“Steady course zero seven five, aye, sir,” the helmsman responded.
The course indicator showed that Mackerel still had forty degrees to go to get to the ordered course. The slow underwater speed of the submarine made it seem like an eternity to complete the turn. Tremain took in a deep breath. They were only going to get one chance at this.
“Open outer doors on tubes one through six,” he ordered. “Make tubes one through six ready for firing in all respects. Set depth on all torpedoes at twelve feet.”
The phone talker next to him relayed the orders directly to the forward torpedo room over the phone circuit. Moments later, a small vibration trembled the deck beneath their feet as the large torpedo tube doors were opened hydraulically.
The phone talker received a report over his headset and repeated it to Tremain. “Sir, forward torpedo room reports, outer doors open on tubes one through six. Tubes one through six are ready for firing in all respects. Depth setting on all torpedoes is twelve feet.”
Tremain glanced at the course indicator. Mackerel was passing course zero six zero to the right. As she edged over to course zero seven five, it took another minute to steady on the course.
“Steady on course zero seven five, sir,” the helmsman reported finally.
Tremain glanced at Cazanavette’s plot. Cazanavette had plotted a projected track for the Kurita using the information obtained from the last periscope observation. According to his plot, she would pass directly in front of them at close range within the next minute. That is, if the Kurita had not changed course.
“Final bearing and shoot,” Tremain ordered, indicating that he intended to make one last periscope observation before firing. He knew it was risky, but he had to check the quality of the firing solution. He would mark one more bearing to the Kurita. If the actual bearing to the target matched the projected bearings coming from Cazanavette’s plot and Hubley’s torpedo data computer, it would mean that the firing solution was good and he would shoot.
“She’s going to be close, skipper,” Cazanavette commented unnecessarily.
Tremain nodded. He knew that the battleship would be practically on top of them, but he had to check the solution. They would not get another chance.
“Up scope!”
The periscope came up out of its well and Tremain pressed his face to the lens, immediately spinning around the azimuth. The scope took a few wave slaps, blurring the lens and obscuring his vision.
“Bring us up to fifty-eight feet!” Tremain shouted. He could not afford to miss the Kurita because of a choppy sea.
Down in the control room Olander acknowledged the order and Mackerel rose up seven feet. Everyone in the room glanced at Tremain momentarily, then kept going about their business. They knew that the shallower depth would expose more of the periscope and give the Japanese lookouts a better opportunity to see it. But there was no turning back now.
The lens now stood well above the waves, allowing Tremain a view unobstructed by the water. He swung the scope around, checking the entire azimuth, making sure that no destroyers were nearby. There really was no way to tell. The patchy fog blocked his view completely in some areas while allowing him to see for several thousand yards in others.
Kurita was indeed there, directly ahead less than a thousand yards away. She was steaming on as before, now presenting her entire starboard beam to Mackerel’s bows. With the lens high out of the water, Tremain could easily see every part of her structure and hull, right down to the waterline. She was so close, he had to rotate the periscope through several degrees to see her whole length. Once more, he steadied the lens reticle on her forward stack and pressed the button.
“Bearing, mark! Down scope!”
“Zero six five,” the assistant called off as he lowered the periscope.
“Matched!” Hubley reported, indicating that the bearing was close enough to the torpedo data computer’s generated bearing to fall within the allowable tolerances to proceed with the shot. Hubley locked the solution into the computer, which electronically transmitted the gyro information to the torpedoes waiting in their tubes.
“Set,” Hubley reported.
“Fire one,” Tremain said.
Cazanavette reached up and pressed the plunger on the firing panel. The deck shuddered and all ears popped as high-pressure air ejected the first torpedo from its tube.
“Fire two!… Fire three!… Fire four!… Fire five!… Fire six!” Tremain intended to place a good spread along the
Kurita’s beam. He could see in his mind’s eye the six bubbling wakes reaching toward the battleship like long knives. It would not take long. The torpedo run was less than one thousand yards.
With only seconds remaining in the run, Tremain raised the periscope again.
There was the Kurita, still steaming ahead, still apparently oblivious to the explosives headed for her underbelly. While waiting for the torpedoes to hit, it occurred to Tremain that he had better perform a safety check.
He quickly spun the scope around the azimuth, and almost spun it around too quickly. As he swept past the port beam, his eye caught something in the fog that had not been there before. He had almost missed it. A dark shape appeared in the fog, and then suddenly it grew larger and darker. Seconds later the shape emerged from the fog and transformed into the charging bow of a destroyer, heading straight for the periscope at twenty-five knots. It was so close that Tremain could see the rust stains around its anchor housing. It could not have been more than three hundred yards away. This time there was no doubting that the periscope had been sighted. Tremain could even see men on the bridge wing pointing at it. Then he noticed the destroyer’s two forward gun turrets rotate and depress in elevation until they were aimed directly at his lens.
“Emergency deep!” Tremain shouted, slapping up the periscope handles.
Both the helmsman and Olander were waiting for the order, and the deck lurched forward and down as the Mackerel leaped to flank speed and water flooded into the negative tank. Yet the initial downward motion stopped suddenly and Tremain gasped when the depth gauge needle showed that the submarine was actually rising instead of descending. She had been so shallow that she was now ensnared in the surface suction forces created by the choppy seas. Every man in the conning tower held his breath, waiting for the inevitable. There was nothing that could be done.
Two loud blasts split the water outside the conning tower hull and shattered the eardrums of every man. The blasts left them all seeing stars for several minutes afterward. Tremain stumbled between the scopes, getting his bearings, regaining his hearing, and discerning what had happened.
The Japanese destroyer had obviously fired a gun salvo. The shots had been close, too. The only thing that had saved them from being impacted by the lethal projectiles was the few feet of water remaining above the conning tower.
It was hard to determine if the shells had caused any damage, but the two blasts had at least managed to push Mackerel down in the water a few feet, finally freeing her from the suction forces. So Mackerel now began a very rapid descent into the deep. While she had been caught in the surface suction, Olander had ordered the negative tank completely flooded and he even brought water into the variable ballast tanks. As a result, the submarine was now very heavy and a large down angle soon developed, sending her deeper at an alarming rate.
The men in the conning tower regained their senses in relative darkness due to the concussion of the destroyer’s shells, which had shattered all but one of the light bulbs. Tremain noticed Hubley holding his stopwatch near the remaining bulb, counting off the seconds to go for the running torpedoes. With all of the confusion, Hubley had somehow managed to keep track of the torpedo times. With only a few seconds remaining, he began counting out loud.