Redding looked at the digital clock on the wall. It was going to be an agonizing couple of minutes until the buoy was retracted. All he could do until then was wait. The weapons control officer looked as if he was about to pop. The tension in the Conn was thick. Yet each sailor in the room was a professional. They all carried the stress as well as could be expected. Redding was proud of them.
The last few days had been like emotional crush depth. He had addressed the crew over the 1MC earlier, but the time for speeches was over. They sent a communications buoy to the surface to transmit the data on the Chinese sub in case they didn’t make it. There was no sense in risking more lives should they not survive the day.
“Weapons, fire tubes one and two.”
“Firing tubes one and two, aye.”
Tubes one and two fired the Mk 48 torpedoes into the water. The fish dipped beneath the bow to ensure the wires cleared the sub at one hundred yards out. Then the wires were cut, and the torpedoes dipped to their track depth and turned around and headed into the deep toward the Chinese submarine chasing the Maine. Two minutes later, tubes two and four fired and repeated the process. Digital timers on the wall marked their time.
“Helm, make your depth four hundred and fifty feet. Increase speed to twenty knots, bring us about, bearing two-three-zero.”
“Make my depth four hundred and fifty feet, aye. Increase speed to twenty knots, heading two-three-zero degrees, aye, sir.”
“Weps, Conn. Get those tubes loaded and ready to fire.”
“Conn, Weps, aye, sir. Conn, Sonar. Torpedoes running true, sir.”
“Sonar, Conn. Very well.”
Redding looked at his XO, and the two sailors locked eyes. The captain nodded.
“Let’s see who flinches first, Skipper,” Walker said, gripping an overhead railing as the bow angled down.
*******
Type 95A
“Conn, Sonar. Torpedoes in the water!”
“Sonar, Conn. Have they acquired us?”
“Conn, Sonar. Negative, Captain. They are passive at depths ranging three hundred and fifty to seven hundred and fifty feet.”
“Sonar, Conn. Distance to target?”
“Conn, Sonar. Target is eleven thousand yards and closing. Same bearing.”
“Sonar, Conn. Very well.”
“Fire tubes one and two, stand by tubes three and four.”
“Fire tubes one and two, stand by tubes three and four, aye!”
The ship vibrated slightly as the two torpedoes left the tubes. The wires remained attached as the Changzheng fed corrections to the torpedoes while they were in passive mode. The fact that the Americans had fired on a true bearing was unexpected. The captain of that boat was a cunning opponent, but he had no idea what was in store for him.
“Cut the wires, set torpedoes to active homing.”
“Cut the wires, set to active homing, aye.”
As soon as the wires were cut, the YU-9s went active and their speed increased from twenty-five knots to fifty-nine knots. Within seconds, they had acquired their target.
*******
USS Maine
“Conn, Sonar, enemy torpedoes in the water! Distance ten thousand yards and closing speed, fifty-nine knots. They’re actively homing!”
“Sonar, Conn. Very well.”
“Maneuvering, Conn. Ahead flank, thirty-degree down angle on the planes.”
“Conn, Maneuvering. Ahead flank, thirty-degree down on the planes, aye.”
Redding was surprised at the speed of those torpedoes. Fifty-nine knots at ten thousand yards gave them over five minutes if they stayed at the present course and speed. He had to increase his speed and go deep. He hoped that those torpedoes weren’t programmed to go deep in active search mode.
“Weps, Conn. Status of our torpedoes?”
“Conn, Weps, our torpedoes are still running true at fifty-five knots. They are in active search. Time to impact, five minutes, ten seconds.”
This was like a Wild West shoot-out. They both fired at the same time. Now they had to wait, evade, and see who came out on top.
“Launch noisemakers!”
“Noisemakers away!”
“Left full rudder, come to one-eight-zero degrees.”
“Left full rudder, come to one-eight-zero degrees, aye.”
The Conn angled as the sub made the turn. Redding was getting the Maine further away from those torpedoes. He deployed his noisemakers, attempting to give the Chinese torpedoes something else to listen to. If they got distracted long enough, he could put more distance between them.
“Conn, Sonar! It worked, sir. The torpedoes are going for the noisemakers.”
“Sonar, Conn. Very well.”
*******
Type 95A
“Sir, she’s changing course.”
“Match bearing, and fire tubes three and four!”
“Match bearing, fire tubes three and four, aye!”
“Conn, Sonar. Torpedo contacts one and two have gone passive. They lost acquisition, torpedoes three and four have acquired, bearing eight-three and nine-four degrees. They are actively homing. Distance nine hundred and thirty yards and closing!”
Captain Lee clicked his stopwatch and listened as the Mk 48 torpedoes closed in on his submarine. They had thirty seconds before impact. He had one option and it had to be timed perfectly. He waited eight more seconds.
“Vent ballast, launch port decoys!”
“Vent ballast, launch port decoys, aye!”
The Changzheng shuddered violently as the ballast tanks were vented. A massive cloud of air bubbles vented, and the sub lurched upward as the decoys floated in the cloud of bubbles. The Mk 48s zeroed in on the bubbles, confused by the noise and the clutter of them. One of the Mk 48s collided with the other as it detonated.
The crew of the Changzheng were rocked from the explosion as overhead lights exploded and computer monitors blinked out.
*******
USS Maine
“Conn, Sonar! Explosion in the water. Our torpedoes hit the sub!”
The sailors on the Conn cheered and Redding shook his XO’s hand. He was about to tell the Conn to quiet down when they heard the pinging of an incoming torpedo.
“Conn, Sonar! Torpedo in the water. Bearing one-four-zero, distance…four hundred yards. They must have fired before they were hit, sir!”
“Maneuvering, make your depth seven hundred feet, forty-degree down angle on the planes, ahead flank!”
As his commands were echoed, Redding knew this was his last act as the captain of the USS Maine. At that distance and probable speed, there was nothing they could do. He listened as the torpedo homed in for the kill. He nodded to his XO and thought what a shame it was that Walker would never get to command his own sub—he’d have made a great captain.
The YU-9 torpedo impacted just aft of the boat’s centerline. The explosion broke the ship as if it were a twig and the two halves of the USS Maine went to the bottom.
*******
Type 95A
Fifteen Hours Later
The Changzheng had sustained damage, but she would live to fight another day. As Captain Lee sat in the Conn drinking his tea, he remained quiet as they rendezvoused with the sub-tender, which to outside eyes looked like any number of container ships that traversed the global trade routes.
Once again, the People’s Liberation Army Navy had developed an ingenious way to tend to her most secret weapons in plain view. His submarine was directly beneath the ship and was ascending into her hold, which had been converted into a dry dock to repair and rearm China’s submarines and get them back into the fight faster.
Once their sub was fully retracted into the artificial dry dock of the cargo vessel, Captain Lee climbed the ladder and emerged on the deck of the submarine. To his delight, Admiral Wei Huang was there to welcome them from a successful mission. The two briefly shook hands.
“So, Captain Lee, how did the Changzheng perform in combat?” Admiral Wei asked as th
e two of them headed to a set of rooms to discuss things further.
“Admiral Wei, she performed beyond all expectations. How soon will the others be ready?”
The head of the Chinese Navy smiled at his protégé as a father might upon his favorite child. “They are ready now, Lee. They are already underway from China.”
Walking into the briefing room, Lee saw a myriad of things happening. He saw markings of where other PLA ships were, and markings for where the American ships were.
“I must say, Admiral, I am surprised to see you here, and not in Beijing,” said Lee. “Is something wrong that has caused you to risk yourself like this?”
The old admiral ushered them to a more private part of the briefing room, away from the others. “Lee, I wanted to talk with you in person, and not through official channels. How well did Jade Dragon really perform?”
Lee nodded in acknowledgment of what his mentor was asking. “It performed remarkably. There were a couple of things it couldn’t account for, like when the American captain had deviated from the original projected plan the computer had said he’d pursue.”
Lifting an eyebrow at the comment, Wei asked, “Such as?”
“The computer predicted exactly what the destroyer captains would do to a T,” Lee explained. “But when it came to the captain of the Maine, it was less accurate. I’m not sure if the Maine had found a way to detect us or not, but when we attacked the destroyers, instead of joining the battle and gunning for us as the computer said they would, they rose to periscope depth and transmitted a message. I have no idea what they transmitted, but clearly it was important enough for them not to press their advantage like the computer said they would.”
Admiral Wei didn’t say anything right away. He stood there thinking for a couple of minutes. “The computer has made a few other similar errors as well. Not so much in the Pacific, but over Cuba and with the Europeans.”
“Really? What’s happening with the Europeans?” Lee quizzed, hoping to tease out some additional information.
“Let’s just say we aren’t at war with only the Americans. The NATO nations have all joined in. All except for Turkey—they have opted to remain neutral.”
“What about Australia, Japan, or even Russia?” Lee pressed.
A slight smile spread across Wei’s lips. “Now you’re thinking like an admiral, Lee. The Australians have sided with the Americans. The Japanese have remained neutral for the time being, but we expect them to declare war in the coming days. The bigger wild card I’m concerned with is the Russians. So far, they haven’t moved their Atlantic or Baltic fleet to the Far East. When they do that, then we’ll know they are preparing to fight us.”
Lee looked around to make sure no one had moved closer to them. Leaning in, he whispered, “It’s one thing to go to war with America. It’s a whole different story to go to war with the world. I hope that damned computer knows what it’s doing, or we’re all doomed.”
From the Authors
Miranda and I hope you’ve enjoyed this book. If you’d like to preorder Volume Two of the Monroe Doctrine and continue this action-packed military thriller series, please click on the following link.
If you like to listen to audiobooks, we have several that have recently been produced. All five books of the Falling Empire Series are now available in audio format, along with the six books of the Red Storm Series and our entire World War III series. Interview with a Terrorist and Traitors Within, which are currently standalone books, are also available for your listening pleasure.
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As a bonus, if you sign up for our mailing list, you will receive a dossier for the Rise of the Republic Series. It contains artwork of the ships we’ve written about, as well as their pertinent stats. It will really help make the series come to life for you as you continue reading.
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You may also enjoy some of our other works. A full list can be found below:
Nonfiction:
Iraq Memoir 2006–2007 Troop Surge
Interview with a Terrorist (link to audiobook here)
Fiction:
The Monroe Doctrine Series
Volume One
Volume Two (available for preorder, estimated release date March 31, 2021)
Volume Three (release date TBD)
Rise of the Republic Series
Into the Stars
Into the Battle
Into the War
Falling Empires Series
Rigged (link to audiobook here)
Peacekeepers (link to audiobook here)
Invasion (link to audiobook here)
Vengeance (link to audiobook here)
Retribution (link to audiobook here)
Red Storm Series
Battlefield Ukraine (link to audiobook here)
Battlefield Korea (link to audiobook here)
Battlefield Taiwan (link to audiobook here)
Battlefield Pacific (link to audiobook here)
Battlefield Russia (link to audiobook here)
Battlefield China (link to audiobook here)
Michael Stone Series
Traitors Within (link to audiobook here)
World War III Series
Prelude to World War III: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America (link to audiobook here)
Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable (link to audiobook here)
Operation Red Dawn and the Siege of Europe (link to audiobook here)
Cyber Warfare and the New World Order (link to audiobook here)
Children’s Books:
My Daddy has PTSD
My Mommy has PTSD
Abbreviation Key
1MCOne Main Circuit (shipboard public address system)
AAAnti-Aircraft
ABMAnti-Ballistic Missile
AEGISUS Navy phased array radar-based combat system
AESAActive Electronically Scanned Array
AIArtificial Intelligence
ALSAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
AMRAAMAdvanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile
AORArea of Responsibility
APCArmored Personnel Carrier
ASAPAs Soon As Possible
ASOAcoustic Sensor Operator
ASROCAnti-Submarine Rocket
ATACMSArmy Tactical Cruise Missile System
ASWAnti-Submarine Warfare
AUVAutonomous Underwater Vehicle
AWACSAirborne Warning and Control System
BATBaidu, Alibaba, Tencent
BDABattle Damage Assessment
BMP-3Boevaya Mashina Pehoty (Russian infantry fighting vehicle)
C&CCommand and Control
CAPCombat Air Patrol
CAPTOREncapsulated Torpedo
CASClose Air Support
CBPCustoms and Border Control
CCTVClosed Circuit Television
CDCCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
CIACentral Intelligence Agency
CICCombat Information Center
CIROJapanese Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office
CIWSClose-In Weapons System
CMCCentral Military Committee
CNOChief of Naval Operations
COCommanding Officer
CPOChief Petty Officer
COBChief of the Boat
COCOMCombatant Command
COMDESRONCommander Destroyer Squadron
COMMOCommunications Officer
COMSUBPACCommander, Submarine Force, US Pacific Fleet
CONUSContinental United States
COSCOChina Ocean Shipping Company
CNOChief of Naval Operations
CNOOCChina National Offshore Oil Corporation
CSARCombat Search and Rescue
CSISCanadian Security Intelligence Service
CUPETUnión Cuba-Petróleo (Cuban Oil Union)
DARPADefense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DDDeath Dealer
DDIDirectorate of Digital Innovation
DEADrug Enforcement Agency
DESRONDestroyer Squadron
DEVGRUNaval Special Warfare Development Group (commonly referred to as SEAL Team Six)
DHSDepartment of Homeland Security
DIADefense Intelligence Agency
DNIDirector of National Intelligence
DoDDepartment of Defense
ECMElectronic Countermeasures
ENDEXEnd Exercise
EODExplosive Ordnance Disposal
ESMElectronic Support Measures
ETFExchange-Traded Fund
EUEuropean Union
EWOElectronic Warfare Officer
FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
FDCFire Direction Center
FLIRForward-Looking Infrared
FMSForeign Military Sales
FRAGOFragmentary Order
GDPGross Domestic Product
GPSGlobal Positioning System
HAHOHigh-Altitude, High-Opening
HARMHigh-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile
HGVHypersonic Glide Vehicle
HIMARSHigh-Mobility Artillery Rocket System