Phoenix Sub Zero

“I thought this was a war briefing. General Barczynski, or I would have brought the videos and charts and graphs of the Vortex program.”

Barczynski put both hands up, as if to separate Donchez and Clough. “Hold on, hold on. Dick, what’s the deal with this live firing exercise? This Vortex is going to kill some one if I read these reports right.”

Donchez’s jaw clenched. He already had had to answer for the failed operation to kill Sihoud, and now Clough was kicking him when down, dragging out the Vortex program.

It would have been easier to tolerate if the Vortex had been someone else’s brainchild, but it was Donchez’s personal dream, his legacy to the Navy. And so far the program had been one problem after another. Donchez opened his brief case and took out a folder, thinking back over the last two years and the long road to the Vortex’s operational test.

“General, here’s the short course on the Vortex missile program. After we had that unfortunate incident under the polar icecap a few years ago when we lost the Devilfish, we wanted to develop an antisubmarine weapon that would be as effective as the old Russian Magnum, the big 100-centimeter nuclear-tipped torpedo. We were somewhat disappointed in the Mark 50, frankly, although it did well against the Chinese fleet during Operation Jailbreak back when Seawolf liberated the Tampa. But those were surface ships we were firing at, not submarines. The ASW standoff weapon, the Ow-sow, also used against the Chinese, was a big break, but it turned out to be a surface ship killer, not that effective against a sub. In the meantime the opposition submarines were getting faster. The Japanese Destiny-class, for example, can do damned near forty-seven knots and the mark 50 only about fifty. On a good day, the Destiny submarine can run long enough in a tail-chase so that a Mark 50 runs out of fuel, effectively outrunning our torpedo.”

“Does that mean we won’t be able to sink the Destiny?”

“No, sir. We have a tactical advantage against the Destiny.

He can’t run from a torpedo he doesn’t know has been launched.”

“This Vortex—it was your invention, wasn’t it, Dick?” Clough asked.

Donchez understood Clough wanted to equate the Vortex test failures with Donchez personally.

“The concept was mine, yes. The weapon that eventually was named”Vortex’ introduces a new era in torpedoes. General Barczynski. It is a hybrid weapon, half-torpedo, half-missile, a solid-fueled missile that travels underwater for its entire run to the target. It goes 300 knots. It cannot be outrun.

And its warhead is five times the size of the Mark 50’s, over seven tons of Plasticpac explosive. The yield comes close to the kiloton TNT level with conventional explosives.

It’s the ultimate submarine-versus-submarine weapon system.”

“Except that it blows up when you try to launch it,” Clough added.

“Felix,” Barczynski said tonelessly. “Go ahead, Dick.”

“The early weapon tests were, I grant you, troubling. We found the rocket fuel had to be hot-launched — ignited inside the launching tube — otherwise the missile lost stability, but in-tube ignition means the tubes have to be incredibly strong. Also, the solid fuel is more volatile than typical rocket fuel and we had problems slowing the combustion rate. On launch the pressure transient in the tubes exceeded the design pressure and led to a longitudinal stress failure—” “What does that mean?” Barczynski asked.

“It means the launching tubes blew up,” Donchez said, “in nine out of twelve static launches. We completed a detailed study of the failure mode and did a total weapon redesign.

The new missile was named the Mod Bravo, and in its two static tests it has performed perfectly. Tomorrow’s Mod Bravo test will be a sea-launch from the USS Piranha, a decommissioned 637-class attack submarine, against the old Bonefish, which is a diesel sub set up to be a test drone.”

“You’re launching this Vortex from an old attack sub? Is that wise, with all the tube explosions? Couldn’t that sink the boat?”

“That won’t happen, sir. Besides, the firing ship will be unmanned. It’s fully instrumented. If something were to go wrong, we’d be able to

determine why without the problem hurting anyone.”

“Setting up two drone submarines is rather expensive, isn’t it. Admiral?” Clough flipped through papers. “I think I have some budgetary figures here—”

Donchez stood and addressed Barczynski.

“If there’s nothing else, sir, I’ll be following Operation Early Retirement in Flag Plot.”

He had scanned out of the room before Clough could say anything else.

Chapter 7 Friday, 27 December

TONGUE OF THE OCEAN, EAST OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS

ATLANTIC UNDERSEA TESTING AND EVALUATION CENTER (AUTEC)

EXERCISE BONECRUSHER

USS PIRANHA