Mack had the torpedoes fired two at a time, tubes one and two first, then tubes three and four. He did this twice, and the procedure didn't take long. Cheyenne had recently had lots of experience loading and firing torpedoes, and that experience paid off.
'Conn, sonar, we just got another sonar contact,' the sonar supervisor said as the last two Mk 48s were launched. 'A single Huchuan torpedo boat is heading our way. The noise level indicates it's running at full speed.'
Mack had been briefed on the Huchuan hydrofoils and knew that the Chinese had more than seventy of them in service. He also knew that these small ships could reach speeds of more than fifty knots. The Huchuan was designated Master 53.
'What's the range to the Huchuan, Master 53?' asked Mack.
'We can't tell, Captain,' the fire-control coordinator answered. 'The water's too shallow and we can't do an accurate TMA on the boat. Bearings are coming in over a twenty-degree spread.'
'Well, then,' Mack said, 'we have no choice. We have to go active.'
This was one of the rare times Mack could feel right using his BSY-1 sonar system in an active mode. For one thing, the Chinese already knew where they were. Eight torpedoes on essentially the same bearing were a dead giveaway. Besides, he knew that any Chinese vessels with sonar in the area would be concentrating on the eight Mk 48s headed for the naval depot under the abandoned oil rig. With luck, they would be more worried about that and wouldn't care about Cheyenne's rushed getaway.
The Huchuan hydrofoil coming their way was Mack's biggest concern at the moment, but the hydrofoils had no sonar. Without a sonar, they would be unable to determine if Cheyenne was active, or even if she launched a torpedo in their direction.
Cheyenne's active sonar pings echoed through the hull. Being foil-borne, sonar was actually tracking the wake it generated, not the Huchuan itself. But that was enough for a 'down-the-throat' shot.
When Cheyenne's sonar went active, Mack was able to acquire an accurate firing solution to the Chinese patrol boat. He ordered tube one fired at the Chinese Huchuan. The Mk 48 was set to detonate, at a depth of ten feet, just beneath the foils.
The Huchuan, without a sonar system, was unaware that a torpedo was heading its way and continued on in the direction they expected Cheyenne to be. The captain of the hydrofoil had calculated Cheyenne's position correctly-but that was also the same direction from which the latest Mk 48 was coming. This brought them closer and closer to the oncoming torpedo, closing rapidly at a combined speed of over one hundred knots.
'Conn, sonar, our Mk 48 just detonated beneath the PT boat.'
The Huchuan went airborne, propelled by the force of the water exploding up from beneath it. It rotated in a spiral as it flew, killing those sailors aboard without seat belts as they were thrown around like 'BBs in a boxcar.' Moments later, those who had seat belts-mostly bridge personnel-were killed instantly when the boat finally hit the water, upside down, at fifty knots.
When sonar also reported eight extremely large explosions followed by a dozen smaller ones, Mack went to periscope depth and then broached to get the periscope high enough to visually assess the damage.
Mack was pleased with what he saw. They had blown up two Chinese submarines, Masters 49 and 50, two missile patrol boats, Masters 51 and 52, and a torpedo hydrofoil, Master 53. Most important, though, the Chinese naval depot was no longer usable, with fires raging on the platform as it tilted into the sea.
Cheyenne's captain grinned fiercely, pride in his ship and his crew welling up within him. They'd been given a difficult assignment, and once again they'd carried it out.
He was about to order Cheyenne to resume her patrol, heading southeast, out of the islands, when the executive officer walked up to Mack, bringing with him a quiet sense of urgency.
'Captain,' he said, 'we just received an emergency message. Our current mission has been diverted.' He showed the new orders to Mack.
Cheyenne was to deploy directly to the north of the Spratly Islands. A Chinese convoy was forming and would be heading south for the islands. Cheyenne's orders were to sink it. But not just yet.
Cheyenne had expended more than half the Mk 48s she was given. She had enough left on board to complete her current mission, but not enough to take out an entire convoy.
Feeling his earlier sense of pride in his crew turn to frustration at the loadouts he'd been given, Mack ordered Cheyenne to return to McKee. They'd come back, he knew, and deal with that convoy? but not until they'd had the chance to rearm.
7. Target: Convoy
Mack was angry. Cheyenne had made it through her recent encounters unscathed, and was now safely moored alongside McKee, but the fact that Mack and his crew were alive was a tribute to their own superb training, not any reflection on the intelligence they had received. And that was what had Mack so angry. He didn't object to his orders. His job was to take his submarine and his crew into danger-into battle itself, if necessary-but he insisted on giving his men every chance to survive the conflict. That meant proper weaponry, reliable equipment, and accurate information. Cheyenne had supplied the first two components, but naval intelligence had dropped the ball on the third.
Mack had been around long enough to know that sometimes lousy intelligence happened. That was why it was called the 'fog of war.' But that didn't make him feel any better. Not when it was his submarine and his crew at risk because of someone else's mistake.
The one good thing that had come out of that mess- besides Cheyenne's performance-was the P4 message he held in his hand. The P4, or 'personal for,' message was an apology from USCINCPAC himself for the lousy intelligence Cheyenne had been provided before the last mission. Mack especially liked the part where the admiral had quoted the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations), currently the most senior officer in the Navy, as taking a personal interest in the intelligence fiasco.
He opened the message and read that part one more time.
The CNO had directed a reevaluation of procedures and decision-making personnel' within the naval intelligence chain of command. Mack smiled. That meant a lot of people were going to come under fire, and that was good. With luck, the next commanding officer and crew going into battle would be better prepared with accurate intelligence.
Especially since, Mack suspected, he knew who that next commanding officer was going to be. Cheyenne was still the best asset the U.S. Navy had in the area, at least for the kinds of missions that were being conducted, and Mack was pretty sure that they would be called upon again soon.
'Excuse me, Captain,' the executive officer said. He had just climbed to the bridge and poked his head through the upper access hatch. 'They're waiting for you on McK.ee. Sounds like something hot.'
'Thank you,' Mack said. 'Any idea what's up?'
'Well, sir, judging from the latest intelligence?' The executive officer let the sentence taper off as Mack shot him a hard look.
'Not funny.'
'No, sir, not at all, but snafus do happen. I'm just glad that the crew was ready for the challenge.'
Mack nodded and the executive officer continued, 'From what I can gather from the intelligence officer on board McKee, the Chinese merchant convoy that was assembling off the south coast of China has decided to make a fast break for the Spratlys. My guess is somebody figures that we didn't make it out of that last scrap intact and they want to take advantage of that by trying to get some supplies through while there's no one around to stop them.'
Mack nodded. That was a good reading of the situation. Except that the Chinese were wrong. Cheyenne had
