Make that two Russian submarines.
Sonar reported, “Breaking up noises, bearing three-five-zero.” Master one was going to the bottom, its compartments and internal tanks imploding.
As Hartford headed north, Thames adjusted course, aiming for the one spot he knew there was no Russian submarine. “Helm, steady course three-five-zero.”
There were two more Russian submarines out there, and Thames didn’t know if his two outbound weapons would find their targets. Time to reload.
“Weapon Control, reload tube One.” Tube Four was already loaded, and although tubes Two and Three were empty, the outgoing torpedoes were still attached to the tubes via their guidance wires, which would come in handy if Thames needed to insert a steer or send other instructions to the torpedoes.
Hartford was at ahead flank, which wasn’t a great idea now that they were headed toward the two other Russian submarines. Sonar had lost contact on both due to the flow noise across the submarine’s sensors and Hartford was putting a lot of noise into the water, making the submarine easy to track. If the other Russian submarines were at slow speed, Hartford would be burning into their sonar screens. Hartford needed to melt back into the ocean.
Thames ordered, “Helm, ahead two-thirds.”
The Helm transmitted the new bell to the Throttleman in the Engine Room, who slowed Hartford to ten knots as a second explosion reverberated through the water.
“Loss of wire continuity, tube Two.”
Hartford’s second torpedo had found its target.
Thames turned his attention to the Russian torpedoes again; the first three had drawn down Hartford’s starboard side and were now outbound, no longer a threat unless a steer was sent to a torpedo. The bearings to the fourth torpedo, however, weren’t changing. It was heading in from the west on an intercept course. It’d been steered.
As Thames determined a new evasion course, Sonar announced, “Gained broadband contact on the spherical array, bearing three-four-zero.”
Before Thames responded, Sonar reported, “Launch transients, bearing three-four-one!”
The third Russian submarine had also turned toward the first explosion and had slowed earlier, gaining Hartford on its sensors. A detection on Hartford’s spherical array broadband told Thames the Russian submarine was close, as would be its incoming torpedo.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing three-four-two!”
“Torpedo evasion!” Thames announced.
Responding to the code word phrase, the Helm ordered ahead flank and the submarine’s Officer of the Deck launched a torpedo countermeasure.
“Helm, hard right rudder, steady course one-three-five.”
With two torpedoes headed Hartford’s way, one directly ahead and one on the submarine’s port side, Thames’s only hope was to turn southeast and run away from both torpedoes, hoping neither passed close enough to acquire.
Thames’s turn away came too late.
“Conn, Sonar. Torpedo bearing two-seven-zero is range-gating.”
The Russian torpedo to the west had acquired Hartford and was homing. If that weren’t bad news enough, as Hartford swung to the southeast and picked up speed, Sonar reported, “Torpedo bearing three-three-five is range-gating.”
The second torpedo had also acquired Hartford.
As Thames ordered another round of torpedo decoys and jammers into the water, he knew this wasn’t going to turn out well.
75
ARABIAN SEA
The MH-60R Seahawk helicopter slowed to a hover and lowered its dipping sonar into the ocean again. Minutes earlier, the Sensor Operator in the cabin had detected two explosions in Alpha-eight, one of the submarine operating areas to the north, and Lieutenant Leo Falardeau, seated beside his Tactical Mission Officer, had repositioned his helicopter to the center of Bravo-eight. Unlike the Alpha operating areas, which were patrolled by submarines, the Bravo areas were monitored by MH-60R anti-submarine warfare helicopters. The MH-60Rs were the newest and most capable ASW helicopters in the American arsenal, equipped with an advanced sensor suite and three lightweight torpedoes. In Falardeau’s case, three new MK 54s.
Lieutenant Falardeau was joined by another MH-60R, also patrolling Bravo-eight, dropping its dipping sonar into the ocean. As the sensor descended through the water, it approached the thermocline, a layer of water where the temperature changed rapidly and reacted with sound, like light reflecting off a window. Depending on the frequency and angle of the sound wave, some tonals couldn’t make it through, bending back toward the bottom or up toward the surface. Ideally, the sensor would be placed on whatever side of the thermocline the enemy submarine was operating in. Falardeau’s Sensor Operator let his dipping sonar pass through the thermocline, while the MH-60R beside them kept its sensor above.
Falardeau’s dipping sonar was brought back on-line, and not long thereafter, the Sensor Operator reported a third explosion in the direction of Alpha-eight. Whether it was an American or Russian submarine being hit, he didn’t know. However, with only one American submarine in the area and three explosions, he knew at least two Russian subs had gone to the bottom.
The MH-60R hovered sixty feet above the water as Falardeau’s Sensor Operator searched Bravo-eight. As long as there were no detections in the Bravo areas, life was good. The American submarines were constrained to the Alpha areas and wouldn’t venture into the Bravos, since the MH-60Rs were Weapons Free. Anything detected in the Bravo areas would be attacked.
The voice of Falardeau’s Sensor Operator crackled in his headset. “Gained a new contact, designated Sierra one, bearing three-three-five.”
They held only a bearing and no range, and as Falardeau hoped it was just a strong tonal from the American submarine in Alpha-eight, his Sensor Operator reported, “Sierra one is classified Akula II.”
This was bad news, at least for the crew of the American submarine in Alpha-eight. The third explosion had sent it to the bottom, and now a Russian submarine had leaked into Bravo-eight. Where there was one, there would undoubtedly be more, but first things first.
The Sensor Operator retrieved the dipping sonar, and Falardeau repositioned his MH-60R so they could calculate the Russian submarine’s position, course, and speed. It wasn’t long before the sonar dipped beneath the thermocline again and the Sensor Operator reported, “I have a firing solution.”
Falardeau ordered his Tactical Mission Officer to engage Sierra one. The TMO selected the proper presets on his paneclass="underline" depth, search pattern, and other attributes, although almost any would do. All they had to do was place the lightweight torpedo reasonably close to the Russian submarine and the MK 54 would do the rest.
After retrieving the dipping sonar again, Falardeau repositioned his MH-60R just ahead of the Russian submarine, while his TMO sent presets to the middle MK 54 strapped beneath the helicopter. Satisfied that the torpedo was properly preset and they were close enough to the target, the TMO released the lightweight torpedo. As it fell toward the ocean, the torpedo’s small parachute deployed, which slowed the weapon slightly and adjusted its angle as it fell, so that it slipped nose first into the water, where it disappeared from sight.
Unlike heavyweight torpedoes, lightweight torpedoes had no guidance wire attached, so the initial presets would have to do. The Sensor Operator monitored the engine tonals and the active transmissions from the sonar in the MK 54’s nose. The engine lit off and the torpedo went active immediately, beginning its search. They had dropped the MK 54 almost directly on top of the Russian submarine, so it wasn’t a surprise when the Sensor Operator reported the torpedo was homing less than twenty seconds after it hit the water. Engine speed increased, while the interval between pings decreased. With only a few hundred feet to travel, the torpedo exploded shortly thereafter.