“Contact maneuver,” First Officer Topolski called out. “Hydroacoustic two-one is turning away, reversing course.”
Novikov had received the answer to his question. The American submarine was close enough to detect a torpedo launch and would immediately maneuver. It was time to dispense with finesse and shift to brute force.
“Cancel Fire,” he announced, followed by “Prepare to Fire, three-torpedo salvo, tubes Two, Three, and Four. Tube Two fired first.” After glancing at the target’s estimated range, he added, “Set salvo spread at twenty degrees.”
That should be wide enough to bracket the American submarine no matter which way it turned.
After estimating the American submarine’s new course, Novikov’s crew completed preparations quickly and the reports followed.
Topolski called out, “Solution updated.”
“Torpedoes ready,” followed from the Weapons Officer.
The Watch Officer announced, “Countermeasures armed.”
Novikov gave the order. “Fire tubes Two, Three, and Four!”
Michigan’s Fire Control Tracking Party was zeroing in on a firing solution for the Russian submarine when Sonar’s report blared over the Control Room speakers.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing two-four-zero!”
Wilson acknowledged Sonar’s report, then examined the geographic display. A red bearing line appeared, radiating from Master one. Assuming the torpedo was fired on a corrected-intercept course, Michigan was already on an optimal evasion course. All that was needed now was speed and countermeasures.
“Helm, ahead flank! Launch countermeasures!”
The Helm rang up ahead flank and Lieutenant Resor launched one of Michigan’s decoys. A white scalloped circle appeared on the geographic display, recording the location of their countermeasure.
Wilson returned his attention to getting a torpedo into the water. His crew was still at Firing Point Procedures, but his Executive Officer hadn’t determined a satisfactory solution. With Michigan increasing speed to ahead flank, they would likely lose Master one due to the turbulent flow of water across the submarine’s acoustic sensors. They needed to launch a torpedo soon.
He stepped from the Conn and stopped beside Montgomery, examining the solutions on the three combat control consoles. With the frequent maneuvering by both submarines, the three solutions were all over the place, failing to converge on a similar course, speed, and range of their target. As Wilson evaluated his options, he was interrupted by another announcement by the Sonar Supervisor.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing two-four-two!”
A purple bearing line appeared on the geographic display, followed by another announcement and a magenta bearing line.
“Torpedo in the water, bearing two-four-four!”
Their adversary had launched at least a three-torpedo salvo. Wilson responded immediately.
“Check Fire. Quick Reaction Firing, Master one, tube One.”
Wilson canceled the normal torpedo firing process, implementing a more urgent version, which forced his Executive Officer to send his best solution to the torpedo immediately. The Russian Captain wouldn’t know how well-aimed the torpedo was, and it was better to give him something to worry about instead of letting him refine his solution and send updates to his torpedoes over their guidance wires.
Montgomery shifted his gaze between the three combat control consoles, then tapped one of the fire control technicians on the shoulder. “Promote to Master.”
After the target parameters were sent to Weapon Control, Montgomery announced, “Solution ready!”
Lieutenant Jescovitch, hunched behind another fire control technician at the Weapon Control Console, reported, “Weapon ready!”
“Ship ready!” Lieutenant Resor announced.
“Shoot on generated bearings!” Wilson ordered.
Wilson listened to the whir of the torpedo ejection pump as the torpedo was impulsed from the tube, accelerating from rest to thirty knots in less than a second. Inside the sonar shack, the sonar technicians monitored the status of their outgoing unit.
“Own ship’s unit is in the water, running normally.”
“Fuel crossover achieved.”
“Turning to preset gyro course.”
“Shifting to medium speed.”
Michigan’s torpedo was headed toward its target.
Wilson examined the three sets of torpedo bearing lines on the geographic display, with new lines for each torpedo appearing every ten seconds. One set of torpedo bearings was marching aft, the bearings to the second set were steady, and the third torpedo was drawing slightly forward. Michigan was bracketed by two torpedoes, with a third running down the middle.
Stuck between two torpedoes and a third running up the middle, Wilson’s only option was to pick a course that would place Michigan an equal distance between two of the torpedoes, hoping that the submarine would be far enough away from both torpedoes that each would fail to detect Michigan as they passed by.
After estimating the torpedo courses as best as possible, Wilson ordered, “Helm, right ten degrees rudder, steady course zero-seven-zero! Launch countermeasures!”
As Michigan turned eastward, Lieutenant Resor launched a second torpedo decoy-jammer pair. Wilson watched intently as all three torpedoes closed on Michigan.
Gavriil Novikov was monitoring his torpedoes — all three were running as expected — when Hydroacoustic called out, “Torpedo in the water, bearing zero-three-zero!”
The American submarine crew had counterfired, as expected.
“Steersman, ahead flank!” Novikov ordered.
Novikov evaluated whether the torpedo had been fired on a corrected intercept course, which would take into account Krasnoyarsk’s current course and speed and require an urgent maneuver, or whether the torpedo had been a shot in the dark, on the bearing where Krasnoyarsk had been when its torpedoes were launched. Maneuvering for a corrected-intercept firing when it was actually a simple line-of-bearing shot could accidentally turn Krasnoyarsk into the path of the more poorly aimed torpedo. He decided to wait a moment, long enough to determine the bearing drift of the incoming torpedo.
More bearing lines appeared on the fire control displays, drawing slowly forward.
The torpedo had been fired on a corrected-intercept course, but the target solution had a slight error in either Krasnoyarsk’s speed or course. Not a bad shot, Novikov conceded. But not good enough.
Now that Novikov had identified that the incoming torpedo had been fired on a corrected-intercept course, he knew which way to turn.
“Steersman, left full rudder, steady course two-one-zero.”
The Steersman complied and Krasnoyarsk reversed course. Novikov monitored the torpedo bearings, which drifted rapidly aft after the turn. The torpedo would pass safely behind the submarine.
Turning his attention to his opponent’s fate, Michigan’s acoustic trace was brightly lit on the Hydroacoustic display. The American submarine was traveling at ahead flank, attempting to evade the torpedo salvo. After comparing the bearings of his three torpedoes to those of his adversary, Novikov was convinced that one of his weapons would lock onto its target.