Kirov II: Cauldron of Fire

Chapter 17

By the time they passed Punta Caprara, the northernmost cape of the island of Asinara, it was well after 10:00 in the morning. They had fought their way past shore batteries, through minefields, torpedo boats, a submarine, an air strike, and a brief, violent surface engagement with two battleships. Fedorov counted his good fortune that the ship had come through it all with little more than splinter damage on the hull, but that was a testament to the amazing technological edge Kirov had over its adversaries. Yet one thing bothered him as they finished the damage control assessment. Tasarov was restless at his station, claiming that his systems were erratic, and he was losing signal processing integrity of the forward Horse Jaw sonar dome. With the towed array already damaged and still under repair, this was a matter of some concern.

Fedorov was troubled, but was hoping that the history would hold true for a time, as it indicated that most all available axis submarines were far to the south opposing Operation Pedestal. They watched the Italian 7th cruiser Squadron race towards the eastern approaches of the Bonifacio Strait, then slow to assume a defensive patrol there, guarding the waterway in the event this bold British raider might think to return.

“As I expected, they have no interest in trying to follow us, particularly after they must've learned what happened to their battleships.”

For the moment he deemed their main threat to be further air strikes launched at them from bases in Sardinia, but again, he knew that the Axis air power would now be focused against Operation Pedestal, some 300 miles to the south. The situation presented them with an opportunity to get safely away from Sardinia and Corsica, and well out to sea. He set a course due west at twenty knots, wanting to put at least 150 miles between the ship and any potential land based enemy aircraft. Later he would slow to ten knots or less and put divers over the side to inspect the hull for splinter damage. He suspected something may have happened to the forward sonar dome as well, or the sensors along the outer rim of the hull. They would take whatever time was needed to effect repairs, perhaps near Menorca in the Balearic islands.

Rodenko reported that he could still see the Italian battleships on radar heading north, then northeast as they withdrew towards La Spezia. It had been an ill-fated sortie for them, perhaps the last gallant charge by the Italian Navy in the war.

The next item on his list was an assessment of their current weapons inventories. He took Karpov aside and the two of them hovered over Samsonov’s CIC boards to see what was left in the cupboard. Two critical systems were beginning to run thin on ammunition. Their long range S–300 SAM system was now at sixty-four percent, with only forty-one missiles remaining. In like manner, the Klinok Gauntlet medium range SAM system was down to only seventy-nine missiles left in inventory. More serious than this, their primary anti-ship missile, the deadly Moskit-II Sunburns that had proved so effective against enemy shipping, was now at forty percent with only fourteen missiles left in the silos. They were lucky to have even these. A normal load-out would be twenty missiles, but they had taken on a complete set of twenty additional missiles before the live fire exercises that had first sent them on this strange saga, but all these were expended in the North Atlantic.

Beyond this they still had nine of the swift MOS–III Starfire missiles, which were extremely fast at mach 6 acceleration, but carried only a 300 kilogram warhead compared to the heavier 450 kg warhead on the sunburns. They still had a little more punch left with ten P-900 Sizzler cruise missiles, each with a 400kg warhead. All in all, the three systems left them with thirty-three anti ship missiles out of the sixty they began the voyage with.

As for their deck guns, the 152 millimeter batteries were presently at eighty-nine percent on the magazine, and they still had almost a full load for their smaller 100 millimeter forward deck gun. They had expended six percent of their close in defense rounds on the thirty millimeter Gatling guns, and two of the deadly Shkval anti-submarine torpedo rockets, with eight more remaining. Beside that they still had most of their UGST torpedoes, fifteen in stock, and there were additional load-outs available for their last remaining KA-40 helicopter. All in all, the ship still had a formidable array of firepower at its disposal, but the numerous engagements they had fought in the last day were beginning to slowly drain their weapons inventories.

“Now, more than ever, we are going to have to be judicious in the way we deploy our weapons,” said Fedorov.

“What can we expect ahead on this course?” asked Karpov.

“For the time being we should have a little peace and quiet, enough to effect repairs and give the men some much needed rest. I intend to sail west to Menorca and into the Balearic Sea. That channel is between 160 to 200 kilometers wide for a good long while, and when we exit to the South will have at least a eighty kilometers of sea room between Spain and Santa Eulana Island. Then we enter the final bottleneck, the Alboran Sea. It's nearly 250 kilometers wide at the outset, but narrows to about150 kilometers as we approach Gibraltar. That's the last gate, about fifteen kilometers wide at its narrowest point. If we can get through that safely then we've got the whole Atlantic out there, and our speed can be a great advantage in that situation.”

“And Gibraltar?” said Karpov. “What will the British have waiting for us there?”

“That remains to be seen,” said Fedorov. “We will be all day getting out to sea, and I'll put divers over the side near dusk near Menorca. So we should be well into the Balearic sea by dawn tomorrow. I'm hoping our damage control situation can be easily resolved, but I would like to discuss this matter with Admiral Volsky, and come to some agreement on how we might handle the Strait of Gibraltar. Would you feel comfortable joining that conference Captain?”

“Of course,” said Karpov. “We will need to know what we are facing, and let us hope the history settles down for a bit. Those two Italian battleships were a bit of a surprise, I know, but our Moskit-IIs seemed more than a match for them.”

“We used six missiles,” Fedorov cautioned. “Yes, we drove them off, but my guess is that they will live to fight another day. Counting all three of our SSM systems, we now have only thirty-three anti-ship missiles remaining in inventory.”

“No problem,” said Karpov. “Six more to send this Rodney and Nelson packing, and plenty left over for any cruisers and destroyers they would care to throw at us.”

“I wouldn't be so self-assured, Captain. The Royal Navy is a tough professional force. They'll learn from any mistakes they make, and they've had a lot of lessons in recent years. As for the Nelson Class battleships, yes they are old and slow, but with 16 inch guns and good protection. That aside, it's 1942 now, and once we get out into the Atlantic we’ll find the British have added two more fast battleships to their home fleet with Duke of York and Anson. A third in this same class is scheduled to be commissioned in just a few weeks, HMS Howe. In short, their home fleet is twice as strong as it was when we first faced it, at least insofar as the big battleships are concerned.”

“I think Volsky will want to head south, well away from the Royal Navy.”

“True. Yet we’ll first have to transit the Strait of Gibraltar much like we just fought our way through this last one. Very likely we will find ourselves in range of those heavy guns on Nelson and Rodney if they get there first. And Captain,” he paused for emphasis. “We won't be deploying any nuclear weapons against the British this time out, at least not while I command the ship.”

Karpov's eyes narrowed at that last statement, but he said nothing for a moment, then shifted to another topic. “If the landforms inhibit Rodenko’s radar we can still deploy helicopters to enhance our over the horizon awareness. That may take the surprise factor out of the situation.”

“That is a good plan, Captain.” Fedorov concluded. “Very well, I’ll go below and see how the Admiral is doing. You have the bridge for the moment. We’ll send for you if Admiral Volsky is well enough to conference.”

~ ~ ~

Fedorov started for the sick bay, a thousand things running through his mind. He had had very little sleep since this new saga unfolded. The ship had been pressed by unexpected adversaries, and sustained real damage for the first time. The constricted waters of the Mediterranean served to neutralize one of Kirov’s greatest technological edges—the ability to see the enemy at long range before they were even aware of the Russian battlecruiser. And what you could see, you could also target and kill. The landlocked sea here meant that they were surrounded by airfields on every side, and recon planes were almost certain to find them and report their position, speed and heading. To prevent that they would have to detect and