“Voilà!” he announced, and brought the desired drawing to Jerry. “See here, Commodore, this is almost a perfect match! We’ll need four torpedoes to turn this engine of destruction into scrap metal!”
Jerry examined the drawing and agreed that it seemed a good match for what they were seeing. Still, there was something odd about the left pair of tubes. “Dr. Dan, don’t the last two tubes on the left look different from the others?” he asked.
Cavanaugh settled down and stared at the screen. “Yes, now that you mention it, those two tubes do look different. Can we get a closer look?”
“You heard the man, Ben,” Jerry directed.
“Aye, sir. Stand by.”
The image grew and shifted upward as Walter moved in on the left hand side of the structure. Once the UUV was in the same plane and looking right at the tubes, it became clear why they were different.
“They’re empty!” declared Cavanaugh. “Those tubes have nothing in them. We can treat this as a four-tube launcher.” He jumped down and started rummaging around the deck to find the appropriate drawing. Jerry, on the other hand, was not nearly as pleased as the doctor. Why would the Russians have stopped before all the tubes were loaded? he thought to himself. It didn’t make a lot of sense. Suddenly, Jerry had a really anxious feeling about the whole thing.
“Dr. Cavanaugh,” Jerry exclaimed. “Do we need fewer torpedoes to deal with four launchers?”
“What? Oh, yes, three should do very nicely, Commodore.”
“Great, wonderful. Please coordinate with Lieutenant Lawson and get the four beacons on José deployed.” Pivoting to face Ford, Jerry shouted, “Ben!”
“Sir?”
“I want you to send Walter to the north, course…” he paused while he changed the display screen to a navigation chart, “course zero three five, low and slow.”
The UUV pilot looked stunned, perplexed. “You want me to send the UUV away from the structure, sir?”
Jerry understood the junior officer’s confusion; the commodore was straying far from the plan they’d been working on for the past several days. “I’ll explain later. Course zero three five, low and slow, and I mean now, mister!”
“Aye, aye, sir,” jumped Ford.
Reaching over, he grabbed the sound-powered phone handset, selected the control room, and spun the handle.
“Captain,” answered Weiss.
“Lou, Commodore Mitchell, we’re positioning four beacons now. Cavanaugh says we can get away with three torpedoes; I’m going with four. I’ve ordered Walter to disengage and head north. I intend to have him scout ahead of us, looking primarily to the north and east. On the way out I’ll put José to our left, looking to the west.”
Weiss was initially quiet, but then inquired, “Is there a problem, Commodore? I was under the impression we were going to use one or both UUVs for battle-damage assessment.”
Jerry took a deep breath, fighting the wild urgency he felt. He needed to sound calm. “Lou, the Russians left two of the tubes empty. The only reason I can think of why they’d do something like that is because they’re rushing, because they believe there is an imminent threat. I have a very bad feeling they may be onto us. With four weapons, we’ll still have some redundancy, but right now we need the UUVs’ passive sensors more than the imaging sonar. I’ll inform you as soon as José is finished deploying the transponder beacons. Then we need to get the hell out of here.”
If Jerry thought the run in was slow, getting out seemed like an eternity. Both UUVs were now deployed on Carter’s flanks. Walter was to the northeast, nearly twenty minutes ahead, José to the northwest. Both UUVs were at six knots, Carter at four, crawling ever so slowly to the gap in the minefield and open water. Jerry had insisted that the UUVs cross the passive barrier first, away from the Toledo gap; he was betting they would be able to sneak across by coasting over the sensor cable. If they were detected, then they would serve as decoys to enable Carter to make good her escape — after she fired the torpedoes.
Glancing over at Cavanaugh, Jerry noticed that the man looked down, despondent actually. “What’s the matter, Dr. Dan?”
“I’m not sure, Commodore. It all seems so anticlimactic. I mean we’ve placed the beacons and now we’re essentially on our way home. Not quite as exciting as I thought it would be.”
Jerry couldn’t help but laugh. “Dr. Dan, we still need to fire the torpedoes. That’ll generate some excitement, I can assure you. Then there is that vexing little problem of weaseling our way past the minefield with a bunch of very pissed-off Russians all around us. I’d be very happy with a boring transit out, but the odds are—”
“Conn, Sonar,” squawked the intercom, interrupting Jerry. “Sharp mechanical transients from Sierra one five. Possible mating collar or docking clamps.”
“Well, that will complicate things,” Jerry grumbled. “If Losharik is docking, then Belgorod may start moving.”
“Commodore, Walter is nearing the Sever line. Estimated range is three hundred yards,” reported Ford.
“Very well. Bring Walter to a depth of fifty feet off the bottom and then secure the propulsion motor. Trade altitude for speed as much as possible to maintain five knots.”
Everyone in UCC seemed to hold their breath for the next four minutes as they watched Walter’s representative icon move across the digital chart. They saw the cable lying on the ocean floor as Walter passed over it, some thirty feet, with no sign of any hydrophones. A few hundred yards further downrange, Jerry ordered Ford to bring Walter back to power and make four knots. They’d have to do the same thing in about twenty minutes with José. But just before they were to execute the second sneak maneuver, Frederick called out, “Passive contact, bearing zero two zero!”
Jerry nearly launched himself out of his seat as he brought up Walter’s passive flank array. There was a weak contact, drawing left rapidly. There could be but one conclusion. Grabbing the handset, he toggled the mike. “Conn, UCC. Walter has gained a passive sonar contact, bearing zero three three from own ship. High left bearing rate. It looks like our friend is back.”
Before Weiss could reply, the intercom squawked again. “Conn, Sonar, Sierra one five bears one seven zero. Contact has gotten underway, slight left bearing drift.” It wasn’t long before the sound-powered phone set growled. Jerry was expecting the call.
“Commodore, we have a serious problem.” Weiss’s voice was stressed, and rightfully so. “If Belgorod keeps coming to the left, we’ll be caught between her and Kazan. My intention is to get a good firing solution and engage Belgorod first, then attack the launch complex.”
Jerry almost shouted his reply, but managed to keep it to a firm, “No, Lou, do not concur. Continue to monitor the situation and prepare to fire the four torpedoes at the launcher. That is our first priority.”
“Sir, we’ll get caught up in a close melee with two Russian subs. We need to take one out first, Commodore!”
“Captain.” Jerry’s voice was even more forceful. “Stay focused on the mission. We haven’t been detected yet and I have a plan in mind to—”