Ice Station Nautilus (6 page)

In the fast attack submarine’s Control Room, Lieutenant Commander Sites, who had been stationed as Command Duty Officer for the midwatch, finished briefing Commander Tolbert.

“Contact is steady on course north, speed ten, range five thousand yards.”

“You are secured as CDO,” Tolbert said.

Not much had changed in the last six hours.
Dolgoruky
was still plodding along at ten knots, headed north. As Tolbert considered the Russian captain’s intentions, traveling so deep under the polar ice cap, he surveyed the activity in the Control Room. The Navigator was on watch as Officer of the Deck this time, along with Lieutenant “JP” Vaugh as Junior Officer of the Deck, in charge of the Section Tracking Party. It was quiet in Control, not much going on. Tolbert settled into the Captain’s chair in front of the navigation plot, preparing for a long, but hopefully uneventful day.

YURY DOLGORUKY

“All compartments report ready for combat.”

Stepanov acknowledged, and Captain Lieutenant Evanoff added, “A mobile decoy has been loaded in tube One.”

To evade the American submarine following them, Stepanov would launch one of his two mobile decoys. The decoy had a “swim-out” feature—it would propel itself out of the torpedo tube instead of being ejected. This was critical for two reasons: the swim-out capability eliminated the loud torpedo tube launch transient, which would alert the American submarine that
Dolgoruky
was up to something. Secondly, if the Americans detected the launch transient, it was possible they would conclude a torpedo was being fired at them and counterfire.

Captain Lieutenant Evanoff followed up, “Request decoy presets.”

“Set course one-eight-zero,” Stepanov replied, “ten knots, depth one hundred and forty meters. Set under-ice sonar transmissions—on.”

Evanoff relayed the settings to the fire control Michman, who entered the parameters into his console. Stepanov checked the clock. It had taken four minutes to man Combat Stations and load a decoy.

Stepanov made the announcement loudly, so everyone in the Command Post could hear. “This is the Captain. I have the Conn. Steersman, left ten degrees rudder, steady course one-eight-zero.” He turned to his Watch Officer. “Open muzzle door, tube One.”

USS
NORTH DAKOTA

“Sonar, Conn. Possible contact zig, Master One, due to upshift in frequency.”

Tolbert noted the Sonar Supervisor’s announcement, then stood and moved behind Petty Officer Tom Phillips, assigned as the Plots Operator for the Section Tracking Party. Phillips studied the time frequency plot, watching the tonal slowly increase, then steady up.

Phillips spoke into his headset, “All stations, Plots. Twenty knot upshift in frequency. Contact has either reversed course or is more broad and has increased speed. Analyzing.”

Lieutenant Vaugh, seated at the command workstation as Junior Officer of the Deck, examined the time-bearing plot on his display. After noting the bearings to Master One were drifting left, he announced, “Confirm target zig, Master One. Set anchor range five thousand yards. Contact has turned to port and is on a closing trajectory.”

A moment later, the Sonar Supervisor reported, “Receiving high-frequency ice-detection pulses from Master One.”

Dolgoruky
was definitely headed toward them.

YURY DOLGORUKY

“Steady on course one-eight-zero,” the Steersman announced.

Stepanov acknowledged the report, then checked the geographic display on the fire control console. He had turned with a ten-degree rudder, putting
Dolgoruky
on a reciprocal course with a slow turn to the west. The last thing he wanted was to run into a submarine trailing them. The water column was very narrow, with only 140 meters between the ocean bottom and the lowest ice keels. After taking into account safety margins to the bottom and ice above, Stepanov figured both submarines were traveling at the same depth or close to it.

It would not be long before they would learn if the American submarine was still following them. He waited for a report from Hydroacoustic, but the Command Post speakers were silent. Another minute passed without a report, then a voice broke the silence.

“Command Post, Hydroacoustic. Hold a new contact on the towed array, designated Hydroacoustic seven, a sixty-point-two-Hertz tonal, ambiguous bearings one-six-zero and two-zero-zero.”

Stepanov responded immediately—they were approaching the sixty-meter-deep ice ridge.

“Prepare to Fire, tube One.”

His crew executed the order quickly, and in less than a minute, Stepanov received the report from Captain Lieutenant Evanoff. “Ready to fire, tube One.”

“Launch decoy, tube One.”

The fire control Michman announced, “Decoy launched from tube One.”

Stepanov ordered, “All stop. Shift to electric drive.” He glanced at the under-ice sonar. The ice keel was five hundred meters away. Stepanov followed up with, “Secure all sonars.”

The watchstanders complied and the Steersman soon announced, “Propulsion has been shifted to the electric drive.”

Dolgoruky
had gone quiet, securing its main engines and sonars. There was one thing left to do. “Steersman, back one-third. Compensation Officer, set Hovering to fifty meters.”

Dolgoruky
slowed, rising toward the ice.

USS
NORTH DAKOTA

“Conn, Sonar. Picking up transients from Master One.”

“What kind of transients?” the Navigator asked.

The Sonar Supervisor answered, “We detected a faint broadband transient, which lasted for ten seconds. It wasn’t metallic—it sounded more like cavitation. But there’s been no change in Master One’s frequency that would correlate to a speed increase.”

As Tolbert tried to figure out what
Dolgoruky
was up to, he examined the sonar screens.
Dolgoruky
’s fifty-Hertz tonal was coming in stronger than ever now that
Dolgoruky
had turned toward them and was closing. How close would she get? He examined the geographic plot on Petty Officer Phillips’s display.
Dolgoruky
was headed south at ten knots, with a CPA of two thousand yards.

Tolbert had a problem. At two thousand yards,
North Dakota
would likely be detected. But to open CPA range, he’d have to turn away, no longer following in
Dolgoruky
’s track. There was no way he was going to travel blindly under the ice cap, yet at the same time, he didn’t want to activate his under-ice sonar, giving away
North Dakota
’s presence.

That was his dilemma. Activate his under-ice sonar and ensure counter-detection, or let
Dolgoruky
close to two thousand yards and hope for the best. Neither was a good option, but he chose the lesser of two evils. He would stay on course.

However, he could improve the odds
North Dakota
passed by undetected. “Pilot, all stop.”

North Dakota
’s main engine turbines, reduction gears, and propulsor stopped spinning. Slowly,
North Dakota
coasted to a halt.

YURY DOLGORUKY

As
Dolgoruky
rose slowly toward the ice canopy, Stepanov monitored his submarine’s depth and speed. They had risen to ninety meters, approaching zero knots.

“Steersman, all stop.”

The sixty-meter-deep ice keel would soon be between
Dolgoruky
and the American submarine. For Stepanov’s plan to work, the American submarine had to stay on the other side of the keel, and that depended on whether
Dolgoruky
’s decoy fooled them.

As
Dolgoruky
rose to seventy meters, the Hydroacoustic Party Leader made the report Stepanov hoped for. “Command Post, Hydroacoustic. Ten knot downshift in frequency from Hydroacoustic seven. Contact is slowing or turning away.”

The American submarine had either stopped or turned ninety degrees. When the decoy passed by, the American captain would hopefully turn and follow, staying on the other side of the ice keel.

The Steersman called out, “Depth, sixty meters, zero knots.”
Dolgoruky
’s ascent slowed, and a moment later, Stepanov received another welcome report. “Command Post, Hydroacoustic. Loss of Hydroacoustic seven.”

The ice keel was now between the two submarines, and if
Dolgoruky
could no longer track the American submarine, the Americans could not detect
Dolgoruky
.

“On ordered depth, fifty meters,” the Steersman announced.

Dolgoruky
hung motionless beneath the ice.

USS
NORTH DAKOTA

Tolbert watched tensely as Master One approached its CPA of two thousand yards. As the contact closed, Sonar reported a detection of Master One on the spherical array and then the port Wide Aperture Array on
North Dakota
’s hull. It was quiet in the Control Room. Every watchstander realized how close the Russian submarine would come.

The contact’s course and speed remained steady as it reached CPA, then passed by. When Master One opened to four thousand yards, Tolbert resumed trailing. “Pilot, ahead two-thirds. Left five degrees rudder. Steady course one-eight-zero.”

North Dakota
picked up speed and reversed course, and a few minutes later settled back into
Dolgoruky
’s wake. Master One remained steady on course and speed, giving no indication
North Dakota
had been detected.

As the tension eased from Tolbert’s body, the Sonar Supervisor spoke into his headset. “Conn, Sonar. Request the Captain at Sonar.”

Tolbert joined Chief Bob Bush on the port side of Control.

“We may have an issue,” Bush began. “Master One passed by at two thousand yards, but we didn’t pick up propulsion or steam-plant-related broadband. Additionally, we should have picked up other tonals, but we didn’t. We held only the fifty-Hertz tonal and
Dolgoruky
’s ice-detection sonar.”

Tolbert considered Chief Bush’s report. The contact was too
clean
. Nuclear-powered submarines had dozens of pumps, electrical generators, and spinning turbines creating noise. At long distances, only strong, low-frequency tonals were detected. But as the range decreased, higher-frequency tonals as well as broadband would normally be heard. Either
Dolgoruky
was an incredibly quiet contact, or …

“We could be following a decoy,” Bush said.

Tolbert was quiet. If they were following a decoy, it was no bigger than a torpedo. There was an easy way to determine whether they were following a small decoy or a large submarine—go active and measure the size of the object. But that would give away
North Dakota
’s presence. However, if they were following a decoy, they needed to figure it out fast before
Dolgoruky
slipped away.

“Transmit on MFA,” Tolbert ordered, “Forward sector only, five-thousand-yard range scale.”

A moment later,
North Dakota
transmitted on their Mid-Frequency Active sonar and the return lit up the sonar screen; directly ahead was a small white blip. Chief Bush reported, “Contact width is less than five feet.”

Tolbert gritted his teeth. He’d been fooled into following a decoy. The Russian captain was good. But the game wasn’t over. They hadn’t been following the decoy very long and could still regain track on
Dolgoruky
. Tolbert recalled the short burst of cavitation they’d detected. That must have been when the decoy was launched. An examination of the navigation plot determined that spot was ten thousand yards to the north.

“Pilot, come to course north,” Tolbert ordered. “Sonar, Conn. Prepare to transmit MFA, forward sector, ten-thousand-yard range scale.”

North Dakota
swung back to the north, and as she steadied up, Bush reported, “Conn, Sonar. Ready to transmit MFA.”

“Transmit.”

North Dakota
transmitted, but this time, instead of a single contact, there was a wide band of white running across the screen.

“Ice keel at ten thousand yards,” the Sonar Supervisor announced. “No contacts between us and the ice keel.”

Tolbert immediately discerned what the Russian captain had done. He had gone shallow to place the ice keel between the two submarines, and was slipping away as
North Dakota
followed his decoy south.

There was no time to lose. Tolbert ordered, “Pilot, ahead full,” then turned to the Officer of the Deck. “Station the Fire Control Tracking Party.”

A few minutes later, the Fire Control Tracking Party was stationed, returning the Control Room to full manning as
North Dakota
sped north.

YURY DOLGORUKY

Captain Stepanov checked the clock in the Command Post.
Dolgoruky
had hidden behind the ice keel for thirty minutes. At ten knots, the American submarine would have traveled far enough for
Dolgoruky
to slip away.

“Set Hovering to one hundred and forty meters,” Stepanov ordered. They were pointed directly at the ice keel, and would need to drop beneath it before restoring propulsion.

The Compensation Officer dialed in the depth, and valves in the variable ballast tanks opened, flooding water into the tanks.
Dolgoruky
began its descent.

Stepanov added, “Resume transmitting on top- and bottomsounders.”

The two sonars started transmitting again, measuring the distance to the ice and bottom. As
Dolgoruky
dropped beneath the ice keel, offering a clear view of the water to the south, a report blared from the speakers. “Command Post, Hydroacoustic. Regain of Hydroacoustic seven, bearing one-seven-eight. SNR has increased nine decibels!”

Stepanov didn’t need to do the calculations to know they were in trouble. They had previously held the American submarine at four thousand meters, which meant it was now only five hundred meters away.

Hydroacoustic followed up with, “Detecting broadband propulsion noises from Hydroacoustic seven. Contact is operating at high speed!”