SSN - Tom Clancy [69]
The next few minutes were tense and silent. Then the sonar supervisor spoke up. "Conn, sonar, two explosions, one bearing 175 and the other coming from the baffles." Sonar didn't have enough bearing information to get both direct path and bottom bounce, so the sonar supervisor couldn't report range. Sonar also couldn't tell exactly what the torpedoes had impacted against. It could have been one or both of the Chinese Alfas, but it could also have been Chinese noisemakers, or even Cheyenne's own countermeasures. To top it off, Cheyenne had lost contact on both Alfas in the baffles.
In short, Mack had no idea whether one or both of the AJfas were still there-and he wanted to know. That information was important to Cheyenne^s survival, and to the success of her mission.
On his orders, Cheyenne slowed and, after proceeding above the layer, cleared her baffles to port. There was no sign of the Alfas, only reverberations from the explosions. The data did show, however, that there had been three explosions, not two. The one they'd picked up in their baffles had actually been two separate explosions.
Mack didn't have many different ways to read this situation. The Alfas could either have surfaced or have gone to the bottom-and he didn't think they'd gone down. There had been eight separate torpedoes in the area, he knew, four from Cheyenne and two each from the Alfas. With only three explosions, it was doubtful that both Chinese submarines had been killed.
But there just wasn't any way to tell from the available data. Not yet, anyway. The sonar tapes would have to be analyzed, a process that would take some time, and then maybe they'd have a better idea.
Cheyenne continued on course toward the second patrol area, at seven hundred feet to keep beneath the layer, while battle stations and the rig for depth charge were secured. The usual all-officer meeting was delayed for at least thirty minutes while the captain and executive officer talked in his stateroom and the melee was reconstructed by the battle stations fire-control party.
It was clear to both the captain and the executive officer that the Chinese commander-in-chief had ordered drastic measures. Both Alfas had continued on course right at Cheyenne'' s datum without trying to turn away, even with Mk 48s coming their way.
Mack had always hated the Soviet Crazy Ivan maneuvers, but this was even worse. It was more like the Japanese kamikaze, the "Divine Wind" World War II pilots.
When the officers finally got together in the wardroom, the sonar supervisor and his chief petty officer were there with their tape analysis. They had been able to determine that two of the explosions were Mk 48 ADCAP PBXN-103, one in the baffles and the one bearing 175. The third explosion, originally in the baffles, was from a 53cm torpedo warhead. They were able to determine the difference in kilogram yield based on the duration and decibels of the reverberations.
Their reconstruction of the target courses and torpedo courses proved almost conclusively that the two Alfas had suffered one hit apiece. As for the remaining Chinese torpedoes, in their professional opinion either the 53cm torpedo explosion had destroyed them or they had run themselves to exhaustion while circling Cheyenne's countermeasures. The torpedoes, once decoyed, would have waited for the countermeasures to exhibit some dopplcr-something they had been programmed not to do.
In keeping with his policies, Captain Mackey used the 1MC to inform the entire crew of the reconstructed results of their battle. This time, he told them, the Chinese commander-in-chiefs orders had helped Cheyenne. The Alfas had been more intent on the kill than on their own survival. But next time well, he didn't want there to be a next time.
From now on, he told them, Cheyenne would launch her torpedoes at longer ranges, shooting on towed-array bearing solutions whenever possible. In fact, he added, he was contemplating shooting with the section fire-control