ARMAGEDDON'S SONG (Volume 3) 'Fight Through' (56 page)

At last Kentleigh nodded emphatically

“Clear of the layer sir.”

“Thank you.” The captain raised his voice.

“Go active on the sonar, three pulses only and standby
torpedoes.”

Had the
Chuntian
been moving at a stealthy three knots she could have
locked down the Royal Navy submarines position to within two feet when the
waves of active sonar pounded out, but she was at flank speed and was therefore
aware of the sources approximate direction only, and she would not even know
for certain she had been launched on until she slowed, so her captain ordered
his vessel to come back to ten knots, finishing the sprint well short of where
he had originally planned.

The
Xia
on the other hand did the opposite, she was like a
burglar tiptoeing towards a house over the back garden in the dead of night
when suddenly the security lights come on, she froze for a heartbeat and then
bolted, but at 7000 tons submerged that description was in rather relative
terms.

“Contact bearing one eight zero, range seven four zero
zero
, depth eight zero
zero
.”

The operator had only reported a sonar echo reported
the position of something large enough to reflect sound waves back at them,
something large like a whale, a large school of fish or a submarine. There were
no allied submarines in the area apart from the Tucson and she was too far
north at the moment.

“Tube
Three
, match bearings
and shoot.”

A slight tremble through the deck plates evidenced the
launch and lights on the Weapons Officers panel confirmed the fact.

“Weapon running correctly, sir.”

“Thank you…sonar?”

“Sir?”

“Tell me about the
Chuntian
?”

“Sir, bearing two nine eight, heading one seven zero,
range nine thousand, speed twenty four knots and slowing, depth four nine zero…five
zero five, she’s joining us below the layer sir.”

“Tubes One and Two then please, while she’s still too
fast to hear the launch…shoot!”

Again, the vibrations in the deck
plate, and confirmation of the weapons status a moment later.

“Captain, we have a solution on the
Xia.
Bearing
one
eight zero on a heading of one seven nine, range seven three nine zero, depth
eight zero
zero
, speed nine knots and rising?”

He nodded in acknowledgement.

“Very good…runtime on weapon number three please?”

“Fifty five seconds, sir.”

Looking at his wristwatch the captain allowed the
second hand to progress another twenty seconds, he knew the
Xia
would
launch counter measures and he was hoping the interval would be sufficient to
ensure that both weapons were not foxed by the same noisemaker.

“Tube four, match bearings and shoot.”

For the fourth time in less than a minute and a half
the vessel vibrated slightly as compressed air boosted a torpedo out into the
open water. The Spearfish torpedo accelerated into the blackness of the
Pacific’s depths steered toward its target by impulses travelling along the
wafer thin cable that unravelled behind it. Its own sensor package was in
standby mode as a weapons operator aboard the
Hood
sent guidance instructions
that placed the weapon in a tail chase with the fleeing ballistic missile
submarine. The Spearfish from tube four was kilometres behind the
Xia
but
like tubes three’s weapon ahead of it; it was outpacing the big submarine.
Hood
’s
captain was quite happy for the
Xia
to keep going as it was in a straight line as fast as
it could, his operators had steered both Spearfish into her six o’clock, every
submarines blind spot.

There was little for him do now except wait for
something happen.

He took a look around the control room at his officers
and ratings, all of whom were hard at their own particular trades. He wondered
if any of them knew that the outcome of the war could quite possibly rest in
their
hands?
  They were all far too busy to stop
and think of the consequences of failure.

“Captain, sonar…”
it was time to get back to work
.
“
….aspect change on Xia, course change fifteen degrees to
port, now heading one six four.”

So the
Xia
’s captain had turned to allow his sonar to look
behind. They would run now to their best speed and begin chucking out
countermeasures.

“Very good…come left to one seven zero, maintain this
depth and speed, please.”

“Aye
aye
, coming left to one
seven zero, maintaining depth and speed, sir.”

“Captain, weapons?”

“Go ahead ‘
Weps
’?”

“Sorry captain, weapon three is now showing a red
light.”

At fifteen knots he would not have been surprised if
at least one wire had snapped due to the additional stresses, but that was not
what the weapons operator was reporting.

“What is the nature of the fault?” he demanded,
wanting further information before he would order another weapon launched.

“Sir, the system is telling me it is a non-specified
error…
sir,
I now have a green light once more.”

The captain did not immediately respond as he
considered cutting the weapon loose anyway. There was a lot riding on this
attack and it was not something he could allow to pass without considering the
odds. Had the
Hood
been built with six tubes he would indeed have
ordered a further weapon launched at the
Xia
, but it only had four and they were all in use.

“Thank you weapons, if the error repeats itself on
that Spearfish cut the wire and reload immediately, understood?”

“Aye
aye
, captain.”

No sooner had that operator finished then a sonar operator
was calling for his attention. Weapon four had eaten up the distance now and
the PLAN crew was reacting.

“Captain, sonar…
Xia
launching
countermeasures and coming right to two one three.”

“Thank you sonar…Weapons, status of weapon four
please?”

“Sir, weapon four running correctly and now twelve
hundred metres from the
Xia
.”

It was time to accelerate the spearfish. “Increase
speed
on both weapons please but retain control.”

Ahead of them the Chinese boomer as if hearing his
words launched two torpedoes of its own before ejecting more countermeasures
and making a radical turn to port.

The weapons operator controlling number four steered
the Spearfish around to follow the turn whilst number threes operator used the
opportunity to make up distance by cutting the corner, steering straight toward
the vessel.

The
Xia
reversed its turn and number fours operator cursed
under his breath.

“Sir, the wire to number four has broken, but the
weapon is guiding independently.”

“Very good…” Any relief he felt on the assurance that
weapon four was guiding began to wilt with the next report.

“Control room, sonar…Xia has launched another
decoy.”

The captain just knew what was coming next.

“Captain, weapon four is rapid pinging…weapon four is
accelerating and
tracking the decoy,
sir.”

The plot showed the
Xia
continuing its
starboard turn whilst the decoy continued straight ahead, with the Spearfish
from tube four completely fooled and closing rapidly.

“Status on weapon three, please?”

“Weapon three is still under control and closing on
the
Xia
, captain.”

“Control room, sonar…explosion bearing one nine
seven, weapon four has destroyed the decoy…captain please be advised the
weapons from the
Xia
appear to be steering independently on a heading
of zero three zero, and we are currently outside of their detection sphere.”

That at least was some good news; they would not have
to risk losing contact in manoeuvring to avoid the
Xia
’s
torpedoes.

“TorpedoTorpedoTorpedo
…two weapons in the water bearing three one zero, range
seven five zero
zero
, heading one six five, speed
forty five knots…
Chuntian
has opened fire on us captain.”

The captain acknowledged the last report before
commenting.

“If he was trying to put us off our stroke he’s left
it a bit late, and travelling at that speed they will have precious little fuel
left when they get close.” There was no way that the Chinese attack submarines
weapons could influence the outcome now he thought, but they would eat up the
intervening distance so he would have to keep a close eye on them.

“Captain, permission to accelerate
weapon three and cut the wire?”

“Granted.”

The
Xia
began to reverse its turn once more but feinted,
turning even harder to starboard and pumping out noisemakers as fast as it
could but the Spearfish was too close for them to have generated enough sound
in time to register on the weapon.

The Hood’s captain watched the plot, the tight turn
the boomer was performing and the Spearfish closing at fifty knots, closing
until both tracks merged…and then diverged.

“
What the
…”

“Captain, weapon three has failed, sir.”

That damn red light earlier the captain thought,
cursing himself for not cutting the wire at the time and launching another
weapon instead, but it was too late now to waste effort in self-recrimination.
The Spearfish continued unwaveringly onwards without any attempt to reacquire
its target.

Had the captain been alone he would without doubt have
lashed out at some inanimate object, but now was not the time or place.

“Aspect change on the
Xia
, target is now making
turns for ten knots, bearing two zero
zero
, range
four nine five zero on a heading of one eight three, depth six eight zero…six
seven zero, she’s heading up captain.”

“Captain,
Chuntian
’s torpedoes have acquired us…impact in two minutes,
sir?”

He took a deep breath and dismissed the feeling of
unfairness that had briefly invaded his thoughts.

“Thank you…reload tubes three and four with Spearfish,
come left to one eight
eight
and give me turns for
twenty knots…standby countermeasures.”

“Aye sir, reloading three and four with
Spearfish…heading is now one eight eight…making turns for two zero
knots…countermeasures loaded and ready, sir.”

“Captain, wires have broken on one and two…sonar
reports weapon two has acquired the
Chuntian
…Chuntian launching countermeasures and accelerating
but maintaining her course and depth.”

The captain felt a tinge of respect for the Chuntian’s
captain, his job was to protect the boomer and he was obviously intent on just
that. Heading towards a weapon in the vain hope that noisemakers launched into
his vessels wake would distract that weapon was a plan doomed to failure. The
attack submarine moving at full speed was far noisier than any gas-generating
countermeasure could ever be, but despite this the Chinese commander was trying
because there were no other options open to him.

The captain looked towards the weapons board, seeing
red lights still shining on the status boards for tubes three and four but he
made no comment, knowing that the forward torpedo room troops were the best
there was and nobody could do it any faster right now.

“Sonar, status on
Xia
please?”

“Sir, her forward speed is down to five knots but
she’s going up fast. Depth now two six zero, course same.”

“Weapons, reload
One
and Two
with Spearfish as soon as you can, and do you still have a solution on the
Xia
?”

“Yes sir, constantly updating it captain.” His weapons
officer looked slightly puzzled.

“Is she trying to hide in the surface noise clutter or
something, sir?”

The captain gave him a tight smile but one that was
totally devoid of humour as he answered with a question of his own. “Think
about it a moment Gavin, what would a boomer’s launch profile be?”