Naval Command

A group of children are stranded on a retired warship when unknown forces attack military bases all over the world.

It's a fine sunny day as several families walk on and off retired Naval warships as part of a tour. An unknown force attacks military bases all over the world and leaves each country with nothing but what they have on water. One museum of a battleship is let loose out at sea with a group of touristing children on board, and it becomes a race to see who can reach them first before the kids are used as hostages.

 

Full Plot Summary: Different branches of the US military has come together to create a joint tour for a Fourth of July event. Civilian and military families are free to walk on and off the USS Alabama, a recently retired museum ship, or to roam the festivities on the other side of the port. Jordan Nielson is a young teenager who is among the tourists and wanders onto the Alabama out of boredom; he has already been around warships all his life and family problems has left him grown up at too young an age.

 

Suddenly multiple missiles come out of nowhere and blasts the Navy port. The USS Alabama is (presumably) not a direct target since it is a retired warship whose only armaments are snack machines, but its anchors are snapped and the explosions push the Alabama out towards sea. Some are injured but no one dies, and a couple of children--Jordan and his older sister Kelsey included--are trapped onboard. Whale-like combinations of battleships and submarines appear to attack the active Navy ships in port while air fighters strike the part of the base on land. The assault pushes the USS Alabama far enough to lose sight of land.

 

Kelsey balks when Jordan asks her to calm down the other kids, revealing that she's been on a rebellious streak for some time. She calms down when Jordan brings over some maps to confirm their location at sea, an ability their US Navy Admiral father instilled in his children from a young age. A civilian boy named Spencer Vargas tentatively raises his hand when Jordan asks for someone who is skilled with electronics, and surprises even himself by fixing the ship's communications radio. They're able to establish contact with a US Navy destroyer, the USS John Paul, that has Jordan and Kelsey's older brother Damien as a crewmate. Before either side can get a word in, however, an Unknown ship appears after they detect comunication being sent out from the USS Alabama and deduces people to be on board.

 

 

Having paid closer attention than Kelsey, Jordan manages to switch on the ship's engines. A boy named Matt Holden provides a strategy, but with his total lack of knowledge on warships Jordan creates the exact steps of making it happen. They use a 'basic trick' of using an anchor drop to swing them out of the way of missiles in the air and water, and timing the engines for a sprinting start. The USS John Paul and another warship arrives to take out the Unknown ship, but they soon become preoccupied with fighting off the Unknown air fighters. Land mines in the water prevent them from getting too close to the USS Alabama.

 

 

 

At night the USS John Paul uses their lights to point the Alabama in a certain direction, knowing that the children has a mine-free route to the Japanese navy. One of their destroyers is waiting at the outermost waters of their territory, and can wait a short amount of time before they must regroup to their nation. More Unknown ships are coming, and their heading shows that their target is the USS Alabama. Jordan steers the ship in the direction of the Japanese destroyer, and in spite of the US Navy's efforts one Unknown ship is able to give pursuit.

 

 

Matt invents various ways to fool the Unknown ship, including fake fires and paint that give the impression that the USS Alabama is severely damaged and about to sink. The children discover what might be a usable missile, but it's questionable if they can fire anything off with the ship's guns. A combined effort makes it happen when they finally come within range of the Japanese destroyer; the USS Alabama gets off a single shot that attracts the attention of the Unknown ship, distracting it from the Japanese destroyer in time before they're attacked, positioned too far in one direction to turn around quickly enough to aim their weapons. The Unknown ship is destroyed, and the children are rescued by the Japanese navy.

 

 

 

By now it has been fully revealed that the Nielson family was suffering trouble due to Damien Nielson, the oldest child, who entered the Navy to make up for the abuse of his mother. His girlfriend expressed sympathy over the intense pressure he suffered under his father, but left him once she found out about the abuse. It was Jordan who became fed up with trying to get his mother to stand up for herself, and forced Damien to stop by informing their father and threatening to show proof (though it's not shown if he really has this or not). A combination of bitterness and jealousy over Jordan's success in naval battle drives Damien to send out covert messages until the Unknown forces respond. He agrees to give them military information if they will attack the Japanese base that's keeping the American children.

 

 

 

After Damien keeps his end of the bargain, the Unknown forces keep their own promise and attack the Japanese base. Their strategy drives Jordan and the others onto a destroyer when a route further inland is impossible. A few ships from the Japanese navy are driven out to sea while the Unknown forces are seemingly occupied with taking out their military base on land. Jordan recognizes the event that drove the USS Alabama out to sea and warns the Japanese military that they're being driven into a trap. No one believes him when they meet US ships at sea, but it's soon revealed that Damien has taken hostages and is forcing the US Navy to obey his will. He demands that Jordan be given command of a ship so he can 'thrash' his brother as he deserves. Pleas from his siblings and his parents over communications go ignored.

 

 

 

Losing his temper, Jordan rants at his brother but in doing so references family events. Admiral Nielson recognizes the plan and quietly sends divers to approach the USS John Paul from underwater. Jordan buys time by pretending to need one of the Japanese warships to be properly armed to fit his style. His pretended touch of arrogance convinces Damien to agree, but powerful tides and the approach of Unknown ships shortens the time by half. It's still the dead of night when Damien insists on the naval duel taking place, becoming enraged when the Japanese military takes command. He knows his brother's personality and their tactics are not his style. Since Jordan's personal knowledge of Damien allows him to fully predict his brother's moves, he freely gives advice on how to counter-attack and pretend an assault that fools Damien into thinking that the fight is real, but without causing casualties or heavy damage on the US ships. He fakes enough chaos to distract Damien from the Navy Seals that have snuck on board and they catch him off guard. Damien is subdued and the hostages freed in time for Japanese and US warships to band together against the Unknown ships. Unknowingly they stop the final stage of Damien's plan, to commit suicide as the Unknown forces take out both sides while they are engaged in the duel.

 

 

 

The two Navys meet at the Hawaiian islands to regroup. Most of the children are only able to reunite with their families over video links, but the Nielsons are the one family (minus their mother, who is still at home in California) to meet in person. The admiral embraces his younger children and accepts Damien's broken apology, offering help that is rejected by the eldest son as part of the punishment for his crimes.

 

 

 

An epilogue shows that the known world continues to fight the Unknown forces for nearly eleven years. Kelsey quits her rebellious streak to become a nurse, and claiming to have had enough of the water, Jordan refuses to join the Navy when he is older. He does grow up to become the leader of a newly formed, elite military unit whose sole purpose is to discover the people behind the Unknown forces along with their goals. Since the age of fourteen and even prior to his military career, Jordan Nielson carries the title 'Naval Commander' for his feats at the beginning of the war, and contrary to his self-proclaimed dislike of all things ocean-related, his greatest tactics still take place on the water.

 

 

Damien Nielson remains incarcerated for his crimes.

 

 

Unknown Forces- Unmanned military-grade machines that assault military bases around the globe at the same time on the same day. They're found to be remote-controlled from a distance and tend to vaguely resemble some kind of animal, but attempts to discover who is at the controls have yet to succeed. Beyond a slow takeover of territory on land, the grand design of these forces are also a mystery.

 

Jordan Nielson- 14. A teenager who has become disillusioned with the adults in his life after he's the one that finally stops his brother from abusing their mother. He remains a boy who can keep his cool and think of a person's emotional needs despite his own stress level.

 

Jordan and a group of other children are stranded out at sea on the USS Alabama when the Unknown attacks set the museum ship afloat. Jordan is the youngest child of a US Navy admiral and the only one to have been inside the warships they saw throughout his life. As such he is the only one who has any idea of how even a museum ship works, and he becomes the default leader.

 

 

 

Matt(hew) Holden- 14. An orphan who has recently been adopted by a US Army colonel and was touring a California naval base when the unknown attacks occurred, setting him adrift with a few others on the USS Alabama. His rather quiet nature leads everyone to think he's mute, but Matt has a very quick and tactical mind thanks to his former life on the streets. He provides the plan to evade and outrun an Unknown ship despite the Alabama's very meager resources, allowing the children to reach safety with the Japanese navy.

 

 

Kelsey Nielson- 17. Jordan's older sister and the second child in the family. By the time the Unknown attacks begin, Kelsey is well on a typical rebellious streak that's ignited by their brother's physical and emotional abuse of their mother. She's among the stranded on the USS Alabama, displaying very nervous behavior until she sees that the youngest children are worse off. Kelsey concedes that her little brother is the only one who can 'work the ship' at all, and tries to keep everyone calm so he can focus on the task.

 

 

 

Spencer Vargas- 13. A shy and friendly civilian boy who is one of the children stranded on the USS Alabama. He's predictably hysterical when the Unknown attacks push them far out to sea, triggering his fear of vast open waters and sea creatures. He barely gets a hold of himself to help with fighting off the Unknown forces, lending his knowledge of all things electronic to put together a proper radio for communications.

 

 

Beth Kitcher- 15. A former Army brat before her parents divorced, Beth resented her father's seemingly greater love for the US Army and wasn't too happy about touring some old war boats in his effort to be closer to her. Beth's fiery nature gets in the way of Jordan establishing control over the USS Alabama, not knowing where to turn. She slowly gives in to Jordan's argument that Beth shouldn't take out her borderline suicidal behavior out on the others who want to live, and appoints herself a 'gopher' that provides whatever the 'crew' needs.

 

 

Damien Nielson- 20. Older brother to Jordan and Kelsey Nielson. A stressful, strict life under their father drove Damien to abuse their mother until Jordan put a stop to it. At first he is genuinely contrite and joins the Navy to make up for his mistakes, but then he hears that Jordan is successfully commanding the museum ship with the tourist children on board. Jealousy erupts and Damien gives the Unknown forces strategic information in return for a promise to strand Jordan on another ship for a naval duel and takes some of his commanding officers hostage to take control of the USS John Paul. Thanks to Matt Holden's tactics and Jordan's knowledge of his mind--however unstable it may be--this attempt fails, and Damien is eventually captured by US Navy Seals.

 

 

James Nielson- A newly appointed US Navy Admiral and father of Damien, Kelsey, and Jordan. Horrified by his oldest son's behavior, James throws him out of the house and tries to take some time off with his remaining children, but Jordan has grown up too early in life and Kelsey is in full-blown rebel mode. James frantically uses his position to save Jordan and Kelsey when they become the target of hostage-wanting forces, and is heartbroken to discover Damien's betrayal of his family, country, and what goodness he had left inside him.

 

 

Brittany Kitcher- 24. Beth's older sister who is in the Air Force training to become a pilot.

Author's Note

*photo taken off Google/Battleship film poster