The silence ended when the sonar supervisor called, “Conn, sonar, single active pulse from Master 1.” Moments later there was a second sonar pulse.
Mack ordered the chief of the watch to “Man battle stations torpedo,” then took the conn from the officer of the deck.
With battle stations manned, the executive officer, in his role as the fire control coordinator, reported to the captain, “Master 1 is now bearing 169, BSY-1 range is 22,000 yards. He was not in a convergence zone.”
Aboard Han 402, the Chinese commander felt as if he had little choice but to give his position away. His sonar had acquired only intermittent contact on the American submarine maneuvering in this area, and he needed to locate it in order to accomplish his mission: sink the submarine and then continue on against American merchant ships. He knew an American submarine was out there, but didn’t know where, and didn’t know it was Cheyenne. Unfortunately for him and his crew, however, he had thought that he was much closer to the Americans than his active sonar told him he was. 22,000 yards was out of torpedo range for his submarine, but not for Cheyenne’s Mk 48s.
Those two active “pings” were a calculated risk on the Chinese captain’s part. He knew his submarine was as noisy as a bull in a china shop and he suspected the Americans had been tracking him. Once he’d figured out that the American submarine had passed him he knew they could not be far off. If he waited too long, he would miss his chance to attack.
Aboard Cheyenne, Mack was trying to outguess the Chinese captain. He knew that Chinese submarines were notorious for having very poor sonar outfits, but he didn’t think they were bad enough that the captain of number 402 would have no choice but to use his active sonar, giving away his own exact location. No, Mack thought. This does make sense. If the Chinese captain knew we were tracking him, he probably had figured that we knew his location, so all he was really doing was leveling the playing field-giving away information we already had in order to learn our location as well.
What this amounted to was that the Chinese submarine had gone active on the American submarine and both submarines now had an accurate firing solution. Mack didn’t expect the Chinese captain to let this opportunity slip away. The Han was currently outside its own torpedo range, but that could change rapidly.
“Conn, sonar, the Han just started up again. It’s making turns for twenty-five knots, sounds like she’s really straining. They are closing quickly.”
Captain Mackey reversed course to minimize the range closure while he ordered tubes one and two made ready in all respects.
“Torpedo room, fire control, make tubes one and two ready in all respects and open the outer doors.”
When the outer doors were open, Mack turned back toward the Han and increased speed to full. Both submarines were headed straight for one another in an underwater game of chicken that could potentially ignite a third world war.
“Conn, sonar, we have a torpedo in the water! Type SET-53, bearing 163. It’s active, Captain.”
“Range to Master 1 is 21,000 yards,” reported the fire control coordinator.
Mack looked around his control room. There was a look of horror in the eyes of the young sailors who had not yet been in the Navy for six months.
“All stop,” he ordered.
“All stop, aye, sir,” the helmsman repeated. Seconds later he added, “Maneuvering answers all stop.”
The normal procedure for countering a torpedo was turn and run, flank speed, in the opposite direction. This was not, however, a normal situation.
The U.S. intelligence community had managed to secretly buy three of the Chinese type SET-53 homing torpedoes from the Russians in a not-so-friendly transfer of technology. From their various tests, they had determined that the maximum range of the SET-53 was five nautical miles, or 10,000 yards. Even building in a large margin of error by doubling that range to ten nautical miles, or about 20,000 yards, Mack knew that there was simply no way that the Chinese torpedo could hit Cheyenne.
It did, however, make Captain Mackey furious, and not just because this was an act of war against the United States by a Chinese submarine. More than that, this was an aggressive action against him, his submarine, and his crew.
Cheyenne was not in any immediate danger — not yet, at least. Just in case, however, the captain calmly ordered, “Rig ship for depth charge.”
The Chinese captain had put his submarine in a very bad position. The Chinese leaders, wanting to demonstrate their power to the Americans, had given Han 402 orders to attack American submarines and surface ships operating in the area. The 402’s captain was following his orders faithfully… but he didn’t believe those orders included suicide. And he knew all too well that attacking a Los Angeles class submarine was tantamount to suicide. If he could manage to get in close enough to attack Cheyenne, he would do so. If not, he would follow his orders and launch at whatever range he felt he could without getting himself killed, and then he would dive deep and hunt for American merchant ships.
When the active “pings” revealed Cheyenne’s location, the Chinese captain realized that he had given away their location much too far away to effectively attack the Americans. With their own location revealed, closing with Cheyenne would put the Han at serious risk, which meant that his only real choice was either to simply turn and run or to first shoot at the Americans and then turn and run. The first option appealed to him the most, but the second option was what his orders demanded.
The Han captain gave the command to release a single torpedo and then began turning to his right. His only plan was to make a turn to the east and get away from the now-angry American submarine.
Mack thought about that torpedo in the water and what it meant. The Han had fired upon him without provocation, which meant that China had decided to escalate. They would be starting hostilities at any moment, and all submarines would by now have been tasked by the Chinese navy to sink any American warships, merchant ships, or submarines as they exited their home ports.
All around the world, wherever Chinese vessels came in contact with American ships, there would be blood-shed. Some of them would get lucky. Some would win, and some would lose. But this particular Chinese captain had gotten unlucky when he decided to attack Cheyenne rather than a defenseless merchant vessel.
And it was too late to change his mind.
Mack immediately saw what the Han was doing. It was turning and running — in the direction of San Diego, which could only mean one thing. China was at war with the United States.
“Conn, sonar, the Chinese torpedo just settled dead in the water,” the sonar supervisor reported. “Based on run time, it didn’t even make it 6,000 yards.”
Mack nodded. The Chinese had had their turn. Now it was Cheyenne’s.
The Los Angeles class attack submarine began to pick up speed rapidly, rushing to get behind the Han. The Chinese submarine was running from them in an attempt to escape the American submarine and return to a safe haven, hiding somewhere off the West Coast, but Cheyenne wasn’t about to allow that.
The Han’s top speed was twenty-five knots; Cheyenne was doing thirty-one knots, and the range to Master 1 closed rapidly. Both commanding officers knew it would only be a matter of time before the Americans were within firing range.
Aboard the Han, the Chinese captain’s options were limited once again. He could continue to run, prolonging things for a short while longer, or he could turn and fight.