there, the nondirectional video downlink was giving someone accurate targeting
positions on the battle group. A brief shiver ran up her spine. Irrational
as it might seem, she would have given anything to be airborne herself right
then instead of trapped inside steel bulkheads on the 03 level of the carrier.
1222 local (Zulu -7)
Hunter 701
“We got the last one–let’s get the next,” Rabies said grimly.
“And he almost got us,” Harness muttered from the backseat.
“We’ll stay a little further away this time,” the pilot acknowledged.
“One nice thing about torpedoes–don’t have to get all that close to drop
them.”
The S-3B Viking carried two Mk torpedoes on its inboard weapons stations.
The high-speed torpedo was the most widely deployed lightweight torpedo in the
Fleet, although its five-hundred-pound weight made the classification
“light-weight” seem like a misnomer. Capable of speeds up to forty-five
knots, the torpedo had a maximum range of approximately six nautical miles.
Its ninety-five-pound warhead was composed of PBXN-103 high explosives.
Two Harpoons graced the outer weapons stations. At Mach 0.85, the
missile could deliver a five-hundred-pound conventional high-explosive warhead
against a surface ship or a surfaced submarine target seventy-five miles away.
The 1,172pound Harpoon was a massive drag on the aircraft, but each one
carried enough destructive power to make the weight trade-off well worth the
cost in additional gas and loss of speed.
“How far is far enough?” Harness asked.
“Max range on that surface-to-air missile is probably around six miles,”
the TACCO replied. “We can stand off and safely drop the torpedoes.”
“We’re going to get attack criteria without a MAD run?” the AW persisted.
Getting accurate positioning data from the MAD book extended out the back of
the S-3 required being virtually overhead the submarine.
Neither the pilot nor the TACCO replied.
Great. Just great, Harness thought, fuming. We can shoot from outside
the missile’s range, but we can’t get attack criteria unless we get in close
and personal.
Still, the possibility of actually firing a shot in anger was an
attractive one. He let that thought console him, and pushed away the thoughts
of the very real danger they were standing in.
“Got something,” the TACCO announced. “Possible periscope, bearing 120,
range seven thousand yards. He punched a “fly-to” point into his computer,
and the location was transmitted to the pilot’s screen. The aircraft heeled
to the right as Rabies stomped on the rudder controls.
“Let’s take a look, shall we?” the pilot said calmly.
“Bingo,” the TACCO said softly a few minutes later. “You see anything?”
The copilot squinted out the window. “Yeah, I think so. Still at
communications depth–it looks like nothing but a snorkel mast and a couple of
antennas. The sail’s still submerged. Call it positive visual
identification, though.”
“She doesn’t have to surface to be dangerous,” the TACCO warned. “Intell
says they can still fire those Grails from shallow depth.”
“I’m watching her,” the copilot answered. “Hold on, let me get some
guidance from Homeplate.” He switched circuits and updated the carrier on the
tactical situation.
1228 local (Zulu -7)
CDC
USS Jefferson
The TAO listened to Hunter 701’s report with a sinking feeling. The
situation stunk, outright stunk. There was no clear-cut answer as to whether
the battle group could attack the submarine immediately, or whether it had to
wait for some indication of hostile intent. Moments later, the bitch box that
connected her with TFCC buzzed angrily.
International rules of engagement contained so many vague requirements
that deciding when it was legal to shoot was a matter for a court rather than
naval officers. While there was no requirement that U.S. forces take the
first hit before they could open fire, they did have to determine that the
submarine had committed a hostile act, or demonstrated hostile intent.
The communications downlink was certainly evidence of something. The
most probable explanation was that the aircraft was passing targeting
information to another platform, either a surface ship or a submarine. Rule
out surface ship, she thought, studying the display. Any combatant of
significant size would have been detected and reported immediately. And the
fact that a submarine–perhaps even this one–had fired on an S-3 only days