of AS W defense, 130 miles ahead where the noise of the Battle Group's ships would not degrade Cheyenne's sonars, and where the F-14s from Independence could, in better weather, provide about a ten-hour heads-up to Cheyenne on approaching surface targets.
Mack was looking forward to the escort duty, a chance to be the SSN(DS) (direct support) for which the Los Angeles class was originally buiit. Not only would it be a nice change of pace but, more important, it meant he could have assistance from the carrier if and when he needed it.
The only problem was that Cheyenne was alone. Instead of sharing the 180 sector forward of the Battle Group with two other SSNs, Mack had it all. That was fine for the prevention of mutual interference, especially in a shooting war, but it was an impossibly large area of responsibility for a single SSN.
Independence was the last active member of the For-resla! class of aircraft carriers. These vessels, the first real 'supercarriers,' were built during the 1950s. By 1997 they all had been decommissioned except independence. At one point, there had been plans to turn 'Indy's' sister ship, Forrestai, into a training carrier, but those plans had been scrapped due to budget cuts. Independence herself had been scheduled for decommissioning in October of this year, but Mack suspected that this war might change things.
All aircraft carriers' strength lay with their aircraft, and CV-62 was no exception. Independence's aircraft were as good or better than any combat aircraft in the world. Her current complement of aircraft included twenty F-14 Tomcats for long range interceptor missions. With their new precision strike capability, the F-14s were sometimes referred to as the 'bomb cat.' Independence also carried F/A-18 Hornets, which were perhaps the best dual-capable (fighter/attack) aircraft in the world. The Independence air wing commander, now an aviator O-6 major command billet, could use them to defend the carrier or to attack far-off targets on land or at sea. Also on board were four E-2C Hawkeyes and four EA-6B Prowlers. The Hawkeyes were early warning planes and each one carried the APS- 145 radar in a large disk connected to the top of its fuselage. The Prowlers specialized in radar jamming and other forms of electronic warfare.
Perhaps her most valuable aircraft, at least as far as Mack was concerned, were the S-3B Vikings, the submariner's favorite. This was one of the world's great aircraft designs, combining an extremely long range and an excellent ability to hunt 'enemy' submarines. During several exercise encounters with S-3s, Mack had learned to respect them greatly, and he was glad that they were on his side.
The only aircraft that could possibly compete with the Viking was the SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. It lacked the range of the S-3, but Cheyenne had seen for herself just how effective the Seahawks could be. This was the aircraft that had earlier destroyed the Chinese Han submarine while Cheyenne tracked their actions by sonar, and Independence carried six of them. Because of her immediate locality to the war zone and the risk from Chinese submarines, Independence had been designated as the test ship for the new SH-60Rs-the newest type of Sea- hawk. This was the first to carry both the new airborne low-frequency dipping sonar, usually referred to as ALPS, and sonobuoys. It also had two torpedoes on board-either the powerful Mk 50 or the older Mk 46. These factors combined to make the SH-60R the most dangerous short-range ASW platform hovering over the seas.
Even with all this firepower on board, the carrier still had her serious vulnerabilities. She needed to be escorted by surface vessels, and her entire group was vulnerable to modern enemy submarines. And that was where Cheyenne came into play. She would act as an advance party for Independence, proceeding well ahead of the Battle Group and either clearing a safe path or warning them of possible dangers that the F-14 radars couldn't detect. This combination of surface ships, aircraft, and submarines resulted in what Mack referred to as 'syner- gism,' where the end result of operating together would be far more devastating to the Chinese than if each warfare community operated alone.
Unmindful of the weather, the Independence Battle Group got under way, steaming northward in the direction of the Spratlys. Travelling at flank speed, Cheyenne executed a quick sprint to regain her station in front of the Battle Group. If Mack fell behind the trailing edge of his moving search sector, Cheyenne would be free game, the so-called friendly fire problem that was a sad reality of warfare. When she was near the leading edge of her moving, haven slightly over an hour later, Cheyenne slowed and waited.
After slowing. Mack ordered the OOD to deploy the TB-23 towed array for its long-range tonal-detection capability. The report came back exactly as he'd hoped- no contacts on the towed array. The sonar room watch slanders watched their consoles and waited for Mack's next orders.
'Officer of the deck, prepare to come to periscope depth,' Captain Mackey ordered. Mack wanted to relay information about the safety of their route back to the Independence Battle Group.
'Prepare to come to periscope depth, aye, sir,' the OOD replied.
But Mack didn't get the chance to report to Independence. Before Cheyenne came shallow enough to transmit, she began to receive message traffic over the floating wire.
'Sir,' the communicator reported, 'it looks like we just got new orders!'
Mack went to the radio room, grabbed the sheet of printer paper, and quickly read the message.
'Looks like a strike mission to me,' the communicator said, with a note of eagerness and brashness. 'What do you think, sir?'
That annoyed Mack. It was a breach of protocol, and not smart. He looked at the communicator and shook his head. 'Call a meeting in the wardroom in ten minutes,' he said, putting an edge in his tone. 'I want the executive officer, the combat systems officer, the operations officer, and yourself there.'
The communicator knew he'd screwed up. 'Ten minutes, in the wardroom, aye, sir,' he said. The cocky note was gone from his voice.
Cheyenne returned to a patrol depth of 247 feet since the first thermal layer was gone, and within eight minutes all requested officers were waiting for Captain Mackey to arrive in Cheyenne's wardroom. Mack came in five minutes late. He carried a plain manila folder in his hand.
'Gentlemen,' he said. 'I have called this meeting in order to pass on our new orders. From our present position in the South China Sea, we are to proceed to the north of the Chinese-held Spratly Islands. Once there, three hundred miles north, we will launch six Tomahawk land-attack missiles at the Chinese submarine base that has recently been set up near Cuarteron Reef, one of the islands in the Spratly chain.'
He paused to see how the others would react. He was pleased to see that, while there was some tension, it was mostly excitement, with only a touch of healthy caution. He was also pleased that the communicator kept his mouth shut.
'As you all know,' Mack continued, 'naval intelligence has reported large numbers of Chinese submarines operating in this area. We've confirmed this with our own detections. Our new orders are to do something about that.' He paused again, making sure that everyone was paying full attention. 'We are going to enter the belly of the beast,' he said. 'We will launch our Tomahawks as ordered, and then we will meet up with the submarine tender USS McKee in order to rearm.' He grinned and added, 'Maybe we'll even get a quick glimpse of life on the surface.'
His lighthearted joke helped to ease the tension slightly. The assembled officers had a few questions. They discussed their options, and then Mack dismissed them to return to their duties. When he had returned to the conn, he used the 1MC to inform the crew of their new mission. From there on out, Cheyenne would use sound-powered phones instead of general announcing systems.
Forty-five minutes later Cheyenne once again went to periscope depth. The seas had abated somewhat, but copying SSIXS required the use of the long, multi-purpose communications mast to preclude the loss of synch caused by waves slapping over the Type 18 periscope communications antenna.
Mack stayed at that depth just long enough to receive preliminary Tomahawk targeting data. This information, which they would confirm when they got closer to their launch position, would be fed to their cruise missiles prior to launching the Tomahawks. Mack hoped the weather would be better north of the Spratlys.
When the data transfer was complete, Cheyenne detached from the Independence Battle Group without report and proceeded on her own. Mack had enjoyed having the carrier nearby for backup and air defense, but now Cheyenne was going back to doing what she did best: operating on her own, sneaking up on the enemy, and blowing them to hell.
Three hundred fifty miles southwest of Cuarteron Reef, running at four hundred twenty-five feet, Cheyenne picked up her first contact. Mack was in the sonar room.
'Captain,' the sonar supervisor reported, 'we have a sonar contact bearing 020 on the spherical array. The
