launched.'
'Match sonar bearings and shoot, Masters 76 and 80, as soon as tubes one and two are ready.'
Mack knew it was time for Cheyenne to clear datum. It was also time for their own countermeasures to be launched. As soon as he received the report of tubes one and two being fired electrically, he ordered the outer doors shut and the tubes reloaded. That would cut the guidance wires, but there was no help for it, and those torpedoes were outstanding at doing their own thing.
'Steady as she goes,' he said. 'All ahead flank. Do not cavitate. Make your depth one thousand feet.' When those orders had been acknowledged, but before they had been executed, he added, 'Rig ship for depth charge.'
The Akulas were running away. Mack was relying on the countermeasures to hide him from their sonar. That would give Cheyenne the chance to slip away-but Mack had no intention of slipping away. He was going after the fleeing Akulas.
Cheyenne reached flank speed, on course 275, and at one thousand feet, as the Russian torpedoes entered the baffles after the countermeasures. Sonar didn't hear Cheyenne's last two torpedoes as they entered their terminal homing modes.
'Conn, sonar, two explosions bearing,' the sonar supervisor began, but he interrupted himself. 'Two more explosions, all to the north, They're lighting up all three sonar consoles, Captain.'
He couldn't provide range information for Mack, however. There was too much reverberation to get both direct path and bottom bounce information. But with the four explosions, sonar was sure the torpedoes found their mark.
Moments later sonar's guess was confirmed. The four explosions were followed by the distinctive sounds of external pressure vessels on the Russian SSNs imploding from their descent to the bottom of the South China Sea. All four Akulas had been killed.
Four of seven, Mack thought. That's what CTF 74 wanted. But it's not what I want. Cheyenne would try for the last three, if she could catch them before they entered the territorial waters surrounding the Paracels.
First, though, he had to make sure the Akulas didn't have any support. He ordered Cheyenne to proceed above the layer, and then to clear her baffles to starboard. Only the three Akulas fleeing to the Paracels were there.
Satisfied, Mack took Cheyenne back beneath the layer. He also took the opportunity to secure from battle stations while they took up hot pursuit toward the shallow waters of the Paracels. At his command, the crew deployed the TB-16 for the time being, at least until they started their approach to shallow water.
Cheyenne continued on course toward the Paracels, at seven hundred feet to keep beneath the layer, while battle stations and the rig for depth charge were secured.
Mack held his all-officer meeting after the battle stations fire-control party had reconstructed the attacks and reported their findings. Cheyenne had performed superbly, and the critique was very positive, but one item from the battle was bothering Mack.
It had been clear earlier that the Chinese commander-in-chief had ordered drastic measures. Cheyenne had seen that before, and had taken measures to counter it- at least, as much as possible. And Mack could understand it, from the Chinese? but not from the Russians. They weren't at war with the United States. They had no reason to sacrifice themselves in battle. But they had.
Just like the Chinese Hans earlier, these Akulas had continued on course right at Cheyenne's datum without trying to turn away, even when Mk 48s were coming their way. And it just didn't make sense. Not with Russian crews aboard those Akulas. And not with Russia not formally involved in this war.
The officers discussed it among themselves, but no one came up with an answer that satisfied Mack. He filed the problem for the time being, but he intended to keep it in mind. Just as he'd shifted his tactics against the Chinese, so, too, would he take this into account the next time he went head-to-head with an Akula.
As Cheyenne approached the time for coming shallow, sonar reported numerous merchant ship contacts and also reported contact lost on the three Akulas. Mack wasn't surprised, and at least they were still south of the banks where they didn't have to worry about the oil rigs.
Biologies were also hindering the sonar search, and increasing the Russians' options. Running beneath and with the merchant ships was an old ploy, and one Mack wasn't about to fall for. He ordered sonar to conduct a careful tonal search on the bearings of the merchants and the biologies. A disturbance of previously undisturbed biologies could mean that a submarine was proceeding in their scattering layer.
The search was painstaking, but it paid off. Sonar gained contact on one Akula as it entered shallow water- and none too soon. Cheyenne's towed array would have to be at least partially retrieved before she could enter the shallows without fear of damaging the array, and Mack couldn't risk that. He expected he would need it for future patrols, especially since neither Area nor McKee had replacement arrays for Cheyenne. If the runways at Cubi got fixed before the war was over, replacements would come in by airlift. Until then, Cheyenne couldn't risk the one she had.
Mack ordered the TB-16 to short stay as Cheyenne ventured inside the one hundred fathom curve south of Bombay Reef in the Paracels. There would not be much time before the Akulas were safely in port, which meant that despite the Crazy Ivan or kamikaze Chinese maneuvers, a short-range attack was inevitable.
Battle stations were manned once the range to the Akula closed to inside 15,000 yards. Almost immediately sonar reported transient noises, surfacing submarines bearing 345 and 350. Cheyenne was ready with two outer doors already open.
'Snapshots, tubes one and two, bearings 345 and 350 respectively,' Mack ordered. He had no idea what the Master Numbers were from the previous battle in deep water, but it didn't really matter. They would shoot now and reconstruct later.
As with almost all snapshots, the Mk 48s would have to do their own thing in detecting, tracking, and sinking two of the Akulas, but Mack expected them to deliver. This would be just like sinking surface ships. The Russian submarines would increase speed after surfacing and, cavitating heavily, would never hear the torpedoes approaching in their baffles.
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, Mack reminded himself. But there was an answer to that. If the only element of your plan is contact with the enemy, there's nothing to survive, and you've got a better chance of success.
He was right. The two torpedoes, which had been set for shallow water, quickly acquired the Akulas. They detonated beneath their targets, rupturing the ballast tanks and sending the SSNs to settle to the bottom onto the coral reef.
'Conn, sonar, we have explosions on the bearings of the torpedoes. Also have those same sounds of Christmas balls falling off a tree and breaking.' Two of the Akulas were running aground on purpose after the explosions, hoping to keep their sails high enough out of the water that the crew could escape safely. Mack let them go. He didn't care about the Russian sailors. He cared only that the boats would be useless for the rest of the war.
Cheyenne got to periscope depth in one hundred feet of water in time to see the third Akula passing safely over the horizon. Mack didn't mind the one getting away so much as he minded not being able to get closer to the grounded Akulas. He would have liked to give the crew a special movie that night-periscope videos of Russian submariners jumping ship.
He smiled to himself as he gave the orders to take Cheyenne back out into deeper water. They'd have to settle for The Sound of Music, which was one of Mack's favorites. Or, he thought, his grin growing wider, maybe he'd give them a real treat and let them watch From Russia with Love.
