Tangent Fire by John Schettler

Author:John Schettler [Schettler, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Writing Shop Press
Published: 2019-11-04T13:00:00+00:00

― Yevgeney Zamyatin

Chapter 18

Type 041 Yuan class number 12 was going to get in the final shot of the battle of the Beihai Sea. The diesel boat had crept within seven miles of the retiring Japanese task force, and decided to attack, putting three torpedoes into the water. Now they came like a tangent at the lazy curve of the course that had been set by the Japanese, each loaded with 300 kilograms of death. The YU-10 had a standard range of 8 miles under doctrine, but could extend out as far as 27 nautical miles, depending on the speed. Here it was traveling at its top speed of 65 knots, which would give it a maximum reach of 20 miles.

The minute the Japanese sonars detected that torpedo launch, the rotors of two Kai SH-60 helos began spinning on the aft decks of destroyers Onami and Akizuki, as every ship in the formation was ordered to turn and veer away from the attack vector, the sea churning with the white foamy wash of their wakes. The destroyers could run at 32 knots, but with an enemy weapon running 60 knots, it would be as if they were standing still, and being hunted by a 28 knot demon in the sea. The only chance the destroyers had was to try and get outside that 20 mile range before the torpedoes ran out of fuel.

It looked to be far too late for the Onami, the Japanese word for “Great Wave.” The destroyer was running all out, having turned due north away from the attack, but all three YU-10’s had locked on to the ship, and they were running up its boiling wake. Every other ship had veered off on different tangents, away from the line of this attack, but Onami had no choice. It could only run north. Any attempt at an evasive turn now would only cause the ship to lose speed, and speed was the only thing keeping the destroyer alive at that moment.

At 18:14 the first of the three pursuing torpedoes struck home, piercing the Great Wave aft. Crews on all the other ships saw the high water splash marking that hit, and the great gash torn in the hull opened it to the sea. Onami’s speed fell off dramatically, as if some dark pursuing leopard had scored the hind legs of its quarry, bringing a great wildebeest down for the kill. Just seconds later, the next torpedo penetrated the ship and exploded with a mighty roar. Swamped by the sea, her aft quarter already under water, Onami was going down fast.

The last of the three torpedoes fired began to circle, looking for new prey like a silent hungry shark. In spite of laying down an arc of five or six sonobuoys, the two helicopters had been unable to find the sea demon that had launched the attack. It was there, just inside the thermocline layer, and creeping away at four knots, like an assassin ninja making good his quiet escape.

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