SSN

    Cheyenne proceeded back down to her normal patrol depth and increased her speed to twenty-five knots. Two hours later she was well within Harpoon missile range of the Chinese task group, with Harpoons in all four torpedo tubes and "battle stations missile" manned.

    Mack's orders were unchanged, and so was his plan. He intended to fire his six Harpoons in salvos and then launch his TASMs at the remaining targets. His biggest concern was the speed with which Cheyenne would have to operate-both for her own sake and because, if they took too long, the Seahawks risked entering SAM range and being engaged by Chinese missiles.

    Cheyenne had trained for this kind of mission, and Mack had always felt that this type-striking at unsuspecting surface ships-was very much the same as that of a waiting sniper: get in position, wait for an opportunity, fire, and slip away.

    Cheyenne came to one hundred feet and within minutes had launched all her Harpoons. Without missing a beat, Mack ordered VLS tubes five through ten fired. The Tomahawks were launched one by one as the hatches on each tube opened in sequence and the missiles were ejected skyward.

    When the last TASM was away, Mack ordered Cheyenne back down to four hundred feet and headed toward the submarine tender McKee. They had fired off many of their weapons and needed to rearm in order to remain effective.

    Battle stations were once again secured while the torpedo tubes were reloaded but, as was always the case when attacking distant targets, Cheyenne's crew would have to wait to learn how well they had performed, They knew only that twenty-five minutes after the attack, sonar had reported twelve very large primary and secondary explosions. This was a good sign, especially considering that there were only eight vessels in the Chinese task group, but official confirmation of the kills would have to wait.

    McKee, like all submarine tenders, was an auxiliary vessel with little weaponry and no sonar. Which meant that, ironically, though she had spent nearly all her life servicing submarines, she was virtually defenseless against them and had no way of knowing if one was sneaking up on her. The McKee's captain was not known for his sense of irony. He would not have been amused to know that, even as his ship was operating quietly off Brunei in wait for Cheyenne, a lone Ming class submarine was stalking her. He had weighed anchor after Cheyenne left the last time in order to conduct sea training for his crew.

    Thirteen hours after launching her missiles, Cheyenne came to periscope depth to catch up on the latest intelligence and to inform McKee that they were en route and would arrive in about twenty-five hours. Cheyenne was at periscope depth for as short a time as possible. She was soon on her way to the southern portion of the South China Sea once more, unaware of the enemy submarine that was heading toward McKee.

    The Chinese submarine captain had closed to within twenty-six miles of McKee. He would maintain his speed of five knots until the American tender came within range of his SAET-60 homing torpedoes with their 400-kilogram warheads. The maximum range for these torpedoes was 16,400 yards, or a little over eight nautical miles, so the Ming would have to move in close.

    Three hours later, the Ming had closed the gap. McKee was at the extreme edge of the torpedo's range, and the Chinese captain began preparing his submarine for firing.

    Mack was in the control room talking with his watch slanders when the report came from sonar.

    "Conn, sonar, we just picked up a sonar contact bearing 173; it's opening its torpedo tube doors. The bearing is to the west of McKee's reported position."

    "Come to periscope depth," Mack said. "Radio, Captain, contact McKee and ask her if any friendly submarines are expected near her location." Mack had to ask the question, but he would have been surprised if the answer was yes. That would have meant that CTF 74 was losing control of submarine mutual interference.

    Battle stations were quickly manned as sonar reported Master 47 to be a probable Ming class SSK. Then the response from McKee came back.

    "Conn, radio, that's a negative, sir, they're only expecting us. We are the only submarine that should be in the area."

    "Radio, conn, tell McKee to get under way at best speed, course 090." That would take McKee directly away from the enemy submarine.

    Cheyenne sent the message and then Mack headed deep. Moments later, the sonar supervisor reported contact on McKee and that McKee had started to move on course 090 and was picking up speed.

    "Ahead flank, steer 173," Mack ordered.

    That would serve two purposes, he knew. First, and most important, it would get them within range to fire on the Chinese submarine. Second, and almost as vital, it would serve notice to the Ming, warning them that if they didn't back off from McKee they were going to be facing a big, angry American submarine.