Publisher's Synopsis
The Forgotten War Begins -- A Novel of the Sea War in Korea Nonstop action set in the actual events of the times! It is 1950. World War II is over, the nation is at peace and the US armed forces are drastically cut back in size. The new, bomber-centered, nuclear-armed Air Force is now king and the Army, and especially Navy forces, are cut to the bone. Unexpectedly, 100,000 North Korean troops cross the border into South Korea driving the lightly equipped South Korean Army down the peninsula. President Truman, with United Nations backing, pledges to help South Korea and directs the US Navy to blockade the Korean coast and to patrol the Formosa Straits to prevent the Red Chinese Army from invading Formosa. A single aircraft carrier, a couple of cruisers and a handful of destroyers is all that is left of the once mighty 7th Fleet. This skeleton force is ordered into the breach to carry out the President's mandate. In USS Percival steaming north from Hong Kong on the first day of the war, Lt. j.g. David "Hutch" Hutcheson wonders whether the few, undermanned, under-supplied US ships can meet the challenge. Percival forms up with the rest of the 7th fleet in a show of force in the Formosa Straits on their way to Buckner Bay in Okinawa. During the transit, Percival escorts the aircraft carrier Valley Forge, serves as radar picket and chases down a false submarine contact. Under the United Nations Mandate, the US 7th Fleet is joined by ships of the British Far East Fleet to form Task Force 77 at Buckner. Percival has a war-hero Captain, an alcoholic Executive Officer and a crew of junior officers that have never seen combat. However, Percival and Hutch are plunged into the fray, escorting aircraft carriers, as their aircraft attack North Korea. At General MacArthur's direction, Vice Admiral Struble, Commander 7th Fleet, boards Percival for a quick trip to Formosa to reassure Chiang Kai Shek that the US has his back. Hutch acts as Struble's aid in his meeting with Chiang, Madam Chiang, the US Charge' de Affaires and Admiral Kwei. With the shortage of naval fighting ships, Percival is constantly at sea. Hutch has Percival's conn during the rescue of a pilot whose plane crashed while attempting a landing on Valley Forge. Percival plays "Train Buster" against a Communist ammunition train trying to hide in a tunnel. A North Korean torpedo boat attacks Percival with disastrous results. Percival joins the Gunfire Support Group in bombarding North Korean troops and industrial centers. Percival attacks a sonar contact that turns out to be an enemy sub. Percival's Landing Party goes ashore to bring fuel to embattled and surrounded Republic of Korea forces and ends up in a fierce firefight on the beach. During all of this, General MacArthur, Admiral Joy and Air Force General Stratemeyer struggle with problems revealed by a resurgent, combative, naval air and an impotent US Air Force unprepared for this kind of war. Navy aircraft carriers are directed to bring Air Force planes from the US. The inability of Air Force controllers to direct Navy planes in close troop support frustrates Navy fliers and morale plunges. Seventh Fleet aircraft are tasked to attack targets that are rightfully the Air Force's leading to strained relations between Navy and Air Force brass. With his first taste of war at sea, Hutch ponders whether he made a mistake in following the family naval tradition and if he will ever again see Peggy, his wife, and their infant son. Finally, during MacArthur's daring invasion of North Korea, Hutch meets the enemy in fierce combat at close quarters in the intertidal waters off Inchon. If you like books by Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, Claude Berube or Stephen Coontz, you will want to read "The Forgotten War Begins."
