SSN

    The executive officer, who was acting as fire-control coordinator for this watch, said, "Captain, Master 48 was about nineteen thousand yards west of the Discovery Great Reef oil rig. Do you think she heard us?"

    The question was a good one.

    Could they have heard us? Mack wondered. The most probable reason that they would lose contact with a submarine was either that the enemy submarine's noise was being shielded from Cheyenne's sonar, possibly by a thermal layer or the surf noise, or that the submarine had detected Cheyenne's presence and had either stopped or was running silently. The silence indicated that if there was a submarine out there, it was probably a Chinese diesel boat, running on its batteries.

    Slowly, Cheyenne approached the oil rig, which lay within one mile of Discovery Great Reef. The water was extremely shallow in this area and the huge rocks surrounding the now dilapidated oil rig served to shield the diesel's sounds.

    Cheyenne's passive sonar suite was severely degraded in the shallow environment of the littorals. In this environment, active sonar would work almost as well as passive, if they used MIDAS to discriminate between rocks and a submarine's longer hull, but Mack didn't seriously consider the idea. He knew that using his active sonar would give away Cheyenne's exact position. He'd rather have both submarines blind than give away his position to the enemy.

    Through the periscope, Mack could see the Discovery Great Reef oil rig. At a glance, he could tell that it had been destroyed during the Chinese occupation of the island. But he needed to give it more than just a glance. He was supposed to get some accurate photographs of the rig for intelligence back in Washington. In addition, he needed to ensure that the rig was not being used as a Chinese submarine depot that could rearm or refuel Chinese SSKs.

    He made another quick circle as he "danced" Ihe periscope around the surface. He could find no evidence that the rig was being used for anything-or that it was even in the process of being repaired-but still he was cautious. This was a very dangerous place for Cheyenne to be running at periscope depth.

    Six nautical miles away, or about 12,000 yards from Cheyenne's current position, the Chinese Kilo submarine was operating in its silent mode-running on its batteries. With no noise coming from their own ship, the Chinese sonar operators listened carefully to their low frequency sonar, searching the waters for the sound of any American vessels.

    They heard nothing.

    The Chinese had been loitering here, running silently on their batteries, for seventeen hours, keeping their depth shallow at 45 feet and their ears open. The captain was waiting for the Americans to walk into his trap.

    After seventeen hours, however, the captain of the Kilo grew impatient. He'd had enough of this waiting. Slowly the Kilo pulled out of its hiding spot and began to pick up speed. Its captain had decided to make a run at six knots, slowly and quietly circling Discovery Great Reef, searching for any American naval vessels.

    As soon as the Kilo moved, it lost its protection against American sonars, and Cheyenne heard it.

    "Conn, sonar, we just reacquired Master 48. It's a Kilo, single six-bladed screw. It just increased speed to six knots and it's heading north."

    A short time later a BSY-1 operator reported the Kilo's range, and Mack knew Cheyenne was in trouble. The Chinese submarine was only 11,000 yards away, which meant that Mack had unknowingly brought Cheyenne well within weapons range of the Chinese Kilo and her TEST-71 homing torpedoes.

    "Make tubes one and two ready," Mack ordered. "But do not open the outer doors! He emphasized that. They were too close, and he didn't want to give the Kilo any chance of detecting their location.

    "Make tubes one and two ready but do not open the outer doors, aye, sir."

    Mack had a problem. He had the drop on the Kilo, but he didn't have much maneuvering room. If the Kilo got off a return shot, Cheyenne could be in trouble.

    And that was the least of his worries. His bigger problem was his lack of intel. Were there other Chinese submarines out there? Naval intelligence said no-but they'd missed one already. Who was to say they hadn't missed more?

    This was a problem because he would give away his position as soon as he fired on the Kilo-and even if that submarine didn't fire back, there could be others hiding in the shallow water waiting to pounce.

    Captain Mackey ordered Cheyenne rigged for ultraquiet. He wanted every effort made to ensure that nothing alerted the Kilo to their location. Word was quickly passed to all compartments over the sound powered phones. Non-vital equipment was quickly secured. The crew whispered when they spoke, wondering what would be next.