An Uncertain Sea: USS MULLIGAN, #3

By Frederic W. Burr and Warren Musselman

"An Uncertain Sea" is the third and final book in the Don DeFreese/USS Mulligan series. The story opens with Commander DeFreese facing a Court of Inquiry over his conduct during the ship's most recent deployment ("The Persian Paradox").

In the meantime, to address challenges being posed by the People's Republic of China, the US Navy undertakes to shift resources from the Atlantic to the Pacific Fleet. The USS Mulligan, in a yard repair and maintenance period, is rushed out for Refresher Training at Guantanamo Naval Base, and from there, to the U.S. Seventh Fleet for operations in the South China Sea.

After the 2020 election cycle, a Democrat Administration takes power in January of 2021. Turmoil in the Middle East drives the Administration, in an ill-considered decision, to then divert Seventh Fleet assets to the Middle East. While the Administration's attention is not focused on the Western Pacific, China, having misread the new President's view of the PRC, decides to 'restore' the renegade province of Taiwan to Beijing's control.

Unable to develop a coherent strategy as tensions escalate, the Administration dithers while the Naval arm of the People's Liberation Army launches an invasion of Taiwan. The White House eventually decides a Seventh Fleet show of force will be sufficient to calm the situation. Instead, it provokes a further escalation of hostilities, and puts Carrier Strike Group Five, and the USS Mulligan, in harm's way.

Meanwhile, the ambitious Democrat Vice-President, dissatisfied with the inability of the elderly President to come to any decision, and with an eye to the 2024 elections, attempts to order expanded air strikes against Chinese forces. Any resolution of this great power competition will come at a great cost to the US Navy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frederic W. Burr
• Release date: Aug 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223653639

Frederic W. Burr

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Fred enlisted in the Navy at the age of seventeen, and retired in the rank of Commander in the surface warfare community. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville and the Albany Law School of Union University. Retiring from the private practice of law in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Kentucky after thirty-six years, he considers himself a fully recovered attorney. Fred and his wife Donna (who also writes) make their home in Kentucky.

Book preview

Epigraph

A war in the Taiwan Strait would destroy China’s international relations overnight. It would destroy Chinese-Japanese relations, not to mention Chinese-American relations.

William C. Kirby

ONE

The wooden chair was very uncomfortable. Perhaps, he thought, it was to make certain the occupant realized the difficult straits he was in. In any case, he felt especially singled out by someone in the upper reaches of the Navy Department, someone who wanted to make his ordeal as stressful as possible.

Commander Donald DeFreese had little to do but sit, sit and listen. Vice Admiral Jennifer Franklin, Commander Sixth Fleet, was in the process of offering testimony to the Court. So far, he had no argument with her answers to Court counsel’s questions. Her testimony was actually turning out to be quite helpful to him.

It seemed like only yesterday he was standing on the quarterdeck of his ship, the USS Mulligan (DDG-135) to welcome Admiral Franklin, and members of her staff, aboard for a briefing on Russian jamming activity off the coast of Libya. The Mulligan was then lying at anchor off of Siracusa, Sicily, and it seemed a perfect late April day. The events resulting in this proceeding were barely a week into the future.

Although counsel to the Court, one Lieutenant Commander Henry O’Neill, was doing his best to put Admiral Franklin in the position of casting a negative light on DeFreese’s performance, she was well ahead of him in responding to his questions.

Damned JAG lawyers, he thought. They think they know everything. If they were really so smart, they wouldn’t be lawyers.

Admiral Franklin’s testimony was so precise, his own attorney, JAG Lieutenant Commander Richard Bugsbee, had very little need to cross-examine. Still, it concerned DeFreese that the Admiral presiding over the Court seemed unimpressed with Admiral Franklin.

When Admiral Franklin was finally excused from further testimony, the Court adjourned for lunch. The Court members, the court reporter, Court counsel and his own lawyer, and their staffs, cleared out in what seemed to be seconds. As much as he would have enjoyed having lunch with Admiral Franklin, his attorney recommended against any contact with any of the witnesses outside of court.

Not being allowed to have lunch with any of his officers or crew during this proceeding, even though they had finished their testimony earlier in the week, he remained at his table. He drummed his fingers on the closed binder lying before him. He opened it and pulled the convening order from the pocket inside the notebook’s front cover.

The text of the letter issued by Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Atlantic Fleet was dry, as most letters with the potential to end one’s career seemed to be. It appointed Admiral Steven Smithson to preside over a Court of Inquiry.

It read: to inquire into the circumstances surrounding an armed attack on USS MULLIGAN (DDG-135) by a unit of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, to wit the IS BAHADUR, which occurred at approximately 0500Z, 5 May 2019, while steaming in the vicinity of 35o1’N Latitude 34o55’E Longitude. The Court will convene at the Naval Legal Services Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., at 0800 on 2 October 2019, or as soon thereafter as practicable.

The letter went on to appoint two Navy Captains to serve on the Court. DeFreese did not know either of the Captains, at least not personally, but he knew of Admiral Smithson. It seemed to him an ironic twist of fate that the father of his predecessor in command, former Commander Jodie Smithson, would preside over this inquiry.

It was through the influence of Admiral Smithson that resulted in his inexperienced and unsuited daughter being placed in command of the Mulligan. DeFreese, as her then Executive Officer, had no choice but to relieve her of command, or else risk her triggering a Third World War. When she left the Mulligan by a medical helicopter evacuation, he hoped to have seen the last of her. As far as he knew, she wound up leaving the service after strong encouragement. He had every reason to suspect her father, now presiding over this Court of Inquiry, would be seeking vengeance.

Time would tell.

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DeFreese had been involved with several Courts of Inquiry during his career, but only as a witness. Now, he was what was termed a ‘Party.’ In fact, he was the only Party. That designation meant the findings of the Court would affect him personally. The Court could exonerate him, but with Admiral Smithson as the President of the Court, DeFreese thought that unlikely, despite his lawyer’s confidence.

The Court could recommend a letter of reprimand, or censure. It could even refer the matter to a court-martial. Any of those would sound the death knell for his career. And if he were to be convicted of some charge, imprisonment was a distinct possibility. He never forgot how those JAG lawyers tried to charge his friend, Bryce Benson, the former CO of the USS Fitzgerald, with negligent homicide after his ship’s collision with a cargo ship in the South China Sea.

This afternoon might give him some idea whatever fate awaited him. He was scheduled to offer the final testimony to be heard later today. He grabbed a pre-wrapped sandwich from a vending machine in the outer hallway. It was as tasteless as he expected. After eating less than a third of it before tossing the remains, he went back to the hearing room, and broke out the latest copy of Naval Institute Proceedings to pass the time. All the articles seemed to focus on China’s naval ambitions, or the Indo-Pacific.

After several articles, he looked at his watch. It was nearing 1300. Time to meet in LCDR Bugsbee’s office for a quick conference before taking the stand. He put the magazine back in his briefcase, stood up, and stretched his back out. With his own trial binder in hand, he left the hearing room.

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It was 1430 before the Court reassembled and called CDR DeFreese to the stand. Once he was sworn and seated, LCDR O’Neill took up a position behind the lectern, opened his trial notebook and briefly scanned the first page.

He cleared his throat, and said, Please state your name, rank, organization and present duty station.

DeFreese answered, Commander Donald DeFreese, United States Navy, Commanding Officer of the USS Mulligan, DDG-135. He looked down briefly, flicked a piece of lint from the pant leg of his service dress blues, and rested his hands on his own binder.

O’Neill then faced the members of the court, and said, Let the record reflect that the witness has willingly appeared at this hearing.

Admiral Smithson cleared his throat, and grumbled, So noted. He made some sort of notation on his pad.

O’Neill again examined his binder and looked up at DeFreese.

Commander DeFreese, as you are well aware, this Court of Inquiry has been convened to inquire into the circumstances attendant with the attack on the U.S. Navy vessel under your command, the USS Mulligan, which occurred on the fifth of May, earlier this year. Will you please describe to the Court the circumstances of that incident, as you recall it?

DeFreese answered, Yes. May I consult my notes to refresh my recollection?

Certainly, Commander.

DeFreese quickly scanned the first page, which was his preliminary after-action report, and then looked up at O’Neill.

We, that is the Mulligan and the USS Fleming, DDG 52, were patrolling an OpArea off the coast of Syria, . . .

Was that OpArea ArmorGlass? O’Neill interrupted.

Yes, DeFreese replied, with one raised eyebrow. I was just about to provide that information. May I continue?

Of course, Commander. Sorry for the interruption.

You’re not sorry at all, DeFreese thought, you’re just trying to rattle me and throw off my train of thought.

Thank you, counselor. He knew addressing O’Neill as ‘counselor,’ instead of ‘commander,’ would get under O’Neill’s skin. Two can play at that game.

As I was saying, the two ships were patrolling, now looking directly at O’Neill, "OpArea ArmorGlass. Our mission was to interdict arms smuggling into Syria.

The Mulligan was in the northern sector of the OpArea, the Fleming to the south. At approximately 0800, that’s local time, an Iranian destroyer, the Bahadur, launched a surface-to-surface missile at the Mulligan.

He glanced at his binder before continuing. Our Aegis missile defense system detected the launch and deployed countermeasures within seconds of the launch, . . .

Excuse me Commander, let me stop you right there, if I may.

DeFreese looked up at his interrogator but did not respond.

Is it not true, O’Neill asked, that this Iranian naval vessel, in company with a second such unit, the Alborz, I believe, had been operating in the general area for some time before this attack?

Well, yes, . . .

And is it not true that you were personally aware of the presence of these armed Iranian naval vessels operating in the immediate area for several days prior to this attack?

DeFreese inhaled and exhaled slowly through his nose, doing his best to maintain a calm demeanor.

Yes, we were generally aware, . . .

In fact, Commander, had you not personally requested an overflight by air assets of Patrol Wing Eleven early the day before to investigate the presence of these very units of the Iranian Navy?

Realizing he was only going to be permitted abbreviated answers, DeFreese replied, Yes. I did.

So, O’Neill interjected, with this information in hand, when did you get around to calling away General Quarters on the Mulligan?

DeFreese, without asking, took the time to flip to the electronic printout of the Mulligan’s deck log, and looked up at O’Neill.

According to our deck log, he said, we were calling away General Quarters minutes before the missile launch.

Really?

Yes. Really.

And what was it that prompted you to go to General Quarters?

We, that is, I, had been notified that the Bahadur, which was operating north of the Karpas peninsula of Cyprus, had increased speed, and was illuminating I-band threat emitters, actually painting our own Seahawk helicopter conducting aerial patrol of the area.

That information came from, . . . O’Neill looked down at his binder, from your CryptoTech first class Jamerson, did it not?

Yes, and Lieutenant Fox, who was the pilot of the ship’s helicopter.

"Well it’s good that you finally decided