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Ghost Fleet (novel)

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War AuthorsCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishPublisherHoughton Mifflin HarcourtJune 30, 2015Media typePrintPages416ISBN9780544142848
Ghost Fleet is a 2015 techno-thriller by P. W. Singer and August Cole. Set in the near future, the book portrays a scenario in which a post-Communist China, assisted by Russia, is able to launch a technologically sophisticated attack against the United States in the Pacific, leading to the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.

Plot
Prior to the main events of the novel, Indonesia has collapsed into a failed state following a second war in Timor, and a dirty bomb was detonated in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, causing a massive spike in the price of oil. A newly discovered natural gas field in the Mariana Trench provides China with energy security. Popular unrest leads to the removal of the Communist Party of China, and China is governed by a mix of businessmen and military leaders known as the Directorate. China and Russia have also developed the ability to detect and track nuclear-powered ships using Cherenkov radiation, allowing China to effectively neutralize the US Navy's nuclear submarine fleet. China plans to gain control of the third island chain and secure dominance in the western Pacific.

Using a computer virus to first infiltrate the computer systems of the Defense Intelligence Agency, China launches a massive cyber-attack against the United States, crippling many technologically sophisticated systems, including the F-35 Lightning, which were compromised with infected microchips in the supply chain. The attack includes extensive use of anti-satellite weapons, leading to the disabling of the Global Positioning System and the loss of several communications and reconnaissance satellites critical to the U.S. military. Russian fighters and drones are able to launch a raid on the U.S. military base in Okinawa, and the U.S. military presence in Japan is neutralized. Supported by Russia, China is able to capture Hawaii after a bloody battle, establishing the Hawaii Special Administrative Zone. The attack leads to the near-complete destruction of the United States Pacific Fleet.

The titular 'Ghost Fleet' refers to the United States Navy reserve fleets, which the United States re-activates as a low-tech fallback. The residents of O?ahu and surviving U.S. military personnel launch an insurgency, known as the North Shore Mujahideen (NSM), against the Chinese occupiers using previous tactics learned from insurgents during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. On the diplomatic front, the remaining allies of the United States remain neutral in the conflict with the exception of Australia and the United Kingdom, the latter of which endures the secession of Scotland following a second independence referendum that passed shortly after the attack. As part of what is dubbed a �Nuclear Lend-Lease

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