“Conn, sonar, two explosions, bearing 055, range 8,540 yards.” Knowing the depth of water and the sound velocity profile, sonar could determine the range by the difference in time between the direct path and the bottom bounce path of the incoming explosion noises.
Above the cheers in the control room, Captain Mackey ordered, “Chief of the watch, over the 1MC, secure from rig ship for depth charge.”
When the word was passed, Mack picked up the 1MC microphone and spoke to the officers and men of Cheyenne. “This is the captain. Gentlemen, Cheyenne has sent another enemy submarine to its fiery grave. Excellent work. You can be truly proud of your teamwork, each and every one of you. Cheyenne is you. Carry on.”
Replacing the microphone, he added, “Chief of the watch, secure from battle stations.” Mack knew that the stand-down from the tension could easily be short lived, especially if the Han had been accompanied by quieter Kilo class diesels running on their batteries.
The officers adjourned to the wardroom for the captain’s standard critique of the attack. Mack also had every battle stations sonar man there. This review was very positive, but Mack added a note of caution about not allowing their guard down. This was war, he pointed out, and the Chinese shouldn’t be expected to sit back and watch their submarine force be devastated. Cheyenne and her crew needed to proceed with caution back to an interdiction point so that they could detect and attack some of those Kilos.
Mack’s plan was a good one, but it was circumvented by events. Even as he was critiquing their most recent battle, sonar reported regaining contact on the Alfa, Master 31. The Alfa was proceeding north toward the sounds of the Han’s demise, and Cheyenne’s turn toward the south during the torpedo evasion nicely closed the range.
Mack’s attack on the Alfa started out the same as the attack on the Han, except that this time Captain Mackey elected to exercise torpedo tubes three and four. But that was as far as the similarity went. The Alfa, with its forty-knot speed, was able to evade both torpedoes.
The Chinese had learned to drive the Alfa, Mack realized, but fortunately they still had things to learn about their submarine. If that had been a Russian crew on board that submarine, Cheyenne might have had to contend with their torpedoes.
Mack wasn’t ready to take on the Kilo SSKs, which were probably lurking in the shoals while communicating with the Alfa, so he decided to withdraw to the deep water to the northwest. From there he could report the Han and Alfa attacks to CTF 74. He didn’t need to return to McKee yet since Cheyenne still had sixteen torpedoes. And he had to clear the area before Independence could steam north to the Spratlys.
His message was quickly acknowledged by CTF 74, who passed traffic from the SEC and ASWC on board Independence. Cheyenne turned to the southwest and prepared herself for shallow water operations.
“Conn, sonar, sonar contact bearing 195. Sounds like the Alfa, Master 31, coming back for more.”
The captain ordered the towed array to short stay as Cheyenne ventured inside the 100-fathom curve south of Fiery Cross Reef. He intended to confuse the Chinese by operating in the shallow water. The Alfa SSN, he knew, would remain outside the shoals, unable to hear Cheyenne until — if things went according to plan — it was too late. A shorter range attack would preclude the Alfa from responding and evading the torpedoes.
Battle stations were manned once again as the range to the Alfa closed to inside 40,000 yards — and none too soon, as sonar reported transient noises bearing 125 and 135. Mack nodded. As he’d expected, the Alfa was out in deeper water, but the Chinese Kilos had remained in the shoal waters, massing for guerrilla operations against Cheyenne.
They could have been a problem, but Cheyenne was ready with two outer doors already open.
“Snap shots, tubes one and two, bearings 125 and 135 respectively,” Mack ordered. That order meant that the Mk 48s would have to do their own thing in detecting, tracking, and sinking two of the Kilos, but Mack didn’t have the luxury of assisting them.
It worked. The two torpedoes quickly acquired the Kilos. The two SSKs tried to flee, increasing speed and cavitating heavily, but to no avail. Both torpedoes found their marks and destroyed the SSKs, but Mack wasn’t satisfied. Where was the third Kilo? he wondered.
He didn’t have long to wait before finding out.
“Conn, sonar, we have transients bearing 180 that sound like Christmas balls falling off a tree and breaking… like a tinkling sound. Seems that the third Kilo was spooked by our torpedoes and ran into a coral reef.”
Mack grinned. He was happy to take the kills any way he could. Only the Alfa remained, and Cheyenne had lost contact after the first explosion against the Kilos.
Sonar was not able to reacquire the Russian submarine, and Mack gave the orders to take Cheyenne out of the area. They’d have another chance at the Alfa, he hoped, before he had to submit the next patrol report.
The only question that was bothering him was how the Alfa had slipped away. He hadn’t expected that from a Chinese crew on a Russian submarine.
Then Cheyenne moved into deeper waters. As she resumed her patrol, Mack found himself wondering whether the Alfa had acquired a Russian adviser, or, worse, a full Russian crew.
A few days later, Cheyenne had been ordered to head to the south to meet up with McKee, anchored near Brunei, for a quick reload and resupply. Then she was to rendezvous with the Independence Battle Group and await further orders from CTF 74. Mack didn’t know it yet, but they would not have the chance for a briefing in McKee’s war room for some time to come.
5. Interdiction
The Independence Battle Group, to which Cheyenne was assigned as the sole SSN(DS), was operating south of the Spratly Islands. Having completed a quick reload and resupply, Cheyenne was with them, patrolling around their position, keeping the surface ships safe. Only this time, Mack’s patrol area was not the forward 180 degrees, which he preferred. Instead, it was an area the shape of a donut: a full 360-degree annulus, centered on Independence, with an inner diameter of forty nautical miles and an outer diameter of eighty nautical miles. Mack didn’t like being reined in like that.
“Radio, conn, stream the floating wire,” the OOD ordered.
“Conn, radio, stream the floating wire, aye, sir.”
Cheyenne’s floating wire communications antenna was functionally similar to the communications buoys carried by Ohio class Trident ballistic missile submarines. Cheyenne could deploy this wire from depth, without having to raise a communications mast above the surface.
“Incoming message traffic,” the communicator said. He’d learned his lesson from their previous patrol and did not speculate on their new orders.
The OOD acknowledged and summoned both the captain and the executive officer to the conn.
Mack arrived in a few minutes along with the executive officer. Captain Mackey read the message, passed it to the executive officer, and then called a meeting in the wardroom. He requested that the communicator, the executive officer, the combat systems officer, and the engineer officer be present.