Thames announced, “Designate Sierra five-eight as Master two and Sierra five-nine as Master three. The contact of interest is Master one.” Master one was likely the closest of the three.
Lieutenant Commander White acknowledged and directed each of the three men developing contact solutions to track a different submarine, with Hartford’s most experienced fire control technician assigned to Master one.
White followed up, “Ambiguity has been resolved. All three contacts are to the north.”
The XO’s announcement didn’t surprise Thames, but his next report did.
“Master one is operating at high speed. Best estimate — twenty knots.”
Although twenty knots was less than two-thirds of an Akula II’s maximum speed, it was excessive for submarine-versus-submarine engagements, where high speed amplified a submarine’s radiated noise and dulled its acoustic sensors. However, with the Russian submarine approaching so rapidly, Thames would have to act soon, without a refined firing solution.
Thames figured Master one was functioning as a bird dog, flushing Hartford from its hiding spot. Once Thames fired a torpedo, all three Russian submarines would know where Hartford was and would counterfire. The scenario would degenerate into a free-for-all, with all four submarines maneuvering aggressively, launching decoys and jammers and more torpedoes. On the wrong end of a three-to-one scenario, Hartford would not likely survive. Thames’s only hope was to determine a solution for each Russian submarine and attack all three at once. Sonar’s next announcement threw a wrench into that plan.
“Conn, Sonar. Gained Master one on the spherical array.”
The spherical array had a shorter detection range than the towed array, so the detection told Thames that Master one was getting dangerously close; the Russian crew would detect Hartford at any moment.
Thames stopped by his XO. “I need a firing solution on all three contacts, now.”
He was pushing his Executive Officer for target solutions, but they didn’t need to be exact. They needed to place each torpedo close enough to detect the Russian submarine once the sonar in the torpedo’s nose activated. It would take over from there and adjust course to intercept the submarine.
Lieutenant Commander White studied the solutions on the consoles, then after a moment of hesitation replied, “I have firing solutions, Master one, two, and three.”
Thames announced, “Firing Point Procedures, Master one, two, and three. Normal submerged presets. Assign tube One to Master one, tube Two to Master two, and tube Three to Master three. Tube One will be first fired, then tube Two. Tube Four will be backup in case we have a cold shot.”
Although submarine weapon systems were very reliable, they weren’t perfect, and on occasion, a torpedo failed to launch. If the crew pulled the trigger and the torpedo didn’t eject, it was deemed a cold shot, and the crew would quickly attempt to identify whether it was a tube problem, combat control issue, or bad torpedo.
The first report during Firing Point Procedures came from the XO, reporting the best solution for each contact had been selected and sent to Weapon Control.
“Solutions ready!”
Hartford’s Weapons Officer, stationed as the Weapon Control Coordinator, announced, “Weapons ready!” reporting that all three torpedoes had accepted their weapon presets.
“Ship ready!” the Navigator announced, informing Thames that the submarine’s torpedo countermeasures — their decoys and jammers — were ready to deploy.
“Shoot on generated bearings,” Thames ordered.
The first four-thousand-pound weapon was ejected from its torpedo tube, accelerating from rest to thirty knots in less than a second. In rapid succession, tubes Two and Three were also fired. Inside Sonar, the sonar technicians monitored the status of their outgoing units, referring to each torpedo by the tube that launched it.
“Tube One is in the water, running normally.”
“Fuel crossover achieved.”
“Turning to preset gyro course.”
“Shifting to medium speed.”
Hartford’s first-fired torpedo turned to the ordered course and began its search for Master one as Hartford’s second and third torpedoes raced toward the other two submarines.
Thames ordered, “Helm, left full rudder, steady course two-zero-zero. Ahead full.”
In preparation for counterfire from the three Russian submarines, Thames maneuvered Hartford to an optimal torpedo evasion course, although optimal didn’t mean good in this case. With Russian submarines about to counterfire from three different directions, there was no good course to turn to.
Master one responded immediately, firing a two-torpedo salvo before turning away.
Sonar’s report, “Torpedo in the water, bearing three-five-zero!” was followed shortly by, “Second torpedo in the water, bearing three-five-two!”
Thames ordered, “Helm, ahead flank. Launch countermeasures.”
The fast attack submarine increased speed to maximum, and the Officer of the Deck launched a torpedo decoy.
Hartford’s first-fired torpedo locked on to Master one a moment later, its status reported via a thin copper wire trailing behind it, attached to the submarine’s torpedo tube.
“Detect, tube One!” the Weapon Control Coordinator announced.
A few seconds later, after the torpedo verified the contact met the parameters of a submarine and not a decoy, it sent a follow-up message.
“Acquired!”
The torpedo calculated the evading target’s course, speed, and range, then increased speed and adjusted its trajectory to intercept the Russian submarine.
“Tube One increasing speed to high-one.”
Whether the evading Russian submarine would eject a torpedo decoy or jammer, or both, Thames didn’t know, but it likely didn’t matter. The MK 48 Mod 7 torpedoes carried by Hartford were the most advanced heavyweight torpedoes in the world, able to discriminate between submarines and decoys, and loaded with sophisticated algorithms to deal with jammers.
The next report sealed Master one’s fate.
“Tube One is homing. Increasing speed to high-two.”
All this happened quickly, within thirty seconds, and Thames turned his attention to the two incoming Russian torpedoes while Hartford’s other two sped outward, searching for the other Russian submarines. After assessing the bearing drift of the two-torpedo salvo, he determined the Russian crew had fired on a line-of-bearing solution: the spot where Hartford was when it fired, as opposed to an intercept solution based on Hartford’s course and speed. That was the good news. Bad news followed.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing zero-three-zero!” The submarine to the northeast had fired.
Another report from Sonar followed. “Torpedo in the water, bearing three-zero-zero!” The third submarine followed suit.
Thames evaluated the situation. The two-torpedo salvo was drawing behind Hartford as desired. Unfortunately, the third Russian torpedo was drawing up Hartford’s port side, while they were on a collision course with the fourth torpedo. Remaining on course wasn’t an option, and maneuvering to the left would turn Hartford toward the torpedo on her port side. Thames reluctantly concluded his only option was a dangerous one.
“Helm, right ten degrees rudder, steady course three-five-five.” There were no torpedoes in that direction, but unfortunately, there were three Russian submarines.
The sound of an explosion rumbled through the Control Room, and the Weapons Officer announced, “Loss of wire continuity, tube One.”