“It doesn’t sound like we know a whole hell of a lot, Skipper,” Ryan Walcott pointed out.
Brodie nodded in agreement. “You’re exactly right, and I’m afraid the missing Borei is only part of the mystery.”
He again motioned to Graves, who advanced to the next image showing a different submarine yard and a boat tied up at a pier with several cranes alongside plus vans and workers moving back and forth. “This is Sevmash Predpriyatie boat yard at Severodvinsk in Archangel. It’s the old Soviet Union’s premier yard where all their Akulas were built.” He then pointed to the submarine in the photograph. “Photo intelligence analysts have been unable to determine what she is.”
The image changed to show a close up of the submarine, and Brodie proceeded to point out what could be gleaned about her hull from the image. “As you can see, this new design is somewhat longer than the Akulas by about thirty-five feet and is slightly more cylindrical.” He directed their attention to the bow where there were several open doors on top of the submarine. “We believe this is a vertical launch system for cruise missiles like on our Improved Los Angeles class, but other than this we have nothing on her.”
Kristen removed her glasses and wiped some nervous perspiration from around her eyes and brow. Others in the room were equally uncomfortable at the prospect of facing off against two entirely new classes of Russian submarines no one seemed to know anything about.
“Sir, what do we know about this boat, other than what she looks like?” Terry asked.
“We believe the Russians are calling her the Severodvinsk Class after the city where she was built, but her name is the Yuri Gagarin,” Brodie stated flatly. “That, plus the knowledge she’s been out of port twice for some short shakedown sorties into the Barents Sea and possibly work ups.”
The room was quiet, everyone thinking over all he’d said and wondering what the series of new Russian submarine developments meant. Graves brought up the next image. It showed the entire Polyarny yard once more. “This image was taken seven weeks ago.” It didn’t look any different to anyone, except for what appeared to be more activity on the docks. Brodie gave a brief nod to Graves and the image advanced.
“This picture was taken twenty-four hours later.”
Everyone leaned forward, and Kristen looked closely, squinting. “They’re all gone,” she offered.
Brodie didn’t reply, instead he motioned to Graves who advanced to the next image showing another Russian naval base. “Vladivostok,” Brodie said simply and then the image changed again. “Sevastopol.”
There was a long pause in the wardroom, and Kristen was fairly certain she could hear the heartbeats of several of her fellow officers. Everyone realized what they were seeing, but it was Ski who pointed it out. “All of their Akulas and Typhoons are at sea.”
Brodie nodded in agreement. “We’ve confirmed at least fifteen Akulas now at sea, plus six Typhoons. Not to mention the Borei and the Gagarin have both disappeared.”
“But surely our own boats have a handle on where some of these are?” Ski asked with concern.
Brodie took a seat as he replied, “We have 688 boats trailing all but one of the Typhoons, but we believe her to be under the Arctic ice pack. Of the fifteen Akulas, five have been tracked shadowing the Typhoons, three have been picked up in the Sea of Japan, and a British Trafalgar picked up two Akulas operating together in the Mediterranean.”
“That leaves five Akulas unaccounted for plus the two new boats,” Andy Stahl said thoughtfully. “It’s an awful big ocean, Captain. How’re we gonna find them?”
“Initially, it was believed this deployment was just the Russians increasing their own strategic readiness posture to match ours as we ramped up to face what we believed was a genuine North Korean threat. So we ignored them, assuming that once the Russians realized we were hunting North Koreans and not Bear they would return to port. But…”
It was now clear to everyone, that the Russians were up to something.
“Working off the premise that this whole Korean business is indeed a ruse, the National Command Authority is in the process of redeploying submerged and surface assets back to their normal patrol areas. But, with just about every battle group having burned out their shaft seals to get here in anticipation of a blow up on the Korean Peninsula, this redeployment is going to take longer than we would like. The Nimitz and her battle group will be out of action undergoing repairs for the next two weeks at least, and even then she’ll need several weeks to get back to the Persian Gulf.” He then added, “The George Washington is in Sasebo with a reactor issue they have to get straightened out before she can put to sea, and she might be down even longer than the Nimitz.”
He looked around the room, his eyes glimmering slightly, and it occurred to Kristen there might be a small part of him looking forward to the challenge ahead of them. “On both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, there is a rush to get two more carrier battle groups up and out to sea, but this will take time and they still have to cross the ocean. So, until the surface heavies can be brought back into position, the Joint Chiefs are counting on our fast-attack boats to hold the line at several key choke points where we feel it’s most likely the Russians may pass through on their way to whatever mischief they’re looking to cause.” Brodie directed their attention to the screen and a satellite image of the Strait of Gibraltar appeared.
“Our British cousins are deploying two of their newest Astute class boats and an older Trafalgar class to patrol the critical Strait of Gibraltar covering the passage between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.” Brodie paused as the image changed to show Southeast Asia.
“We have two 688s heading for the Singapore Straits hoping to pick up one or more of these rogue Russian subs passing through this narrow choke point between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.”
The image changed to show the familiar shape of the Persian Gulf.
“The USS Virginia is currently sprinting across the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf and not far behind her are our British friends from the HMS Audacious. They’ll be keeping an eye on the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, monitoring the region for any threat to the oil tankers moving in and out of the Gulf.”
The slide changed to show the Red Sea.
“Another of our 688s is heading up from the southern tip of Africa to begin patrolling in and around the Red Sea. Again, to provide some cover for oil tankers transiting in and out of the Suez Canal.”
He took a seat and once everyone had digested what he’d said thus far, he proceeded, “It’s important to remember that all of this could just be precautionary, and we may end up splitting atoms and racing across the ocean for nothing. The JCS, the NCA, and the CIA don’t know anything concrete, so your guess is as good as any. But…” he offered and the word hung in the air over the table for a moment. The group of officers around the table had come to trust Brodie’s instincts, and his opinion mattered.
“But,” he repeated shaking his head, “the Russians are cash strapped. The only things they have left to sell are oil, natural gas, and a dwindling inventory of military equipment. For them to launch this kind of operation is unprecedented even by Cold War standards.” He hammered the table top with a finger, driving his point home. “There is no way this is some exercise, because they simply cannot sustain this type of operational tempo indefinitely.” He paused, going around the room, his eyes making contact with all of them. Kristen felt his gaze come to her but no longer felt uncomfortable with his eyes on her.