USS MULLIGAN Series

"Old Salts, New Navy" is a companion piece to Frederic Burr's first novel, "Mutinies." In this story, an older Mitch Payne, along with one of his former shipmates from the USS Scarslund, joins with two retired chief petty officers to go on one of the Navy's 'Tiger Cruises,' in which relatives of crewmembers are invited to 'ride along' during a transit from Rota, Spain to Norfolk, Virginia. The fictional USS Mulligan is one of the Navy's newest destroyers, complete with every advanced weapon system and technology ever developed. However, the ship is short-handed due to drawdowns of experienced officer and enlisted crew for the Navy's Seventh Fleet units. Although everything seems in order as the ship gets underway, problems show up in some of the ship's electronics systems at the outset. On the second day, the Mulligan is shadowed by a Russian submarine. Then, more than 2,000 miles from home, the ship suffers a catastrophic and cascading series of hi-tech failures and personnel casualties as the result of an unpredictable event. Not only pitching in to assist with make-shift repairs, these aged mariners try to show today's sailors how to communicate with the outside world, and navigate, without the crutch of technology, even while assisting the command team with personnel conduct issues unknown in their days in the surface fleet.

"The Persian Paradox" is the sequel to "Old Salts, New Navy." Don DeFreese is now the Commanding Officer of the fictional USS Mulligan, one of the Navy's newest destroyers. The ship, having miraculously survived a near impact with a large meteorite the year before, is fresh out of overhaul, with its sophisticated Aegis Combat System fully operational. As a ballistic missile defense ship, the Mulligan is part of a carrier strike group headed for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, with the ship acting as an air defense unit for the strike group during the transit. Shortly after inchopping to the Sixth Fleet, the Mulligan is dispatched to monitor Russian naval activity near the Libyan capital of Tripoli, and encounters Russian technology that threatens to neutralize its sophisticated Aegis systems. As a result, the ship is detoured to Sicily to accommodate a visit from the Commander of the Navy's Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Jennifer Franklin herself. After debriefing the Admiral, and her staff, the Mulligan, along with an older destroyer, are dispatched to scout foreign shipping engaged in arms smuggling into Syria. Iranian Commander Tehrani, the CO of the IS Bahadur, a newly commissioned destroyer, is also in the Mediterranean, and, unknown to Captain DeFreese, seeks to exact revenge over the death of his father at the hands of the US Navy during operation 'Praying Mantis,' when Tehrani was but a teenager. Meanwhile, moderate elements of the Iranian regime are trying to engage the US State Department in constructing a bilateral approach to easing US sanctions, in exchange for unrestricted nuclear program transparency. How these three narratives unfold will keep the reader turning pages late into the night.

"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.