Voyage of the Devilfish mp-1

by Michael Dimercurio

  “What is it, sir?”

  “We’re ordered to periscope depth. Get us up quick, no baffle clearing.”

  “Aye aye, sir. Helm, all stop. Dive, make your depth five four feet, ten degree up bubble. Sonar, Conn, ascending to PD. Lookaround number-two scope. Helm, all ahead one-third.” The OOD raised the type-18 periscope and the Allentown’s deck inclined as she ascended to periscope depth. The young lieutenant rotated the periscope in circles, his body hugging the deck-to-overhead periscope and optic module, his pelvis pressed up against the optic module, dancing with the fat lady. Duckett leaned against the pole of the attack-periscope, the installed spare.

  Finally the radioman brought in the message board with the flash message. The first paragraph nearly made Duckett’s heart come full stop. 120 nuclear-attack subs heading for the coast? Jesus, Joseph and Mary. Duckett read on to the paragraph directing Allentown north to Warplan Station Number One, directly offshore from Severomorsk Naval Complex in Russian waters. With cruise missiles armed and ready…

  “Offsa’deck,” Duckett called, “muster the officers in the wardroom for an urgent brief. And send down the SIOP WARPLAN.”

  The OOD’s eyes widened. ‘The warplan, sir?”

  “That’s right. Lieutenant. You got a problem with that?”

  “No, sir. SIOP WARPLAN, coming up, sir.”

  Good for him, Duckett thought. Because he sure as hell had one.

  NORTH ATLANTIC

  The Devilfish, responding to orders, rolled in the long swells at periscope depth. Pacino stood at the number-two periscope, doing slow circles, unable to see much but the mountains of the waves crashing over his view as the storm raged above the ship. Every few minutes he prodded the OOD for the status of the satellite radio transmission. They’d lost it the first time as a wave splashed over the BIGMOUTH radio antenna sticking out through the waves. The submarines could get a broadcast-burst communication only on the quarter-hour. Since they missed it once, it would mean staying at periscope depth for another fifteen minutes. And even then another wave might drown out that burst transmission.

  Pacino called to the OOD without removing his eyes from the periscope, “Off sa’deck, hit the satellite and get the broadcast onboard.”

  “But, sir,” Stokes said, “if we transmit to the satellite to request our messages we could be detected. It may be a burst comm but the Russians got receivers with direction finders.”

  Pacino shook his head. “You think we’ve been stealthy this run yet? We’ve gone through a thousand miles at flank with the reactor main coolant pumps at fast speed. And now we’re sitting here with two telephone poles sticking out of the sea just waiting for someone to eyeball us. Hit the god damned satellite, get the broadcast onboard and let’s get deep where we belong.”

  “Aye, sir,” Stokes said tonelessly. “Radio, Conn, hit the satellite.” Stokes reached for the radar-wave-receiver volume-knob on the phone console in time to squelch the screech of the ship’s transmission. The receiver made noises, mostly boops and beeps when enemy radar beams hit the periscope. It also detected the BIGMOUTH transmitting. Same frequency range. The speaker in the overhead squawked as hydraulics thumped, indicating the lowering of the BIGMOUTH antenna by the radioman.

  “CONN, RADIO, BROADCAST ONBOARD, PRINTING OUT NOW, LOWERING THE BIGMOUTH.”

  “Take her deep,” Pacino immediately ordered.

  “Diving Officer,” Stokes drawled, “make your depth five four six feet, thirty degree down angle. And step on it.” The next mountainous wave splashed against Pacino’s periscope-view, and for a few moments he looked at the underside of the waves, training the periscope-view upward as the waves grew distant overhead. Finally all was dark.

  “Scope’s under,” Pacino called, rotating the hydraulic control ring. “Lowering number-two scope.” The periscope optic module vanished into the well and continued down until it reached the stop 30 feet below. Pacino watched the depth gage as the hull popped and cracked. By the time it reached 546 feet the speed indicator had climbed to 34 knots and the deck began its vibration. Pacino went back to the navigation plot to see how the NAVSAT fix came in. As he studied the chart, wishing the distance to the ice would melt away. Radioman Gerald handed him the metal message board and the top-secret log.

  “Flash traffic, sir. Top secret.” Pacino signed for the messages, opened the clipboard cover and read the message that had been urgent enough to call Devilfish up from her deep transit.

  ****************

  FLASH

  ****************

  150354ZDEC

  FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASH

  FM— COMSUBLANT NORFOLK VA

  TO— USS DEVILFISH SSN-666

  SUBJ— MISSION REDEFINITION REF— COMSUBLANT OPORD 54-0964A DATED 13 DEC

  SCI/TOP SECRET — THUNDERBOLT PERSONAL FOR CO// PERSONAL FOR CO// PERSONAL FOR CO

  BT//

  1. NEW INTELLIGENCE HAS DETECTED DEPLOYMENT OF ALL NORTHERN FLEET ATTACK-SUBMARINE UNITS FROM BASES ON NORTHERN RUSSIA COAST. SORTIE OF OVER ONE HUNDRED ATTACK SUBMARINES OUTCHOPPING THE BARENTS SEA TO THE GI-UK GAP. SPEED OF ADVANCE HIGH. VECTOR ANALYSIS INDICATES PROBABLE DESTINATION U.S. EAST COAST. OMEGA UNIT ONE MAY BE LINKED TO THIS DEPLOYMENT. AS YET ANALYSTS UNABLE TO VERIFY SUCH A LINKAGE.

  2. OMEGA UNIT ONE DETECTED. ITS POSITION DEEMED RELIABLE AT COORDINATE ALPHA TWO ONE DECIMAL TWO TACK FIVE THREE DECIMAL SIX, CHART Z-SUBONE.

  3. UNIT SURFACED AT POLYNYA WITH ONE ANTENNA UP. NO RADIO TRANSMISSIONS DETECTED. POSSIBLY UNIT IS LISTENING AND IS NOT TRANSMITTING YET.

  4. DEVILFISH ORDERS REDEFINED. DETERMINE POSSIBLE HOSTILE INTENT OF OMEGA SUBMARINE AND DETERMINE ANY LINKAGE TO ATTACK-SUBMARINE FLEET HEADING TOWARD U.S. COAST. SUBLANT RULES OF ENGAGEMENT NO LONGER APPLY. DEVILFISH ORDERED TO TEST OMEGA UNIT USING ALL METHODS SHORT OF ACTUAL WEAPON RELEASE. DEVILFISH COMMANDER AUTHORIZED TO USE ALL REPEAT ALL INITIATIVE IN THIS ENDEAVOR.

  5. FURTHER INTELLIGENCE WILL BE RELAYED AS IT IS RECEIVED HERE.

  6. GOOD LUCK AND GOOD HUNTING, MIKEY. 7. ADM. R. DONCHEZ SENDS.

  BT//

  For the first time in a long time Pacino allowed a smile. The question of how to get the crew to engage the OMEGA had just been answered. Fleet deployment that intelligence didn’t foresee.. Perfect sanction for his confrontation with the OMEGA.

  “Officer of the Deck,” Pacino called, “change course to zero four five. Get the XO and Navigator up here now.”

  As Pacino waited, doubt crept into his mind. Could the deployment info be for real? Why would Novskoyy be surfaced in the first place? He pushed away the thought and concentrated on his confrontation with Novskoyy. He could approach the OMEGA while it was surfaced at the polynya, hover beneath and do a vertical surfacing… but instead of breaking through the ice hit the OMEGA. But if the OMEGA had its engines shut down it might take an hour for it to get under way from the polynya. And the OMEGA, quiet even in open ocean, would be quieter than the ice around her if her engines were not running. So he might never find her at the polynya. And a sub that big could take a helluva wallop without being damaged. To wake her up would take a crash violent enough to damage Devilfish herself… Was this mission survivable?

  Rapier and Christman having arrived at Conn, Pacino let them read the flash message together.

  “We’ve got to find this bastard. Skipper,” Rapier said.

  “And hammer him,” from Christman.

  “Don’t forget, gentlemen,” Pacino said, “we don’t have a weapons-release authorization here. We can shoot only if he shoots first.”

  Rapier shook his head. “COMSUBLANT said the Rules of Engagement no longer apply. We don’t need to wait—”

  “No, XO, he also said use methods short of weapon release. He said to use our initiative. And that is what we’re going to do…”

  CHAPTER 13

  THURSDAY, 16 DECEMBER

  MOSCOW

  THE KREMLIN, DEFENSE MINISTRY SUBWING

  HEARING ROOM FOUR
>
  Colonel Ivan Dretzski studied his notes for the final remaining minutes before the hearing on the Northern Fleet’s deployment to the Atlantic was called to order. Its purpose was to determine why the fleet had sailed without permission from Moscow, and what to do about it. The room looked like a Russian version of a Senate hearing room. On the back wall, perhaps four meters tall, the faded outline of the old hammer and sickle showed, its shape indicated by the contrast of the dirty wall with the clean spot where the symbol of the Soviet Union had once hung.

  He thought about Novskoyy being convinced that it was the agents of the United States that had brought down the USSR. Maybe Novskoyy was right in opposing America’s military forces, but not about the rest… Russia’s problem wasn’t McDonald’s hamburgers in Red Square. Its economy had collapsed. Without oil exports it was a poor agrarian country. Ever since he had agreed to Novskoyy’s plan, under duress — hell, threat — its flaws nagged at him, and now seemed magnified with the admiral at sea. His rhetoric and powerful personality weren’t there to melt away doubts. In the cold light of logic, the plan seemed extreme to the point of risking a nuclear war. Trust and arms control and reduction were the better way…

  As the members filed in, Dretzski fought against his doubts. America was the glavny protivnik, the main adversary. That was ingrained in him, never mind what seemed to be the case. He was a military man. The military was at deathly risk. His country was still at risk… America’s nuclear weapons were still the issue. Plus its still vast defense organization. Billiondollar Stealth fighters, two-billiondollar submarines, million-dollar cruise missiles, billions of dollars of space-based weapons systems. Novskoyy was a risk taker, but he could also be right…

  The members took their seats at the slightly elevated panel in front of Dretzski’s table, their panel forming a horseshoe-shape in front of him.

  All were present except the President, who would be a minute late. Dretzski paused from his notes and his mixed feelings to look over the members. On the far left was General Anton Voskod, Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces, the service that once owned the silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. With the arms treaties and the peace race, Voskod was out of a job. Voskod was one of the younger generals, in his early fifties, and had been a hawk during the time when his missiles were constantly pointed at U.S. cities. On General Voskod’s left sat General Dmitri Pallin, the KGB’s Head of the First Chief Directorate, the KGB arm responsible for foreign intelligence. Pallin had come from the FED’s commando ranks. Pallin was also Dretzski’s boss at FED, which meant the presentation had better go well or it would reflect unfavorably on both of them. On Pallin’s left was the civilian KGB chief, Viktor Maksoy, a tired old man who tended to do whatever Pallin wanted, or whatever the highest ranking bureaucrat wanted. Maksoy had no backbone, which was the reason the President had chosen him — he had no taste for a KGB with teeth. Maksoy would go whatever way the wind blew. In the center of the horseshoe was the empty chair for the President. The hearing could not go on without him. Next to the empty chair was Tafel Fasimov, the Defense Minister. A hard-liner like Voskod, he was never fond of capitalism or negotiations with the Americans.

  When, thought Dretzski, would the dinosaurs be gone?

  To the left of Fasimov was the Foreign Minister Anatoly Kirova. Kirova had spent much time at the U.N., Dretzski thought, and had become, some said, Americanized, his conversion measurable in the hot dogs and pizzas he consumed. Kirova would be against the Novskoyy deployment, and would oppose harassment of the Americans. In the last seat on the right was Admiral Mikhail Barisov, Supreme Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Novskoyy’s opposite number in Vladivostok. Barisov and Novskoyy were as different as two men could be. Barisov was a thinker, a lover of ballet, reader of history. Barisov too had become cozy with the glavny protivnik, spending over a month at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport.

  President Misha Sergeiyvich Yulenski entered the room then. Dretzski had not been able to read Yulenski, who could be agreeable one moment and furious the next. He was one of the new generation of democratic politicians.

  After Yulenski called the hearing to order Dretzski addressed the men at the table.

  “President Yulenski, gentlemen, my name is Colonel Ivan Dretzski and I have been asked to come here and brief you at the request of General Pallin and Chief Maksoy. I am an intelligence specialist in First Chief Directorate, responsible for foreign intelligence estimates and nuclear weapon intelligence. I have a statement to read concerning the deployment of the Northern Fleet, after which I will try to answer any questions you have. Sir?”

  “Yes, go ahead. Colonel Dretzski,” Yulenski boomed, his voice and manner jolly, as if trying to win votes.

  “Gentlemen,” Dretzski began, “on Tuesday, the Northern Fleet’s 120 nuclear-attack submarines deployed together from their bases on the northern coast. They had been prepared for this special exercise for several months, and at the order of Admiral Alexi Novskoyy, admiral in command of the fleet, the boats began the exercise. The exercise involves several parts. The first part is completed. The initial test was to see how quickly and efficiently the fleet could be scrambled to sea—”

  Dretzski could feel Admiral Barisov’s eyes on him. It would not be easy to get anything by Barisov, which was probably why he had been flown in from Vladivostok.

  “—with a minimum of notice. The second element of the exercise is to enter the North Atlantic and make a record-time-run to the east coast of the United States—”

  The room filled with the buzz of voices.

  “I need to stress that this is an exercise only. The ships are training for the possibility of a rapid-deployment. As Admiral Novskoyy has said, if a military unit is supposed to have a capability, and that capability is not regularly tested, the capability vanishes.”

  “After approximately one to two days on the coastline, the submarines will withdraw and return to their bases. That will be the third phase. We will evaluate the submarines on their ability to fulfill their missions. We have, of course, never gone into combat with our nuclear submarines — it is not like an army-artillery brigade, learning the science of warfare from centuries of firing cannons. Nuclear submarines are still a relatively new science, never taken into combat. We need to learn how to use this navy if it is to serve the defense of our newly constituted country. Admiral Novskoyy’s exercise will rewrite the book on how we operate our ships.”

  “Colonel,” the President began, “why are you, a KGB First Chief Directorate operative, coming to brief us on this? Where is Admiral Novskoyy? Where is his staff?”

  Yulenski’s meaning was clear: Who are you, his boy? Dretzski knew he would face this, though he had not been able to prepare a convincing answer.

  “Sir, General Pallin and Chief Maksoy accepted Admiral Novskoyy’s invitation to monitor his exercise and serve as referee. The admiral said that a deployment such as this would alert American intelligence agencies immediately. At FED we were given the task to act as if the Northern Fleet was from a separate country—”

  “It practically is,” Admiral Barisov broke in. Apparently there was little cooperation between the fleets.

  “—and determine if we could detect the deployment in advance when the fleet was provisioned and maintained.”

  “What were the results. Colonel?” Pallin asked, as if an encouraging attorney for the defense.

  “We could not detect anything that looked like unusual activity. Not by satellites, radio surveillance, phone taps, warehouse activity, maintenance activity or even crewmember movements.”

  “Very convenient,” Colonel,” Admiral Barisov said. “Novskoyy hired you to see no evil, hear no evil—”

  “I will give you a more impartial account than any Northern Fleet official or officer would. I would actually like to tell you that we detected Admiral Novskoyy’s activity, but we did not. A failure for us, but a victory for our nation.”

  President Yulenski took the floor, his jo
viality gone.

  “Colonel, why were the submarines sent to the coast of America without my knowledge or authorization? Why are we threatening the Americans? What do we expect them to do when they see all these submarines off their coast?”

  “Sir, the intent is to avoid detection. If the boats get to their coast undetected, then we have proved the fleet can do it and Admiral Novskoyy’s training and preparations are in order. If, however, every boat runs into defending submarines and ASW ships and aircraft, then we have learned something even more valuable, and we can fix it in case we should ever need the capability… It is an ingenious experiment—”

  “So, Colonel Dretzski,” Yulenski said, “shouldn’t we give the Americans the courtesy of a phone call to tell them that our toys are wandering around practically in their territorial waters?”

  Dretzski’s armpits suddenly were wet. It was crucial that the Kremlin not call the White House — it would poison the controlled information and analysis being fed to the Americans through Agent Fishhook, whose role in the plan was its weakest and yet most vital element.

  “I would advise against that, sir,” Dretzski said, feeling very uneasy. “The whole point of this exercise, this experiment, is to see if an unalerted America knows we are coming. As suggested, if they do not, we have proved a capability. If they do, we have identified flaws to fix—”

  “Very risky. Colonel. And Fasimov,” Yulenski said to the defense minister, “this sort of thing will never happen again without my express orders. We can’t conduct an open foreign policy if our generals and admirals are secretly playing with their toys. You people are tempting fate. I want to see Admiral Novskoyy this evening, Fasimov. Send him over, and you come also. We have some talking to do.”

  “Sir,” Dretzski said, “Admiral Novskoyy is not in port.”

  “Where the hell is he?”

  “Sir, he is on a new attack submarine that went on sea trials under the icecap. He should be returning shortly before his fleet.”