Attack of the Seawolf

The way the vents had jammed in the struggle with the Chinese, and with the port list, there was a good chance the tanks had a considerable amount of water in them, which meant they were low in the water. If he could blow the tanks and refill them with air it might give him some added buoyancy to get off the sandbar. But he couldn’t use the blower — that would take a half hour to fill the tanks and time was what they did not have. He would have to use the emergency blow system — the EMBT blow system would force the water out so violently on the surface that the air flowing out of the tank gratings at the ship’s keel might blow the sand away from them. The blow would empty the highpressure air bottles, making it impossible for them to emergency-surface once they were submerged, but that was a problem that might never come.

So, the emergency blow and a max speed order might get them off the sandbar … then again, it might just dig them deeper into the sand. And if that happened the only alternative would be to get the rescue sub to surface, throw them a line and get towed off the bar. Odds were that the two operations would take so long that the Chinese would recapture them… They could, he supposed, abandon ship and get aboard the rescue sub, but that would take even longer than being towed off the bar. Which meant that either the emergency blow worked or it was back to Xingang for everyone aboard Tampa. Vaughn took a deep breath and spoke into his lip mike.

“Emergency blow! Hit the levers!” Almost immediately a violent foam of bubbles boiled up around the bow and stern, the air from the ballast tanks blowing out as the emergency blow system engaged.

“All ahead flank!” Vaughn ordered into the radio.

The deck of the ship began to tremble as the water aft of the rudder erupted into foam and the screw began to spin at maximum RPM. The ship eased up off the sandbar, just slightly, in reaction to the emergency blow in the ballast tanks. Then in a sudden surge the port list came off the ship and the submarine accelerated forward, the waves protesting and boiling up at the bow as the ship plowed into the channel.

The ship drove ahead, the bow wave building up over the sonar dome, the piers of the P.L.A fading behind. Vaughn ordered the rudder left and right, following the course of the channel until the ship was five miles away from Xingang and into deeper water.

Vaughn looked at the water of the bay around him, allowing himself a moment of satisfaction. They might not be home free yet, but at least, it seemed, they were on the way home.

GO HAD BAY, XINGANG HARBOR

P.L.A NAVY PIER 1A

Leader Tien Tse-Min fumed at the commander of the Huchuan-class fast-attack torpedo boat. The twenty two-meter-long patrol craft was a hydrofoil boat capable of going sixty clicks armed with two type-53 torpedoes and two twin 14.5-mm guns. Its commander was a short, slight southerner, probably from Shanghai or one of the cities in rebellion, Tien thought.

“Start your engines and get out on the water now.

We have to get that American sub. Can’t you see it?

Two torpedoes and we’ll blow it apart. We must keep it from escaping.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Commander Soo Chi Meng said, realizing what he was about to say might well determine whether he lived through the night.

“The diesels are not in good shape. Two were being worked on at the time of the missile attack on the destroyers. The third was bounced around by the shock. My engineering technician says it has wiped its bearings.”

Tien glared at the commander.

“Show me. I will start the diesels myself.” Tien, of course, was bluffing.

He had no idea how to start a diesel engine.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.

It could be dangerous, it could explode and wound you.”

“Commander, I am ordering you to start the motors on this boat and go after that submarine. Do I need to get you on the radio to Chairman Yang?”

“Sir, you must believe me — the engines are not working.” Soo felt sweat drip down his forehead. If the senior officer actually boarded his ship and checked the engines he would find the engine room spotless. As for starting a diesel engine, there was not much to it. The officer would only need to find the red button on the control panel marked START and push it. Ten seconds after one of the diesels roared to idling speed, the officer would shoot him. But he felt it was worth the risk, after seeing what the invisible submarine had done to the frigate that had chased it, the entire bow of the supposedly invincible frigate blowing up, sending the sub-killing ship to the bottom in less than a minute, not to mention how it had managed to down two massive Hind helicopters and sink the pier side destroyers too. Somewhere out there that rescue submarine lurked, waiting to sink any ship that threatened the captive submarine.