Submarine

Based on Safari's report, the Typhoon's red track started well south at 0800 (estimated). The monster was presumed to have speeded up to thirty-five knots, an estimate confirmed at 1210. Every naval commander merited an element of luck and Jessup acknowledged his fortune when at 1030 the SOSUS chain on the Perseus Bank had picked up, then identified, the Alfa close south of the shallower water. What had aroused Jessup's suspicions was her relatively slow speed, even after clearing the bank. The Alfa was capable of forty-two knots, but she was heading north-east at only twenty before increasing to thirty-five when reaching the deeper water. Her illogical progress alerted Jessup to the possibility of her acting as an escort ahead of the Typhoon — and the earlier presence of a Victor II (sunk by Safari) as a rear escort underlined his suspicions.

Since 0900 there had been jubilant moments in the control centre, instants of intense excitement, as well as despair. The first was the confirmation of the Alfa's signature, course and speed; the second, when his staffs hopes were confirmed: at 1207, SOSUS picked up the Typhoon. Jessup immediately flew off another Viking patrol and alerted the RAF's Nimrods.

The Typhoon, having steamed at speed sine 0800, must have altered to 056° at 1100 to avoid the Perseus Bank and, by SOSUS again, was confirmed as following the Alfa at twenty knots while skirting the shallows. The Typhoon had cracked on to thirty-five knots at 1600, once she was clear of Perseus. But the high drama of the day still lay ahead.

Jessup would long remember the first Nimrod's flash report: the excitement mounting in the anti-submarine control' centre as the movement of every unit in his force was immediately co-ordinated; the data streaming in; the scrambling Phantoms, Tomcats and F — I8s, and finally the relentless passive refining from the Vikings' and Nimrods' sono-buoy fields. It had been a model hunt, culminating in the torpedoing of the Alfa who, even if she had not been bounced by the LRMPS, would have steamed straight into the four SSNS waiting on their patrol line stretching between Graham Bell Land and the Northern tip of Novaya Zemlya.

The sinking of the Alfa had altered the whole picture: the Typhoon, only sixty miles astern, must have been alerted by the Alfa — or might have heard the sinking — because at 1740 the Typhoon altered course to 332°, a course shaving the other SOSUS bank.

Safari, controlled directly by COMSUBEASTLANT, was steaming at full speed on 0100 since losing her quarry: since noon, the forlorn plan had been to try and force the Typhoon back towards the Spitz-Alexandra Land gap. Nato's four SSNS were standing by to scare her northwards, and after Carl Vinson's Viking sank the Alfa at 1730 the LRMPS were moved to the south-eastward to achieve the same result. Safari's track was now converging on the Typhoon's. At 2000, an hour ago, when the enemy fined up to due north for the deep water off Cape Mary Harmsworth, Safari was tantalizingly close astern: only thirty-five miles separated the two submarines. Since then tension had heightened, despite the despairing realization that nothing now could prevent the enemy from reaching the ice. The time was already 2101 and she was outpacing Safari at the rate of five knots: in only two hours, if the Typhoon forged onwards through restricted sea room and depth at this desperate speed, she would be approaching the edge of the polar ice.

Jessup had considered using his LRMPS earlier to locate the Typhoon after she turned north. He wished now that he had ignored the advice of the submariner on his staff who reminded him that the inaccuracies of navigation in these high latitudes increased the possibility of wrong identification by aircraft to a degree which might risk the destruction of Safari by Nato's own torpedoes or NDBS. It was also suspected that Soviet SSNS were concentrating in the area and a terrible mistake could so easily take place — but Jessup knew that when the party was over and the records analysed, his decision to allow Safari to continue the chase, instead of his aircraft, would be judged to have been a fundamental error on the part of the Commander of the Striking Force. There remained now only one slim chance: to move in each of the SSNS waiting on either side of the Cape Platen and Arthur Island gap. Again, faulty identification and the risk of tragedy was only too real…

'Admiral, sir,' the staff captain was calling across from the command display, 'Victoria Island SOSUS reports the Typhoon has reduced speed to twenty knots.' The grin on the captain's face was a tonic which Jessup badly needed.

'She's not got enough sea room, sir,' the staff submariner added. 'She's too close to the shallow bank to the west of the cape.'

The admiral jumped to his feet:

'How far astern is Safari?' 'Thirty-eight miles, sir — overtaking now at a rate of ten knots.'