SSN - Tom Clancy [19]
Mack put the first two torpedoes out of his mind. They were gone and on their own, and would fail or succeed without his help. Now he had to worry about their next target.
"Make tubes three and four ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors," he said, beginning the procedure once again. Within moments, the second pair of Mk 48s was headed straight for Master 20, the 1,500-ton frigate.
Aboard the Ming submarine there was little time for reaction. The Chinese captain ordered flank speed in the opposite direction of the torpedoes, but the two Mk 48s continued to close the gap.
The Ming reached its maximum speed quickly, but it simply did not have the ability to outrun the speeding ADCAP torpedoes, cutting through the water at over fifty knots.
The frigate was encountering a similar type of panic. Its first reaction was to begin dropping ASW mortars into the water in an attempt to throw the torpedoes off course. These mortars, which carried the designation RBU 1200, were unguided but still dangerous. They essentially threw small bombs out to a range of slightly more than 1,200 yards. Since each mortar "shell" carried seventy-five pounds of explosive, their effects were spread out over a large area. There was always the danger that the explosion might damage Cheyenne, even though she was out of their direct range and path.
"Rig ship for depth charge," Mack ordered.
The mortars were a bad idea. Their explosions did not reach Cheyenne-in fact, they posed a greater risk to the Ming patrolling closer to the frigate. What's more, rather than harming Cheyenne, they actually helped her. With the loud explosions masking all other sounds-including preventing Cheyenne from learning whether her torpedoes had found their marks-Mack ordered flank speed as he turned to run from the Chinese task group.
Two hours later, with Cheyenne clear of the area and out of danger, her floating wire confirmed that her presence in the area was no longer a secret-but she had announced herself in fine fashion. Three of her four torpedoes had hit their targets, costing the Chinese a frigate and a Ming class submarine.
Along with this information came Cheyenne's previous orders: continue with the rendezvous with Independence, still some six hundred miles from Cheyenne's current position.
Mack was pleased with both the intelligence and the orders, but he knew that they'd have to be even more cautious from now on. Cheyenne was no longer a secret, and she was wearing the enemy's blood. Every available Chinese ASW asset would be hunting for Cheyenne and attempting to kill her.
But they'd have to find her first, and then they'd have to catch her. And Cheyenne ran fast. Her mission was now to reach Independence-which, at her current speed of twenty-five knots, and allowing for the sprint-and-drift technique, would take about fifteen hours.
Mack secured from battle stations and the rig for depth charge, and then settled in for the transit to Independence.
With Cheyenne running at twenty-five knots four hundred feet beneath the surface of the South China Sea, Mack had time to wonder about his decision to attack the Chinese frigate and submarine. Had he been too aggressive? The captain suddenly felt both guilt and vulnerability for attacking the task group. There had been other, more stealthy alternatives, and perhaps he should have taken them.
This was one of the dangers of post-action letdown. Too many people used that time to play the "what if?" game and to second-guess their own decisions. What if Cheyenne had been damaged? he thought to himself. After all, his main objective was to reach Independence safely, not attack enemy warships. Independence could easily have handled that task group herself.
In addition to the risk of the encounter. Mack knew that he had cost Cheyenne the element of surprise. She was known, now, and being hunted. Perhaps