their very first reload alongside McKee, Mack had ordered that Cheyenne's line lockers be welded shut. This would prevent any possible noise sources from captive bolts loosening, especially since the chances of encountering torpedo and even depth charge explosions were increasing.
As with the last two war patrols, all lines would be left with McKee, where they would be dried and stored with care until Cheyenne once again returned from her patrol.
'Check the stern line. Keep the slack out of the bow line,' ordered the OOD. He was concerned about maintaining positive control of Cheyenne's position until the stern was safely clear of the after anchor lines, especially those on McKee's starboard side. He would not back the main engines until she was clear.
In preparation for this next evolution, the OOD had already extended the secondary propulsion motor (SPM), tested it locally in the engineering spaces and from the ship-control console, and trained it to 090 degrees (relative).
'Helm, conn, start the SPM.' That order came from conn on the sound-powered phones.
When the SPM started, Cheyenne's stern swung slowly to starboard. Pivoting around the camel between the two ships, the bow moved slowly toward McKee. With the momentum of the 6,900-ton submarine now swinging the stern nicely, the OOD ordered the SPM stopped, trained to 000 degrees, and housed. As the ship continued to swing slowly, the OOD backed the main engines at one-third speed long enough to gain sternway, and just enough to keep the sonar dome from coming too close to McKee's hull.
At his command, the two remaining lines were cast off, snaking through the water as the McKee line handlers pulled them on board. With the stern line clear of the stern planes, Cheyenne backed safely away from the submarine tender and her after anchors.
Patrol 3 had commenced.
Cheyenne's first patrol area was centered on a line drawn directly between the Spratly Islands and Cam Ranh Bay. Intel suspected that this was the route that Chinese supply ships were using in keeping the Spratly Islands' forces supplied and making the new airfield construction possible. Cheyenne was not authorized to attack these supply ships, just to collect intelligence on them. Washington could then use this information against the Vietnamese government for their collaboration with China.
Just to the north of the patrol area, the bottom sloped steadily downward from 1,000 fathoms to over 2,200 fathoms. Mack welcomed this deep water, which would help Cheyenne and her Mk 48s. This would allow them to approach a target from deep below the layer without fear of detection by the shallower-running Alfa, which Mack suspected was lurking to the west of Cuarteron Reef.
Although the Alfa's titanium hull would actually allow it to dive deeper than Cheyenne, Mack didn't expect it to do so. The Russians did not typically run deep, and he expected the Chinese, who were learning their Alfa handling techniques from the Russians that built her, to follow the same practices.
Mack hoped that he was right. If he was, Cheyenne would be able to maintain the tactical advantage as long as possible. If he wasn't? well, then things could get very interesting very fast.
It was nearing midnight. The captain had been relieved of his command duty officer responsibilities by the executive officer. The new section fire control tracking party had just settled in when the TB-23 thin line towed array gained tonal contact. These tonals were the same as those Cheyenne had recorded during her earlier encounter with the Chinese Alfa before he was lost in the shallow shoal water.
As towed-array bearing ambiguity was being resolved, more tonals were detected, on different beams, to the east. These tonals were also the same as the Chinese Alfa.
The executive officer knew that there was only one way to interpret the situation: clearly, there were two Alfas. As more data came in, he could tell that the easterly one was closer and was maintaining his distance, but the other Alfa was closing on Cheyenne's position. The fact that neither the conformal nor the spherical arrays had contact as of yet meant that both were easily beyond 60,000 yards away.
The executive officer called the captain to the conn.
Mack, as he always did, made his decisions quickly. In battle, he simply didn't have the luxury of mulling things over for long.
Cheyenne would close on the Alfa to the west. Mack chose that option because he knew the first Alfa might have recorded some of Cheyenne's, signature, and by closing on the other Alfa first he would place the easterly Alfa in Cheyenne's baffles. This was, perhaps, not the best place for it to be, but it was the best option available to him. And it had the added benefit of allowing Cheyenne to take on the unsuspecting Alfa first.
Battle stations were manned as soon as contact was gained on the conformal array at 40,000 yards.
'Torpedo room, fire control, make tubes one and two ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors.' As was Mack's habit, he instructed the executive officer to order the tubes readied before the range was so close that the Alfa would hear the evolution.
Acknowledgment, as always, was immediate. 'Make tubes one and two ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors, fire control, torpedo room, aye.'
The executive officer, acting in his role as fire-control officer, passed the acknowledgment on to Mack. 'Captain, tubes one and two are ready in all respects. Both outer doors are open.'
'Very well, fire control,' Mack answered.
The Alfa was drawing right now, with contact on all sonar arrays. When the BSY-1 operator and the fire- control coordinator were satisfied with the TMA solution on Master 69, the Chinese Aifa class attack submarine, the captain ordered, 'Firing point procedures, Master 69.'
His command was acknowledged and the combat systems officer at the BSY-1 reported the target course, speed, and range.
'Sonar, conn, stand by.'
'Conn, sonar, standing by.'
'Match sonar bearings and shoot, tubes one and two.'
'Match sonar bearings and shoot, tubes one and two, aye.'
There was a short delay, and then the combat systems officer reported, 'Tubes one and two fired electrically.'
'Conn, sonar, units from tubes one and two running hot, straight, and normal,' said the sonar supervisor as the two torpedoes executed their wire-clearance maneuvers. They were running at a slower speed for now. Once they had acquired they would increase speed and come up from their deep search depth. When they breached the layer, the torpedoes would pitch up and complete their acceleration to attack speed.
'Very well, sonar,' Mack replied. 'Time to acquisition?' he asked the combat systems officer.
'Fifteen minutes, twenty seconds, Captain.'
Hunting two Alfas, with every passing moment increasing the odds that Cheyenne would be discovered, fifteen minutes had never seemed so long to Mack. After another eternity had passed, he heard, 'Both units have acquired.'
'Conn, sonar, Master 69 is turning toward and increasing speed, cavitating heavily.'
Mack didn't have a chance to acknowledge the information. Before he could say anything sonar reported noisemakers launched by the Alfa.
Mack nodded and ordered 'steer the weapons.' That would keep them from being tricked into attacking the decoys. He also ordered Cheyenne's course changed to the right by ninety degrees. He wanted accurate targeting information for the torpedoes, and for that he needed the bearings to the incoming Alfa and to the stationary noise-makers to diverge.
It didn't take long to obtain a bearing spread. But Mack didn't have any chance to relax. The combat systems officer had just reported the torpedoes on course for intercept of Master 69, when out of the baffles came sonar contact on the second Alfa.
'Cut the wires, shut the outer doors, and reload tubes one and two,' Mack ordered. 'Make tubes three and four ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors.' A melee situation was rapidly developing. 'Conn, sonar, we have torpedoes in the water, bearings 285, 290, 110, and 105. Both Alfas have launched weapons at us!'
