Woody Parnell asked, “Why do they need so many submarines?” The young officer had fully mended and stood watch as Brent’s assistant conning officer. “Long-range anti-ship missiles oughta do the job for them with what they got right now.”
“Too hard to separate the good guys from the bad,” Dan replied. “The Soviets believe the war’s in the bag and they want to capture some hearts and minds. Additional submarines are needed to do proper target discrimination. Okay?”
Woody nodded.
Dan glanced at the commodore and Buchanan, but neither provided anything in the way of expression. The new skipper’s ever-pleasant expression gave Dan more encouragement than he had heretofore been accustomed to. “Their screen consists of top Pacific assets: Akulas, Victor IIIs, Mikes and Sierras, all pretty hot ships. They equal or exceed our 637s. But we know where they are and where they’ll be deployed. I can’t tell you how we know this; just that it’s the straight dope. Most of us have been on SPEC-OPS and know how that goes. The Soviets have a three-stage plan. First, form a screen between Komandorskiye and Attu north of and parallel to the southern MACEDONIAN boundary. A column of submarines will move along here.”
He ran his pointer along the Soviet landmass. “Larry, a nickname for Saint Lawrence Island, is at the pack ice boundary. They’ll be hard to detect until they’re ten miles from there. Background noise can be almost deafening and we can’t pick targets out of it.”
An officer asked, “Why do they send their screen under the ice, then?”
“We really don’t know,” Dan answered. “Probably think we’re a lot better than we really are. With an offshore screen in place, the mass exodus from the Arctic begins with the units moving close to shore as they dare. When they reach this point,” said Dan, indicating a spot marked on the chart fifty miles above Komandorskiye, “the screen guarding the southern approach pivots east and opens the end of a funnel to protect the transits as they move into the Pacific. Everyone understand?”
All nodded.
“Good,” said Dan. “Now here’s the plan.”
The chief engineer asked, “Who in hell opened this cookie jar? This stuff is so hot, it’s smoking.”
Dan replied, “Like I said earlier, need to know, but if you like that, we got tracks, intended positions and estimated times of arrival of the southern screen. It’s like the Kremlin is directing a parade. A 688 is assigned to each screen unit with a 637 backup. Intercepts are scheduled concurrently as we can make them. This prevents a missed attack from creating an alarm for the others. We scheduled intercepts to occur here,” he said, sweeping his pointer along a line thirty nautical miles south of the screen intended position. “It’ll be during daylight hours. Our erstwhile Cannon Cocker will explain. Brent?”
Brent took the pointer from Dan. “Cannon Cocker? Remember, the only purpose for the rest of this junkyard is to get my bullets into firing position. So look upon yourselves as my chauffeur.”
Laughter filled the wardroom while Brent stole a glance at the new skipper. Damn, he thought, that unreadable expression. He made a mental note not to get in a wardroom poker game with the captain.
He went on, “We’ll use what we learned on the last patrol. One, we know he’ll shoot back if we fire a torpedo at him; and two, we know he’ll surface to evade. He has no reason not to ’cause he owns the surface and air here.” Brent spread out a chart depicting the plan for individual attacks and used the pointer to aid explanation of each planned tactic. “We solve problem one with a Sealance. After initial contact, we’ll track him out until he can’t hear our launcher and then let him have it. A 637 stationed ten miles up range from the target will listen for the Sealance payload, an MK-50 torpedo. When they hear it, they’ll come to periscope depth with a pair of Encapsulated Harpoon Anti-ship Missiles at the ready. That’s how we solve problem two.”
An officer asked, “What happens if the target doesn’t surface?”
“The MK-50 should get him, Brent replied. “If it doesn’t sink him, it’ll make him noisy and the 637 will move in and finish him with an ADCAP.”
Another officer asked, “What if he doesn’t surface and the MK-50 misses?”
“Then we find out why we collect submarine pay. We’ll have to sneak in and go one on one. I don’t have to tell anyone who made the last patrol how hairy that can be. Questions? None? Okay, back to you, Dan.”
Dan resumed, “A sub-task group of one 688 and three backup 637s will provide a similar welcome for the offshore screen. They’re spaced far enough apart so they can be taken one at a time. The intended tracks we have on them are tight also. Maybe Ivan believes this whole war is nothing but a fleet exercise but we’ll take what he gives us. The rest of MACEDONIAN forms a gauntlet for the Northern Fleet submarines to run. We should really clean house if this thing goes as planned. Questions, comments?”
“Yes, Dan,” Brent replied. “What about our brother submariners from the Atlantic? If we’re successful in turning the Reds back, SUBLANT units will be well positioned to attack the retreat.”
Looking over to the commodore, Dan said, “Nothing like this is planned.” Then asked, “Is there, Commodore?”
Commodore Danis replied, “No, but it should be. Good thinking, Lieutenant Maddock. We’ll work something up and pass it along with our next transmission.”
Lieutenant Vasiliy Baknov said to his commanding officer, Captain 1st Rank Igor Sherensky, “Finally we take the American submariners seriously.”
He fully agreed with new orders re-directing Zhukov from screening the Northern Fleet transit to land strikes against the new American submarine bases. Zhukov proceeded east toward America.
Vasiliy discussed such matters with Sherensky only with the zampolit out of hearing. “It is well we do this, Comrade Captain. Otherwise, the lessons of World War II are ignored. The attack on Pearl Harbor achieved nothing for the Japanese but unite the Americans in a common cause. Their planes over-flew the submarine base to attack a row of overage battleships that would have little effect on the war’s outcome. American submarines went on to strip Japan of the sea power she needed to succeed. Despite outward appearances, history shows the Americans to have won at Pearl Harbor.”
The captain chided, “Ah, the ever-serious Vasiliy. What shall you do when there are no more Americans to fight?”
“I worry over permitting the enemy to recover his ability to refit submarines. The World War II analogy fits well.”
“I am more in the mood to hear you confirm rumors of you and the delightful young nurse at Vladivostok Naval hospital.”
Vasiliy smiled but a sounding alarm spared him from providing Sherensky his tidbits.
An excited voice over the general announcing system ordered, “Man action stations!”
Both men raced to the Attack Center and heard the michman report a contact to the northeast, closing rapidly.
Sherensky ordered, “Stop engines.” The target would pass close aboard and he had no wish to be counter-detected before attacking. As the crew readied the ship for combat, the target roared toward Zhukov’s starboard side at a range of five hundred meters.
The michman reported, “A submarine of the 688 class.”
Sounding extremely eager, Vasiliy said, “Here is the target we must kill, Comrade Captain.”
With a steady voice the captain said, “Make ready two launchers.”
Then Sherensky recalled the counsel of his own captain when he served at the grade of junior lieutenant in his first submarine, Beware of the first impulse. Sherensky’s mind raced. Think this through. What are the odds?