Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

SEA OF SHADOWS 93
second of these course changes snatched it out of the way of a burst of
20mm rounds from the destroyer’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon System.
The missile kicked into terminal homing mode and accelerated to mach 0.9
for the attack.
HMS York:
The starboard Phalanx mount had expended the last of its ammunition.
It continued to track the incoming missile with unerring accuracy, its six
Gatling gun–style barrels spinning impotently.
The missile struck the destroyer starboard side midships, just above the
waterline, blowing a huge hole through the old ship’s steel hull. The
fireball and shock wave ripped through Engine Room Number One,
buckling decks, collapsing bulkheads, shattering pipes, and severing
electrical cables. Anything that was even remotely flammable was
instantly incinerated—from the insulated lagging that lined the bulkheads,
to the six crew members closest to the blast.
The sound wave that accompanied the explosion ruptured the eardrums
of the three engineering personnel who survived the initial detonation.
Though the point of impact had been a half-meter or so above the
waterline, the hole created by the explosion extended well below the
waterline. The sea poured through the ragged hole in a sledgehammer
torrent that drove an apprentice engineer to the deck.
Unable to fight the relentless deluge, the young man was swept across
the space by the wave front. Deafened by the explosion and half-blinded
by the seawater, he flailed about helplessly under the driving cascade as
water forced its way up his nose and past his shattered eardrums. He
opened his mouth to scream, but the water forced itself down his throat,
pumping his lungs full of liquid fire. Still tumbling, his head slammed into
a pump housing hard enough to crack his skull. The in-rushing sea tossed
him about like a rag doll until it had driven the final spark of life from his
limp body.
Electrical power to the compartment failed immediately, plunging the
huge space into darkness. Battery-powered emergency lanterns kicked on,
casting spheres of light into the roiling black floodwaters. Scalding
tendrils of steam drifted through the semidarkness, the inevitable result of
contact between cold seawater and super-heated metal.
A ruptured pipe spewed fuel onto the rising water. The volatile liquid
floated on the surface, forming a slick that widened steadily.