It took only twenty minutes and they were escorted immediately to a waiting high-speed fast-attack Mirazh patrol boat, which made a little over forty knots up the flat-calm Kola River estuary, thirty minutes to the port of Polyarny. And from there they were driven up the small 'Navy' road running behind the granite cliffs, which sweep down into the Barents Sea. It was about thirty miles to the top-secret Russian submarine base of Araguba, which lies in sinister seclusion at the head of a long steep-sided fiord.
Admiral Badr thought it was touch and go whether he would be able to breathe the frigid air without his lungs caving in completely. He stood gasping, astounded at the temperature, as Commander Ben Badr came hurrying over to greet his father.
He hugged the Admiral and shook hands with the General, though Ben was hardly recognizable in his coarse, heavy Russian Navy greatcoat, dark blue scarf, and thick fur hat that looked to contain the hides of an entire pack of grizzlies. Behind Ben, moored alongside, was the unmistakable shape of a 350-foot-long Russian-built nuclear attack submarine. To Admiral Badr it bore the hallmarks of the Sierra I, with a relatively short sail, tapered forward. But it looked somehow more expensive, more serious. It bore the white painted Hull number K-239. This was it, the jet black Russian nuclear hunter-killer: Barracuda Type 945.
Right now she flew the Russian Navy ensign, pure white with a blue diagonal cross. It would be many months before she flew any other flag, if ever. Admiral Badr could see her Commanding Officer, Kapitan Gregor Vanislav, standing at the head of the gangway to greet them. A native of Murmansk, he wore no overcoat, just his uniform, the thick gold bar with one star on the sleeve denoting his seniority.
He saluted in deference to the rank of the shivering Admiral Badr, and then said carefully, in English, 'I am pleased to meet you, sir. You have fine son, Commander Ben, very, very fast learner.'
He welcomed, too, General Rashood and led the way into the submarine, Ben Badr's place of work since November. On board, awaiting them were four Iranian Naval engineers, trained in nuclear physics but currently acclimatizing themselves in the Barracuda's reactor room — they were Cmdr. Ali Akbar Mohtaj, Lt. Comdr. Abbas Shafii, and CPOs Ali Zahedi, and Ardeshir Tikku.
They were all currently registered as personnel in the People's Liberation Army/Navy, and they were all wearing Chinese Naval uniforms, surrounded by ten officers, plainly Chinese, and crew executives. If the Russians had any suspicions, they never voiced them. Not a word or inquiry about either the trainees or the recently arrived guests, whom they obviously knew represented their valued clients, the Iranian Navy.
They knew precisely who Admiral Badr was, and they had always known the identity of Commander Ben Badr. As for the rest, the Russians had obviously decided they were from central Asian Muslim States halfway between Russia and China — Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, or Godknowswhereistan. Either way, it was no one's business.
Anyway, the Iranians had an office in the main dockyard in the Ukraine, right there in Sevastopol on the northern shores of the Black Sea. And the Ayatollahs are very important customers for all manner of Russian Naval hardware. Also, the Russians knew very well of the slightly unnerving and robust partnership between China and Iran in oil and arms deals. Six hundred million dollars had plainly helped to instill a keen sense of discretion among the former owners of the nuclear submarine. For Three Wise Monkeys, read Three Hundred Wise Russian Admirals.
Two further local crewmen, both Petty Officers, joined the party and they moved through the Barracuda, informing the visitors of her excellence… She very fast, thirty-four knots dived, no trouble, very comfortable at that speed… good wide submarine… considerable standoff distance between hulls… makes big advantage for radiated noise reduction… also for damage resistance… all titanium hull… excellent… very, very quiet… made her expensive… maybe too expensive… they don't build no more… probably big mistake… she was our best… dives to almost 2,500 feet… we all sorry Barracuda going… good ship… very, very good ship… keep you safe, eh?
Admiral Badr nodded. He was getting the message. This had been an excellent buy. The Barracuda was almost twenty years old, but she was built in the outstanding shipyard at Nizhniy Novgorod, the former Gorky, in the opinion of many experts the home of Russia's finest marine craftsmen. They had floated her proudly up the Volga and all the way through the Belamorsk Canal all those years ago, on one of the great 600-foot-long Tolkach freight barges. Her weapons and reactor room were fitted out in the high-tech nuclear workshops in Severodvinsk on the White Sea, west of Archangel. Again, the home of some of Russia's best scientists and engineers.
Her service record was impeccable. The first Barracuda, commissioned with such ceremony back in 1987, was built as pure frontline muscle for the Soviet Navy, and they had treated her like an Empress, refitting and replacing every part that showed stress or wear. She was probably as good today as she had ever been. Worth every ruble of the US $300 million the Chinese had paid.
The Barracuda had lived in these cold northern waters all her life, through the end of the Cold War, and beyond. Now she was just too expensive to run, for a Navy that sometimes found it difficult to raise the cash for the dockyard lighting systems. General Rashood's original estimate of the Russian position had been accurate to a degree. The Russian Bear had indeed nearly taken Admiral Zhang's hand off when he made the offer for the massive cash sale.
They broke for dinner at seven o'clock, the visiting Admiral and General from Iran being guests in the officers' mess. They were joined by Ben Badr, and dined with several high-ranking Russian officers, though none as high ranking as Mohammed Badr. It was as if this was strictly a lower level operation, just 'working up' a recently sold submarine. Nothing like a flagrant breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with a big attack nuclear boat possibly being sold to an Islamic Republic with major terrorist connections and many, many uses for the lethal U- 235 uranium in an active nuclear reactor.
They ate superb blinis, the delicious little Russian buckwheat pancakes served with caviar and sour cream. The former Major Kerman delighted his Russian hosts by telling them the allegedly true story of the visiting Texan and his family who dined at the Dorchester Hotel in London and had not tasted Russian caviar before.
Just what is this stuff, worth a hundred bucks a shot? How could it cost that much?
'Well, sir, it's something of a ritual,' said the headwaiter. 'We serve it with finely chopped egg, and onion, and small pancakes, plus a generous glass of the finest Smirnoff vodka, chilled, the favorite of the last Czar of Russia.'
Yeah, but what is caviar? What's it look like?
'Sir, it's the eggs of the sturgeon.'
'That right? Beautiful. Lemme have two. Sunnyside up.'
This was greeted by roars of laughter, and glasses of vodka, since no one was likely to be going to sea for a couple of days.
But then the conversation returned to the deadly serious nature of the visit. And two ex-Soviet nuclear Captains were detailed to supply notes on the differences and similarities in the ship, beyond the reactor room.
You got a SAM missile system you're all going to recognize, the old SA-N 5/8, plus a Strela portable launcher… the SSM Novator Alfa SS-N-27 on the new Kilos is not much different from the A/S Novator 15 Starfish Tsakra on the Barracuda… 53 cm tubes, nuclear warhead or regular Type 40. Whatever. Anyway the big missile on this ship is the long-range RADUGA… the SS-N-21 Sampson Granat… that's a cruise… flies at 0.7 Mach, around 200 meters above the surface… 1,600 miles. It's just been in overhaul. Top of the range.
Torpedoes. Hardly any difference. Mostly 21-inch tubes, 53 cm weapons.
Countermeasures… some similarities. ESM, Rim Hat/Bald Head intercept with radar warning on this ship. You're probably more used to the Squid Head on the Kilos. But they're much the same.
Radars: same… surface search Snoop Pair… back-to-back ESM aerials.
Sonars: the Barracuda has regular Shark Gill hull-mounted passive/active search and attack, low to medium frequency… you're used to the more modern Shark Tooth and Shark Fin, the MGK-400 system. But there's not much difference… and we have the same Mouse Roar system… hull-mounted active attack, normal high frequency.
You'll notice a V-shaped casing on the port side of the sail — that's to cover the releasable escape chambers… That bulbous casing on the after-end of the sail is for a towed communications buoy… very useful.
They retired to bed at ten o'clock, and reconvened at five in the morning for a further tour of the ship. To the east, out into the Barents Sea, they could see a glow along the horizon, but there was no daylight and nor would there be daylight for another two weeks.
Admiral Badr and General Rashood took time to inspect the second Barracuda they had purchased, hull number K-240. But it was in a floating covered dry dock, with several large plates currently being fitted into the
