AWR1 said, “She’s pinging. Executing her initial search.”
Juan could hear it. The Mark 54 torpedo began diving into the water, turning and pinging, looking for its contact.
Plug said, “Alright, Juan, where to now?”
Juan looked at him in confusion. “Huh?” They had just dropped the torpedo. Now it was time for them to wait and listen for it to hit the target.
“Tell me what to do, man. Let’s not sit on our ass.”
Juan thought about it. Plug was right. What if the first torpedo didn’t hit the target? Or what if it was only slightly damaged? They shouldn’t just assume that everything would go according to plan. There was always something they could be doing.
“If I was the submarine, I’d want to get out of there — to change my location. But I would still want to maintain the ability to attack the Farragut.”
“Okay, so where does that put him? Where’s he going to go if that torpedo doesn’t sink him?”
Plug looked at his tactical display. If the submarine moved too far to the rear of the Farragut, it would have trouble catching up. So that meant…
Juan moved his cursor to a certain spot and placed a waypoint in the system, then tapped a few keys. “There. Let’s fly to this waypoint and get ready to drop a buoy.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Captain, torpedo in the water, bearing one-two-zero, range less than two thousand meters!”
The captain replied, “Begin evasive maneuvers! Launch countermeasures.”
The cascade of voices rang out through the room. Men were yelling and sweating. They sounded afraid. They were afraid. So was he.
The crew leaned to one side and held on as the submarine began turning sharply and changing depth.
The XO said, “Captain, I’m afraid we’ve lost the array.”
He winced. “Understood.” The maneuvers had exceeded their speed limits and torn off the towed-array. This was extremely bad news, as it would reduce their sensor capability. But he couldn’t dwell on that now.
The first torpedo pings were several seconds apart. They sounded different than the sonobuoys that had been bouncing off their hull moments ago. These were a different pitch. With each noise, the tension in the crowded compartment grew.
“Captain, the torpedo is pinging faster. It appears to have acquired its target.”
The captain said, “What is the status of the countermeasures?”
One of his junior officers looked up. “Sir, countermeasures away. They just launched, sir.”
The captain watched the navigational readouts. They were racing away from the torpedo, but it was much faster. Still, if they could put enough distance between themselves and the decoy…
The pinging noise grew quieter, and its frequency changed.
“Sir, the torpedo appears to be going after the countermeasures! It is no longer following us,” the sonar technician said, practically gasping with joy. Some of them grinned like silly boys, having evaded death.
“Gentlemen, please mind your stations,” the executive officer bellowed. “This is not over.”
But after a few minutes, it appeared to be. For now.
“Sir, I no longer hear the torpedo. It has run out, sir.”
The captain stood over the tactical plot. They would try to attack him again. He needed to get off his shot.
“Range to target?” asked the captain, his voice slightly above a whisper.
“Sir, the contact is now at ten thousand meters.”
Ten thousand. A lucky number.
“Come up to periscope depth. Flood torpedo tubes one and two. Plug in a solution.”
“Sir, the torpedo has stopped running. No explosion noises heard.”
The flight deck of the P-8 was deadly quiet.
The mission commander stood arms extended, his hands on the sonar tech’s chair. He said, “Do we still have contact?”
The lead AW listening to the sonar replied, “Stand by, sir”
About thirty seconds went by with nothing but silence. “Well?”
“Sir, we will need to reacquire the target. It appears that we have lost them for now.”
The mission commander said, “Alright, let’s keep listening, then. Don’t let these guys slip through.”
He looked at his tactical display. If the Chinese submarine had evaded towards the Farragut, it would be getting dangerously close to its torpedo range.
The submarine captain said, “How long until we’re in range?”
The XO said, “Captain, we’ll be at the maximum effective range of our torpedo soon, but because the towed-array came off, our track estimate is no longer accurate.”
The captain sighed. “Very well. Raise periscope. We will have to confirm visually and use that for our target solution.”
Surfacing with aircraft overhead was extremely risky. But it might be their only chance of successfully attacking the American ship.
“Understood, sir.”
“Cutlass 471, Farragut Control, request status of ASW prosecution.”
“Farragut, Cutlass, we’re about to spit a DIFAR and try to reacquire the sub.”
“471, Roger. Pelican, Farragut Control, say status.”
The P-8 voice came over the radios. “Farragut Control, Pelican, we have negative BDA, and we have lost contact with the sub.”
“Roger, Pelican.”
After a moment of silence, the voice from the P-8 said, “Farragut, Pelican, our passive buoys are still picking up noise consistent with the Chinese submarine. Trying to reacquire the track now.”
Victoria heard the call. She said, “Where is the helo?”
The ASTAC pointed his finger to the radar position. “Right here, ma’am.”
“Is he dipping?”
“Negative, boss. They were going to put a passive buoy there and see if they could reacquire the sub.”
She looked at the helicopter’s position on the chart. If the submarine had evaded by trying to get closer to the destroyer, that meant that the Chinese submarine captain was trying to get off another shot. If he thought he was about to be detected, he would probably fire his weapon soon. She didn’t want that to happen.
It was a chess game. Each one of her moves determined what her opponent might try next. She needed to think several moves ahead, and limit his options.
Victoria walked back over to the sonar table. “ASWO, show me your plot.” She looked at the nautical chart, all marked up with notes from the young officer. Grey pencil marks filled with where they thought the submarine was, based on the latest information.
She looked back at the radar screen, doing the mental math to superimpose where the helicopter was on this nautical chart. She pointed to a position on the ASWO’s plot. Victoria said, “The helicopter is right about here.”
The Farragut was barreling right toward that position.
She liked the location the helicopter crew had chosen. If she were the Chinese submarine captain, that’s right where she would have gone after being attacked.
Juan and Plug must have had the same thought. Now there was a good chance that their buoy location would be right on top of the sub. They were going to drop a passive buoy. But what if they went active here instead? They could use the helicopter’s dipping sonar. It was one of the most powerful tools in her arsenal. If they started pinging, they could get a great torpedo shot at the submarine again.
But what if she was wrong? What if the submarine had departed away from the destroyer, on the other side of the previous attack location? She thought about that. Then the pinging would still deter it from turning and closing on Victoria’s ship.