SSN

    "Conn, sonar. The escorts have all increased speed and are shifting to cover the forward arc of the convoy. They must have heard their friends get hit."

    "Sonar, conn, aye. Fire control, are we still out of their detection range?"

    "Yes, sir. We're well beyond their range." "Very well," Mack replied.

    The fire-control coordinator informed the captain that course, speed, and range were verified for targets Masters 63 and 64. Mack prepared to give the shoot order.

    "Conn, sonar. The escorts have suddenly changed course toward the northeast. They are all maneuvering to the port quarter of the convoy."

    "Sonar, conn, aye." Then Mack asked. "Do the BSY-1 computers show any indication of what's going on?"

    "Not yet, Captain," answered the fire-control coordinator.

    "Conn, sonar. Sounds like there's another Romeo out there closing on us at high speed from the direction of the escorts."

    "Conn, sonar. Captain… my God, sir! They're shooting at their own submarine! One, two, five torpedoes are in the water. Multiple explosions. Captain, they're dropping all sorts of ordnance in the water!"

    "Sonar, conn. Understand." Mack could have almost expected that. The convoy was on guard against any submarine contact, and they had mistaken the Romeo for Cheyenne. "Any change in the remaining convoy?" he asked.

    "Conn, sonar. Negative. Convoy same as before."

    "Sonar, conn, aye. Match sonar bearings and shoot, tube three, Master 63 and tube four, Master 64."

    "Match sonar bearings and shoot, tube three, Master 63, and tube four, Master 64, aye, sir."

    Mack walked to his stool and sat down to wait as the torpedoes raced toward their destination. With the escorts busy attacking one of their own submarines, there would be less warning than ever of the approaching doom. Not that the convoy itself had ever reacted to their ship's being torpedoed.

    Mack's attention shifted as a new report came in.

    "Conn, sonar. Explosions on the bearings of Masters 63 and 64. They're going down, Captain."

    "Sonar, conn, aye. Any reaction from the escorts?"

    "Conn, sonar. Affirmative. They're drawing left, turning north. No, wait, sir. The convoy is changing course. Coming starboard. The convoy is changing course to their right."

    "Captain," the combat systems officer said, "the BSY-1 computer shows the convoy is turning to the north as well. Ranges to the contacts indicate the escorts are settling in behind the limping convoy."

    Cheers swept through Cheyenne as crew members congratulated one another. They had done it! The convoy was turning and heading for home.

    But when the executive officer suggested standing down from battle stations, Mack shook his head. They would remain at their stations while Cheyenne was repositioning to finish that tanker. Mack thought that it might try to get back under way and slip into the Spratlys during the night, if it had not spilled all its tanks' contents.

    As Cheyenne closed on the wounded tanker, Master 60, Mack's hunch proved correct. The ship was back under way and headed for the Spratly Islands. An Mk 48 from tube one finished the job, however, and soon Cheyenne was headed back towards McKee. It was time to rearm and resupply, and to take a deep breath before it all over again.

8. Patrol

    It was still dark when Cheyenne completed reloading her torpedo tubes and vertical launchers from McKee. The submarine tender was still anchored off the coast of Brunei under the protection of the Independence carrier air cover.

    As in their previous refit, on the final day Captain Mackey, his combat systems and operations officers, navigator and communicator, and sonar officer, proceeded to McKee's war room for their pre-underway briefing, but this time the other officers from Cheyenne also would attend the meeting.

    Now that Cheyenne and McKee had established a smooth mini-refit routine. Mack wanted all his officers present. Besides, CTF 74 had requested the remaining officers' presence at this briefing. Partly because of that, Mack expected this upcoming Patrol 3 to be of more significance, if that were possible, than the previous two.

    Mack and his group rendezvoused with the executive officer, engineer officer, and the remaining junior officers outside the war room. He knew the younger officers were all excited and beaming with curiosity, but he also knew he could count on them to maintain a professional decorum during the briefing itself. Nodding at them, he led the way into the war room.

    CTF 74, the briefing officer, and McKee's captain were already seated. When Mack and his group entered, and after they had all exchanged the normal greetings and taken their seats, the briefing began.

    Normally, these brielings were a mix of old information and new orders, but this time there was an added element; intel that could not be passed to Cheyenne via flash traffic. This intel-and this briefing-was based on information that involved the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).