“Conn, Radio. Download complete.”
Lieutenant Shroyer acknowledged and after the requisite orders, Michigan tilted downward. As the submarine leveled off at two hundred feet, a radioman delivered the message board to the submarine’s Captain. Wilson flipped through the messages, reading the latest intel report on the Russian Northern Fleet, followed by a new operational order for Michigan. As he read through the OPORD, he noted the unusual nature of the mission, as well as the target: Marshal Ustinov, the newest cruiser in the Russian Northern Fleet.
Wilson called the Messenger. “Have Commander McNeil and the XO report to Control.”
The Messenger departed and a moment later, Michigan’s Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dave Beasley, arrived. Wilson handed Beasley the message board, with the OPORD on top. After he read the message, Beasley looked up. “Marshal Ustinov? In port?”
Wilson nodded and was about to expound when Commander John McNeil, head of the SEAL detachment aboard, arrived. Beasley handed him the message, which McNeil quickly read.
“When can you be in position?” McNeil asked. “We’ll need to be in range of our SDV.”
Wilson evaluated the time required to transit within range of the SEALs’ mini-sub. “We’ll arrive shortly after midnight. When will you be ready to brief?”
McNeil replied, “It’s a pretty standard mission. Give me two hours to have the plan tweaked for this scenario and personnel selected for the mission.”
“Let’s brief at zero-nine-hundred,” Wilson said, “in the Battle Management Center.”
Turning to his XO, he directed, “Have one of the officers prepare a pro report on Marshal Ustinov.”
25
USS MICHIGAN
Two hours later, Wilson entered Michigan’s Battle Management Center, located aft of the Control Room. The former Navigation Center had been transformed during Michigan’s conversion from ballistic to guided missile submarine, and was now crammed with twenty-five consoles, each with two color displays, one atop the other. Thirteen consoles were on the port side of the ship, running fore to aft with an aisle between them, while the other twelve consoles were on the starboard side, arranged in four rows facing aft. Mounted on the aft bulkhead were two sixty-inch plasma screens, with a third sixty-inch display on the forward bulkhead.
Six Michigan crew members and five SEALs were already present, occupying consoles on the starboard side: Michigan’s Executive Officer, four department heads, and Lieutenant Jayne Stucker, along with Commander McNeil and four other SEALs. At the front of the Battle Management Center, Lieutenant Jake Harrison stood beside one of the sixty-inch plasma displays hanging on the bulkhead. Wilson settled into the lone vacant console, beside McNeil, and the senior SEAL nodded in Harrison’s direction.
Lieutenant Harrison kicked off the mission brief, beginning with a summary of the information provided in Michigan’s message.
“As you’re aware, Michigan has been tasked with sinking the Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov, which is docked in Latakia. The Navigator will brief the submarine’s transit to within range of our SDV, Lieutenant Stucker will brief us on the target, and I’ll add the pertinent mission details.”
First up was the submarine’s Navigator, Lieutenant Charlie Eaton, with Lieutenant Stucker controlling the bulkhead display from her console. A nautical chart of the Eastern Mediterranean appeared, zooming in on Latakia. Lieutenant Eaton’s brief was short and uneventfuclass="underline" Latakia jutted slightly into the Mediterranean Sea, with no geographic issues posing a problem during the submarine’s transit to within launch range of the SDV. Eaton shifted to a satellite image of Latakia, showing the arrangement of the piers and wharves at the seaport, as well as the location of Marshal Ustinov.
Next up was Lieutenant Jayne Stucker, who had been assigned the pro report on Marshal Ustinov. A schematic of the Russian ship appeared on the bulkhead display beside her.
“The target is Marshal Ustinov, a Slava class cruiser. Three have been completed, with one assigned to each Russian fleet except the Baltic. She’s heavily armed, carrying sixteen surface-to-surface and one hundred four surface-to-air missiles, along with six close-in weapon systems like our Navy’s Phalanx Gatling gun. The cruiser also has significant anti-submarine warfare capabilities, with one hundred ninety-two depth charges, an anti-submarine helicopter, and ten torpedo tubes capable of launching Type 53 torpedoes.
“Marshal Ustinov should be easy to distinguish underwater. She’s six hundred eleven feet long at the waterline, with a twin shaft/single rudder design, and the bulbous sonar dome on the bow will easily distinguish it as a combatant as opposed to a merchant ship. Additionally, she’ll have her hull number painted on the side.
“Any questions, sir?” Stucker aimed her question at Captain Wilson and Commander McNeil. None were forthcoming, and Stucker took her seat while Lieutenant Harrison continued the brief.
“Michigan is configured differently for this deployment, carrying only one SDV. However, one SDV is sufficient for this mission. Once within launch range, Petty Officer Maydwell and I will transport a limpet mine in the back seat of the SDV, then attach it to the hull of Marshal Ustinov behind the sonar array. The explosion should damage the sonar dome and flood the forward compartments.”
After a few questions and a short discussion, the mission brief concluded.
McNeil asked, “When will Michigan be in position?”
Wilson turned to the Nav, who replied, “We’ll be in launch range by zero-two-hundred.”
26
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Lieutenant Jake Harrison, outfitted in a dive suit and accompanied by Petty Officer First Class Rob Maydwell, stepped through the circular hatch in the side of Missile Tube One. Maydwell shut the hatch with a faint clank and spun the handle, engaging the hatch lugs, sealing the two men inside the seven-foot-diameter missile tube. Harrison climbed a steel ladder up two levels as Maydwell followed, entering the Dry Deck Shelter, bathed in diffuse red light.
The Dry Deck Shelter was a conglomeration of three separate chambers: a spherical hyperbaric chamber at the forward end to treat injured divers, a spherical transfer trunk in the middle, which Harrison and Maydwell had entered, and a long cylindrical hangar section containing the SEAL Delivery Vehicle, a black mini-sub resembling a fat torpedo — twenty-two feet long by six feet in diameter. The hangar was divided into two sections by a Plexiglas shield dropping halfway down from the top of the hangar, with the SDV on one side and controls for operating the hangar on the other side.
Harrison stepped into the hangar, which was manned by five Navy divers: one on the forward side of the Plexiglas shield to operate the controls, and the other four divers in scuba gear on the other side. Maydwell sealed the hatch behind him, then the two SEALs ducked under the Plexiglas shield, stopping at the forward end of the SDV, which was loaded nose first into the Dry Deck Shelter. The SDV had two seating areas, one in front of the other, each capable of carrying two persons, with the back seat containing a limpet mine.
Lieutenant Harrison helped Maydwell into a rebreather, a closed-circuit breathing apparatus that produced no bubbles, reducing the probability their presence in the Syrian port would be detected, and Maydwell returned the favor. After donning their fins, the two men climbed into the front seat of the SDV. Harrison manipulated the controls and a contour of the Syrian coast appeared on the navigation display. They were ten miles from shore.