Attack of the Seawolf

The water to the west, from the direction of enemy approach, was a free-fire zone for their SS-N-14 Silex missiles. That at least had been done right. The most lethal weapon in the task force was the SS-N-14, a rocket-launched depth charge. Usually one per customer would be enough to kill any sub. But if they needed to launch torpedoes down a west bearing line, they could not do it from the eastern branch of the pace pattern because they could acquire on the ships of their task force to the west, the ones pacing south.

And they were prohibited from shooting in the east direction because the aircraft carrier Shaoguan was patrolling the end of the channel to the east, and it would not do to hit the carrier with a volley of Type 53 torpedoes.

It made no sense, confining a deadly Udaloy to this battle tactic, but then, who was he to say? Chen was still in his late twenties, barely out of the Second Surface Vessel Academy at Canton. He could not hope to match the tactical minds of the fleet commanders and task force commanders or of Ship Commander Yang Pei Ping, the Jinan’s captain. They must have agreed to this force deployment. Still, the tactics course at the academy had always insisted that fast ASW destroyers like the Udaloy operate in open water, leaving choke-point entrapments to lesser ships like the Jianghu frigates. And what about the fleet deployments to the south? The fleet commander had stationed most of the fleet at the entrance and exit of the southern passage, the Miaodao Strait, expecting the subs to try to leave through the narrow channel.

Chen didn’t see it. If he were a submarine commander trying to make his way out he’d keep to the wider channel. But perhaps the fleet commander had satellite surveillance or some reason to believe that the subs would come out via Miaodao.

Chen swallowed his frustration. His life since adolescence had led up to this moment, and not only was his ship put in the secondary task force, a halfhearted contingency force, but they were doing the job of a PT boat. He walked to the port bridge wing and searched the bay to the west with his binoculars.

“BRIDGE, COMBAT CONTROL,” a speaker blared out from the overhead, its rasping volume startling Chen, who put his binoculars down and concentrated on the announcement. “WE HAVE BROADBAND SONAR CONTACT ON MULTIPLE SUBMERGED HOSTILE TARGETS TO THE WEST.”

Chen felt the rush of excitement spinning him to an accelerated speed. With one hand he grabbed the microphone of the ship’s announcing system: “GENERAL QUARTERS, CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE.”

With his other hand he grabbed the handset of the tactical net radio and clicked the button for transmitting, tried to make his voice slow and distinct.

“Task force flag, this is destroyer Jinan reporting initial detection of multiple submerged hostile contacts, bearing west, supplemental report to follow, over.”

“JINAN, THIS IS TASK FORCE FLAG, ACKNOWLEDGING INITIAL DETECTION, OUT,” the tactical net’s speaker crackled.

Commander Yang Pei Ping hurried into the bridge, his face set in a mask of concentration.

“I’ve been in combat control, Chen,” he said.

“They are tracking twelve contacts. A dozen submarines!”

“No. That’s impossible,” Chen said.

“Is it a trick?”

“Perhaps the Americans sent a fleet of submarines to rescue their ship. From the destruction at Xingang it is beginning to make sense. Are general quarters manned?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Arm the SS-N-14 Silexes and the Type 53s.

Prepare for a Silex launch of the entire battery to the west.”

“Yes, Commander, but the range to the targets is unknown. We can’t throw away missiles without a firecontrol range. Perhaps the Commander would consider using the active sonar to locate the mean range.”

“No,” Yang said, dismissing the younger man.

“Passive sonar only. Orders of the fleet commander. He does not want to fill the channels with active echo ranging signals that might impede our longer range detection of threats. The more we transmit, the more noise in the water and the less we’ll hear.”

“Sir, I don’t mean to doubt the fleet commander, but an active sonar transmission will determine beyond a doubt if any of these hostile contacts are … decoys.”

“There are no such things as decoys, Chen. These are submarines.”

“We’d get a range to the ships much quicker going active, sir. The subs could be driving up close any moment. We need to release weapons, at least fire torpedoes to the west.”

“Chen, the tactics are being evaluated in combat control. Your function is to help me drive the ship, not comment on strategy. We’ll continue our target motion analysis by turning around when we have the first leg bearing rates. The task force will maneuver in a moment.” Yang took up the intercom mike.

“Combat control, do you have a steady bearing rate?”

“BRIDGE, COMBAT, YES.”

“Task force flag, this is destroyer Jinan reporting first leg complete and ready for maneuver, over,” Yang reported on the tactical net, which replied immediately: