Shattered Trident

by Larry Bond

  “He’s going co-depth, sir, matching our change…”

  Before the chief sonarman could finish his report, a slight jolt ran through North Dakota, and half the sonar displays went dark. Alarms rang and Jerry felt a surge of fear. “All stations, report!”

  There was no flooding, no apparent effect on their propulsion, but the TB-33 thin-line towed array was gone, snapped off cleanly.

  “He’s on our port side now sir, bearing two nine zero. Speed is slowing to ten knots. His active sonar is off now.”

  “Maintain active sonar contact,” Jerry ordered. “I don’t trust that SOB. Bernie, best course to launch point?”

  “Two one zero, Skipper. At ten knots we’re there in four minutes, with four minutes to spare. Chakra is still heading away from us, steady on course zero zero five at ten knots.”

  “Understood, XO. Pilot, right fifteen degrees rudder, steady course two one zero.”

  “Right fifteen degrees rudder, steady course two one zero, Pilot, aye.”

  “Skipper, what if he’s still nearby when we have to shoot?” Thigpen asked.

  “I can’t see him interfering with the actual launch, and being nearby is a good thing … for him,” Jerry answered. “That means he’ll be clear of the blasts.”

  “Good point,” the XO observed. “But why was he messing with us to begin with? We weren’t interfering with one of his attacks.”

  “It’s preemptive, and smart. He’s told us to get lost, and took away our primary search sensor. He can break contact and we won’t be able to find him as easily. Our TB-34 towed array was short enough to be clear of him, but it isn’t as good as his array. We’re even now.”

  “Yeah,” grinned the XO. “For another eight minutes, anyway. Luckily, we don’t need our thin-line array to shoot our two little friends.” Thigpen paused, then suddenly realized that he’d have to document the lost towed array. “Wait a minute! That bastard! Now I’ve got to do the paperwork for Minot and the TB-33! Are you sure we can’t shoot him, sir?”

  INS Chakra

  “All stations report no damage, Captain,” Jain announced.

  Perfect. He’d crippled the American’s sonar capability, and incidentally cost the U.S. Navy a million dollars or so. Samant had held his breath when they’d rammed the towed array. It was the exact opposite of what submarine captains were trained to do.

  Running into another sub’s towed array was something one usually avoided at all costs. There’d been a very real risk of fouling Chakra’s screw with the array’s cable. That would have been embarrassing at the very least, and potentially deadly if they’d been forced to surface and request a tow back to a friendly port. But he’d bet and he’d won. Take that, he thought happily.

  “What’s he doing now?” Samant demanded.

  Lieutenant Rajat reported, “He’s come right, steadied on two one zero at ten knots, Captain.”

  “Still at ten knots?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jain confirmed. “He’s not leaving.”

  Samant’s face slowly turned red. He looked ready to explode. “Can’t this fellow take a hint? He is not welcome here! We must convey that message to him in the strongest possible terms. Set up another UGST torpedo shot. Bring tube one to action state. Disable the seeker, five degree offset. He won’t dare ignore this!”

  “It worked before,” Jain added hopefully.

  USS North Dakota

  “Launch transients! Torpedo in the water!” shouted Halleck. “UGST torpedo bears three five zero. Weapon has not yet enabled.”

  “Pilot, hard left rudder, steady course south! All ahead flank! Torpedo defense, launch an ADC Mark 5 and mobile decoy, stand by anti-torpedo defense system!”

  The deck tilted under his feet as North Dakota turned sharply to port.

  “Sonar, what’s the weapon doing?”

  “Slight right drift, but the bearing rate isn’t changing as we change course.”

  “So he’s steering the weapon, following our movements,” concluded Jerry.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Just like before. XO, course back to the launch point?”

  “We’re good, Skipper. On this course we’ll pass within five hundred yards of the launch point in two minutes. With five minutes to spare!”

  “It was four minutes before!” Jerry protested.

  Thigpen shrugged. “Sorry, sir. That last burst of speed caused us to close the distance a lot faster than anticipated.”

  “Skipper, the torpedo is on our starboard quarter, and it’s going to pass astern,” reported a relieved Halleck.

  Jerry relaxed a little. “Very well, Chief, reestablish active contact on Sierra-one three. Pilot, all ahead two-thirds.”

  INS Chakra

  “Sir, the American is slowing again.” Jain paused, studying the displays, but then reported, “He’s ignoring the weapon, Captain. His course and speed are not consistent with evading our torpedo.”

  Samant stiffened, as if fighting to control his anger. “Damn him! He can’t ignore me! Fire control operator, put the weapon on an intercept course and command activate the seeker.”

  “What?” Jain’s question startled everyone, including Jain himself, but he persisted. “Sir, we can’t sink him. Our orders—”

  “Are very clear,” Samant interrupted, completing the first officer’s sentence. “I understand that! It’s my decision, on my authority, Number One.” Samant turned back to the fire control operator. “Do it!”

  USS North Dakota

  “Weapon has changed course! Weapon has enabled!” yelped Halleck. The WLY-1 acoustic intercept receiver began beeping loudly as well.

  The chief’s report sent lightning through Jerry. “Launch ADC Mark 5 and ATTs! Pilot, left full rudder, steady on course one three zero, all ahead flank. Snapshot, tube one, Sierra-one three. Minimal enable run!”

  Thigpen watched as Covey’s team quickly flooded the torpedo tube and opened the outer door. Seconds later the Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo was ejected into the ocean and accelerating in Chakra’s direction.

  “Normal launch, wire is good. Firing range is fifty-five hundred yards, run time is two minutes thirty seconds.”

  A deep rumble came through the hull. “One of the ATTs hit, sir. Incoming weapon destroyed.”

  Jerry exhaled. He realized he’d been holding his breath.

  INS Chakra

  “Captain, the American has counterfired! A single torpedo, and it’s already active. Bearing one seven zero. Our own torpedo has been destroyed,” reported Jain with excitement.

  Samant reacted instinctively. “All ahead flank, steer two seven zero, launch decoys.” He added to Jain, “That’s it. Once we get clear of this weapon, I’ll give him a spread that will leave him in pieces.”

  USS North Dakota

  Jerry looked at the port VLSD. The tangled mess of submarine and torpedo tracks made it hard to figure out which way to go. Looking over at his XO, he saw Thigpen pulling his hair out trying to keep track of a very contorted and confusing situation.

  “Which way do I need to go, XO?”

  “Ah, um, recommend course three zero zero at fifteen knots. That should get us pretty close, I think. Time to launch, three minutes with no margin.”

  “Close is good enough, Bernie. These are nuclear weapons we’re launching. Pilot, left fifteen degrees rudder, steady course three zero zero. All ahead two-thirds.”

  As they watched North Dakota’s turn on the tactical display, Thigpen asked, “Skipper, do you think that was a deliberate setup? You know, fool us into believing it was like last time, then enable the torpedo at the last minute?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care,” Jerry replied angrily. Then, after a moment, he added, “I doubt it, but we don’t have time for this.”

  “He’s still evading our weapon, sir. We can command-shutdown the unit.”

  “We’ve still got the wire?” Jerry asked skeptically.

  “Surprisingly, yes. Even after all that pirouetting.”

>   Jerry shook his head. “No. Just cut the wire. I won’t give him another chance to shoot at us. If it hits him, so be it.” Jerry paused to consider the issue. “An Akula getting hit by a Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo. The Russians build them tough. It might not sink right away. They may have time to get to the escape chamber. If they’re lucky.”

  “Real lucky. One minute to launch, Captain, five hundred yards from launch point,” Thigpen reported.

  “Pilot, right full rudder, steady course north. Make turns for ten knots.”

  As the pilot echoed his command and North Dakota swung onto firing course, Jerry ordered, “Make tubes three and four ready in all respects. Confirm selection.”

  “Tubes three and four selected.” Thigpen stood behind the torpedo console operator, watching. He nodded to Jerry.

  “Captain, tubes three and four are ready in all respects, outer doors are open,” said Covey. “Torpedo course is set, medium speed selected, maximum depth selected, seeker set to acoustics off.”

  The torpedo’s course, speed, and depth had been predetermined by the engineers back in Washington, and all Covey’s people had to do was make sure the fire control system had the same values. One torpedo would head due east, the other due west, to the maximum length of their run. There was only one thing left to do.

  “Firing point procedures, tubes three and four,” announced Jerry.

  “Weapon ready,” replied Covey.

  “Ship ready,” reported Rothwell, the ship’s navigator.

  Jerry looked around control; this was it, “Stand by … SHOOT!”

  “Tubes three and four normal launch, weapons running hot, straight, and normal.”

  “It’s out of our hands now, XO. Pilot, hard right rudder steer course one eight zero, all ahead flank, make your depth one hundred feet. Sonar, cease active transmissions.”

  “What about the Akula, sir?” Thigpen asked. “We could warn him.”

  “Not a chance. He’s at flank speed. He’d never hear us.”

  INS Chakra

  They were still alive after three minutes, and Samant slowed Chakra a little so their sonar would function. As they fell below twenty knots, he could hear the relief in Lieutenant Rajat’s voice. “It’s confirmed. The American weapon is going after one of the decoys, bearing zero two five. It’s in a constant reattack pattern. We are outside its acquisition cone.”

  But then his alarm returned. “Torpedoes in the water! I have two more torpedoes!!”

  Fighting panic, Samant demanded, “Where are they? What are their bearings?” Which way should they dodge? Was there time to react, or were they about to die?

  Rajat’s tone suddenly changed from fear to confusion. “Captain, one torpedo bears two four five, drawing right, the other bears one two zero, drawing left.”

  “What?” Samant was totally confused.

  “I have down Doppler from both American torpedoes. They are headed away from us in opposite directions. Speed is also considerably slower than the first weapon.”

  “And where is the American submarine?” Samant asked.

  “It’s headed due south at high speed. He’s also changing depth, coming shallow.”

  The Indian captain almost shook his head to clear it. “Jain, he’s fired two torpedoes, evidently not aimed at us, to opposite ends of the compass, and is now heading away from us at high speed. Does that make any sense to you?”

  Lieutenant Rajat’s voice came over the speaker again. “The American’s speed has stabilized at thirty-two knots.”

  “And on top of everything else, he’s going so fast his own sonar is useless.” Samant was working the problem, but it just didn’t fit together.

  “Don’t forget the depth change, sir. I don’t understand it, and I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I. Helm, new course one eight zero, flank speed,” Samant snapped. “Make your depth forty meters.”

  He turned to Jain. “I don’t know what he’s doing, but if he thinks this is a good idea, so do I.”

  They watched Chakra’s speed build quickly. “We’re going to be leaving a wake on the surface, Captain.”

  Samant nodded. “Understood, but if he’s not concerned, then neither am I. He launches two torpedoes, then runs away from them at maximum speed…” Samant’s expression changed from confusion to shock, with Jain’s face mirroring his half a second later. “Sound collision! All hands brace for shock!”

  * * *

  At forty knots, it took the U.S. torpedoes nearly half an hour to reach the end of their eighteen-nautical-mile range. The weapons were set to run deep, so deep that the explosive pulse would just barely break the surface. This not only minimized the potential damage to any surface ships, but made sure that the majority of the warhead’s energy was transferred to the water and the ocean floor—in other words, a massive sound wave.

  North Dakota was eighteen miles away from the two detonations. Chakra, a few miles in trail, was sixteen miles away. The ten-kiloton underwater burst was only lethal out to a few thousand yards, but would have damaged either boat if they’d been within four or five nautical miles.

  * * *

  While they were waiting, braced, Samant and Jain took the time to review other possible scenarios, and came up with none. Working it through, they knew the time the American had launched his weapons, and the range and speed of the U.S. Mark 48 torpedo. They could calculate the time of detonation, assuming a maximum run. Jain even added in a time/distance calculation for the speed of sound in water. They could relax for a short while. Sort of.

  The only thing they could not estimate was the size of the warhead. At this distance, they should be clear, probably, unless the torpedo was fitted with a really large nuclear device. How big was it? These were the Americans, after all.

  Twenty-seven minutes after the U.S. torpedoes were fired, Samant ordered again, “All hands, brace.” He waited, watching the seconds pass, and prayed that if he was right, all of his assumptions were right.

  After a minute and fifteen seconds, Jain called on the sub’s announcing system, “Stand by for shock wave, any second now.”

  Samant could feel his hands sweating, slick on the metal surface. He was thinking about wiping them off, one at a time, of course, when the deck suddenly rose and fell, as if they’d ridden over a speed bump too quickly.

  Lieutenant Rajat started to speak, but a second jolt, as hard as the first, rattled them again, but then it was past, and that was it.

  As they all began to breathe again, Rajat began his report. “Captain, the sonar’s flooded with noise. All frequencies are being drowned out. It’s completely blind.”

  “Go to active mode. See if you can find the American sub.”

  Rajat pressed a switch and watched the screens. “It’s no good, sir. The echoes from the active pulses are drowned out as well. Our sonar is completely useless.”

  18 September 2016

  2405 Eastern Daylight Time

  CNN Headline News

  Washington, D.C.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.”

  Myles walked to the podium slowly, deliberately. It was done, and nothing could change that. He’d rolled the dice. It only remained to tell the world, and see if it was enough.

  His staff had put out the word that he would make a major announcement about the Pacific War, and every news feed that mattered was listening. The fact that the news conference was set for just after midnight only fueled the wild speculation.

  Some partisans predicted he would finally throw in with the alliance, which showed he was opportunistic. Others opined he would finally declare neutrality, which would prove how weak America was.

  Myles began his speech by glancing at his watch.

  “Exactly six minutes ago, on my orders, eight ten-kiloton nuclear devices were detonated in the depths of the South and East China Seas.”

  The gasps and uproar in the press corps went on for almost ten minutes. Myles made no attempt to stop it. He si
mply waited silently for the commotion to die down, and when they were quiet again, he continued.

  “These devices were placed by four U.S. Navy submarines, deployed to carefully plotted positions in the South China Sea and East China Sea, where they each fired two specially modified torpedoes, each fitted with a nuclear warhead.

  “The torpedoes were not aimed at anything or anybody, and were detonated at a depth that minimized the blast and radioactive contamination from reaching the surface. They presented no danger to nearby ships, and based on reports from U.S. aircraft monitoring the operation, did not cause any injuries or damage.”

  Myles was watching the audience as he read from the teleprompter. They were completely silent, almost transfixed. They were full of questions, he knew, but also curious as hell. Why, then?

  “One effect of these weapons, which we did our best to maximize, was something called ‘blue-out.’ The shock waves from these eight blasts will reverberate through the entire South and East China Sea basins for days, completely blinding all sonars. Submarines cannot find their prey or detect another ship, save by short-ranged periscope or radar. Surface ships cannot hunt for submarines, and cannot know if they are about to be attacked, unless they spot said periscope. Aircraft cannot hunt for subs except by radar, visual search, or magnetic anomaly detectors, which are very short-ranged and unreliable.

  “Since this war began, the United States has done its utmost to convince the warring parties to quickly end the conflict, before the violence escalates to a level no rational human wishes to see.

  “In spite of our best efforts, both sides have repeatedly refused to consider any negotiations to end their dispute, or even declare what their definition of victory was. Today, the United States has imposed at least a partial cease-fire at sea. The Littoral Alliance’s most powerful weapons, its submarines, are virtually impotent. But as impotent as they are, the Chinese Navy cannot ignore, or even detect, a submarine, if it happens to be nearby.”

  Myles paused for a moment, and looked at the line of television cameras at the back of the room. His image was being seen around the world.