Threat Vector by Michael DiMercurio

Author:Michael DiMercurio [DiMercurio, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: military fiction, submarine warfare
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2017-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

20

Once again Pavel Grachev strapped himself into the seat of the command console in the forward part of the periscope well, adjusting his headset. “Attention to orders,” he said on the circuit. On the aux seven display, twelve windows showing the faces of his tactical watch officers depicted his men concentrating on their own displays, where the image of his face was shown.

“We are being ordered to attack a surface action group leaving Port Norfolk on the way to the Atlantic, and from there farther south. There will be three surface warships and one submarine escorting out the high-value unit, a white-painted cruise ship called the Princess Dragon. Our orders, confirmed today by Captain Second Rank Svyatoslov and me, are to destroy the task force.”

Grachev let this sink in, then continued, “The cruise ship, our main target, has aboard her the entire cadre of U.S. Navy senior officers. The purpose of their sortie is to take the ship to calm tropical waters where they can plan a mission of destruction against the Black Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Ukraine. You have all been briefed on the mission of our fleet to the South Atlantic. Apparently the Americans have found out about it. Our fleet commander has given us orders to execute a decapitation assault on the American Navy’s leadership. The theory is that if they are dead, our mission to the South Atlantic will have the time to succeed.”

He turned to Svyatoslov. “Mr. First, line up Shchuka system unit four for immediate launch.”

“Yessir.”

Within ten minutes, the Shchuka unit had lifted off from the torpedo tube, streaming its data wire. It drifted to the bay bottom, anchored itself to the silty soil, and inflated its foil hydraphone-surfaced balloon. A few seconds later, data streamed into the Second Captain’s battlecontrol system.

“Sir,” Svyatoslov reported, “Shchuka unit four is on the bay bottom and active. The Second Captain has the battlespace on three-dimensional virtual reality.”

“Very good,” Grachev said. “Line up large-bore tubes one through four for Barrakuda mobile mine launches, data wires connected.”

“Yessir,” Svyatoslov replied. “Barrakuda units one through four loading now.”

It would take a few minutes for the units to get into the tubes and have their cables connected to the tube breech doors, and then a few more minutes for the tube doors to shut and the tubes to flood with seawater while the mines’ power units warmed up, the onboard ring laser inertial navigators stabilizing. Grachev could take this time to unstrap from his command console and go to the VR booth on the starboard side, but he decided to remain at the command console and let the first officer guide in the mines.

Soon Svyatoslov’s voice rang in Grachev’s headset: “Sir, Barrakuda units one through four are ready for launch.”

“Very good, Mr. First. Take VR zero. When the battlespace is ready, and only on my orders, you will take out units one through four and target the outbound warships, one for each destroyer and two for the cruiser. When

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