D. M. Ulmer 01 - Silent Battleground (23 page)

The captain came back with, “Conn, aye, Sonar.  Do you still hold the
Alfa
and our weapon?  Should be somewhere to the northwest.”

Sonar replied, “Standby, Conn.”  Twenty seconds passed.  “I hear the unit, but no target.”

The captain acknowledged Sonar’s report.

Chief Cunningham reported, “One fifty and holding, Captain.”

“Good,” said Bostwick.  “We’ll stay at battle stations while we sneak the hell out of here.” 

He did not intend to look further for the
Alfa
.

Later, Dan and Brent discussed the incident privately.

Dan asked, “What do you figure happened, Brent?  I thought we had the bastard cold.  How do you think he found us?”

“He heard our torpedo.  He certainly
didn’t hear us when he went by his closest point of approach and we were
in his baffles when we heard his fish.  He used the inbound torpedo as an aim point ’cause he knew it came from us.”

“But how did he get so quiet?  The exec and captain figure we’ve been led down a primrose path here.  The Soviets knew we conducted peacetime surveillance and likely
used noise augmenters to cover up how quiet they really
can be.  Now the war’s started, they turn ’em off.”

“I don’t believe that.  Low frequency lines from Soviet boats have always been strongest and augmenters can’t reach down that far.  It defies the laws of physics.”

“Then how do you account for their disappearing like they did?  To outrun the ADCAP they should have made enough noise to hear them all the way back in San Diego.”

“I don’t know what they did, Dan.  Somehow, they dodged our Sunday punch.  It’s gonna be a long war if we can’t figure out how they did it.”

Dave Zane greeted his new prospective employee.  “Have a seat, Mr. Cameron.”

“I’m more used to Darby … if that’s okay.”

Dave sensed the newcomer’s apprehension and set about relieving it.  “That’ll be fine, Darby.  I’m told you know something about main propulsion reduction gears.”

While sitting down, Darby nodded and said, “I’ve replaced a few in my time, but I’ll need to do some reading up.  Do you have anyone else with experience or do you want me to train the workforce and run the operation?”

“You’ve keyed onto a major piece of the problem.  We lost the documentation at Bremerton.  Can you take a stab at it?”

Darby whistled softly.  “I can, but it’ll be reaching way back.  Do you have the parts?”

“They’re on the way.  We’re breaking a few rules, but then I guess the Soviets are too.”

Darby said,
“Damn nukes didn’t invent bearings or the Babbitt metal they’re made of.  Hell, I’ve replaced a lot of bearings on Jimmy and Fairbanks Morse engines.  We can get Babbitt to melt down from diesel locomotives that aren’t running now because they’re the same engines used on our diesel boats.  We’ll disconnect
Newport’s
reduction gears from the main engines so they can be jacked while steaming and then I’ll build and install the bearings.  We’ll cull out enough guys from the ones you got here to help work on it.  You know we’ll be breaking some rules for doing this without certified people, but what other choice have we got?”

Dave noted Darby’s memory remained sharp and felt the working details would be equally
so.  “We know that.  Our boss, Commodore Danis, says he’ll bend everything short of risking major damage to the refit facility.”

“That’s a pretty broad latitude,” Darby said.

“Danis has a pretty broad charter.”

Darby would have liked it better if he had the reference manuals so he asked, “Did you try to get documentation from someplace else?”

Knowing the importance of Darby having some sort of check on his memory, Dave answered, “We’re trying, but all our leads end up in situations similar to Bremerton’s.  Maybe some troops in
Newport
are experienced enough to help you out.”

“Good idea, Captain Zane.  I’ll take anything I can get.”

Dave winced at the title but hadn’t made peace with Eric, so he let it pass.

Continuing, Darby added, “Submariners are known to squirrel away a lot of stuff so I’m sure we’ll find some goodies in
Newport
.”

“When did you last work on reduction gears?”

“About five years ago.  An opportunity for promotion came up in the weapons inspection area and I’ve been there ever since.”

“Well, Darby.  You’re the only
game in town so the job is yours if you want it.”

“Thanks,” Darby said then his tone grew somber, “but there’s more and I don’t want to start off by blindsiding you.”

“What’s that?”

Darby related the problem with
Denver
’s eject pump and the action by the Civil Service Board dismissing him.  He remained
quiet after his story and looked at Dave through a grave expression.

Dave reflected a moment then said, “Darby, there’s no question you did wrong and that won’t be tolerated here.  However, you impress me as one who appreciates the importance of this work and will perform it in a conscientious manner.  All of us have had our letdowns.  Probably the difference between you and the rest of us is that you got caught.  I suspect the experience will work to my advantage because it’ll make you more cautious.  I’m willing to take the chance.  The job’s yours if you want it.”

“What about Commodore Danis and the submariners?  I’m told they won’t let me back aboard their ships again.”

“Manning this outfit is my responsibility and I’m sure Danis won’t second-guess me.  Now for openers, let’s you and me walk down to
Newport
and get our arms around that repair plan.  It’s going to be a bitch.”

The two men stood.  Darby Cameron smiled for the first time since the near sinking of
Denver
.  They shook hands and walked out into the makeshift facility.

Dutch Meyer explained the plan to build an ASW defense system with bottom-mounted hydrophones to Jim Buchanan.  Gerry Carter sat in on the meeting in the Weapons Repair Office.

Beginning the meeting, Dutch said, “We have already planted a hydrophone and the test results look pretty good.  Using a calibrated noise source, we start at the hydrophone then move away from it till we lose the signal.  This set of curves shows we covered all approaches against the best they’ve got down to four knots.  Below that speed we generate a few gaps, but our overall detect, localize and classify probabilities are above eighty percent for all targets.”

Jim liked the mustang’s concept and voiced his enthusiasm and support.

Dutch continued, “Weapon placement is the big problem.  We don’t have enough resources to keep a plane on station twenty-four seven.  We’d need too many ships to cover the entire area and they’d make enough noise to mask the targets.  They’d actually provide a beacon for anyone trying to locate the
Pitstop.
”

Jim said, “You’ve solved half the classic problem, Dutch.  Quieter they get, the more hydrophones we need.  Spreading them over the defending areas is doable.  Trouble is we only
get a peek at the target and he’s gone before we can get a weapon on him.  What’s realistic in terms of aircraft support, Gerry?”

Gerry answered, “I’ve checked out the runways and facilities at Hoquiam.  The footprint’s okay for S3A Vikings and we can support three of them there.”

“How soon can we be up and running?”

“A month, give or take.  I’ve got a fix on some reserve troops in the area that are in pretty good shape.  We have the birds.  Fortunately,
somebody stashed some surplus 3A’s at Phoenix, Arizona and they’re ours for the taking.  Couple of rubs though.”

Jim asked, “What’s that?”

“Fuel is the biggest one.  We’re damn short of it and Air Force requirements for the European Theater sucks it down like it’s going out of style.  We’ve got no petroleum coming in from the sea and mainland American resources are not up to it.”

Dutch asked, “What’s the other?”

Gerry explained, “We’d need seven hundred and twenty hours a month to give you full coverage.  With three planes, we can provide about half that.  If we had the fuel, of course, which is simply
not the case.”

Jim inquired, “What’s your Viking’s top speed with a pair of MK-50 torpedoes aboard?”

“A little better than mach point eight five.”

Jim asked, “How long after alert at the field can you hit that?”

“Five minutes, give or take, depending on the weather.”

The three bent over an area chart that Dutch had prepared showing the hydrophone locations, along with Hoquiam airport. 

Making some fast calculations, Jim stepped off the critical distances with a pair of dividers then said, “No way.  We’ve got to think of something else.  Back at the sub school, we’d brainstorm a problem like this as a Prospective Commanding Officer class project.  A lot of good ideas came up and occasionally a solution.  Maybe we can try that?”

Dutch answered, “Sure.  We’ll take a shot at anything.”

Looking up from the chart, Gerry said, “This might be a stupid question, but a check of Jane’s shows this guy can lob an SS-N-21 to sixteen hundred nautical miles.  Isn’t that outside the hydrophones?”

Jim knew weapons systems and responded to Gerry.  “That’s true, but those long-ranges are for nukes.  He’ll need conventional weapons against the
Pitstop
.  His only
chance is to come in close to launch them.  Shooting conventional 21s outside the hydrophones will diminish his accuracy and improve our chances to detect and destroy the inbounds.  He’s gotta launch from inside our phone array if he expects to do any good and he knows that.”

Dutch asked, “What do you know about Sealance, Commander?”

Jim wanted to invite the mustang to drop the title, but on the verge of command, he couldn’t afford to damage that certain mystique so essential to the job.  “I’ve got a fairly
good idea.  It’s designed as a submarine launched weapon and can boost an MK-50 torpedo out a far piece.”

“That’s right, sir.”

Jim added, “But you have to know target location, course and speed if you expect to do any good with it.”

“My array does all that,” said Dutch.  “I got to wondering whether we could anchor a barge within range of the hydrophones with a couple of ready Sealances on it.  That would cut the time from initial contact to weapon on target down to almost zero.”

Jim liked the idea and said, “You’ll have an alignment problem.  It can’t be maintained with the barge swinging back and forth in a seaway.  I like part of your idea, though.  But why not cluster the missiles on a platform and set them on the bottom?”

Dutch shook his head skeptical of the question’s validity.  “On the bottom?”

“Why not?” Jim asked.  “They’re designed to fly from a watertight composite capsule launched by an SSN.  The materials don’t interact with seawater so you could leave ’em there indefinitely.  Make the platform good and heavy so it’ll sit still then index guidance systems to north with gyro monitoring of earth rate.  That’ll solve the alignment problem.”

Dutch exclaimed, “Damn!  Sounds wild as hell, but right off the top, I can’t see anything wrong with it.”

Jim went on, “No wilder than putting them on barges.  They’ll be invisible to satellite surveillance and improve the chances of surprising the hell out of any Soviet submarine that pokes his nose in here.”

Gerry asked, “Reds still operate their satellites?”

“We never touched them.  And we still got ours too.”

Dutch cautioned, “It’s later than we think then.  They must know about this place by now and we can expect them to come after it.”

Gerry asked, “You want me to put a hold on the Viking operation?”

Jim replied, “No.  Our little deal might not work and even if it does, we’ll need S3A’s for follow-on attacks.  One MK-50 is not likely
to damage an
Akula
enough to stop him from launching his 21s.  We can vector your birds on top and rub a hell of a lot of salt in his wounds.  The initial damage will make him noisy and easier to track.”

“Could you vector us on top of the target?”

“No,” Jim replied, “but if you drop an explosive charge, we’d hear it and vector you from there.  Will that work?”

“Like a charm,” said Gerry.

“Good,” replied Jim, nodding.  Then he said to Dutch, “It sounds to me like we better get moving.”

Gerry added, “Yeah, we better do that before some government analyst gets wind of it and proves it can’t be done.”

The captain’s attitude toward Brent deteriorated at an accelerated rate.  He considered the young officer as the genesis for all
Denver’s
problems, Bostwick’s problems, actually.  With a short time to go as CO of
Denver,
he would likely emerge in excellent shape for flag rank, particularly if the patrol had any kind of success at all.  Timing meant everything and with an American public hungering for good news, it would be perfect for Bostwick.  But he regarded Maddock a liability to this goal, rather than the asset he truly
was.

He admonished Brent by listening to his comments then didn’t acknowledge him.  He did
this when convened in the wardroom to determine how the
Alfa
got away and nearly
killed
Denver
in the process.

Bostwick opened the meeting.  “I don’t need to say how important it is for us to learn from what happened today.  If the Soviets have developed a method to counter a 688 then the war could well be lost.”  He studied the face of each officer in turn to ensure the gravity of his message had set in then continued, “Dan has assembled all the tactical data recorded during the event.  Dan?”

Dan Patrick discussed each data point in painstaking detail.  He invited interruptions for clarifications and got many.

When Dan finished, the captain spoke again.  “I suspect one or a combination of three things could have happened.  One, the
Alfa
had an escort that detected and attacked us.  Two,
Alfa
used a noise augmenter that he secured when he heard our torpedo.  Concurrently, he fired back at us and then began to evade.  The third would be a bona fide fluke.  We just picked a bad time to shoot, maybe just as he slowed down to clear baffles.  Thoughts, anyone?”