USS Twin Towers rose slowly from six hundred feet to ninety-seven and launched two torpedoes along the bearing the captain had decided on, and then descended to four hundred feet to listen once more. Captain Pitt used the time to put his head under a cold tap and wolf down some sandwiches and coffee brought from the galley. He was feeling more human by the time his weapons officer informed him the first torpedo was approaching the required range. Both weapons turned to port and descended below the layer, and then things happened fast.
“Captain… two has acquired… one has acquired also, both have the same contact!”
“Con, sonar… designate new target as Sierra Two Five, classify as improved Kilo class… range 5900 yards, bearing zero five nine, speed three knots!”
He looked at the plot, it wasn’t right, not at all what he had expected unless the sonar had the barnacled diesel all wrong as regards position.
“Override on number one… keep it heading the way it was before acquisition.” Number two was still being held under control at low speed, its sensors on passive mode but two minutes later its quarry began to accelerate.
“Con, sonar… Sierra Two Five has heard number two… noisemakers in the water… transient, transient… Sierra Two Five has launched two weapons along the bearing to number two!”
Pitt called to his weapons officer.
“Weps!”
“Sir?”
“Go active on both weapons, cut the wire on two but keep number one under our control, remain at low speed and reload tube two with Mk-48.”
“Aye, aye sir… active mode on both weapons… cutting loose number two but retaining control of number one at low speed, reloading tube two with Mk-48!”
“Captain, number one has acquired Sierra Two Four!”
“Con, sonar… classify Sierra Two Four as Whiskey class, range 6700, bearing zero five two, speed three knots!”
“Weps, accelerate number one and cut the wire.”
“Aye sir, cutting the wire on number one!”
“Weps… reload tube one with Mk-48.”
“Aye, aye sir… reloading tube number one with Mk-48.”
To the northeast the improved Kilo, the Kilo (I), had defeated the Mk-48s first attack after it went for a noisemaker. The torpedo came through the cloud of bubbles being generated by the deception device and started to turn to starboard, the way the Kilo (I) had gone but corrected its turn and came to port instead.
“Con, sonar… number two has acquired a fresh target… range… range 3000, Captain there’s a third boat out there, bearing zero three three, speed three knots, heading… its coming right at us, designate as Sierra Two Six, classify as improved Kilo class… her outer doors are opening!”
How the hell did they get so close, thought Pitt?
“Flood three and four… open outer doors… match bearings with Sierra Two Six and shoot, then cut the wires and reload with Mk-48!”
“Con, sonar… transients, transients… torpedoes in the water, range 3000, bearing zero three three… time to impact two minutes forty!”
“Three fired electrically sir… weapon running normally… Four fired electrically… weapon running normally… wires cut, closing outer doors!”
The time had come to run, until the torpedoes heading their way were defeated, after which they would re-engage.
“Hard a-starboard, bring us around to… two one three… all ahead flank… make your depth fifty feet.”
The best way to defeat a torpedo was to run from it as fast as you could, and head for the noisy surface above, where every bit of distraction could be used to throw the weapons off target.
The Captain had forgotten one item, and it was trailing behind them on the end of a six hundred-yard cable.
“Con, sonar, towed array is still deployed!”
Pitt kicked himself mentally for not hauling it in as soon as the first torpedo had acquired, adrenaline may be coursing through him, but tiredness has a way of making you forget things. The array would slow them by several knots, and although he could order the cable cut they may very well need it again before they saw Newport News and its replacement. He nodded to the O.O.W and the cable began to wind in.
“Con, sonar… time to impact one minute five!”
USS Twin Towers had completed her turn and was making 18knots with the speed increasing with every turn as the reactor opened up. Captain Pitt gripped the back of one of the planesmen’s seats and altered his stance as the bow rose.
“Con, sonar… lost contact with number one… sound of explosion at zero five one!”
A glance at the digital plot showed the track of the old Whiskey boat and the Mk-48 converge and then the returns faded. The contacts were no longer as solid as they had been when the Seawolf class hunter/killer had been poodling along at three knots, as their speed increased so their sonar reception degraded accordingly. Sierra Two Five, the first Kilo (I) had disappeared from the plot, but they had the second still only due to the sonar from weapons three and four deflecting off its hull. Her captain was apparently of the old school, accelerating towards the threat to close the gap before the weapons had enough time to arm, and ejecting noisemakers to try and throw off number two, which was approaching from the stern. It was a gutsy move and Pitt wondered what the man was like, did he agree with this war, or was he just doing his duty despite his personal feelings? Thirty seconds later both three and four struck within seconds of each other, and five seconds after that number twos track converged with theirs, all three Mk-48s had armed.
“Con, sonar… fifty seconds to impact!”
“Depth?” Pitt commanded.
“Two hundred twenty feet, sir!”
“Full rise on the planes… give me 110 % on the reactor, and none of that Dylithium crystals shit!” Despite the tension there were one or two smiles, but not from the captain who was doing the math in his head. He had to shift his feet, leaning for’ard as the deck canted higher.
“Close all watertight doors… Chief of the Boat!”
“Captain?”
“Ensure all hatches and bulkheads door lights show dogged!”
“Aye, sir… all hatches show sealed, Captain!”
“Weps… at one hundred feet launch the five and a half inch counter-measures… and as soon as we enter the layer, come right to three two zero!”
He looked at the depth gauge, it seemed to crawl upwards, and then he, and everyone else aboard heard the sonar pings upon the hull over all the machinery noise. Bingbing… bingbing… bingbing. Both torpedoes were locked on and their combined sonars sounded a double beat upon the American. The countermeasures launched either side of the hull and immediately began producing gas bubbles as they gyrated in the USS Twin Towers wake.
No matter what task the crew was performing, they were all conscious of the fact that death could be seconds away.
Bingbing… bingbing… bing… bing.
“Con, sonar… nearest weapon has gone for the starboard countermeasure.”
The Captain nodded but kept his eyes in the depth gauge, they were entering the thermal layer, and above them were the noisy waves and suddenly there was silence from the hull.
“Coming right to three two zero, Captain.”
“Cox’n… ease off on the dive planes, we don’t want to broach.”
Almost a minute past and Pitt allowed himself to relax a tad. I think we’ve seen the last of those particular torpedoes, he told himself, time to slow down and re-engage before… He didn’t get to finish that particular train of thought.