The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy [221]
The Red October
She was diving more quickly than expected. The explosion had also ruptured a trim tank, causing more negative buoyancy than they had at first allowed for.
The leak in the radio room was bad, but Melekhin had noted the flooding on his damage control board and reacted immediately. Each compartment had its own electrically powered pump. The radio room pump, supplemented by a master-zone pump that he had also activated, was managing, barely, to keep up with the flooding. The radios were already destroyed, but no one was planning to send any messages.
"Ryan, all the way up, and come right full rudder," Ramius said.
"Right full rudder, all the way up on the planes," Ryan said. "We going to hit the bottom?"
'Try not to," Mancuso said. "It might spring the leak worse."
"Great," Ryan growled back.
The October slowed her descent, arcing east below the ensonified zone. Ramius wanted it between himself and the Alfa. Mancuso thought that they might just survive after all. In that case he'd have to give this boat's plans a closer look.
The Dallas
"Sonar, give me two low-powered pings for the boomer. I don't want anybody else to hear this, Chief."
"Aye." Chief Laval made the proper adjustments and sent the signals out. "All right! Conn, sonar, I got her! Bearing two-zero-three, range two thousand yards. She is not, repeat not, on the bottom, sir."
"Left fifteen degrees rudder, come to two-zero-three," Chambers ordered.
"Left fifteen degrees rudder, aye!" the helmsman sang out. "New course two-zero-three. Sir, my rudder is left fifteen degrees."
"Frenchie, tell me about the boomer!"
"Sir, I got . . . pump noises, I think . . . and she's moving a little, bearing is now two-zero-one. I can track her on passive, sir."
"Thompson, plot the boomer's course. Mr. Goodman, we still have that MOSS ready for launch?"
"Aye aye," responded the torpedo officer.
The V. K. Konovalov
"Did we kill him?" the zampolit asked.
"Probably," Tupolev answered, wondering if he had or not. "We must close to be certain. Ahead slow."
"Ahead slow."
The Pogy
The Pogy was now within two thousand yards of the Konovalov, still pinging her mercilessly.
"He's moving, sir. Enough that I can read passive," Sonar Chief Palmer said.
"Very well, secure pinging," Wood said.
"Aye, pinging secured."
"We got a solution?"
"Locked in tight," Reynolds answered. "Running time is one minute eighteen seconds. Both fish are ready."
"All ahead one-third."
"All ahead one-third, aye." The Pogy slowed. Her commanding officer wondered what excuse he might find for shooting.
The Red October
"Skipper, that was one of our sonars that pinged us, off north-north-east. Low-power ping, sir, must be close."
"Think you can raise her on gertrude?"
"Yes sir!"
"Captain?" Mancuso asked. "Permission to communicate with my ship?"
"Yes."
"Jones, raise her right now."
"Aye. This is Jonesy calling Frenchie, do you copy?" The sonarman frowned at the speaker. "Frenchie, answer me."
The Dallas
" Conn, sonar, I got Jonesy on the gertrude."
Chambers lifted the control room gertrude phone. "Jones, this is Chambers. What is your condition?"
Mancuso took the mike away from his man. "Wally, this is Bart," he said. "We took one midships, but she's holding together. Can you run interference for us?"
"Aye aye! Starting right now, out." Chambers replaced the phone. "Goodman, flood the MOSS tube. Okay, we'll go in behind the MOSS. If the Alfa shoots at it, we take her out. Set it to run straight for two thousand yards, then turn south."
"Done. Outer door open, sir."
"Launch."
"MOSS away, sir."
The decoy ran forward at twenty knots for two minutes to clear the Dallas, then slowed. It had a torpedo body whose forward portion carried a powerful sonar transducer that ran off a tape recorder and broadcast the recorded sounds of a 688-class