'Conn, sonar, nothing at all, Captain.'
Mack acknowledged the report, but he wasn't sure if this was a good sign or a bad one.
At three knots, Cheyenne crept around the entire length of Cuarteron Reef but found no sign of enemy submarine operations in the area. That was definitely a good sign, Mack thought.
'Next stop, Swallow Reef,' Mackey said to the executive officer before turning the conn back over to the waiting OOD.
The captain, satisfied with Cheyenne's search, went back to his stateroom for some rest. He gave specific orders to the executive officer not to have him disturbed unless there was an emergency.
Several hours later the executive officer walked quietly into the captain's stateroom and roused him. As soon as Mack opened his eyes and saw his executive officer standing over him, he knew something was up.
'What happened?' Mack asked. 'Did you run us aground?'
But the executive officer was in no mood for humor. 'We've got numerous contacts near Swallow Reef, Captain,' he said. 'I think we found their submarine depot.'
Mack was on his feet and heading back toward the control room before his executive officer finished speaking.
In the control room, the OOD was examining the plotting tables. Mack glanced over at the OOD, then headed straight for the sonar room and looked at the sonar supervisor. 'What have we got?' he asked.
'Sir, it looks like the abandoned Swallow Reef oil platform is the submarine depot we were sent here to find. So far, we've heard two submarines surface in the area. Both submarines then slowed, heading north. They have since begun to recharge their batteries on all diesels and we can hear lots of activity going on out there.'
'Do you have any classification on those two that surfaced?' Mack asked.
The sonar supervisor nodded. 'We just picked up the contacts three minutes ago, sir. We've positively identified two submarine contacts, both old Romeos. But there might be more of them out there.'
This situation was exactly what Mack had hoped to avoid. He had detected a major submarine operation at Swallow Reef, but he had no permission to attack the targets. He wasn't even sure that his Mk 48s could do a job that was best suited to Tomahawks.
Thinking it over, examining the few possibilities available to him, Mack came up with a plan. It might not have been on the same level of innovation and inspiration as some of his earlier ideas, but it was the only thing that occurred to him.
He knew that Cheyenne would eventually be in position to attack both submarines, now designated Masters 49 and 50. He also assumed that there were probably more than two submarines rearming and refueling at this depot. What Mack wanted to do was to attack the depot itself and put it out of commission.
The question was-in addition to whether or not Mack and Cheyenne could pull it off-would CTF 74 grant him such leeway? Mack was pretty sure that the answer would be no, but just in case he called his combat systems officer and his communicator in for a meeting in the wardroom.
'Would it be possible,' the captain asked the combat systems officer, 'to destroy that Chinese depot by hitting them with Mk 48s?'
The combat systems officer scratched his head before looking up at Mack. 'I guess we could do it, sir. The oil platform acts as shelter to the submarines beneath it and we could target those submarines. That would, at the very least, severely disrupt operations at the mini-base.' He paused and looked at Mack. 'But, sir,' he went on, 'have we been granted permission to attack the platform and the submarines in it?'
'Not yet,' Mack said, glad that his officers were both involved and aware of what Cheyenne's orders were. Turning to the communicator, he added, 'Which is where you come in. I want you to draft a message to CTF 74, tell him what we've found, and request permission to engage the submarines in the depot and hopefully bring down the entire platform.'
'Yes, sir,' the two officers replied. They were dismissed and both went about their work. The combat systems officer went to the quartermaster to find the best locations from which they could launch their attack. The communicator went straight to the radio room.
'Make preparations to come to periscope depth,' Mack said to the OOD.
'Make preparations to come to periscope depth, aye, sir.'
Minutes later, Cheyenne was brought from two hundred feet to periscope depth. Once the safety sweep revealed no surface contacts, the radio communications mast was quickly raised, and the message sent and receipted for. Several minutes later, after an extremely rapid response from CTF 74, the mast was lowered and the captain entered the radio room, one of the most highly classified places on the submarine.
The radio room dealt with encrypting devices and top-secret messages, and the message Cheyenne had just received was no exception. As Mack entered, the communicator handed him a computer printout.
Mack glanced at the message, paused, and then read it again.
USS INDEPENDENCE UNDER HEAVY CHINESE AIR ATTACK. AIRCRAFT WILL BE UNABLE TO ASSIST CHEYENNE IN DESTRUCTION OF OIL PLATFORM/SUBMARINE DEPOT. PERMISSION GRANTED TO DESTROY SWALLOW REEF SUBMARINE DEPOT.
The executive officer came in just as Mack was finishing reading the message for the second time. The executive officer had completed a tour of the engineering spaces with the engineer officer. 'The combat systems officer told me what's going on,' he said. 'Anything I can help with?'
Mack showed him the message, and then the two of them headed for the wardroom to work out the plan for attacking the Chinese submarine depot. When they had reached an agreement on the best plan of attack, Mack instructed the executive officer to provide the appropriate details to all the areas of the ship that would play a part in the execution of the operation.
The plan they had come up with was for Cheyenne to head north at a speed of eight knots. Once they were past Royal Charlotte Reef, and as soon as they came within 35,000 yards west of the depot, they would slow to five knots and approach the depot quietly at a depth of one hundred feet. That depth would allow the top of Cheyenne's sail to clear any of the shallow draft vessels that might be loitering overhead. They would listen for any signs of submarine or surface ship activity and then they would close in for the kill.
Once they were within 30,000 yards of the transformed oil rig they would launch eight Mk 48s at the vessels being refitted under the platform. They would then head southeast until they had exited the waters of the Spratly Islands. Once clear, they would proceed northeast along the one hundred fathom curve until they were ready to re-enter the islands chain and investigate their fourth search area-Carnatic Reef.
That was the plan. Now it was up to Mack, his officers, and the crew to execute it.
With battle stations once again manned, Cheyenne slowed to five knots as they approached weapons range.
'Conn, sonar, we just detected two Huangfen missile patrol boats,' the sonar supervisor said. 'They sailed underneath the depot platform and pulled in next to the Romeos. I'll bet they're refueling, sir.'
'Sonar, conn, anything else? Any other surface ships in the area?' asked the captain.
'Conn, sonar, it's hard to tell. This shallow water has turned our passive sonar inside out. Sometimes it gives us what we want. Other times it's anyone's guess,'
'Sonar, conn, aye,' Mack said. He thought for a moment, then said, 'Okay, how long until we are in firing position?'
The fire-control coordinator answered him. 'It should be three more minutes, Captain.'
Tubes one and two were readied for firing. Because they had the exact location of the noisy Romeos, and because the Romeos were directly below the platform, they also had the exact location of the platform. They would launch all eight Mk 48s in succession as rapidly as possible, cutting the wires immediately after they had left the tubes. This left the torpedoes to hit their targets without guidance from Cheyenne.
