Blackmail

by Rick Campbell

  “Conn, Sonar. Hold a new contact on the towed array, designated Sierra five-seven, ambiguous bearings three-five-five and two-seven-five, classified submerged. Analyzing.”

  Hartford’s towed array detected contacts at longer ranges than the submarine’s other acoustic sensors. However, the array couldn’t determine which side the sound arrived from, resulting in two potential bearings to the contact. With the American task force to the south and other U.S. submarines prohibited from entering Hartford’s waterspace, it was obvious which side of the array the submerged contact was on and that it was hostile.

  The Sonar Supervisor’s next report confirmed Thames’s assessment. “Conn, Sonar. Sierra five-seven is classified Akula II.”

  “Attention in Control,” Thames announced. “Designate Sierra five-seven as Master one. Track Master one.”

  Thames turned his attention to the four men seated at the submarine’s combat control consoles. Three men were dedicated to determining the contact’s solution—its course, speed, and range—and a fourth man sat at the Weapon Control Console, which would send the desired search presets to the MK 48 Mod 7 torpedoes in the submarine’s four torpedo tubes. The weapons were powered up and in communication with combat control, and each torpedo tube was flooded with its muzzle door open.

  After maintaining an eastern course for several minutes, watching the contact’s bearing drift aft, Thames reversed course.

  “Helm, right full rudder, steady course two-seven-zero.”

  Hartford steadied on its new course and as Thames evaluated Master one’s new bearing drift, Sonar reported another contact.

  “Conn, Sonar. Gained a new submerged contact on the towed array, designated Sierra five-eight, ambiguous bearings zero-two-zero and one-six-zero. Analyzing.”

  A second Russian submarine had entered the top right corner of Hartford’s operating area. As Thames turned his attention to the new contact, Sonar followed up. “Conn, Sonar. Gained a new submerged contact on the towed array, designated Sierra five-nine, ambiguous bearings three-two-zero and two-two-zero. Analyzing.”

  It looked as though the Russians were attempting to penetrate the American submarine screen at even intervals, resulting in three inbound Russian submarines in Hartford’s operating area.

  Thames announced, “Designate Sierra five-eight as Master two and Sierra five-nine as Master three. The contact of interest is Master one.” Master one was likely the closest of the three.

  Lieutenant Commander White acknowledged and directed each of the three men developing contact solutions to track a different submarine, with Hartford’s most experienced fire control technician assigned to Master one.

  White followed up, “Ambiguity has been resolved. All three contacts are to the north.”

  The XO’s announcement didn’t surprise Thames, but his next report did.

  “Master one is operating at high speed. Best estimate—twenty knots.”

  Although twenty knots was less than two-thirds of an Akula II’s maximum speed, it was excessive for submarine-versus-submarine engagements, where high speed amplified a submarine’s radiated noise and dulled its acoustic sensors. However, with the Russian submarine approaching so rapidly, Thames would have to act soon, without a refined firing solution.

  Thames figured Master one was functioning as a bird dog, flushing Hartford from its hiding spot. Once Thames fired a torpedo, all three Russian submarines would know where Hartford was and would counterfire. The scenario would degenerate into a free-for-all, with all four submarines maneuvering aggressively, launching decoys and jammers and more torpedoes. On the wrong end of a three-to-one scenario, Hartford would not likely survive. Thames’s only hope was to determine a solution for each Russian submarine and attack all three at once. Sonar’s next announcement threw a wrench into that plan.

  “Conn, Sonar. Gained Master one on the spherical array.”

  The spherical array had a shorter detection range than the towed array, so the detection told Thames that Master one was getting dangerously close; the Russian crew would detect Hartford at any moment.

  Thames stopped by his XO. “I need a firing solution on all three contacts, now.”

  He was pushing his Executive Officer for target solutions, but they didn’t need to be exact. They needed to place each torpedo close enough to detect the Russian submarine once the sonar in the torpedo’s nose activated. It would take over from there and adjust course to intercept the submarine.

  Lieutenant Commander White studied the solutions on the consoles, then after a moment of hesitation replied, “I have firing solutions, Master one, two, and three.”

  Thames announced, “Firing Point Procedures, Master one, two, and three. Normal submerged presets. Assign tube One to Master one, tube Two to Master two, and tube Three to Master three. Tube One will be first fired, then tube Two. Tube Four will be backup in case we have a cold shot.”

  Although submarine weapon systems were very reliable, they weren’t perfect, and on occasion, a torpedo failed to launch. If the crew pulled the trigger and the torpedo didn’t eject, it was deemed a cold shot, and the crew would quickly attempt to identify whether it was a tube problem, combat control issue, or bad torpedo.

  The first report during Firing Point Procedures came from the XO, reporting the best solution for each contact had been selected and sent to Weapon Control.

  “Solutions ready!”

  Hartford’s Weapons Officer, stationed as the Weapon Control Coordinator, announced, “Weapons ready!” reporting that all three torpedoes had accepted their weapon presets.

  “Ship ready!” the Navigator announced, informing Thames that the submarine’s torpedo countermeasures—their decoys and jammers—were ready to deploy.

  “Shoot on generated bearings,” Thames ordered.

  The first four-thousand-pound weapon was ejected from its torpedo tube, accelerating from rest to thirty knots in less than a second. In rapid succession, tubes Two and Three were also fired. Inside Sonar, the sonar technicians monitored the status of their outgoing units, referring to each torpedo by the tube that launched it.

  “Tube One is in the water, running normally.”

  “Fuel crossover achieved.”

  “Turning to preset gyro course.”

  “Shifting to medium speed.”

  Hartford’s first-fired torpedo turned to the ordered course and began its search for Master one as Hartford’s second and third torpedoes raced toward the other two submarines.

  Thames ordered, “Helm, left full rudder, steady course two-zero-zero. Ahead full.”

  In preparation for counterfire from the three Russian submarines, Thames maneuvered Hartford to an optimal torpedo evasion course, although optimal didn’t mean good in this case. With Russian submarines about to counterfire from three different directions, there was no good course to turn to.

  Master one responded immediately, firing a two-torpedo salvo before turning away.

  Sonar’s report, “Torpedo in the water, bearing three-five-zero!” was followed shortly by, “Second torpedo in the water, bearing three-five-two!”

  Thames ordered, “Helm, ahead flank. Launch countermeasures.”

  The fast attack submarine increased speed to maximum, and the Officer of the Deck launched a torpedo decoy.

  Hartford’s first-fired torpedo locked on to Master one a moment later, its status reported via a thin copper wire trailing behind it, attached to the submarine’s torpedo tube.

  “Detect, tube One!” the Weapon Control Coordinator announced.

  A few seconds later, after the torpedo verified the contact met the parameters of a submarine and not a decoy, it sent a follow-up message.

  “Acquired!”

  The torpedo calculated the evading target’s course, speed, and range, then increased speed and adjusted its trajectory to intercept the Russian submarine.

  “Tube One increasing speed to high-one.”

  Whether the evading Russian submarine would eject a t
orpedo decoy or jammer, or both, Thames didn’t know, but it likely didn’t matter. The MK 48 Mod 7 torpedoes carried by Hartford were the most advanced heavyweight torpedoes in the world, able to discriminate between submarines and decoys, and loaded with sophisticated algorithms to deal with jammers.

  The next report sealed Master one’s fate.

  “Tube One is homing. Increasing speed to high-two.”

  All this happened quickly, within thirty seconds, and Thames turned his attention to the two incoming Russian torpedoes while Hartford’s other two sped outward, searching for the other Russian submarines. After assessing the bearing drift of the two-torpedo salvo, he determined the Russian crew had fired on a line-of-bearing solution: the spot where Hartford was when it fired, as opposed to an intercept solution based on Hartford’s course and speed. That was the good news. Bad news followed.

  “Torpedo in the water, bearing zero-three-zero!” The submarine to the northeast had fired.

  Another report from Sonar followed. “Torpedo in the water, bearing three-zero-zero!” The third submarine followed suit.

  Thames evaluated the situation. The two-torpedo salvo was drawing behind Hartford as desired. Unfortunately, the third Russian torpedo was drawing up Hartford’s port side, while they were on a collision course with the fourth torpedo. Remaining on course wasn’t an option, and maneuvering to the left would turn Hartford toward the torpedo on her port side. Thames reluctantly concluded his only option was a dangerous one.

  “Helm, right ten degrees rudder, steady course three-five-five.” There were no torpedoes in that direction, but unfortunately, there were three Russian submarines.

  The sound of an explosion rumbled through the Control Room, and the Weapons Officer announced, “Loss of wire continuity, tube One.”

  Make that two Russian submarines.

  Sonar reported, “Breaking up noises, bearing three-five-zero.” Master one was going to the bottom, its compartments and internal tanks imploding.

  As Hartford headed north, Thames adjusted course, aiming for the one spot he knew there was no Russian submarine. “Helm, steady course three-five-zero.”

  There were two more Russian submarines out there, and Thames didn’t know if his two outbound weapons would find their targets. Time to reload.

  “Weapon Control, reload tube One.” Tube Four was already loaded, and although tubes Two and Three were empty, the outgoing torpedoes were still attached to the tubes via their guidance wires, which would come in handy if Thames needed to insert a steer or send other instructions to the torpedoes.

  Hartford was at ahead flank, which wasn’t a great idea now that they were headed toward the two other Russian submarines. Sonar had lost contact on both due to the flow noise across the submarine’s sensors and Hartford was putting a lot of noise into the water, making the submarine easy to track. If the other Russian submarines were at slow speed, Hartford would be burning into their sonar screens. Hartford needed to melt back into the ocean.

  Thames ordered, “Helm, ahead two-thirds.”

  The Helm transmitted the new bell to the Throttleman in the Engine Room, who slowed Hartford to ten knots as a second explosion reverberated through the water.

  “Loss of wire continuity, tube Two.”

  Hartford’s second torpedo had found its target.

  Thames turned his attention to the Russian torpedoes again; the first three had drawn down Hartford’s starboard side and were now outbound, no longer a threat unless a steer was sent to a torpedo. The bearings to the fourth torpedo, however, weren’t changing. It was heading in from the west on an intercept course. It’d been steered.

  As Thames determined a new evasion course, Sonar announced, “Gained broadband contact on the spherical array, bearing three-four-zero.”

  Before Thames responded, Sonar reported, “Launch transients, bearing three-four-one!”

  The third Russian submarine had also turned toward the first explosion and had slowed earlier, gaining Hartford on its sensors. A detection on Hartford’s spherical array broadband told Thames the Russian submarine was close, as would be its incoming torpedo.

  “Torpedo in the water, bearing three-four-two!”

  “Torpedo evasion!” Thames announced.

  Responding to the code word phrase, the Helm ordered ahead flank and the submarine’s Officer of the Deck launched a torpedo countermeasure.

  “Helm, hard right rudder, steady course one-three-five.”

  With two torpedoes headed Hartford’s way, one directly ahead and one on the submarine’s port side, Thames’s only hope was to turn southeast and run away from both torpedoes, hoping neither passed close enough to acquire.

  Thames’s turn away came too late.

  “Conn, Sonar. Torpedo bearing two-seven-zero is range-gating.”

  The Russian torpedo to the west had acquired Hartford and was homing. If that weren’t bad news enough, as Hartford swung to the southeast and picked up speed, Sonar reported, “Torpedo bearing three-three-five is range-gating.”

  The second torpedo had also acquired Hartford.

  As Thames ordered another round of torpedo decoys and jammers into the water, he knew this wasn’t going to turn out well.

  75

  ARABIAN SEA

  The MH-60R Seahawk helicopter slowed to a hover and lowered its dipping sonar into the ocean again. Minutes earlier, the Sensor Operator in the cabin had detected two explosions in Alpha-eight, one of the submarine operating areas to the north, and Lieutenant Leo Falardeau, seated beside his Tactical Mission Officer, had repositioned his helicopter to the center of Bravo-eight. Unlike the Alpha operating areas, which were patrolled by submarines, the Bravo areas were monitored by MH-60R anti-submarine warfare helicopters. The MH-60Rs were the newest and most capable ASW helicopters in the American arsenal, equipped with an advanced sensor suite and three lightweight torpedoes. In Falardeau’s case, three new MK 54s.

  Lieutenant Falardeau was joined by another MH-60R, also patrolling Bravo-eight, dropping its dipping sonar into the ocean. As the sensor descended through the water, it approached the thermocline, a layer of water where the temperature changed rapidly and reacted with sound, like light reflecting off a window. Depending on the frequency and angle of the sound wave, some tonals couldn’t make it through, bending back toward the bottom or up toward the surface. Ideally, the sensor would be placed on whatever side of the thermocline the enemy submarine was operating in. Falardeau’s Sensor Operator let his dipping sonar pass through the thermocline, while the MH-60R beside them kept its sensor above.

  Falardeau’s dipping sonar was brought back on-line, and not long thereafter, the Sensor Operator reported a third explosion in the direction of Alpha-eight. Whether it was an American or Russian submarine being hit, he didn’t know. However, with only one American submarine in the area and three explosions, he knew at least two Russian subs had gone to the bottom.

  The MH-60R hovered sixty feet above the water as Falardeau’s Sensor Operator searched Bravo-eight. As long as there were no detections in the Bravo areas, life was good. The American submarines were constrained to the Alpha areas and wouldn’t venture into the Bravos, since the MH-60Rs were Weapons Free. Anything detected in the Bravo areas would be attacked.

  The voice of Falardeau’s Sensor Operator crackled in his headset. “Gained a new contact, designated Sierra one, bearing three-three-five.”

  They held only a bearing and no range, and as Falardeau hoped it was just a strong tonal from the American submarine in Alpha-eight, his Sensor Operator reported, “Sierra one is classified Akula II.”

  This was bad news, at least for the crew of the American submarine in Alpha-eight. The third explosion had sent it to the bottom, and now a Russian submarine had leaked into Bravo-eight. Where there was one, there would undoubtedly be more, but first things first.

  The Sensor Operator retrieved the dipping sonar, and Falardeau repositioned his MH-60R so they could calculate the Russian submarine’s position,
course, and speed. It wasn’t long before the sonar dipped beneath the thermocline again and the Sensor Operator reported, “I have a firing solution.”

  Falardeau ordered his Tactical Mission Officer to engage Sierra one. The TMO selected the proper presets on his panel: depth, search pattern, and other attributes, although almost any would do. All they had to do was place the lightweight torpedo reasonably close to the Russian submarine and the MK 54 would do the rest.

  After retrieving the dipping sonar again, Falardeau repositioned his MH-60R just ahead of the Russian submarine, while his TMO sent presets to the middle MK 54 strapped beneath the helicopter. Satisfied that the torpedo was properly preset and they were close enough to the target, the TMO released the lightweight torpedo. As it fell toward the ocean, the torpedo’s small parachute deployed, which slowed the weapon slightly and adjusted its angle as it fell, so that it slipped nose first into the water, where it disappeared from sight.

  Unlike heavyweight torpedoes, lightweight torpedoes had no guidance wire attached, so the initial presets would have to do. The Sensor Operator monitored the engine tonals and the active transmissions from the sonar in the MK 54’s nose. The engine lit off and the torpedo went active immediately, beginning its search. They had dropped the MK 54 almost directly on top of the Russian submarine, so it wasn’t a surprise when the Sensor Operator reported the torpedo was homing less than twenty seconds after it hit the water. Engine speed increased, while the interval between pings decreased. With only a few hundred feet to travel, the torpedo exploded shortly thereafter.

  Falardeau waited for the Sensor Operator to report breakup noises, verifying the submarine was headed to the bottom, although that likely wasn’t the case. Most Russian submarines, unlike American ones, were double-hulled, with the outer hull several meters from the inner pressure hull. Lightweight torpedoes had a difficult time punching through both hulls, and while one hit would likely result in a mission kill, one could never be certain.