That’s what the Chinese were doing as they sped toward the Independence carrier group. Many of the oncoming surface ships were pinging away with their active sonar, obviously searching for American submarines.
Mack was delighted. He could hardly believe it when Cheyenne’s TB-23 thin-line array picked up faint signals that matched the variable-depth active sonar fitted to the new Chinese Luhu destroyers. The Chinese ships were too far away to detect Cheyenne, but their active sonar was illuminating their own submarines and providing Mack with both range and targeting data on the Chinese.
Nearly thirty minutes passed before the active sonar source got close enough for the BSY-1 to decipher its range from the bearing rate.
“Captain,” the sonar supervisor reported, “it’s definitely coming from a Luhu destroyer. BSY-1 range is 88,000 yards to the pinging Luhu, bearing 092, but sonar isn’t picking up any other signals yet.”
Mack thought to himself that the Luhu, designated Master 98, must have been the first Chinese vessel to leave the Spratly Island chain after the Tomahawk cruise missile attack. He was sure, however, that it wouldn’t be the only one.
Mack had to play a delicate balancing game now. As the Luhu drew closer, Mack knew that eventually he would come into active sonar range of the destroyer, and the Luhu would detect Cheyenne. Before that happened, Mack would have to take the destroyer out with an Mk 48. But he didn’t want to do that too soon. He was relying on the Luhu’s sonar to paint a picture of exactly what Chinese ships were headed his way, and he didn’t want to alert the other Chinese captains to the mistake they were making.
“Conn, sonar, we just detected another contact, this time a submarine. The active Luhu sonar was reflected off the submarine’s hull. We can’t tell what class it is yet.” Mack designated the submarine Master 99.
“Conn, sonar, we just got another active ping! This one’s coming from a Chinese Luda,” reported the sonar supervisor.
“Range to the new contact is 82,000 yards,” reported a BSY-1 operator as Mack designated the Luda Master 100.
Mack would like to have gone to periscope depth so he could alert Independence, but he dared not give away his position. He hoped that on the surface, the Battle Group ships were seeing the same things that Cheyenne was hearing.
He needn’t have worried. He couldn’t tell it on board Cheyenne, but even as he was worrying about the ships he was assigned to protect, wave upon wave of F/A-18s were launching off the deck of Independence. F-14s were waiting in the air to escort them to their targets in case any Chinese aircraft were to take to the sky.
The first raid from Independence consisted of twenty F/A-18 Hornets and seven F-14 Tomcats flying cover. These were also escorted by a single EA-6B Prowler intended to jam Chinese radar, which might otherwise be tracking the attacking jets.
As soon as the F/A-18s closed to within one hundred miles of their target, they switched on their APG-73 radars. Prior to this they had been relying on information from the E-2Cs and the F-14s, which carried a new passive infrared search-and-track system, to alert them to any changes in the Chinese operation.
But the Chinese, though reeling from the Tomahawks, weren’t finished yet. They had indeed learned from their earlier air assault, and as soon as the EA-6Bs ALQ-99 radar jammer began jamming their ground radar on the Spratly Islands, they launched their secret weapon — air defense fighters. Sixteen SU-27 Flankers and over thirty J-7s, Chinese variants of the MiG-21, lifted off from their tiny bases in the small islands of the Spratlys.
The F-14s’ radar detected the swarms of Chinese fighters as soon as they lifted off into the air. Approximately two hundred miles from the carrier Independence and just over one hundred fifty miles from the Spratlys, the F/A-18s began picking up speed in order to target their Harpoon missiles at the Chinese fleet before the enemy fighters arrived on the scene.
The F/A-18s formed single-file lines and began launching two Harpoon missiles apiece. After firing, they turned and flew back toward Independence to refuel and rearm.
Before the F/A-18s returned, Independence launched some of the fighters she normally kept in reserve. Six more F-14s and four F/A-18s began racing from the decks of the carrier in an effort to join in the fight.
The F-14s escorting the strike group attacked the Chinese fighters first. Each of the F-14s was armed with four long-range Phoenix missiles, two medium-range AMRAAMs, and two short-range Sidewinders. The F/A-18s flying in to assist had been fitted with four AMRAAMs and two Sidewinders apiece. As soon as the first SU-27s entered within 120 miles of the F-14s, the first wave of AIM-54C Phoenix missiles were launched at the oncoming Chinese aircraft.
The success of Independence and her aircraft was, ironically, making things more difficult for Cheyenne. Relying solely on her sonar, she was having a difficult time attempting to grasp what was going on above her. Explosion after explosion from the direction of the Chinese task force told Mack that the American aircraft had begun their attack, but he would have to wait until the noises died down to figure out how many ships were left and which submarines he would target.
Mack had just begun what he thought would be a long wait when sonar reported active sonar from a submarine contact. The continuing loud explosions made it nearly impossible to determine the range. The underwater sonar environment was difficult to interpret using only passive sonar — but Mack refused to use his active suite; he knew it would give away his position.
“Conn, sonar, we just got the classification of that submarine that was active,” the sonar supervisor said. “It’s an Akula!”
That got Mack’s attention.
Within minutes, the fire-control coordinator reported, “Range to the Akula, Master 105, is 33,000 yards; she must have snuck up on us during the air attack.”
He was probably right, but that didn’t make Mack feel any better. Letting the Akula get that close was a mistake, and Mack knew he had to make up for it. To do that, he had to maneuver Cheyenne closer to the Akula.
Overhead, the barrage of explosions continued, indicating that the immense carrier attack had still not ended.
Slowly Cheyenne increased speed to six knots and began proceeding in the direction of the Akula, the quietest non-friendly submarine in the world. The only good thing, from Mack’s perspective, was that the Chinese Akula was still pinging away. Their Russian-made passive sonar was worthless in the current underwater environment, and the only way they could detect contacts was to use their active sonar.
“Range to Master 105 is now 28,000 yards,” reported the fire-control coordinator.
“Firing point procedures, tubes one and two, Master 105,” responded Mack.
Both tube outer doors were already opened and ready, and because the Akula was using her active sonar they now had an accurate firing solution on the Chinese submarine.
“Match sonar bearings and shoot, tubes one and two, Master 105,” ordered Mack.
The two Mk 48s were fired in the direction of the Akula and Mack kept the guidance wires attached for as long as possible. He didn’t want these torpedoes to miss.
As the Mk 48s left their tubes and closed the distance to the enemy submarine, the sonar room and combat systems officer provided continuous updates on their status. The final updates came after ten minutes.