Rogue Goliath by John R. Monteith

Author:John R. Monteith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stealth Books
Published: 2015-05-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Lieutenant Yoon leaned into his crutches and tolerated the throbbing in his belly. Below him, Senior Chief Nang tapped keys and entered data into the Kim’s tactical system.

“How slow can you make them run?” Yoon asked.

“Twenty-five knots by design. I’m not sure how to set it through the system, though. This isn’t my normal job, sir.”

“I know. Press the settings icon. That’s right. Now the transit speed. Set it to minimum.”

“Done, sir.”

“How far does that extend the range?”

“You’re pushing the maximum range for a SeaHake torpedo,” Nang said. “That’s twenty-eight nautical miles per the manual. I can’t promise that you’ll hit anything, though. That’s an hour of run time, and the whole world will change position up there before the weapon gets there.”

“That’s fine,” Yoon said. “Leave that up to me and our data feed. There will be plenty of targets in the vicinity, and we’ll hit several. When this is done, fewer ships will remain to threaten us and the Gwansun.”

The display next to Nang showed the swarm of North Korean vessels buzzing around his countrymen’s submarine in response to a friendly vessel’s long-range rounds. With the bulk of the threat concentrated away from him, he felt safer. But he’d be damned if he’d sit idle and let his colleagues die in his stead without fighting back.

“Don’t mind me asking, sir. But are you sure you want to risk this? The noise of a launch, I mean?”

“This ship is designed for optimal quieting, including minimizing torpedo launch transient noise.”

“It’s still unnecessary noise.”

“I consider it necessary to retain my dignity. The Gwansun is risking everything for us. I will do what I can to assist it.”

“Okay, sir. I hope it works. Bearing and speed are set for each weapon in tubes one through four.”

“Report all the weapon settings.”

“All four weapons are set on bearing three-three-zero, speed twenty-five knots. Seekers will awake at twenty-two miles. Weapons are set in passive search mode. Nobody will hear them unless they drive right over an enemy submarine.”

“Are they set for surface mode?”

“Yes, sir. If the weapons happen to end up anywhere near the Gwansun, they’ll only engage surfaced vessels.”

“Very well. Do you have a qualified man on station in the torpedo room? There’s a lot of activity about to happen.”

“Seaman Hong is there, sir.”

“But is he qualified? Can he operate a torpedo tube, backhaul, and reload?”

“He’s the best we have who’s still alive. He’s not qualified yet, but he was close enough that I’ll trust him. He’s a bright kid.”

Yoon assumed that Nang embellished the youngster’s abilities, but he appreciated the optimism.

“Very well,” he said. “Shoot tube one.”

A pneumatic system whined from the torpedo room, and Yoon’s ears popped.

“Tube one, normal launch,” Nang said.

“Very well. Launch tube two.”

Minutes later, Yoon watched the icons of his four torpedoes moving towards the constellation of enemy warships.

“The weapons are going in the right direction, and at the right speeds,” he said.

“It appears so, sir. Depending what ship you target and how they all move around, you’ve got at least thirty minutes before you hit anything.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.