Tiger's Claw: A Novel

“I do not want to lose this one, Exec,” Yao said. “We ‘torpedoed’ a destroyer with ease—I think the carrier will be just as easy. Proceed.”

ABOARD A PLAN HARBIN Z-9 ASW HELICOPTER

THAT SAME TIME

“Contact!” the radar operator shouted. “Periscope, bearing zero-three-five, range twelve kilometers!”

The copilot made a mark on his chart. “We got you now, friend,” he said. On the command channel he radioed: “Jia, this is Yuying Three, radar contact periscope, thirteen kilometers northeast of you.”

Like a pack of starving wolves chasing down a deer, the six ASW helicopters zoomed to the location, then established a rectangular pattern. On cue, together they seeded the sea with sonobuoys. Once the sonobuoys hit the water they deployed a floating platform with a UHF antenna, then unreeled the main body with a hydrophone six feet under the surface. This first pattern was composed of passive hydrophones that only listened for mechanical sounds . . .

. . . and it did not take long to triangulate a bearing to an underwater target.

“Heavy rotor sounds overhead, sir!” the sonar operator aboard the Avenger radioed. “Now several sets of rotors! It might be a swarm, sir!”

“Reduce speed to five knots, come to a heading of zero-six-zero, make your depth two hundred meters,” Captain Yao Mei-Yueh ordered. He realized he had gotten too anxious about getting a photo of the carrier and had let errors multiply—sailing too fast, keeping the periscope up too long, and ignoring the threat from the helicopters—and now he might have to fight his way out of this. The farther he got away from the carrier and its escorts, the more likely it would be for the helicopters to break off their search and fly home.

They all heard it a few minutes later: the sound of active sonars pinging all around them. “Make your depth two hundred and fifty,” Yao ordered. “Come left zero-four-five, maintain five knots.”

“If the Chinese operators are good,” Commander Chien said, “they will have our position triangulated within minutes.”

“But they are not very good, Si-yao,” Yao said. “And if their helicopters are using their dipping sonars, that means they are hovering, not pursuing. Conn, make turns for fifteen knots.” He turned again to Chein. “The chase continues, Commander. If they try to pursue, we will just go silent again, wait for them to start banging away with their active sonars, and run again. We can do this much longer than they can.”

ABOARD THE CHINESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ZHENG HE

THAT SAME TIME

“The Z-9s report the traitor submarine is dashing, sir,” captain of the Zheng He, Admiral Weng, said to Admiral Hu, commander of the Zheng He carrier battle group. “The helicopters are running low on fuel, and converting the others for antisubmarine duty will take another twenty minutes.”

“I told you, Weng, every helicopter in the battle group should have been made ready for antisubmarine duty,” Hu said angrily. “We could lose the traitor.” He went on, “Get a second JH-37 ready to launch with torpedoes. Have every helicopter stay on station as long as possible with all sonars active. I want a position on that submarine close enough to get the JH-37 in position to attack. I do not care if they employ their sonars while sitting with empty fuel tanks on the surface—I want the Flying Leopard to attack, and I want that traitor’s submarine on the bottom now!”

“Here they come again,” Yao Mei-Yueh said as the sound of the active sonars got closer. “They are just not going to give up. Helm, steer zero-eight-five. Let us put more distance between us and the carrier—that will make those helicopter pilots watch their fuel gauges even closer.”

“Should we decrease speed, sir?” executive officer Chein Si-yao asked. “At fifteen knots, we are putting off quite a racket.”

Yao shook his head. “I want to get some distance first,” he replied. “If we hear those helicopters get closer, we will go back to five knots. But every kilometer we get from that carrier is another chance we will have to escape.” The Avenger on batteries was very quiet at this depth, even at twenty knots, although at that speed the batteries would not last very long. He flicked a channel switch on his intercom. “Sonar, any sign of pursuit from their surface ships?”

“None, sir,” the sonar operator replied. “All escorts appear to be staying with the carrier.”

“Very well.” Yao smiled. “What good is having destroyer escorts if they are just going to stay with their primary? Are they going to let the helicopters do all the work?” For the first time since they were discovered, Yao felt a touch of relief. They might just make it out of this with their skins intact.

“Contact, sir!” Weng shouted. “One of the helicopters got a momentary contact, bearing only.”

“Pass to the Flying Leopard and have him attack immediately,” Admiral Hu ordered, “and he had better not miss.”

The JH-37 Fei Bao swooped less than five hundred feet over the ocean near the carrier Zheng He at patrol speed, then took up a heading east on the same bearing as the sonar contact. Immediately after overflying the gaggle of Z-9 patrol helicopters, the bomber crew began sowing APR-3E torpedoes along the last reported bearing to the Taiwanese submarine, dropping one every ten seconds. When the torpedoes dove underwater, they detached their aerodynamic tailcones and activated passive sonar to search for a target.

Minutes later, one of the torpedoes picked up the sound of the Avenger sliding through the sea, less than a half mile away. It locked the target bearing into its navigation system, armed its 150- pound warhead, activated its active sonar, and fired its solid-propellant rocket motor. The torpedo immediately accelerated to almost one hundred miles an hour and closed quickly with its quarry.

•••

“Torpedo inbound!” the sonar operator shouted. “High speed, closing fast! He has acquired with active sonar!”

“Countermeasures starboard!” Yao shouted. “Helm, hard to port, flank speed! Sound collision!”

But at just a half-mile distance, there was no time for evasive maneuvers—the torpedo closed the distance in less than thirty seconds. It missed the Taiwanese submarine, but its proximity fuze detonated the warhead just a few dozen yards behind the Avenger. The massive overpressure instantly deformed the submarine’s rudder and several propeller blades, creating a massive vibration throughout the entire vessel. The sub felt as if it was going to roll inverted.

“All stop!” Yao shouted, scrambling for a handhold. “Damage report!” He dashed to the sonar station. “Are we making any noise?”

The sonar operation listened for a few seconds. “Loud cavitation and structural defect noises at this speed, sir,” he said finally. He listened again. “Sounds decreasing as we slow, but I can still hear some in the background.”

That could be a problem, Yao thought as he went back to the control area. “Damage report.”

“Several leaks around the propeller shaft and bearings, and possibly several bent propeller blades,” Chein replied, “but Engineering thinks we will have propulsion if we can risk the noise. The rudder has a seven-degree port cant but it is movable. All other compartments reporting no serious damage.”

Wounded, Yao thought, but not dead. “How much speed does Engineering think we can make?”

“It depends on how much noise you are willing to make, sir. They think a maximum of fifteen knots.”

“At least we can still make it home, if we can evade the Communists,” Yao said. “Comm, prepare a message floater, radio our position in relation to reference point Anquan, request assistance—