Attack of the Seawolf

“I’m planning on sending the Tampa. She’s a Los Angelesclass, one of the last built before the Seawolfclass started construction. She’ll do okay on this mission. I just need to get the NSA spooks out to her — maybe a helicopter rendezvous — and in she goes.”

“I don’t know, Marty,” Donchez said, using the name Steuber hated.

“Tampa’s nearly brand new. I’d hate to risk losing a hightech sub if something went wrong. Why not send in one of the old Piranhaclass boats? It could do the job.”

“Sir, the old broken-down Piranhaclass boats are rust buckets. No way would I want to trust a stealth mission to an old Piranhaclass.”

Donchez had once commanded the USS Piranha, lead ship of the class that Steuber was dismissing.

“Who’s in command of Tampa’?” Donchez asked.

“Commander Sean Murphy.”

“Murphy’s good. Okay, Marty, you just sold me.

Draft the message, get the spooks and send in the Tampa. We’ve got some spying to do.”

A half-hour later a UHF satellite burst communication was relayed to the COMMSAT in the western Pacific, a message for the USS Tampa, while an extremely low frequency ELF signal was transmitted through the depths of the sea, calling Tampa up to periscope depth to receive the satellite’s message.

CHAPTER 3 WEDNESDAY. 8 MAY 2000 GREENWICH MEAN TIME

GO HAD BAY POINT HOTEL: TWO MILES SOUTHEAST OF XLNGANG PIERS

USS TAMPA

0400 BEIJING TIME

Tampa cruised slowly north at 1.5 knots at a keel depth of sixty-eight feet, the top of her sail ten feet below the surface of the dark water of the Bohai Wan.

The ship was rigged for ultra quiet All off-watch personnel were confined to their bunks. One of the turbine generators and one of the main engines aft was shut down to minimize radiated noise. Reactor main circulation pumps were in slow speed. Ventilation fans were turned to low speed. All lights were rigged for red to remind the watch standers of the need for silence. The PA. circuit speakers were disabled so that a transmission on them would not be heard outside the hull. Watchstanders in each compartment wore headsets and boom microphones to take the place of the PA. circuits. The control room was rigged for black, all lights extinguished except for the backlit gage-faces and the dim green light from the firecontrol console screens. A heavy dark curtain was drawn around the periscope stand to screen out the low level of light from the rest of the room. The precautions were designed to protect the night vision of the Captain and Officer of the Deck.

Commander Sean Murphy was pressed up against the hot surface of the deck-to-overhead length of the number-two periscope optic-module. His right eye was tight against the wet rubber of the eyepiece, now drenched with sweat and skin oil. He gripped the periscope with a grasp as familiar as a motocross racer’s on his motorcycle’s handlebars.

The view through the scope revealed the floodlit piers of New Harbor, Xingang, a mere four thousand yards away. The nearest pier was occupied by two rusty tankers and an old freighter. The pier further to the north was not so well lit but the backwash of the first pier’s lights showed a half-dozen warships of the P.L.A navy tied up, looking deserted and forlorn. Two were Ludaclass guided-missile destroyers; the third was a Russian-designed Udaloy antisubmarine destroyer.

Further aft were several Huchuan and P-4 fast torpedo patrol craft. Properly manned and alerted, the surface vessels could pose a threat, but it looked like the P.L.A navy might have abandoned their ships to lend troops to fight off the land attack of the White Army. That suited Murphy just fine.

The piers of Xingang slowly passed by as the ship proceeded north, dead slow, keeping up just enough flow over the bow planes and stern planes to provide sufficient depth-control to keep the sail from broaching. Should the sail become exposed, standing orders called for the captain to assume he had been seen and quickly withdraw at maximum speed while attempting to remain undetected. The first commandment of the Silent Service — remain undetected.