Fedorov was quickly to the comm link to get initial damage reports and Karpov was activating the aft Tin Man HD video display to get a good view of the exterior damage. They could see troops of sailors dressed out in their bright yellow vests, with orange helmets and heavy duty mittens rushing to the scene. Unfortunately the bomb had destroyed two of three fire hose mounts in that location, and they were only able to bring one hose to bear on the flames in those early minutes, sending a white jet of water into the breach in the deck, which thickened the smoke and made it difficult to see what was really happening.
“We were lucky,” said Karpov. “It missed both deck guns and was well forward of the Klinok silos on the aft deck.”
A call from Engineer Byko quickly confirmed that the hit was not threatening and the damage could be controlled in twenty minutes. “But we lost men,” Byko finished. “I won’t know how many for some time.”
Fedorov reported this to Volsky while Karpov assessed their present situation. They could still hear the flights of aircraft overhead, though the sound was diminishing. Rodenko’s screens were wavering and generating unclear data, but he was beginning to get close range signal returns again, and could now track the planes that had attacked them.
“Shall I engage them, sir?” Samsonov asked.
“No,” said Volsky quickly. “Hold fire. Rodenko tells us they are headed away from the ship, and therefore pose no immediate threat. We must conserve weapons ordinance whenever possible.”
“They must be headed for Darwin, sir,” said Fedorov. “That’s the only target of opportunity southeast of our position. We shifted into this time frame right beneath them! This could be the Japanese raid on that port we spoke of earlier, though it would mean we appeared here even before we emerged in the Med if that is so.”
“Just our damn bad luck either way,” said Volsky hotly, staring at the thick column of smoke as imaged on the HD video display.
“I would not curse our luck just yet, Admiral,” said Fedorov. The Russian psyche, long accustomed to facing hardship and unexpected setbacks in life, had been inured to the whims of fate and fortune for many generations. A man could never escape his fate, they knew, and the vagaries of chance and sheer luck often played in the balance.
“If I am correct then those planes would have been loaded with incendiary bombs,” Fedorov explained, “not armor piercing. A well placed hit from a heavy armor piercing bomb could have gone right through the bottom of the ship. We’ll have a fire there, but Byko is getting it under control and things could have been much worse. From what I saw we were only attacked by a few planes—perhaps a single squadron. If the others had come in as well…”
Volsky shuddered.
“At least I was not out there on a ladder this time,” he muttered, upset with the smoke and fire aft and the thought that
“Mister Karpov,” he said in a clear voice.
“Sir?”
“Come here, please.” The Admiral waited, a serious expression on his face, and the others on the bridge half turned their heads, thinking Volsky was about to berate the Captain for his actions during the engagement. After all, he had imposed himself, taking control of the engagement as though Volsky were not even there. Karpov stiffened, then approached the Admiral where he now was settling into his chair.
“Mister Karpov,” Volsky continued. “I gave Samsonov an order to engage those aircraft, weapons free.”
“Yes, sir, but I thought—”
“Just a moment, Captain Lieutenant, if you please.” Now Volsky stood up, and reached out, placing his hand on Karpov’s shoulder and speaking in a loud voice. “Look here,” he said “this man intervened in a critical moment, overriding my spoken orders, and he saved the ship just now. My orders were unclear. I specified no weapon system, yet Captain Karpov immediately assessed the situation and selected the only weapon system that could have possibly engaged the enemy given the angle of this attack, and he saved the ship. I have long believed that Captain Karpov was one of the finest tactical combat officers in the fleet. He proved that in the Med, and today he has proved that yet again. I commend him for his action and hereby advance him to Captain of the third rank. Well done, Karpov.” The Admiral broke into a broad smile.
Several of the men turned and congratulated Karpov now, particularly Samsonov, who nodded his head in affirmation, a look or pride in his eyes.
“Thank you, Admiral,” said Karpov, clearly pleased. “ I was only doing my duty, sir.”
“As we all are,” said Volsky. “And something tells me we’ll have a lot more duty ahead of us, so take a lesson from this man,” Volsky shook a finger at the rest of the bridge crew. “Be sharp. Be professional. Think clearly and do your jobs as best you can. With officers like Karpov on the bridge, we are in good hands. And now…” He looked for Fedorov. “We need more situational awareness. Rodenko, does your radar tell us anything?”
“I’m starting to get intermediate range returns now, sir. I have echoes of the Australian coastline south of our position, the island ahead, and I am still tracking that outbound formation of planes. Fedorov is correct. They are bearing on Port Darwin.”
“These planes are from an aircraft carrier, Fedorov?”
“Yes, sir. Japanese naval dive bombers, the Aichi D3A1.”
“Then where would this aircraft carrier be?”
“Most likely northwest of our present position, sir.”
Rodenko spoke up now. “Given their heading I can back trace a probable point of origin if I knew the combat radius.”
“Figure 350 nautical miles,” said Fedorov. “My best guess is that they are cruising southeast of Kupang, right in the middle of the Timor Sea. There would be no urgent need for them to strike at maximum range, so I would put them about here.” He was at the navigation station and displayed a map on the clear Plexiglas wall, the landforms outlined in neon green. “This position would allow them to strike Darwin, with plenty of time on target for the planes. And there would definitely be two carriers, sir. I counted over fifty planes above us and we were engaged by another nine or ten. A single carrier would not have that many dive bombers.”
“Two carriers?”
“Yes, sir. A full carrier division. There may even be a light escort carrier present in the task force, and I must tell you, Admiral, it is not likely they would use their torpedo bombers to raid land based targets unless they felt it absolutely necessary. They know about us now, sir, and those carriers will have twenty or thirty torpedo bombers being spotted on deck by now if I was in command.”
“Wonderful,” said Volsky, “just what we need with that nice black column of smoke hanging a sign for 150 miles in every direction saying: here we are.”
“Byko should have that fire out in ten minutes,” said Karpov.
“I suggest we get north of Melville Island, sir,” Fedorov put in. “We’re too exposed here. There will be screening units associated with that carrier task force, fast cruisers, destroyers, perhaps a battleship as well.”
“Speak of the devil!” Rodenko put in, his eyes fixed on the surface contact radar screen. “Con, surface contact bearing 295 degrees at seventy-five kilometers and now on a heading due east.”
“That would be an intercept course based on our current heading,” said Fedorov.
Volsky looked at the map. They were still cruising due north and he immediately altered course. “Helm, come right to 50 degrees east-northeast. Thirty knots.”
“Coming right to 50 degrees, sir. Speed thirty.”
“I would rather go due east as well, but that channel south of the big island looks a bit narrow. We’ll have to get north of that island, as Mister Fedorov suggests, so it’s going to be another race gentlemen. What do you think our prospects are?”
“It will depend on the composition of that surface action group,” said Fedorov.
“My systems are clearing, slowly now,” said Rodenko, “just as they did before. I read six contacts, one more prominent, two with weaker signal returns.”
“A typical screening force,” said Fedorov. “The larger contact is probably a battleship, the weaker signal returns would be destroyers. Everything in between is likely to be a cruiser class vessel.”
