Seawolf End Game (30 page)

Kristen tuned these two distractions out and resumed searching for the other sounds she knew were out there. The
Seawolf
was hovering in about three hundred feet of water and pointing back toward the Gulf of Oman, and Kristen hoped to use the
Seawolf’s
extremely powerful hydrophones built into the massive bow sonar array to help reacquire the other targets. She readjusted her system to her preferred settings, allowing more sounds through the computer filters so she could, for herself, discriminate the useful information from the clutter.

She knew the general direction where the
Audacious
and the second
Akula
had been operating and began moving her joystick to slowly and methodically search every bearing for any sound. But she’d barely started when off to her left she heard Greenberg on the broadband stack nearly shout, “Submerged contact! Bearing zero-three-eight. Sounds like a single propeller.”

Kristen turned onto the new bearing and adjusted her controls as others began picking up the sounds.

“Single screw. Definitely a sub,” Goodman offered.

Kristen listened closely, but heard no plant sounds or rushing water indicating a cooling pump. She focused on the blade noise and looked up at Miller. “It’s another
Kilo.”

The others began working the contact while she resumed searching for other contacts, and Miller reported the second
Kilo
submarine, this one submerged, to the control room. The
Kilo
on its present course would pass dangerously close to the
Seawolf,
and Brodie increased speed slightly, maneuvering away silently. It was growing increasingly crowded in the narrow channel with too many submarines and not enough sea.

It was just a matter of time before someone made a mistake.

They’d just started moving to get clear of the approaching
Kilo
when Kristen, while sweeping the area to the front of the
Seawolf,
picked up a gentle rushing sound, as if water moving through a tube.

“Submerged contact. Bearing three-five-eight. Possible cooling pumps. Probable nuclear submarine,” she reported and began refining her search.

“Con, sonar. Submerged contact bearing three-five-eight, possible submerged nuclear submarine designate contact as
Sierra Twelve,
” Miller reported.

Kristen recognized the sound; it was faint however, and she nearly lost it in a school of fish swimming through the Strait. “It’s the
Audacious,
Chief. She’s moving,” Kristen reported and began looking for the
Akula
in the vicinity of the British submarine.

The
Seawolf
was still moving slowly, like a ghost cloaked in a deep fog on a dark night. She was invisible, her own plant noises so slight the chances of detection were nearly impossible. Kristen knew Brodie wanted to avoid a fight if possible and was trying to move them away from the
Kilo
as the unsuspecting Iranian submarine came too close for comfort. But Kristen felt like their painstaking approach and successful launch of the drones would be spoiled as it looked increasingly clear that the nest of Russian and Iranian submarines were awaking to the intruders in their midst.

“Submerged contact,” Greenberg reported anxiously from the broadband stack, “bearing three-four-zero.”

“Jesus,” Miller whispered echoing everyone else’s thoughts.

When they’d initially approached the minefield, they’d detected multiple submarines, which had all been sitting quietly. But while the
Seawolf
had been facing the minefield and her baffles had been facing the other submarines, something had happened to start the entire group moving. Kristen could almost feel the numerous itchy trigger fingers around them.

“Con, sonar. New sonar contact bearing three-four-zero. Probable submerged submarine. Designate contact as
Sierra Fourteen
.”

Kristen moved onto the new contact, adjusting her glasses as she stared at the green waterfall before her and listened intently on the bearing. It took her a few seconds to hear it. “She’s the
Akula
,” Kristen said with a bit of excitement in her voice. “She’s picking up speed and has engaged her propeller. Her plant noise is picking up, too.”

She was beginning to understand what may have occurred to start things moving.

The
Akula
had been lying in wait and had probably not picked up the
Audacious.
But the
Audacious
had been forced to move as the
Kilo
came too close to her, just as the
Kilo
was now coming too close to the
Seawolf
. As the
Audacious
increased speed, the
Akula
heard the Brit and was now maneuvering to get another bearing on the British boat they might use to triangulate a firing solution.

Information was now coming fast and furious. The computer took over monitoring the
Alvand
and the snorkeling
Kilo
, both of which were so loud they couldn’t have heard a freight train passing by them. Meanwhile, the
Seawolf
changed course in order to get its own second bearing on the
Akula
in the event they had to shoot. With the squawk box on, the sound from the control room was constant as the
Seawolf
moved closer and closer to firing her weapons. Kristen knew the situation was rapidly spinning out of control as the
Akula
increased speed slightly and changed course again, having managed to get a second bearing on the
Audacious.

“Aspect change on
Akula Nine
; contact has changed course,” she reported and continued to give bearing changes on the
Akula
until they had a more solid fix. Her words no longer had to be passed to the control room as they were now on a hot microphone to save time. “
Akula Nine
has increased speed to eight knots and is now at seven thousand yards; she’s turning toward the
Audacious,
” Kristen reported.

She then heard Brodie’s voice. Calm and steady. She could almost envision him in the control room standing impassively. He’d tried to avoid a fight, but now it was upon him.
“Make tubes three and four ready in all respects. Input the firing solution for the
Akula
into both weapons.”

Kristen knew it was coming. She’d expected it hours earlier and had been prepared for it then. But now, after hours of patient stalking and sneaking, she’d allowed herself to believe they might be able to avoid what was now staring them in the face. Even as she was thinking this, she heard him continue to ready the
Seawolf
to unleash her fury on the multiple contacts all around them. Solutions for both
Kilo
submarines were loaded into weapons and more tubes were flooded.

“Transients,” Kristen was about to call out as Martinez did.
“Akula Nine
is flooding her tubes.”

The order had been anticipated. Everyone knew it was coming. It had been only a matter of time from the moment they’d received their orders to break through the Strait and find the
Borei.
But now as the order was issued, it came as a surprise.

“Tube three, match bearings and shoot,”
she heard Brodie’s voice over the speaker.
“Stand by to commence high speed maneuvering. Prepare to launch a full spread. Ready Aselsan in tube seven.”

Kristen heard the order but didn’t quite believe it until she detected the MK48 torpedo clearing the tubes. The torpedo’s screw turned slowly, just fast enough to swim out of the tube. Trailing behind the weapon was a slender guidance wire spooling out from the rear of the torpedo itself as it swam away from the
Seawolf
in preparation to commencing a high-speed run toward the
Akula
. The guidance wire allowed the tracking parties on the
Seawolf
to provide constant course changes and target updates to the torpedo as it moved toward its objective, allowing the torpedo to leave its own active sonar seeker head in the standby mode until it was nearly on top of its victim.

Kristen listened intently, expecting the entire world around her to come alive as soon as the other submarines and vessels heard the torpedo’s high-speed screw. Once it started its run, the torpedo’s small screw would turn so fast it would cavitate, and the rushing of air bubbles created by the whirling propeller blade would be heard over a great distance. But the torpedo was still on a lower power setting and moving slowly, putting distance between itself and the
Seawolf
so when it did switch into high speed and was detected, the
Akula
didn’t immediately respond by shooting a torpedo of its own back down the bearing where the
Seawolf
had fired from.

Kristen then heard an ominous sound. “
Akula Nine
is opening outer doors and preparing to fire,” she reported to the control room via the open microphone. Kristen listened, knowing the
Akula
was about to clear her tubes on the unsuspecting
Audacious
. But then she heard Brodie direct the tracking party guiding the MK48 to order the torpedo to begin its high-speed run immediately and not wait for it to get clear of the
Seawolf.

Kristen tensed anxiously. The moment the torpedo switched into high speed and began racing in at fifty plus knots, the
Akula
would hear the torpedo’s screw and realize it was under attack. The result would be, in all likelihood, the
Akula
forgetting all about the
Audacious
and turning on the
Seawolf
to deal with its antagonist. Brodie had to realize this too, and she knew he was placing the
Seawolf
in grave danger to save the unsuspecting
Audacious.

Within two seconds of Brodie’s command, she heard the sudden rush of noise coming from the torpedo’s screw as it switched from a calm five knots to a blistering fifty-five knots. The sound was loud and distinct as the torpedo bore in on the
Akula.
There was no chance—absolutely none—that the
Akula
and all the other boats quietly listening wouldn’t hear the MK-48 ADCAP charging headlong through the water.

The sound of orders coming over the open microphone in the control room now made it clear that Brodie had lost his patience. The
Seawolf
was unleashing her fury on opponents all around her.
“Launch Tomahawk,”
Brodie ordered followed immediately by,
“Tube eight, match bearings and shoot.”
Which was followed a second later by,
“Tube four, match bearings and shoot.”

Kristen lost all sonar signatures the moment the weapons started firing, especially the Tomahawk anti-ship missile variant which was expelled from the tube by high-pressure steam. She removed her headphones for a moment and looked up at the squawk box, hearing Brodie’s calm voice, “
Load tube five with MK48 ADCAP. Standby on tube seven to fire Aselsan.”

Kristen looked at Chief Miller, who was wiping his sweaty brow nervously. “Jesus Christ,” the aging chief petty officer murmured.

Kristen turned her attention back to her display. She pulled her headphones back on just in time to hear the Tomahawk missile break the surface and its air breathing jet engine engage. It would cover the distance to the Iranian frigate in just a few seconds. The crew of the frigate would never even know it was coming.

Then, as expected, the
Akula
and the
Audacious
increased speed. They’d heard the sudden expulsion of multiple weapons into the water around them, and they were taking evasive action.

The fight was on.

As Brodie had predicted, it was like a knife fight in a dark closet. There was no room to maneuver, and victory would come to the quick. Death to everyone else. The
Akula
and the
Audacious,
fleeing the torpedoes in the water, were now cavitating as they increased speed to flank. Kristen ignored them and reported the information she gleaned about the two other submarines.

The
Aselsan
decoy was launched from tube seven. Once it was clear, Kristen heard the
Kilo
submarine as it too detected an approaching torpedo.
“Kilo Nine
has increased speed and is turning away,” Kristen reported.

“He hasn’t a chance,” Fabrini said cryptically.

He was right, and Kristen knew it. On her pitifully weak batteries, the
Kilo
submarine could move at maybe fifteen knots which, when compared to the fifty-five knot ADCAP boring in on her, meant the
Kilo
was only prolonging her life, not saving it. But as Kristen listened to the MK-48 closing in on the fleeing
Kilo,
she heard an ominous roar from the direction of the
Akula.

“
Akula Nine
is firing,” Martinez reported before she could.

Kristen concentrated, trying to block out the multiple noise signatures she heard so she could focus on the new sound. She then heard the telltale signature of surging bubbles and what sounded like a roaring screw churning through the water.  “Torpedo in the water. Bearing zero-zero-five” she reported and then added, “Bearing constant!” This meant the torpedo the
Akula
had fired was coming right at them. “It sounds like a Shkval rocket torpedo. Speed undetermined, but she’s coming right at us.”

“Rocket torpedo inbound,” Miller barked into the microphone above his head in case Brodie in the control room hadn’t heard Kristen. “Bearing zero-zero-five! Bearing constant!”

Kristen suddenly felt herself pressed forward in the seat as the
Seawolf
increased speed to commence high-speed maneuvering. She reached for her seatbelt, realizing she’d forgotten to fasten it as those around her reached for handholds to help keep their balance.

The Tomahawk missile targeting the
Alvand
class frigate had cleared the water, cast off its casing, and ignited its turbojet motor before lowering back down to barely fifteen feet above the surface where it accelerated to near the speed of sound. The frigate picked up the inbound missile breaking the surface on its radar, but the radar operators barely had time to lean forward in their seats before the automatic alarm claxon sounded. Despite its effective range of nearly three hundred miles, the Tomahawk had appeared barely ten miles away. The Iranian crew manning the frigate was hardly well trained. They were accustomed to only mine laying and coastal patrolling. They’d never been involved in any realistic war games, and other than shouting to the bridge a warning about the inbound missile, the crew didn’t respond by turning on the limited jamming equipment they had on board to try and fool the Tomahawk.