japanese islands- that arc away to the northeast from Hokkaido. The uncertainty of the Korean Peninsula remains nearly seventy years after the “Police Action” to oppose the forced consolidation two systems attempted by the Kim dynasty.
The matter of Taiwan appears in that arc of “defense.” Russia’s perspective is sometimes ‘Eurasian,’ reflecting that vast swath of territory from Ukraine to the islands almost in sight of Hokkaido. Nestle to the south of course is China, rising in might and bristling with a new atomic arsenal. But there is another, newer face in the calculus of nations: India.
New Delhi democratically rules a population of 1.4 billion humans, second only to China. It grows as the populations of the old colonial powers shrink. What it produces and consumes are now matters of global significance. A shared border with the largest population periodically flares in tension, and Russia has a new relationship with both, even as it attempts to plow old ground in Europe.
What we see now reflects an emerging new order. The conclusion of the second global struggle left a tenuous but enduring line of demarcation between the Allies and the Soviet union. Major conflicts in Korea and Vietnam sought to alter the old terms of truce, and were judged then as worth the price of conflict. There is still controversy about the number of young Americans sacrificed in both. Up until the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Armistice, the number lost in Korea was reported as more than 50,000. It had a resonance with the number lost in Southeast Asia. More than a hundred thousand young souls killed in the very prime and essence of life. Perished in conflicts over the end of empires and ‘falling dominoes.’
The old military around the Fire Ring tried to imagine them marching in ranks, one way, up the County road that connects Refuge Farm with the wide world. Since they are products of the old system, they immediately went to the Army Field Manual to determine best practice for the Road March, and followed the guidance for ‘opposed’ or ‘benign’ advance, and since the column would be so large, specific instruction for separation in day and night operations.
Splash summed it up. “It would take a long time. But we had more living troops right here in the County in that other war that determined things for nearly a hundred years.”
Being nautical veterans, that led to a discussion about the latest information of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the possible loss of the Flagship, the Slava-class cruiser the Ukrainians claim to have sunk with missiles fired from land. The name of the ship confused some. The “Moskva” had been a large and somewhat ungainly helicopter carrier, launched in 1965. Some of us had shared the waves with her, and because of her capacity to carry an embarked staff and frequent flight operations, seemed a likely choice for a Flagship. Other information suggested it was a much newer and more formidable cruiser of the Slava-class. Her rakish missile batteries arrayed along the foredecks were impressive and reflected an intentional design flourish to connote sea-born power.
The consensus was that “newer” was a better choice to carry the Flag, but spooled rapidly into a discussion of effective air defense and ship-board fire-fighting if required. Melissa and Buck murmured about the horror of being confined to a floating assembly of steel engulfed in roaring flames. DeMille simply commented that it was a hazard associated with a failure to be at General Quarters, with compartments dogged-down tight and alert sailors ready to fight flames. Only Splash brought up the loss of the USS Bonhomme Richard, a helicopter carrier that burned without respite while docked and crew-less for maintenance in San Diego last year.
“If you are unready to go to war, you are only ready for peace if someone will let you have it.”
“Did it sink? Can you imagine walking into the Dirty-Shirt wardroom one morning in the Med and hearing you had lost the 6th Fleet flagship?”
“Sounds like someone wasn’t ready to fight.”
Buck was not so narrowly focused. “Or maybe the world in which they chose to fight was different than the old one.” There was a brief silence around the circle, and even our Attorney looked a bit non-plussed at the idea that the days of two indomitable powers staring down each other around the planet as required was a paradigm that no longer described a new world. One with more eyes and more varied desires.
“Times change,” said Rocket, a fighter pilot from the old school. “But one thing is still for sure.” Melissa leaned forward to hear how exactly the new world was going to work. Rocket leaned back and reminded the crowd that “Speed is Life.”
It was useful information, of course, but Splash had the last comment before the production meeting concluded. “Speed may indeed be life. But in my experience, it helps to know where you are going.”
Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
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