“Very well, sonar supervisor.” Jerry saw the new trace show up on the command workstation display; then, looking up at the starboard VLSD, he saw that the target was moving northwest at fifteen knots.
“That’s a decoy, Captain,” advised Samant. “Jain is following our evasion doctrine perfectly. The countermeasures are to obscure his movements while he counterfires, launches a decoy, and turns away from the attacker.” There was a hint of pride in his voice.
Jerry nodded his approval. “It’s unfortunate for him that I still have my thin-line towed array out. The acoustic countermeasures can’t affect it. And that decoy isn’t very convincing.”
“It’s an older MG-84 mobile decoy, Jerry,” Petrov volunteered. “It’s more effective against ships, submarine hull arrays, and…”
Suddenly, Thigpen burst out, “Detect. Detect. Detect. Homing. Torpedo number one is homing! Wait a second, it’s turning to the right. Shit, it’s locked on to the decoy!”
“…and torpedoes,” finished a smug Petrov. Jerry countered with an irritated look.
Before he could order the torpedo turned back to the correct target, Thigpen let out a loud groan. “Loss of wire continuity on torpedo number one. The wire must have broken when the weapon turned sharply to the right. We still have the wire on torpedo number two.”
Frustrated, Jerry took a deep breath. That was why he fired a salvo instead of a single weapon. “XO, command torpedo number two to turn fifty degrees to port.”
While Thigpen turned and ordered the fire control operator to make the course change, Jerry looked at the position of the Indian UGST torpedo. It was well past them, screaming out toward the northeast. He could safely turn. Turning toward Lieutenant Junior Grade Quela Lymburn, the battle stations OOD, Jerry instructed, “Q, bring us to the left. New course two zero zero, and increase speed to twenty knots.”
“Come to new course two zero zero, and increase speed to twenty knots, aye, sir,” acknowledged Lymburn. “Pilot, left full rudder, come to course two zero zero. All ahead standard.”
“Captain, one of the attacking torpedoes appears to have turned away. It may have been confused by the countermeasures and decoy,” reported Lieutenant Kirit from the Omnibus combat system consoles.
“Very well, but that still leaves one on our tail,” responded Jain. “Number One, activate the Arfa. Report bearing and range to the wreck.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” The first officer hit the transmit button, and after what seemed like an inordinately long time said, “Captain, the wreck bears red zero zero one. Range nine hundred meters.”
“Central post, Mark 48 torpedo has begun range gating! It’s got us!” cried Patil.
“Helmsman, full ahead! Stand by countermeasures!” Jain roared. “Number One, report range!”
“Range to the wreck is seven hundred fifty meters.”
Jain began a silent countdown; he needed to time his next move just right. Struggling to remain composed, the young captain glanced at the Omnibus display. The torpedo was just over three thousand meters away and closing rapidly. This was going to be close.
“Range?” he asked calmly.
“Range to the wreck is five hundred meters!” Rakash bawled.
“Steady yourself, Number One!” chastised Jain. He counted about twenty seconds, then, turning to Lieutenant Kota, commanded, “Deploy countermeasures!”
Jain quietly mumbled a fifteen-second count, then ordered, “Helmsman, port thirty! Steer east! All hands brace for shock!”
With the rudder over hard, and speed creeping past twenty-three knots, Chakra banked markedly into the turn. Jain clung to one of the periscopes for support while Kirichenko fought to keep his footing by the engineering consoles. The deck vibrated intensely as the speed increased and the sub heeled over in a stiff bank. Jain kept staring at the heading repeater, counting the seconds quietly, urging his boat to move faster.
After a tense minute, he yelled out, “Any moment now!”
Confused by the sudden appearance of the two countermeasures, the Mark 48 torpedo momentarily lost track of its target. Before it could begin a reattack search pattern, it blew past the stationary noisemakers and quickly reacquired a target dead ahead. But while the echo return was strong, the target wasn’t moving; the torpedo’s acoustic seeker detected no Doppler shift. The homing logic judged the target as invalid and began to turn the weapon to port, but it was too close now. The torpedo plowed into the sunken wreck and the high-explosive warhead detonated, sending strong shock waves out in all directions.
“Loud explosion bearing two zero zero!” sang out the sonar supervisor. The control room erupted in a cheer. Jerry saw his crew congratulating each other. To his right, Samant stood rigidly, his fists clenched, hardly breathing.
“Quiet in control!” bellowed Jerry. The celebratory clamor dropped instantly. Looking over at his exec, he inquired, “XO, status?”
“Torpedo number two has detonated in close proximity to Sierra eight seven’s location, sir. It looks like a hit.”
Jerry nodded his acknowledgment, turned, and stepped over to the sonar displays. “Senior chief, what do you hear?”
Senior Chief Halleck held up a finger, meaning, “Wait one.” After a long ten seconds, he shook his head and said, “I still have stable propulsion plant tonals, sir. I don’t think… Hold on! There’s a strong broadband contact on the hull array, drawing left.”
Leaning over the sonar supervisor’s shoulder, Jerry spoke softly. “Is it Chakra?”
Halleck nodded. “Confirmed, sir. Sierra eight seven is moving eastward at high speed, bearing rate is left five degrees per minute.”
“Range?”
“Maybe eight or nine thousand yards, Skipper, but that’s an educated guess. She’s in the WAA’s baffles.”
Straightening up, Jerry announced, “Attention in control. It appears that we missed. Sierra eight seven is still alive and kicking. I want a new firing solution ASAP.”
“Skipper, if we missed Chakra, what the hell did the torpedo detonate on?” complained Thigpen.
Jerry motioned for his XO to look at the HLSD and pointed to the wreck symbol on the chart near Chakra’s track. Thigpen was incredulous. “We sank a wreck!?”
“Technically, XO, it was already sunk,” noted Jerry with a grin. He couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or relieved that the attack had failed.
Samant stared at the chart; his expression was unquestionably one of relief. “Bravo, Maahir, bravo!” he whispered softly.
“You trained that young man well, Girish,” complimented Petrov, just as impressed with Jain’s well-executed maneuver as the rest.
“I used to flog him relentlessly about not being as aware of his environment as he could’ve been. He always seemed to miss a critical detail that could have been used to his advantage.” Samant’s voice and face showed his pride. The kind of pride a headmaster has when a struggling student finally understands a difficult lesson.
“Well, it would appear that Jain did listen to you after all, Captain,” Jerry remarked. “Which means, unfortunately, that this fight will be more difficult than I’d like.”
Samant opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and just shrugged.
“Possible target zig, Sierra eight seven,” said Halleck. “Target has turned away or slowed down.”
Jerry looked up at the VLSD and saw the range of possible vectors. Facing Lymburn, he instructed, “Q, bring us to one one zero. Let’s see if we can’t figure out where he’s going.”