by Larry Bond
“Tube one at action state,” Rakash reported, now wearing his first officer hat. “Two thousand meters to firing point.”
“Very well.” Jain was watching the time and distance carefully, but launching the weapon was only the next step in a continuing process. Actually, he was already thinking about the turn, which would be just a little to the right. That would take them toward the northern exit from the channel, another five miles ahead.
“Confirm the settings,” Jain ordered.
Kirit, the combat system officer, reported, “Turn to zero zero zero degrees, due north, for seventeen nautical miles, one waypoint with a turn to zero three two, then five point two miles. Constant depth of fifteen meters until the dive at the end.”
Jain followed along on the chart as the combat system officer read off the torpedo’s ordered course. It was all correct. The weapon could actually swim as far as twenty-seven nautical miles, and could turn more than once, but once was enough for this port. Not only did the torpedo’s long range shorten the time he had to spend in a hostile location, but the harbor shallowed rapidly to the north, with depths of much less than thirty meters. Twenty meters was average, in some spots less than that. The torpedo could operate freely at fifteen meters, but Chakra would need wheels to stay submerged in water that shallow, if she could do it at all.
Jain walked over to the torpedo control console. Kirit had selected “Arming Code” on his display, and the cursor hovered over an empty box. A new keypad, part of Chakra’s modifications, sat on the upper left corner of the console, and Jain looked at the card he’d taken out of his shirt pocket. He slowly punched in the eight-digit code on the keypad, checking each number as he entered it, and as he typed the last digit, the numbers changed from white to red, and were then replaced with “Armed.”
“Firing point in one minute.”
Jain ordered, “Open bow cap on tube one.” Operating the mechanism that opened the outer tube door would make some noise for a short time, called a “transient.” In open water he might worry about a hostile sub hearing it, but in the bedlam of a harbor it was just one more hammer in a boiler factory.
“Bow cap open on tube number one,” Kirit reported. “Standing by.”
Jain watched Rakash, and Rakash watched the clock and the chart display. Jain could see him counting down, and the first officer said, “Fifteen seconds,” and then, “Firing point.”
“Firing sequence, tube one.”
“Firing sequence tube one, aye,” Kirit responded, then announced, “Torpedo is away.”
Jain was ready. “Close bow cap on tube one, starboard fifteen, steady on new course zero three seven.” He watched Rakash as he gave the order. The first officer nodded, confirming that the preplanned course was still good.
Five miles to the exit. He was tempted to increase speed, like a thief leaving the scene of a crime, but a wise thief would know to walk, and not run, lest he draw attention to himself.
Once they were steadied on their new course, and clear of any traffic using the northern part of the channel, Jain picked up the microphone for the general announcing system. “Attention, all hands, this is the Captain. You have all performed your different duties extremely well, without asking questions. That doesn’t mean you don’t have questions, and I can now tell you that our mission is to strike deep at the heart of Pakistan’s patron and supplier, China. We have just launched a single torpedo which, about twenty minutes from now, will reach the heart of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor and dive down, burying itself in the mud at the base of Stonecutters Bridge. In eight days, at exactly noon, the nuclear warhead the torpedo carries will detonate, destroying the heart of one of China’s largest ports.
“We have four more such weapons, and will visit four more ports before we leave Chinese waters. We will be well out to sea by April twenty-third, when all five torpedoes explode at the same moment, crippling our old enemy and signaling the start of a new surprise offensive by our ground and air forces in Pakistan. Without the Chinese to prop them up, the Paks will turn tail and their lines will crumble. By the time we return home, China will be in ruins and the war will be over, with the Pakistanis in front of us on their knees!”
He hadn’t intended to put that much emotion into the speech, but the thought of an end to not just the current war, but the decades-long struggle with Pakistan, had fired his mind since Vice Admiral Dhankhar had given him his orders. He’d do his utmost to knock out the supports that had kept Pakistan fighting long after she should have given up.
Besides, he must have struck the right tone, because while the crewmen in the central post were quiet, he could hear cheering coming from the fore and aft passageways.
Although reaching the firing point and launching the weapon was a major accomplishment, the reality was anticlimactic. There was no explosion, and would not be for several days, thank goodness. For all the excitement, they could have just as easily delivered a gallon of milk. He took some comfort in the fact that there were now only four nuclear weapons aboard his boat, instead of five.
Although the northern part of the Lema Channel was also divided into two lanes, there was considerably less traffic here, and it was a much shorter run, just five and a half miles to the turn point past Dangan Island on the southeast side. The greatest hazard was still navigational, and while they’d had to be careful around several submerged wrecks in the channel on the way in, the northern passage was littered with them, which might explain the lighter traffic. The biggest problem were three wrecks spaced like the posts of a picket fence, roughly one mile apart across the six-mile-wide exit. They were too deep for a merchant ship to worry about, but they lay square in his path.
Forty-five minutes after they had turned, and in accordance with the plan they’d worked out long before entering the harbor, Jain said, “Energize the Arfa sonar.”
The Arfa was the exact opposite of Chakra’s main Skat-3 search sonar, which was a big, low-frequency set that lined the sub’s flanks and filled the bow. Arfa was much smaller, and fit on the front of the sub’s sail. It also operated at a much higher frequency, well above human hearing. While it couldn’t see more than a couple of miles or so out in front of the sub, it gave a clear image on the display, not quite an underwater camera but good enough to make out what was in front of them. Its earliest ancestors had guided submarines through minefields in World War II, and it could locate mines or obstructions, like wrecks, in a sub’s path.
Although it sent out an active high-frequency ping, high-frequency sound didn’t go as far as lower frequencies. An active pulse from the Skat-3 sonar transducer would carry dozens of miles. The Arfa’s signal would weaken quickly. Besides, he wasn’t going to leave it on all the time.
“No sign of obstructions,” Rakash reported, or rather confirmed. Jain could see for himself that the Arfa’s display was clear. “Recommend cease transmissions, next transmission in ten minutes.”
“Very well,” Jain acknowledged. They’d be fifteen hundred meters farther along, with a good chance of spotting the wrecks. He was beginning to feel impatient. His mind was already out past Dangan Island, wondering again if there was any way to shave more time off the trip to the next port.
“Tube one has been reloaded with a conventional UGST torpedo,” Kirit reported.
“Very well.” They would have to pull the weapon out when they reached the next target so they could load a nuclear-armed torpedo, but until then, he wanted all eight tubes ready for a fight.
Traffic was lighter in the channel, but there was still one ship approaching, and another almost out. The departing ship had been much closer when they turned, but with them still creeping at five knots, it had pulled steadily away.
“Recommend energizing Arfa sonar again.”
“All right, First Officer, go ahead.”
Thirty seconds later they studied a white-on-green image of the seabed and the objects ahead of them. It resembled a false-color television picture, but strangely shadowed, unless
you understood what it represented. Things that reflected sonar well were bright, while softer or porous materials were dimmer. Rocks and new metals were brightest, then sand and corroded metal were a little dimmer. Mud and masses of plant life showed as dark spots. There was enough resolution to not only see the three wrecks, but also their condition. One was little more than a skeleton, one an angular mass of metal, while the third was almost intact. Passing too close to any of them would risk damaging his boat.
A bearing readout across the bottom of the screen gave Jain exactly what he needed. “Starboard fifteen, steer zero three four.”
The helmsman acknowledged the order, and Jain said, “Rakash, I intend to go to the left of the center wreck. The gap between left and center…”
“Torpedo propellers bearing green zero one four! Seeker is active!” shouted the sonar operator over the intercom. The acoustic intercept receiver, a device designed to listen for and warn them about hostile sonar transmissions, began beeping loudly just as sonar gave their report.
“Release countermeasure, release decoy!” Jain gave the order almost without thinking. “Rapid fire procedures, tubes one and two, torpedo course zero four six, zero five zero! Full speed, minimal enable run! Fire!”
Jain barely heard Kirit acknowledge the firing order. “Helmsman, increase speed to twenty knots, change depth to eighteen meters.” His maneuvering orders were punctuated by two dull shocks he could feel through the deck as the torpedoes were fired.
He looked around the central post. The decoy and countermeasure were out there, hopefully muddying up the water, and he’d counterfired two weapons back down the bearing of the approaching torpedo. The deck was vibrating under their feet as the prop spun, churning the water into froth as Chakra built up speed. For the moment, that was all they could do. Was it enough?
“Sonar, report.”
“Seeker is active, constant bearing.”
Rakash was watching the sonar display next to Jain. They were still heading for the gap between the wrecks, although Chakra seemed to be going slower, not speeding up.
The first officer observed, “Turning really isn’t an option here…”
“In the channel?” Jain observed. “Besides, that would mean turning back the way we came. Open water and safety is out ahead of us. Kirit, what about our torpedoes?”
“Both running at speed, their seekers are still searching.”
Sonar reported, “Hostile torpedo has shifted from short scale back to search! Steady bearing rate!”
“It’s lost us?” Jain wondered hopefully.
“The countermeasure…” Rakash suggested.
“Hopefully the weapons we sent back will force our attacker to maneuver, breaking any guidance wire. And when the weapon searches for us, it will hopefully home in on either the decoy or maybe even one of the wrecks we are rapidly closing on.”
“Passing fifteen knots,” the helmsman reported. Jain knew that by looking at the Arfa’s sonar display; the sonar didn’t work well at high speed, and the image was blurring and washing out.
He made one last adjustment. “Starboard ten, steer zero three six.”
The wrecks were just a few hundred meters ahead, barely more than a boat length.
Jain announced, “After we’re past the wrecks, I’m going to go active for one ping. Hopefully we will see him. Stand by for sharp maneuvers and to fire another pair of torpedoes. Open bow caps on tubes three and four.”
Jain saw heads nodding. Both Rakash and Kirit said “Understood” softly.
“Sonar, what about the torpedo?” he demanded.
“It’s gone, Captain. Constant bearing all the way. It must have passed directly under us. It’s in the baffles now.” He could almost hear the man’s shrug over the intercom.
“One of our torpedoes has shifted to short scale!” The sonarman’s excited report was almost a shout.
They were past the line of wrecks by now. Part of him wanted to slow down, but the more distance they put between them and the hostile torpedo, the better. It had to be turning by now …
“Explosion!”
“Where away?” Jain demanded.
“Off our starboard bow. Solid hit.” The sonar operator, Chief Petty Officer Patil, had seen enough attacks on merchants during the war to know what one should sound like. But what about the weapon searching for them?
It came an eternity later, almost thirty seconds by the clock. “Sonar reports a low rumble, evaluated as reverberation from an explosion.” Their enemy’s weapon had found something to home in on, and attacked it, all of it happening in their blind zone aft. Still, an echo was all they needed to hear.
“Rakash, can we turn now?”
The navigator only had to glance at the plot. “Yes, Captain! Recommend course one seven five, new depth twenty-five meters. We can increase depth to forty meters in fifteen minutes—twenty minutes if we slow to fifteen knots, which I strongly recommend.”
Jain realized he was gripping the edge of the chart table, hard, and told his hands to let go. They did, which was a relief, and he realized he had fought and won his first battle as Chakra’s captain.
He gave the helmsman the new course, speed, and depth, then turned back to the chart table. He studied the chart and did the math.
“He fired an active weapon, which meant he was close, no more than five thousand meters. That’s how I knew I could fire active weapons back,” Jain remarked to Rakash.
Jain then asked, “Sonar. Did you ever see more than one torpedo fired at us? Did you identify the type?”
“Yes, Captain. Only one weapon was fired and it was a TEST-71 on the high speed setting.”
Jain nodded knowingly. The TEST-71 was a Russian-made torpedo. Chakra had been equipped with similar weapons in the past, but they’d been replaced a few years ago with the newer UGST torpedoes, also Russian-made, but a smarter, more dangerous weapon.
“And they only fired one torpedo,” Jain observed. “That means the shooter was one of their Kilo-class diesel boats. They can only fire one wire-guided torpedo at a time.”
Jain shook his head disparagingly. “He should have fired two and just depended on the torpedo’s seekers.”
Rakash argued, “But the seekers wouldn’t be able to tell us apart from the wrecks.”
“You’re right,” Jain agreed. “So he had to go for positive control and bet on a single shot being enough.”
“But how did he hear us in the harbor? There were at least two merchants between him and us, both as noisy as cement mixers. And active sonar wouldn’t help him search with all that junk on the bottom.”
“But it did,” Jain countered, smiling. “Our own active mine-hunting sonar, that is. When we used our Arfa to search for the wrecks, he heard the pings, but not on his passive search sonar.”
Jain looked at the other officers. They were listening, trying to understand. In fact, the central post was perfectly silent. Everybody was listening.
“The Russian Kilo-class subs the Chinese bought are fitted with the same Arfa collision-avoidance sonar we use. Our first transmission, just for a short time, probably showed up as a spike on their display. That warned them we were out there. Then, we ran it continuously as we approached the wrecks, it not only confirmed our presence, but gave him a beacon to line up his shot.”
Jain admitted, “I made an assumption about the mine-hunting sonar that almost killed us. I failed to ask a very important question about who or what might be searching for us. Well, we know they’ll be searching for us now.”
19
FLAMING DATUM
15 April 2017
1800 Local Time
USS North Dakota
20 NM South-Southwest of Ping Zhou Island
South China Sea
* * *
“CAPTAIN TO CONTROL,” blared the 1MC, the ship’s general announcing system. Jerry was in the torpedo room with Petrov when Thigpen’s summons echoed throughout the ship. Dodging between the torpedo stowage racks and t
hen up a ladder, Jerry moved at flank speed, with Petrov close behind. By the time they reached control, Samant was already beside Thigpen at the command workstation.
“It looks like she got past us,” Thigpen stated grimly while handing his CO a message. “It’s from the Squadron Fifteen OPCENTER.”
Jerry took the piece of paper, glanced at it quickly, sighed, and read the message out loud. “Two large explosions reported by multiple civilian merchant ships in the vicinity of 22.11 north latitude, 114.20 east longitude at approximately sixteen hundred hotel time. No PLAN ships are listed as being in that area. Location of explosions is just north of Dangan Island in Dangan Shuido, which suggests Chakra was egressing from Hong Kong harbor area on an easterly course. Recommend you alter search area to the northeast in the direction of Ningbo-Zhoushan. PLAN has been notified of likely successful planting of nuclear-armed torpedo in Victoria Harbor and/or the Port of Shenzhen. North Carolina has been alerted.”
He passed the message to Petrov, mumbling his frustration under his breath: “Damn it!” Spinning about, Jerry looked at the quartermaster of the watch and growled, “Show me that location.”
“Yessir,” replied the petty officer hastily. It was rare for the CO to be so pissed off. The chart display shifted and centered on the location, just outside Hong Kong. “Here is the reported position, Skipper, just to the right of the shipping channel.” The young sailor pointed to the spot on the horizontal large-screen display.
Jerry nodded, and after a brief moment asked, “Where were we at sixteen hundred?” The quartermaster quickly entered in the time, and the pip marking North Dakota’s location shifted twenty nautical miles back along her track. By now Thigpen, Samant, and Petrov had gathered around the HLSD. A line of bearing extended from North Dakota ran right smack into the center of Dangan Island.
“No wonder we didn’t hear the explosions,” Jerry grumbled. “There’s a fricking island in the way!”