The wind veered slightly and strengthened, whining through the radar and radio antennas clustered above the destroyer’s bridge. Levi ignored the noise and squinted into the morning sun climbing skyward beyond his companion frigate. Sunlight glinted off a Plexiglas canopy. Duncan had one of her two SH-60B Seahawk helicopters up, laying a passive sonobuoy line several miles to the north and east of the convoy’s track — right along the most likely angle of approach for an enemy sub looking for an easy kill.
But not the only one. Wings winked silver at the edge of his vision and then dipped from view. Seventh Fleet had allocated a P-3C Orion to the escort and he’d stationed it well to the north — twenty miles or so ahead of the small group of UN vessels bound for Pusan. The P-3 had been systematically laying successive lines of passive buoys, trying to clear a path for the O’Brien and her invaluable charges.
North and east were covered as well as they could be under the circumstances. And Levi had brought his convoy as close to the western edge of the island of Tsushima as he possibly could without running them aground. The water was so shallow at that point that any damned NK sub trying to stay submerged would have to be half-buried in the mud. He could pretty well rule out that direction, at least until they emerged from alongside the island. He’d have to rearrange his escorts and air assets when that happened. He also planned not to worry overly about his back. Any diesel submarine coming in from the south, chasing after the convoy, would either run its batteries flat or make so much noise snorkeling that it would be easy to hear, pinpoint, and destroy.
Levi blinked rapidly, clearing the dazzling afterimages left by looking too near the sun out of his eyes. With a last, quick glance around the horizon, he turned and reentered the comparative warmth of O’Brien’s bridge. They were coming into the danger zone and it was time for him to get back to the ship’s Combat Information Center. It was also time to move a little more cautiously. Levi didn’t plan to walk into an ambush with his eyes shut or his sonars less than one hundred percent effective.
“Mr. Keegan?”
“Sir?”
“Slow to eight knots, and signal the rest of the convoy to do the same.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” His executive officer nodded to the rating standing by with a signaling lamp. O’Brien would keep radio silence for as long as possible. There wasn’t any point in handing the North Koreans a free fix on the convoy’s position. Levi intended to make them work for it.
Senior Captain Chun Chae-Yun studied the plot carefully, conscious of the need to keep a confident, relaxed expression on his face. It had been a long war already for Great Leader and its crew. Many of the junior ratings were starting to show signs of the enormous strain imposed by the need for constant noise discipline and by the high state of readiness required on a war cruise. So, under the circumstances, it was vital that he set a good example by remaining unrattled — no matter what happened.
Chun had to admit that it was hard to control his mixed feelings of dread and excitement as the prospect of new action loomed nearer. After several successive victories during the first days of the war, most of Great Leader’s maneuvers since had been wholly devoted to its own survival — and many of its fellow submarines hadn’t been so fortunate. One by one they’d fallen prey to American and South Korean aircraft or to hunter-killer groups of enemy frigates and corvettes. They’d exacted a heavy toll of imperialist merchant shipping and warships, but the exchange ratio remained lopsided and tilted in entirely the wrong direction.
Now, the latest signal from the high command offered a chance to avenge those defeats. Intelligence agents in the Japanese port of Yokosuka had signaled the departure of a small but important convoy. Such a convoy could have only one destination — the imperialist supply base at Pusan. And so Chun’s Great Leader and two older, Romeo-class boats lurked in its projected path, ready to send the American convoy to the bottom of the Tsushima Strait. A small squadron of three fast attack boats — Osa-class boats armed with Soviet-made SS-N-2C Styx surface-to-surface missiles — waited north of the island, equally ready to pounce on any survivors left afloat after the submarines struck.
Chun had placed his newer, more capable Kilo-class sub in position to cover the western approach to Pusan. The two Romeos waited to the east of Tsushima — forced by their inadequate sonars to rely heavily on periscope sweeps to visually detect an oncoming enemy. Even so, the Americans should find it impossible to slip by them unobserved. Or so he hoped.
He pondered the chart again, rubbing his chin reflexively. Perhaps it would have been better to concentrate his entire force north of Tsushima, close to Pusan’s outer approaches. It would have exposed his units to more risk of detection, but it would also have made it more likely to find and strike the American convoy before it reached the safety of the harbor. Perhaps… Chun shook his head almost imperceptibly. Such thoughts were of little use now. His first plan was undoubtedly the best. Second-guessings were a waste of time and energy. He had a battle to prepare for…
The navigator’s voice broke in on his thoughts. “We’ve reached the westernmost edge of our patrol circuit, Comrade Captain.”
Chun looked up from the chart. “Very well. Come about to zero nine zero degrees. Maintain a speed of five knots.” He caught his first officer’s eye. “Make another inspection of the boat. Ensure that all compartments are fully prepared for noise discipline and for possible damage control.”
They could expect to make contact with the enemy force at any moment now. Great Leader would be ready.
Captain Min Sang-Du stared at the chronometer hung on one wall of Liberator’s tiny plot office. Where the hell were the Americans? He’d run the calculations over and over in his mind and on the chart. Given the last known course and speed of the American convoy, he should have sighted them by now. So what were they up to?
Had they gone west of Tsushima? That possibility didn’t concern him very much. Such a course would take the imperialists straight into the waiting torpedoes of Great Leader. True, that would rob Min and his crew of their share of the glory, but glory was overvalued when the fate of nations was at stake. No, it was the other possibility that bothered Min. The possibility that the Americans were slipping farther to the east than expected — and might already be crossing behind him on their unimpeded way to Pusan. Any captain who allowed that to happen could expect the worst from the naval security service, and he would receive it.
Min shivered in the cold, clammy air. The air inside Liberator’s cramped hull was growing fouler and damper by the hour. Condensation ran off the walls, even off some of the equipment. He leaned over the chart once more and penciled in a hypothetical new course for the American convoy — one that would carry them well away from his current patrol path — and then stood back to look at his handiwork. Yes, that seemed right. And at twelve knots, the imperialists could be… there. He marked the spot and made a decision. The Americans were not here, therefore they must be there.