[ITA] OPERATION STEEL CIRCLE

[Logan]

OPERATION STEEL CIRCLE

TOP SECRET/SCI
ITA EYES ONLY

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The Objectives, as laid out by High Command:

• Await news regarding acceptance/refusal of Tunisian Officials to allow investigative teams into Tunisia.
• Secure the Port of La Goulette and Tunis Carthage Airports
• Establish FOBs at the aforelisted locations for future operations in and around Tunis
• Establish Military Dominance over the Country of Tunisia
• Identify, Capture, Secure, and Investigate any possible places for former AIGAT Weapons Caches
• Destroy any remaining unsecured AIGAT Munitions
• Investigate the disappearance of Chemical Weapons in or near Tunisia during the AIGAT Crisis

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Task Force Leviathan

• Lima Company, Mount Cervino Battalion, 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment 150x Airborne Rangers,
• 341st Armored Battalion, 34th Royal Cataphracts Brigade, 236x Tank Crewmen, 59x C1 Ariete
• 342nd Armored Battalion, 34th Royal Cataphracts Brigade, 236x Tank Crewmen, 59x C1 Ariete
• HRMS Cavour (Cavour Aircraft Carrier) 631x Crew Members, 100x Pilots, 10x MH-60S Knight Hawks, all of the Airborne Rangers
• HRMS St George (FREMM CLASS) 131x Crew Members
• HRMS St Anthony (FREMM CLASS) 131x Crew Members
• HRMS Etna (Etna-class Oiler) 160x Crew Members
• HRMS St Marco (San Giorgio-class LPD) 180 Crew Members, 30 of above Tanks, 120 of above Tank Crewmen
• HRMS St Aquino (San Giorgio-class LPD) 180 Crew Members, 30 of above Tanks, 120 of above Tank Crewmen
• HRMS St Pietro (San Giorgio-class LPD) 180 Crew Members, 30 of above Tanks, 120 of above Tank Crewmen
• HRMS Garibaldi (San Giorgio-class LPD) 180 Crew Members, 28 of above Tanks, 112 of above Tank Crewmen

Task Force Dragon

• 107th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Sol" 10x Pilots, 10x F-16V Block 70 Fighting Falcon "Viper" Fighters
• Special Reconnaissance Teams Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment, 18x Special Reconnaissance Special Operators
• 161st Special Operations Aviation Group "Night Hawks" 20x Pilots, 10x MH-60G Pave Hawks
• 1st Army Attack Aviation Squadron "Tornado" 40x Pilots, 20x AH-129D Mangusta
• 22nd Combat Helicopter Transport Wing "Mulebacks", 10x Pilots, 10x Personnel, 5x CH-53K King Stallions
• 231st Airlift Squadron "Greyhound", 40x Pilots, 20x C-27J Spartan Aircraft, 40 Personnel
  

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Task Force Leviathan would secretly begin to rendezvous at the Naval Base in Napoli, where the Armored Battalions and Airborne Ranger Company would board the HRMS Cavour. Meanwhile, Task Force Dragon would secretly begin to rendezvous at the Air Base in Trapani-Birgi, Sicily, where they would cordon off the military portion of the Airbase, be confined to the Military Premises unless absolutely necessary, and would prepare their aircraft for future missions taking off from their current position.

If any leaks were made regarding the movement of troops, or if any military or civilian officials knowing about the operation were questioned as to why so many military assets were being moved, they would give the excuse of it being "readiness drills and preparation for training exercises."


Deployment Codeword for Task Force Leviathan was "Bowman".

Mission Launch Codeword for the whole force was "Cato"

 

[Logan]

Task Force Dragon - Port of Naples.

As all the troops making up the assault force loaded onto the ships, and all the crewmen made the necessary preparations to go underway, Fleet Admiral Valentino Moretti received a private, encoded message through the computer terminal in his quarters. After decrypting the message, it read: " Bowman."

After that, he walked out of his quarters and to the nearest shipboard telephone, dialing it onto the 18MC (Bridge), "This is the Admiral for the Bridge, Bowman. I repeat, Bowman." With that, the Captain of the ship relayed the Message to the rest of the fleet. "All Ships, Bowman. All Ships, Bowman."

One by one, the entire fleet departed their moorings at the port, they would travel JN-JM and would set Anchor on the western part of the Strait of Sicily, near the Italian Island of Pantelleria. All of the ships would be fully crewed, supplied, and fueled (with the Cavour carrying a full load of fuel for its complement as well), and the weapons aboard all of the ships would be armed, with all of the magazines aboard the ships being 100% Full. From there, they would hold readiness drills, and prepare for their future deployment, should it be absolutely necessary.

 

[Logan]

With the Naval Force being in position around Pantelleria, it was time for the first military actions to take place, in preparation for the possible, and at this point likely, military intervention.

Captains John Leguanzo and Roberto Martelli each received a single encoded transmission, reading "Cato," four pilots of the Night Hawks received the same. In response, SRTs Alpha and Charlie, each consisting of 6 members of the 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment, loaded up at 2200 onto two MH-60G Pave Hawks, fully fueled and each crewed by two pilots and 2 personnel (manning the miniguns). Each Special Reconnaissance Operator would be armed with an M4 SOPMOD Carbine, with only 2 of them carrying the M203 with their carbine. They would all carry 30 extra 30-round magazines (plus the one in their rifle). They were issued water and rations for 1 week. They would be wearing desert-pattern Multicam, forgoing Aramid helmets and wearing only NC4/09 plate carriers and Multicam Boonie hats while carrying M90 NBCR Masks. They would also each carry 3 MF2000 grenades and Beretta 92FS pistols. One would carry a Selex PRR H4855 in order to contact their commander, but only in case of emergencies.



The Helicopters would use the cover of night and avoid populated areas in order to evade Tunisian Air Defenses, also flying "Nap of the Earth" and using FLIR to pick out possible Air defense units and sites and avoid them. Their Drop Zones were 10 miles outside of Carthage and 10 miles outside of La Goulette. They wore no ranks, flags, patches, dog tags, or any other possible identifier, the helicopters flew without any transponder, including disabling their IFF outside of Italian Airspace.


In Rome, the Grand Marshal of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Italy, Ulderico Zunino, stood across from the King, both hunched over a strategic map of the operation and possible objectives. "Your Majesty, the Investigation teams are in the air." "Then we can only pray."

 

[Naio90]

At around 1600, the argentine submarine ARA Chacabuco would be navigating few nm northwest of Sicily with orders to record potential italian fleet operations in the area.

Everything was calm in the bridge, just as it was for the last 48 hours since they entered italian waters. They had remained underwater and out of sight and were practicing stealth operations and surveying the area when suddently theatmosphaere of tranquility changed.

The sonar operator, who had been montoring th subs passive sonar, would in a calm but firm voice call the news out for the first officer to hear:

- "Multiple contacts, bearing one three ze-ro."

The young first officer and the assistant sonar operator would approach the dim lit screen and stand next to the sonar operator who had his eyes closed and was trying to identify the noises being recorded.

- "It sounds like multiple large sized vessels, possibly italian navy, would be approaching at steady speed, bearing slightly southwest on our position. We have no reported commercial routes at present position."

+ "I better inform the commander of this."

The first officer would call the commanders cabin and inform him of the news. Only 2 minutes later, the argentine commanding naval officer would enter the bridge and would quickly be briefed about the situation.

- "It's very unlikely thay have detected us. Considering their speed, their active sonars would be useless and their passive sensors overshadowed by their own noises." *

> "Very well then. Let's use this to our advantage and trail them for a while at a safe distance."

The commander would order for the ship to align bearing and to reduce speed to let them pass by at a safe distance, only to increase speed afterwards and begin tailing them at a safe distance and submerged.

The submarine would make use of all available charts and their position to avoid all possible obstacles and risks. After few hours they would be out of italian territorial waters again. All this would be secret.


* = Unknowingly to the argentine sub crew, the italian ships would be navigating without any type of sensor or radar active, therefore completely unable to detect the stealthy argentine sub.

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[Naio90]

After few hours of trailing the italian fleet, the sonar operator, who had beeng listeing carefully through his headphones, would again call out to his supervisor in the bridge:

"Sir, it seems as if the fleet is reducing its speed and coming to a halt."

The navigator would pitch in from his working station: "They seem to be ready to moor near a small island called Pantelaria."

After some additional chat about the situation the Commander of the ARA Chacabuco would decide that the best was to repor this to the base, for which it would be better to have information about the deployment.

In order to achieve that, they would submerge to periscope depth to visually identify the fleet and to submit a brief privat and encrypted report to Alexandria.

Few nm away, with the cover of the early morning and using the rising sun to its advantage, the Chacabuco would raise its periscope barely above the water line and look towards the stationed fleet. (The italian ships do not have any sensors or radars active, so they would not be able to detect anything). After a brief look they would lower the periscope again.

Only 8 minutes later an encrypted and private message would be relayed to the Alexandria Naval Base:

"CHAC TO SUBCOM ALEX
ITALIAN FLEET DEPLOYMENT. CONFIRMED.
STATIONED WEST PANTELARIA.
BEARING SOUTH WEST.
AT LEAST 8 SHIPS. FRIGATES LPD ONE CARRIER.
ACTIVE AIR OPERATIONS.
WILL CONTINUE TRACK."

After dispaching this message, the submarine would dive to a safe depth and continue monitoring any movements of the italian fleet.

 

[Logan]

By now, the Helicopters would've dropped off the LRRPs, and would return to Sicily similar air corridors, continuing their action of flying NOE and avoiding any populated areas or an air defenses they could detect. Two more MH-60G Pave Hawks would be fueled up and sit on alert at Trapani-Birgi Airbase, in case there was an issue which required an immediate extract.

Once on the Ground, the Italian Troops would try to avoid contact with any Tunisian military or police forces, and minimize contact with civilian populations. They would conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity of the Port of La Goulette and the Tunis-Carthage Airport, respectively, on the first day of their missions, before venturing into more remote areas. Once in these remote areas, they would attempt to gather any possible intelligence that they could regarding AIGAT, Weapons Caches, any former terrorists, and anyone who might have information regarding the former terrorist group.

Meanwhile, as the Fleet began to settle in the Strait of Sicily, they would begin their "Training Exercises," with the Airborne Rangers of the 4th Alpini Parachutists Regiment beginning alert shifts in which 11 of them and the aircrew of an MH-60S Knight Hawk would spend time in a state of constant-readiness, waiting for any situation which would require a response.

Meanwhile, the HMRS Etna would begin refueling and resupply operations, continually traveling back and forth between JN-JM in order to keep the ships in the Strait properly supplied, armed, and fueled, and keep readiness at its maximum level.

 

[Naio90]

Having received the message and privately alerted Buenos Aires of the potential intervention of Italy in some either Tunisia, Marroco or Algeria (considering the stationed fleet was seen being composed of mostly LPDs), the Submarine Command in Alexandria would receive orders from the superiority to closely monitor and report the situation.

Considering this, the ARA San Lorenzo would be fully supplied, crewed and armed and depart in only a matter of hours from the Alexandria naval base towards the area reported by the ARA Chacabuco, where the italian fleet was stationed.

The orders were to monitor to join the other argentine submarine in monitoring and shadowing the italian fleet and remain on alert for potential additional orders. They would only engage if in response to an armed italian aggresion or if specifically ordered to do so and they would have to surface during nighttime at an specific hour to communicate with the base and exchange information briefly.

The San Lorenzo would carry a full compliment of Torped 62 and Type 43 torpedos.

It would navigate through international waters and dive as soon as it was possible to a safe depth and remain stealthy, heading directly from KM to JM. If necesary, it had authorization to enter italian waters. It would have all its systems, sonars and radars operational and functioning.

All this would be secret. The ARA Chacabuco would be informed of this reinforcement as soon as it could exchange communications with the base, privately.

 

[Logan]

The Helicopters on Alert would begin a return trip to pick up the LRRPs, again, continuing their action of flying NOE and avoiding any populated areas or any air defenses they could detect. The Helicopters would use the cover of night and avoid populated areas in order to evade Tunisian Air Defenses, also flying "Nap of the Earth" and using FLIR to pick out possible Air defense units and sites and avoid them. Their Extract Zones were 10 miles outside of Carthage and 10 miles outside of La Goulette. The helicopters flew without any transponder, including disabling their IFF outside of Italian Airspace. Once there, they would extract the LRRPs and return to Sicily, after which they would return to their primary air base. The LRRPs would've grabbed some valuable Reconnaissance, which would be archived, in case it was needed in the future. They did not, however, find any WMDs.

With possible conflict coming to Europe in the form of a very erratically-behaving Brazil, as well as with top brass in the Carabinieri travelling to Tunisia to talk about allowing a Chemical Weapons inspection to find AIGAT's weapons, Task Forces Dragon and Leviathan were ordered to stand down, and all of the involved Assets, once the MH-60Gs returned safely to Sicily, were to return to their home bases.

Operation Steel Circle was deemed unnecessary at the time being, and as such was cancelled.

 

[Naio90]

With the italian fleet withdrawing, both argentine submarines would begin tailing them from a safe distance and submerged. They would head north together with the italians into territorial waters in the Tyrrhenian Sea until the enterted they port of Napoli.

During dawn, the ARA San Lorenzo would surface and take pictures of the fleet for later study and identification of the italian naval capabilities. They would as well communciate with Alexandria Base and receive instructions to return to base.

San Lorenzo would call the Chacabuco over gertrude and inform them of the new orders.

Both subs would head directly to international waters, and surface to recharge their batteries. Once ready, they would submerge and navigate back to Alexandria at a safe depth. Following the same route they used to get there, on international waters between Africa and Europe.