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1992 novel by Barrett Tillmann, an American historian who had earlier wrote ''Warriors'' (about a MiddleEast air war) and co-authored a history of carrier aviation in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.

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1992 novel by Barrett Tillmann, an American historian who had earlier wrote written ''Warriors'' (about a MiddleEast Middle East air war) and co-authored a history of carrier aviation in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.



Focussing on the crew of a fictional ''Forrestal''-class carrier, ''USS Langley'' as it takes part in the war, it's an astonishing well-researched book. ''Langley'' must survive against five Eurasian carriers. [[spoiler: It's actually sunk, but the surviving air wing gets to land before it happens, where they help force a stalemate]].

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Focussing Focusing on the crew of a fictional ''Forrestal''-class carrier, ''USS Langley'' as it takes part in the war, it's an astonishing astonishingly well-researched book. ''Langley'' must survive against five Eurasian carriers. [[spoiler: It's actually sunk, but the surviving air wing gets to land before it happens, where they help force a stalemate]].



* CelebrityCasualty: Nelson Mandela, F. W. de Klerk, and Mangosuthu Buthelezi are killed in a terrorist attack by a Boer ultranationalist. The former two were still alive at the time the novel was written, while the latter is still alive as of this writing.



* InsaneAdmiral: Subverted. Admiral "Hub" Fernandez, Chief of Naval Operations under President Callaway, likes to affect this image, especially with Democrat members of Congress. He is legendary for [[NoodleIncident his actions in Beirut in 1983]], where his carrier battle group arrived after the Marine Barracks bombing, only to be ordered not to fly any air strikes. Fernandez declared that he’d be "damned if I’m gonna bring ten billion dollars' worth of hardware and ten thousand people halfway around the world to this shithole and ''not'' kill somebody!" He ten took two Marines ashore with some small arms and grenades and went hunting Hezbollah. He is actually pretty level-headed (albeit hawkish), even talking the enraged president down when he’s considering escalating the war.

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* InsaneAdmiral: Subverted. Admiral "Hub" Fernandez, Chief of Naval Operations under President Callaway, likes to affect this image, especially with Democrat members of Congress. He is legendary for [[NoodleIncident his actions in Beirut in 1983]], where his carrier battle group arrived after the Marine Barracks bombing, only to be ordered not to fly any air strikes. Fernandez declared that he’d be "damned if I’m gonna bring ten billion dollars' worth of hardware and ten thousand people halfway around the world to this shithole and ''not'' kill somebody!" He ten then took two Marines ashore with some small arms and grenades and went hunting Hezbollah. He is actually pretty level-headed (albeit hawkish), even talking the enraged president down when he’s considering escalating the war.



* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and F. W. DeKlerk. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].

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* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and F. W. DeKlerk.de Klerk. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].

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Changed: 463

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Arguably the first MakeTheBearAngryAgain novel, the story involves a war fought between South Africa and its neighbouring states with aid from the Union of Eurasian Republics, a somewhat reconstituted USSR.

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Arguably the first MakeTheBearAngryAgain novel, the story involves a war fought between South Africa and its neighbouring states with aid from the Union of Eurasian Republics, a somewhat [[PostSovietReunion reconstituted USSR.
USSR]].



* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year or about a year and a half at most, and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.

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* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year or about a year and a half at most, and is replaced [[PostSovietReunion Union of Eurasian Republics]] decides to go back to militaristic expansionism... starting by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.attacking '''apartheid South Africa''', for some reason.


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* PostSovietReunion: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year or about a year and a half at most, and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.
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cut trope


* MoralDissonance: The Eurasian pilots are fighting against a racist regime, but happily use racial epithets in their internal thoughts.
** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that while he doesn't like Apartheid, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold, diamond, and strategic metal supplies is too critical to the USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.
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* BottomlessMagazines: Thoroughly averted as ''Langley'''s outnumbered escorts run out of missiles after stopping several Russian air strikes against the Battle Group. Unfortunately, the AEGIS VLS systems that allow cruisers and destroyers to [[MacrossMissileMassacre engages dozens of air targets with antiair missiles simultaneously]] also happen to be [[NecessaryDrawback ridiculously difficult to reload at sea]]. One by one, they run out of long-range SM-2 missiles, then medium-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrows, then close-range Rolling Airframe Missiles and 20mm ammo for the CIWS guns. [[RealityEnsues Then...]]

to:

* BottomlessMagazines: Thoroughly averted as ''Langley'''s outnumbered escorts run out of missiles after stopping several Russian air strikes against the Battle Group. Unfortunately, the AEGIS VLS systems that allow cruisers and destroyers to [[MacrossMissileMassacre engages dozens of air targets with antiair missiles simultaneously]] also happen to be [[NecessaryDrawback ridiculously difficult to reload at sea]]. One by one, they run out of long-range SM-2 missiles, then medium-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrows, then close-range Rolling Airframe Missiles and 20mm ammo for the CIWS guns. [[RealityEnsues [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Then...]]

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* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.

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* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year or about a year and a half at most, and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.
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None

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* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Admiral Rybakov is a grandmaster-level Chess player.
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None

Added DiffLines:

* InsaneAdmiral: Subverted. Admiral "Hub" Fernandez, Chief of Naval Operations under President Callaway, likes to affect this image, especially with Democrat members of Congress. He is legendary for [[NoodleIncident his actions in Beirut in 1983]], where his carrier battle group arrived after the Marine Barracks bombing, only to be ordered not to fly any air strikes. Fernandez declared that he’d be "damned if I’m gonna bring ten billion dollars' worth of hardware and ten thousand people halfway around the world to this shithole and ''not'' kill somebody!" He ten took two Marines ashore with some small arms and grenades and went hunting Hezbollah. He is actually pretty level-headed (albeit hawkish), even talking the enraged president down when he’s considering escalating the war.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and F. W> DeKlerk. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].

to:

* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and F. W> W. DeKlerk. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].

to:

* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela.Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and F. W> DeKlerk. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.

to:

* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics.republics and Moldova. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.
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Useful Notes/ pages are not tropes


* SuperiorFirepower: Actually used- two sub-kiloton nukes are used to take out two Eurasian submarines.
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1992 novel by Barrett Tillmann, an American historian who had earlier wrote ''Warriors'' (about a MiddleEast air war) and co-authored a history of carrier aviation in TheVietnamWar.

to:

1992 novel by Barrett Tillmann, an American historian who had earlier wrote ''Warriors'' (about a MiddleEast air war) and co-authored a history of carrier aviation in TheVietnamWar.
UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics.

to:

* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics. How they manage to recover from economic and political collapse--as well as create five functional fleet carriers and their air groups--in less than a year is...rather less explained.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Having a large missile magazine system generally only works if the system is complex and compact. Taking a long time to reload what amounts to a massive magazine is not "impractical", it's simple logic. Having a system that could reload faster means having a system with less capacity in the first place, which is LESS practical.


* BottomlessMagazines: Thoroughly averted as ''Langley'''s outnumbered escorts run out of missiles after stopping several Russian air strikes against the Battle Group. Unfortunately, the AEGIS VLS systems that allow cruisers and destroyers to [[MacrossMissileMassacre engages dozens of air targets with antiair missiles simultaneously]] also happen to be [[AwesomeButImpractical ridiculously difficult to reload at sea]]. One by one, they run out of long-range SM-2 missiles, then medium-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrows, then close-range Rolling Airframe Missiles and 20mm ammo for the CIWS guns. [[RealityEnsues Then...]]

to:

* BottomlessMagazines: Thoroughly averted as ''Langley'''s outnumbered escorts run out of missiles after stopping several Russian air strikes against the Battle Group. Unfortunately, the AEGIS VLS systems that allow cruisers and destroyers to [[MacrossMissileMassacre engages dozens of air targets with antiair missiles simultaneously]] also happen to be [[AwesomeButImpractical [[NecessaryDrawback ridiculously difficult to reload at sea]]. One by one, they run out of long-range SM-2 missiles, then medium-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrows, then close-range Rolling Airframe Missiles and 20mm ammo for the CIWS guns. [[RealityEnsues Then...]]

Changed: 26

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** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that while he doesn't like Apartheid, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.

to:

** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that while he doesn't like Apartheid, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold gold, diamond, and diamond strategic metal supplies is too critical to the USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.

Changed: 33

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None


** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.

to:

** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that while he doesn't like Apartheid, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* BottomlessMagazines: Thoroughly averted as ''Langley'''s outnumbered escorts run out of missiles after stopping several Russian air strikes against the Battle Group. Unfortunately, the AEGIS VLS systems that allow cruisers and destroyers to [[MacrossMissileMassacre engages dozens of air targets with antiair missiles simultaneously]] also happen to be [[AwesomeButImpractical ridiculously difficult to reload at sea]]. One by one, they run out of long-range SM-2 missiles, then medium-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrows, then close-range Rolling Airframe Missiles and 20mm ammo for the CIWS guns. [[RealityEnsues Then...]]


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* MacrossMissileMassacre: Otherwise known as modern air and naval combat.

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* AcePilot: Quite a few on both sides, amongst bomber, fighter, and helicopter drivers. The best are probably F-14 Tomcat pilot and [[GuyInBack RIO]] [[ThoseTwoGuys Ozzie and Fido]].
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: The guided-missile frigate USS ''Meyring'' takes a Russian heavy torpedo for ''Langley''. ''Meyring'' is [[NoKillLikeOverkill torn in half, blown completely out of the water]], and lost with all hands. [[SenselessSacrifice Then the Russian sub reloads and puts two more into the carrier]].



** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA, he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.

to:

** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that [[MyCountryRightOrWrong losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA, USA]], he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.


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* VillainProtagonist: Dirk Vorster, a pro-Apartheid Boer nationalist and [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain flamboyant racist]], is introduced as one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that kills Nelson Mandela. He gets arrested, but is recalled to active duty with the SADF to fight the invasion before the investigation can go very far. [[LaserGuidedKarma He gets his in the end]], though, [[EvilVsEvil losing a gunfight with a pro-Marxist Xhosa terrorist]].
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* TheApartheidEra



* MnogoNukes: ''Admiral Kuznetsov'', its brother ship ''Varyag'', some "''Kirovs''", an "Oscar", "Backfires". A lot of Russian platforms turn up. [[spoiler:None of their nukes are used though.]]
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YMMV


* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The Midway references- the battle even starts on the anniversary, while the US President lost his father at the WorldWarTwo battle.
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Added DiffLines:

1992 novel by Barrett Tillmann, an American historian who had earlier wrote ''Warriors'' (about a MiddleEast air war) and co-authored a history of carrier aviation in TheVietnamWar.

Arguably the first MakeTheBearAngryAgain novel, the story involves a war fought between South Africa and its neighbouring states with aid from the Union of Eurasian Republics, a somewhat reconstituted USSR.

Focussing on the crew of a fictional ''Forrestal''-class carrier, ''USS Langley'' as it takes part in the war, it's an astonishing well-researched book. ''Langley'' must survive against five Eurasian carriers. [[spoiler: It's actually sunk, but the surviving air wing gets to land before it happens, where they help force a stalemate]].
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!!This book contains examples of:
* TheApartheidEra
* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: The Russian Federation collapses after less than a year and is replaced by the UER, which incorporates most of the former USSR bar the Baltic republics.
* MnogoNukes: ''Admiral Kuznetsov'', its brother ship ''Varyag'', some "''Kirovs''", an "Oscar", "Backfires". A lot of Russian platforms turn up. [[spoiler:None of their nukes are used though.]]
* MoralDissonance: The Eurasian pilots are fighting against a racist regime, but happily use racial epithets in their internal thoughts.
** In a sort of inversion on this, Admiral Gideon, the US carrier group commander, is a black guy, supporting South Africa. His logic for this is that losing South Africa's gold and diamond supplies is too critical to the USA, he's obeying orders and other black people are fighting on the government's side.
* OperationBlank: Operation Evil Hyphen.
* ReportingNames: A bit of an odd one, this. Tillman uses some older believed designations for some aircraft, but also had access to some actual weapon names as they were being revealed due to the collapse of the USSR.
* ShoutOut / CrossOver: One character is stated to be the brother of John Gresham, an F-16 pilot from Larry Bond's ''RedPhoenix''.
* ShownTheirWork: Tillman includes missile failure rates into his battle. That's not missiles missing, that's missiles plain not working in the first place.
* SuperiorFirepower: Actually used- two sub-kiloton nukes are used to take out two Eurasian submarines.
* TakeThat: The attack on the Comrade Creator/JaneFonda Antiaircraft Battalion, solely conducted on that target because of its name.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: 1993 to be exact.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The Midway references- the battle even starts on the anniversary, while the US President lost his father at the WorldWarTwo battle.
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