“Man Battle Stations Torpedo silently.”
Without adequate intelligence on the acoustic capabilities of the mother submarine, Wilson had decided it was wise to man battle stations silently, without sounding Michigan’s general alarm. Depending on how close the contact was, which was currently unknown, and its acoustic-detection capabilities, it might be able to detect the loud gong, gong, gong reverberating through Michigan’s hull into the water.
Personnel streamed into Control, energizing dormant consoles. The Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Tom Montgomery, arrived, as did Lieutenant Ryan Jescovitch, the submarine’s Weapons Officer. Lieutenant Brian Resor entered Control, relieving Bass as the battle stations Officer of the Deck, and Bass then manned the third combat control console, joining the two fire control technicians focused on developing the target solution — its estimated course, speed, and range.
“Attention in Control,” Wilson announced. “Sierra three-four appears to be a regain of the automated mother submarine. Classify Sierra three-four as Master one. Track Master one.”
Montgomery hovered behind the three combat control consoles, monitoring the two fire control technicians and Lieutenant Bass as they refined their solutions to Master one. The contact maintained a steady course and speed, apparently oblivious to the impending danger, which simplified the evaluation.
It didn’t take long for Montgomery to announce, “I have a firing solution.”
Wilson called out, “Firing Point Procedures, Master one, tube Two.”
With the target on Michigan’s starboard side, Wilson had decided to shoot from a port-side tube, using the submarine’s hull to partially mask the launch transient.
Montgomery stopped briefly behind each of the combat control consoles, examining the target solution on each. He tapped one of the fire control technicians, who pressed a button on his console, sending an updated target solution to the torpedo.
“Solution ready!” Montgomery reported.
“Weapon ready!” Jescovitch called out.
“Ship ready!” Resor announced.
“Shoot on generated bearings!” Wilson ordered.
The firing signal was sent to the Torpedo Room, initiating the launch sequence for the torpedo in tube Two. Wilson listened to the whirr of the submarine’s torpedo ejection pump and the characteristic sound of the four-thousand-pound weapon being ejected from the torpedo tube, accelerating from rest to thirty knots in less than a second.
Inside the Sonar Room, Petty Officer Andrew Bubb and the other sonar technicians monitored their outgoing unit while searching for any indication the mother ship had either been alerted to the incoming torpedo or counterfired. Sonar referred to their torpedo as own ship’s unit so their reports wouldn’t be confused with information about an incoming torpedo.
“Own ship’s unit is in the water, running normally.
“Fuel crossover achieved.
“Steady on preset gyro course, medium speed.”
Wilson’s eyes shifted to the Weapon Launch Console, depicting their torpedo as a green inverted V heading toward a red semicircle representing Master one, which remained steady on course and speed, giving no indication it had detected the incoming torpedo.
Once Michigan’s torpedo went active, however, the situation changed dramatically.
“Conn, Sonar. Burst of cavitation from Master one — increasing speed. Down doppler on target — she’s turning away, commencing torpedo evasion. Ejecting countermeasures.”
The mother ship had detected the incoming torpedo and commenced a standard torpedo evasion. However, if Michigan’s target solution for Master one was accurate enough, the mother ship wouldn’t get away.
Wilson watched as the bearing to their torpedo began to merge with Master one’s.
“Detect!” Jescovitch called out.
A few seconds later, he followed up. “Homing! Increasing speed.”
Their torpedo had detected a potential target, then after verifying the detection met the required parameters, had classified it as a valid target and was now homing to detonation.
“Conn, Sonar. Multiple transients from Master one. Several contacts appearing on the same bearing. Whatever they are, they’re moving fast!”
Wilson examined the sonar display on the Conn. Two new traces had appeared. But they weren’t headed toward Michigan.
Sonar confirmed Wilson’s assessment. “Contacts are heading toward own-ship’s unit.”
Wilson suddenly realized what they were: small, anti-torpedo torpedoes.
Navies throughout the world had been developing anti-torpedo torpedoes, the undersea version of missile defense, designed to destroy incoming torpedoes instead of missiles. The German Navy had developed the SeaSpider interceptor torpedo, while the Russians had fielded the Paket-NK, a dual-use torpedo that could be fired against submarines and incoming torpedoes. Turkish defense contractor Aselsan had even explored the concept, successfully developing the Tork hard-kill torpedo.
The U.S. Navy had developed their own anti-torpedo torpedo, deployed aboard several aircraft carriers. But the system had been plagued with false detections and eventually removed from service. To Wilson’s knowledge, anti-torpedo torpedoes hadn’t been deployed aboard U.S. submarines — until now. It seemed that the mother ship was a test bed for new technology of various types.
The two new objects launched by the mother ship swiftly closed on Michigan’s torpedo. When the range between them decreased to zero, a faint explosion echoed through the submarine’s hull.
“Loss of wire, tube Two,” Jescovitch reported.
The torpedo they had fired from tube Two was no longer communicating with Michigan. The reason was obvious. It had been destroyed by one of the mother ship’s defensive torpedoes.
Before Wilson had a chance to react, Sonar called out, “Torpedo launch transient, bearing three-zero-five!” Seconds later, a report blared from the speakers, “Torpedo in the water! Bearing three-zero-five!”
A red line appeared on the geographic display on the Conn.
“Ahead flank!” Wilson ordered, accelerating Michigan to maximum speed. He then evaluated what course to turn his ship to.
The incoming torpedo was approaching from the starboard quarter, which meant Michigan was already on an optimal evasion course. Wilson monitored the bearings to the torpedo, which drew steadily aft, indicating the torpedo would pass well behind them.
Michigan was safe.
Things changed, however, upon the next announcement.
“Second torpedo in the water, bearing three-one-zero!”
A purple line appeared on the Control Room displays, representing the new torpedo.
The new bearings remained steady, indicating the torpedo was traveling on a corrected intercept course, which took into account Michigan’s course and speed.
After evaluating both torpedoes, Wilson turned to a course that would prevent either weapon from gaining contact. There was a narrow window that would let one torpedo pass by on Michigan’s port side and the other on starboard.
“Helm, left ten degrees rudder, steady course one-five-zero.” To the Officer of the Deck, Wilson ordered, “Launch countermeasures!”
Michigan ejected a torpedo decoy and broadband jammer, then completed its turn to the ordered evasion course. One torpedo began drawing aft and the other forward, exactly as Wilson had hoped. As best he could tell, each torpedo would remain outside of its target acquisition range, oblivious to the submarine between them.