Attack of the Seawolf

The fireball of what had been Javelin Unit Two was rising into an orange-and-black mushroom cloud spreading over the superstructure of the Luda when Javelin Unit One, coming in from the north, found the Udaloy destroyer and confirmed the target. The missile aimed for the main superstructure directly beneath the bridge, but instead of penetrating the hull, the missile impacted the stern section of the starboard SS-N-14 Silex quad missile-launcher. The nose of the Javelin passed through the canisters of SS-N-14s and continued on through the other side to the bulkhead of the superstructure. The missile’s airframe barely made it into the hole in the bulkhead before the rocket fuel of the SS-N-14s detonated. Before the resulting explosion, the SS-N-14s had been rocket launched torpedoes used in antisubmarine warfare.

Now their rocket fuel’s ignition made them as deadly to the ship as the

Javelin launched by the Seawolf. The rocket fuel exploded in a sloppy fireball, first blowing outward before the force of the uneven explosion blew the torpedoes into the forward gun mount The explosion from the torpedo warheads was even more violent than the initial rocket-fuel ignition, blowing a hole in the ship’s deck in the former location of the number-two 100-mm gun. At roughly the same time as the detonation of the SS-N-14 torpedo warheads, the warhead of the Javelin exploded, vaporizing most of the interior of the forward superstructure and blowing the forward funnel into a crushed lump of metal.

Even if the missile had been a dud, it would have succeeded because of the SS-N-14 detonations. The blast of the Javelin warhead had the added effect of blowing out the superstructure on the opposite side of the ship, on the port side. The fireball engulfed the port SS-N-14 missile canister and caused the unit to detonate both the rocket fuel and the torpedoes’ warheads at the same time. The explosion blew apart what had been left of the superstructure, taking with it the masts and antennae as the ship erupted into flames amidships, the fire migrating aft to the fuel tanks, where ruptured fuel lines spewed volatile fuel for the gas turbines into the bilges.

The Udaloy’s main propulsion was by gas turbine, a sophisticated power turbine turned by the gases of the hot-gas generator, which was essentially a jet engine that ran on a light fuel of kerosene. Unlike the viscous fuel oil of the neighboring Luda, which could ignite only at very high temperatures, the kerosene was so volatile that the vapor from the spill ignited immediately, feeding the fire. The fuel tank, located low and amidships, exploded into flames less than one minute after the impact of the Javelin. The fire spread throughout the ship. The crew members, those few aboard, were not as fortunate as the men of the Luda.

No one could survive the white-hot fire in the Udaloy.

The ship’s hull did stay intact, but the hole from the port side SS-N-14 detonation began just above the waterline, and a slight list to port began the flow of water over the lip of the hole into the ship’s second deck.

The flooding worsened the list until the ship began leaning hard aport into the hull of the black submarine alongside. The only sounds after the initial round of explosions were the intermittent explosions of ammunition rounds and the roaring of the fire from the deck.

Jack Morris could only stare at the scene. In one moment the Luda was intact and quiet. In the next her superstructure exploded into a ball of flame, the ball blowing up into a large sphere with a diameter half the length of the ship. Morris had the brief impression of the ship heeling over to her starboard side from the shock of the explosion, but at that moment two things happened. The shock wave of the explosion hit him, nearly blowing off his mask, and the Udaloy destroyer on the pier-side of the Tampa blew apart under another violent fireball, a secondary explosion shooting the fireball out over all three ships at the pier.

Pacino’s missiles had been dead on.

As the fireballs from the destroyers shook the Tampa Jack Morris pulled off his mask and hit a quick-release button on his lung’s harness. His buoyancy compensator, air bottles, mask and regulator fell off his back and sank into the bay, leaving him feeling light. Still underwater, he kicked off his fins. He found the hull with his sticky solid-rubber shoes and pushed himself along the sloping hull until his head and shoulders emerged from the water. He kept low, crouching down on the aft section of the hull. He cleared the barrel plug of the RPG launcher, loaded it with a mortar grenade and fired at his target on top of the sail.