Clash of The Carriers by Barrett Tillman

Author:Barrett Tillman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Meanwhile, Herman Kossler had problems of his own. After firing, Cavalla went deep with full left rudder, changing course and slowing for silent running. Approaching test depth of three hundred feet as more depth charges erupted close aboard, her nose came up but her depth increased. The “up bubble” was not checking the descent.

Zeke Zellmer recalled, “It was necessary to increase the propeller speed and carry a four-degree up angle to stop the descent. Negative tank had been blown, but we were still heavy, and the depth charge salvos continued. We were nearly a hundred feet below our test depth.”

After the second salvo a loud hissing sound had been heard in the crew’s mess. Murphy’s Law had kicked in: The main air induction trunk had flooded at the worst possible moment. Cavalla had taken on twelve to fifteen tons of unwanted water.

The school solution was to drain the flooded trunk to the engine-room bilge, then use the drain pumps to vent the water overboard. But that wasn’t an option: The noise would help Lieutenant Commander Maeda and his vengeful partners find Cavalla and kill her. Kossler decided to compensate by running with a little extra speed: At eighty rpm the propellers turned at less than cavitation velocity, which would pinpoint the boat for enemy sonar.

But there were more problems: Cavalla also ingested water in the forward torpedo room bilges. One of the poppet valves had stuck, allowing the “water round torpedo tank” to overflow. Consequently, the sub’s up angle sent bilgewater rearward, rising to a foot deep at the after bulkhead, flooding the motors controlling the JK, QC, and QB sonars. Only the JP set was functional, and it had to be trained by hand.

As if that weren’t enough, one of the destroyers was back. Every man aboard Cavalla heard its high-speed screws. The high, screechy tone grew in pitch and volume as the hunter-killer passed directly overhead—the best pass yet, absolutely perfect alignment. All hands braced themselves as best they could, knowing what was coming.

It never came.

For reasons that will never be known, the Japanese skipper didn’t roll his depth charges. Perhaps there was still ambient noise in the water from previous attacks, concealing Cavalla’s presence. Whatever the reason, it seemed providential. If Saints Brendan, Christopher, and Michael were the benefactors of sailors and mariners, United States ship Cavalla must have received their unanimous blessing.

But the crisis was far from over. As Zeke Zellmer noted, “For the next one and a half hours the three destroyers took turns trying to obliterate us. Finally only one destroyer remained. By this time we had planed up to our test depth and tensions eased.”

Cavalla waited for the screw noises to vanish, then began pumping the excess water. Simultaneously, the five intact tubes in the forward torpedo room were reloaded.

Sending his contact report, Kossler informed headquarters, “Heard four terrific explosions in direction of the target two and a half hours after attack. Believe that baby sank.”

Herman Kossler had bagged a carrier on his first patrol in command.

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