Thunder in the Morning Calm by Don Brown

Author:Don Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780310410430
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2011-08-15T18:30:00+00:00

NKN Frigate Najin

the Sea of Japan

The North Korean Navy frigate Najin, on patrol off the North Korean coast, was 328 feet from bow to stern, had a maximum speed of 25 knots, or 28 miles per hour, and carried a crew of 180 black-jacketed sailors and officers of the proud North Korean Navy.

As the sun began setting below the horizon of the darkening waters of the Sea of Japan, all over the ship, from the bridge to the engine room, from the forward to the aft watch, the news spread like fire upon a sea of gasoline. The Najin’s comrades serving in the Western Fleet of the North Korean Navy patrolling in the Yellow Sea had delivered the first fatal blow to a powerful United States aircraft carrier!

The excitement from the news had spread throughout the crew, but was soon dampened by frustration. The announcement by the ship’s executive officer over the ship’s loudspeaker system thirty minutes ago was proof that all the action was taking place on the west side of the peninsula, in the Yellow Sea, not on the east side, where the Najin was stationed.

The brave crew of the Najin was anxious to get into the fight with the Americans. They wanted to show the Yankees that their superior naval force could teach the Americans the folly of sailing the waters off the Democratic People’s Republic, for the Navy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was a great tiger ready to roar.

This fervor for war swept into every crevice of the ship. In the Najin’s radar control room, Petty Officer First Class Jong Tae-se, distracted by the news, tried to concentrate on the boring sweep of the empty black-and-green radar screen, which continued to show that the Najin was alone in this sector of the Sea of Japan.

Sweep … Sweep … Sweep … Round and round and round.

Like a fast-moving, lit-up green electronic second hand sweeping around the black face of a round and numberless watch, the sweeps for ships and planes came up empty.

Sweep … Sweep … Sweep … Still nothing.

If they were in the Yellow Sea at the moment, he thought, the sweeps would be lit up with American warships and planes. Their fire-control radars would be fixed on the enemy. The crew members of the Najin would be poised to take their place in history — indeed, in destiny.

The Yellow Sea fleet always seemed to get more money and glory, he thought, than ships like the Najin in the Sea of Japan. Did those in Pyongyang not remember the fact that Japan remains a strong ally of the hated US and as such is an enemy and poses a threat to the Democratic People’s Republic? Could it be that the Yellow Sea fleet got all the attention because Pyongyang, and thus the Dear Leader himself, is much closer to the Yellow Sea than he is to the Sea of Japan?

But Jong’s duty was not to question, but rather to continue watching the ship’s radar screen.

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