Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

SEA OF SHADOWS 325
A blue friendly-weapon symbol appeared on the CDRT. Chief
McPherson watched it begin to move toward the hostile-submarine symbol
that represented Gremlin Zero Four. “Go get the bastard,” she whispered.
The 29-MC speakers thundered to life. “All Stations—Sonar has
hydrophone effects off the starboard quarter! Bearing one-five-three.
Initial classification: hostile torpedo!”
“Damn! He’s shooting down our line of bearing!” Chief McPherson
said. She keyed her mike. “Crack the whip! Bridge—USWE. We have
an inbound hostile torpedo. I say again—crack the whip!”
“Bridge, aye!”
With a rising wail, the ship’s gas turbine engines spun up to flank
speed.
The Officer of the Deck’s voice blared over the 1-MC. “All hands
stand by for heavy rolls while performing high-speed evasive maneuvers.”
The deck heeled to starboard as the big destroyer came sharply about
for the first high-speed turn demanded by the crack-the-whip torpedo
evasion maneuver.
Chief McPherson latched on to the edge of the CDRT as the deck tilted
one way and then the other. On the screen, she could see new POSS-SUB
symbols appearing. Gremlin Zero Four was launching another set of
decoys.
After nearly five minutes of evasive maneuvering, the Sonar
Supervisor’s voice came over Chief McPherson’s headset again.
“USWE—Sonar. The hostile torpedo has not acquired. Seems like we
dodged the bullet.”
“USWE, aye,” the chief said into her mike. “Looks like we’re not the
only ones.” On the CDRT, it was obvious that Gremlin Zero Four’s tricky
little maneuver with the decoys had worked again. The submarine had
managed to evade their torpedo.
She paused to reassess the tactical situation. With half an ear, she
heard the Electronics Warfare Operator report six more inbound Vipers,
followed a few seconds later by the rumble of launching SM-3s. She
keyed her mike. “UB—USWE, do you hold a good track on Gremlin Zero
Four?”
“USWE—UB. That’s affirmative. I’ve got a firm solution on the
target, but the submarine is outside our torpedo engagement envelope now.
We’re going to have to close the range before we can shoot again.”
“USWE, aye.”