Given Sonar’s report, he now reconsidered. At high speed, the turbulent flow of water across the submarine’s sensors reduced their effective range. They needed to slow and evaluate the mechanical transient.
Wilson ordered the Officer of the Deck, “Slow to ten knots.”
Shortly after North Carolina slowed, Sonar reported, “Hold a new contact on the towed array, designated Sierra four-six, ambiguous bearings two-four-two and two-nine-eight.”
The bearing to the southwest correlated to the mechanical transient, and Wilson waited as Sonar evaluated the frequencies and broadband noise received.
“Conn, Sonar. Sierra four-six is classified submerged.”
They had found Kazan.
Wilson focused on the mechanical transient.
Kazan was preparing to launch.
He turned to his Officer of the Deck.
“Open outer doors, all torpedo tubes.”
During the transit, Wilson had loaded all four torpedo tubes and powered up the weapons, completing their diagnostic checks. The torpedoes were ready for combat, but his crew wasn’t.
“Man Battle Stations.”
“Missile hatches, tubes One through Four, are open.”
Plecas glanced at the missile tube panel, verifying the indicating lights for hatches One through Four were green, while Kazan’s Weapons Officer verified all launch criteria were met.
“Ready to fire, full Kalibr missile salvo.”
Plecas evaluated the tactical situation, plus the readiness of his submarine and crew, one final time, then gave the order.
“Launch all missiles, tubes One through Four.”
“Loud transient on the bearing of Sierra four-five!”
The Sonar Supervisor almost shouted the report, even though he was standing only a few feet from Wilson and the Officer of the Deck, supervising the Sonar consoles on the port side of the Control Room.
The supervisor followed up, “Missile launch transient!”
A sick feeling settled low and cold in Wilson’s gut.
They were too late.
Despite the trepidation, he responded instantly.
“Quick Reaction Firing, Sierra four-six, tube Two!”
This wasn’t the situation Wilson had hoped for. Battle Stations weren’t yet fully manned, plus they didn’t have a firing solution for Kazan; they had just begun the process of determining the submarine’s course, speed, and range. However, they didn’t have time for an accurate shot. Wilson needed to stop Kazan from launching as soon as possible, which meant getting a torpedo into the water fast, regardless of its probability of hitting the Russian submarine.
If there had ever been a true test of the Submarine Force’s land-based training program, its crew toiling for endless hours in tactical training labs, this was it. North Carolina hadn’t been to sea in over two years, and this crew had never operated at sea together before today. Wilson was pleasantly surprised, however.
The nearest fire control technician promoted his solution to master, sending his best guess at the contact’s course, speed, and range to Weapon Control, while the fire control technician beside him configured his workstation into the Weapons Control Console, then sent the target solution and search parameters to the torpedo in tube Two.
After verifying the torpedo accepted the presets, he announced, “Weapon Ready!”
Wilson gave the order. “Shoot tube Two.”
The torpedo was ejected from its tube and turned onto its ordered course. Wilson had no idea if the shot was good enough to get a hit, but the torpedo’s primary purpose was to distract Kazan’s crew. He had deliberately fired from a torpedo tube facing Kazan, increasing the chance their sonarmen would detect the unique sound of a torpedo launch, which would force them to commence evasion procedures, terminating their missile launch.
Stopping the launch was the immediate goal. Sinking Kazan would come next.
72
K-561 KAZAN
“Torpedo launch transient, bearing zero-six-two!”
Plecas spun toward the nearest sonar display, spotting a bright white blip on the reported bearing. As he wondered whether Hydroacoustic had identified the transient correctly, another report followed.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing zero-six-two!”
A red bearing line appeared on the torpedo fire control consoles, radiating outward, accompanied by a bright white trace burning into the sonar display.
“Terminate the launch!” Plecas ordered.
While the Weapons Officer shut the missile tube hatches, Plecas commenced torpedo evasion.
“Steersman, ahead flank!”
The Steersman rang up maximum propulsion as Plecas determined the best evasion course. He decided to place the torpedo twenty degrees aft of the beam, so Kazan could open range while evading.
“Steersman, left full rudder, steady course three-one-zero.”
To his Watch Officer, Plecas ordered, “Launch torpedo decoy!”
Kazan swung around as it increased speed, and a decoy was launched in its wake, which would hopefully distract the torpedo long enough for Kazan to slip away.
Once they had put enough distance between the submarine and the decoy, Plecas ordered, “Launch jammer!”
A broadband sonar jammer was ejected from the submarine, which would mask Kazan as it sped away, leaving only the decoy as a tantalizing target for the incoming torpedo.
Hydroacoustic’s next report confirmed what Plecas already knew. “Incoming torpedo is an American Mark forty-eight.”
Now that Kazan was on a good evasion course and countermeasures had been launched, Plecas returned his attention to the incoming torpedo. It hadn’t been a very good shot. The bearings were drawing steadily aft, indicating it had either been fired down a specific bearing or the American crew had been forced to shoot with an immature solution. Either way, it didn’t matter; the torpedo would miss unless the American crew steered it onto Kazan’s new track. Plecas planned to ensure that didn’t happen.
It was time to put a torpedo — or two — into the water.
Hydroacoustic didn’t hold the American submarine. All they had was the launch bearing, which meant the American submarine could be headed in any direction. To increase the odds of getting a hit, Plecas decided to launch a horizontal salvo: two torpedoes running side by side.
“Prepare to fire horizontal salvo from tubes One and Two, bearing zero-six-two.”
The bearing and salvo search parameters were sent to the torpedoes, then the Weapons Officer announced, “Ready to Fire, tubes One and Two.”
Plecas examined the torpedo settings, and satisfied they were adequate, gave the order.
“Fire tubes One and Two.”
Both torpedoes were ejected simultaneously from Kazan, one from each torpedo bank, and turned onto the ordered bearing.
Now that the MK 48 torpedo had passed astern and two torpedoes were on their way to keep the American crew busy, Plecas decided to slow and search for the enemy submarine.
“Steersman, ahead two-thirds. Right ten degrees rudder, course three-three-zero.”
Plecas turned Kazan slightly to starboard as it slowed, presenting a beam aspect to the likely position of the American submarine, bringing both of Kazan’s primary sensors into play: the spherical and towed arrays.