“Now this is downright bonkers,” he said aloud. “Where’s that bloody nuke?”
He circled, scanning every horizon visually, and he knew he had not gone too far from what he had seen, but nothing was there. Yes, it was bonkers. What was he, away with the fairies out here? Rats in the attic? A screw or two loose? Things like this just did not happen.
“I must be as barmy as the bloody radar,” he breathed. “Best wing for home.”
He came around, to a heading that should take him home to the carrier, and announced his intention to return on the radio, but there was no response. There was still plenty of fuel, and he was bound to find the fleet in any case. Yes, the whole bloody fleet was out there ahead.
Or so he believed….
“Strange,” said Karpov. “Every get a feeling that something was wrong, but you can’t seem to put your finger on it?”
“Is that why you’ve been checking the radar and sonar stations every half hour,” said Fedorov.
“Have I? Well, I suppose I have. Got this itch, Fedorov. Something is amiss, but I’m not sure what it is. Rodenko reports nothing unusual in the radar field. Tasarov says all is quiet below, but I can still feel it. Something is wrong.”
Fedorov gave him a look. “Perhaps a meal would do some good. I can hold the watch if you want an early lunch.”
“At a time like this?” said Karpov. “We’re likely to have a missile storm heading our way. The American battleship just put in an attack on that leading task force, the one with Vietnamese ships that was firing cruise missiles at the airfields on Singapore. Now there’s another small package coming in for Ranai airfield, air launched.”
“Rodenko says he thought the Chinese were recovering the planes they scrambled off that carrier we sunk.”
“Indeed? Well, we’re lucky the Chinese J-31 doesn’t load out much in the way of anti-surface ordnance. Strange. The Chinese are quick studies. You would think they would have copied the American GBU-53 by now for their stealth fighters. That would give their carriers a little clout. At the moment, the best extended range bomb they can carry only has a range of 30 miles. They’re stealthy, but not that good. Get in that close to this ship and my Gargoyles will have a feast.”
“The Chinese are still coming south,” said Fedorov. “Is that what’s bugging you?”
“No, I expected they would. It just means we have to move south with them, and keep the range outside 300 miles so they can’t use their YJ-18’s. It’s a dance out here, Fedorov. They take a step forward. We take a step back. There’s plenty of sea room yet. So no, it’s no bother. I just feel like there’s something else going on… a feeling of presentiment, but with no clear danger in sight, aside from that Chinese fleet up north. That I can deal with, but this…. This inner feeling is something else.”
“You mean like that sound Troyak reported once on that mission to Siberia?”
“Sound? No, I don’t think it’s anything like that. It’s just an inner feeling, a hunch, but laced with adrenalin. Something is telling me to be wary, but it’s nothing I can see.”
“I’ll check with Tasarov. His ears are the best we have. Does it have to do with the ship? I could go down and see what Dobrynin thinks.”
“No, no, it’s probably nothing. Maybe I’ve been in combat too long. Could just be a case of raw nerves. I feel fine, but there’s something…. Something…”
Fedorov nodded. “Get some lunch, Admiral. Give me a shot at the big chair for a while. If they hit us, it will probably be with their YJ-100. Our SAM’s can track and kill those easily enough.”
“Alright, Fedorov. I’ll take your advice and see what’s on the boil in the officer’s mess. In fact, I have some business to attend to there. But yes… Check with Tasarov once in a while. They have subs out there too. They bushwhacked this Admiral Pearson the last time he showed the flag, and gutted all the RSN frigates that were good enough to sail with him.”
Karpov headed for the hatch and ladder down.
“Admiral off the bridge,” said Rodenko.
“I have the Con,” said Fedorov. “You are officer of the deck, Rodenko.”
“Aye sir.”
Chapter 35
Captain Samuel Wood had heard that his old friend Francis Drake had just made another kill, and now he was thinking to even the score and stay in the race. Drake had a very new boat, HMS Anson, and Wood had one of the first really good attack boats the Royal Navy commissioned, HMS Trafalgar. So he would show them the old girl could still dance.
He had been creeping up on the leading Chinese task force, and now had a frigate in his no escape kill zone, about five miles out. It was the Type 056 corvette Guangyuan, out well ahead of the Vietnamese group as a forward picket. Sonar had contacts on many other ships, but they were over 15 miles away.
Captain Wood briefly considered simply waiting there, allowing the frigate to go by, and then attacking the main group where he might get at many more targets.
“Sonar, can you confirm that this is a Type 056?”
“Yes sir, without question.”
That was a small 1500 ton vessel, usually used in littoral waters like this. The formation was just 50 miles west of the Riau main island. The ship had hull sonar, but no towed array, and it had slowed to just five knots.
“Con, reading active sonar from that ship.”
“Very well.” Wood now assumed the frigate might have heard them, and even though its only ASW defense was a pair of triple YU-7 torpedo mounts, it would have to get within two miles to use them. He decided he had better dispatch the ship quickly, and then maneuver. He gave the order to fire.
The 80 knot Spearfish crossed the four miles to the target in little time, and the 300kg warhead blew that corvette off the sea. Seconds later, the sound of active sonars reverberated through the depths, a moaning chorus under the sea.
“Helm, come right to 130 degrees and give me ten knots.”
“Con, sonobuoy drop detected.”
“Come left to zero-seven-five.”
“Zero-seven-five Aye, sir.”
“Con, main contact group has changed heading. Now on 270 west. Speed 18 knots. More sonobuoys in the water, I read four now.”
Sonar updated their report, and Captain Wood knew this was a dangerous situation. He was being hunted by a Z-18, not the less efficient Z-9, which only had short range dipping sonar. The Z-18 was bigger, and would be able to lay a web of sonobuoys to help locate his boat, so he had turned to the north east, trying to get into the wake noise of all those surface ships.
“Sir, sonobuoy drop, very close off the port side.”
“Helm come to five knots, and steady on.”
They would hear three more buoys drop, this time off the starboard side of the boat, as Trafalgar slowly crept on at five knots, sweating. The water here was very shallow, with the bottom just 240 feet down. Wood was hugging that bottom, also hoping to take advantage of ground clutter to make it more difficult for sonar to get a reading on him.
“Buoy drops progressing to the southwest,” came sonar.
“Steady on,” said Wood. He had killed the Mountain God, Type 055 destroyer Shanshen, sunk Type 052D class destroyers Changsha and Hefei, killed the older Type 051 destroyer Shenzhen, and 054 class frigate Xuchang. Now Guangyuan was the smallest fish to become ensnared by his undersea net, but he would take the credit for his seventh confirmed kill, and still glowed with the knowledge that he had also put two torpedoes into the carrier Zhendong, and drove it to port. That outstanding record had just brough him neck and neck with Captain Drake on HMS Anson, and from the sound of all that active sonar looking for him, there were still plenty of fish in the sea.