the Mediterranean.
There
were three
channels deep enough for
submerged passage, two on the Italian side and one on the French. Each
was a
sonar trap. The bottom was seeded with fixed arrays of active and
passive
sonars impossible to elude. The echo rangers also served as submarine
beacons
to guide submerged ships through the Strait, which was frequently
transited by
submarines from all NATO navies, plus the French, but always with prior
notice.
The
Italians had
extremely quiet
diesel-electric subs and competent sonar operators. As part of NATO,
the Italians
would report Barracuda s presence to the fleet, and
so the element of
surprise would be lost. The French were less predictable, though
generally
inhospitable toward incursions into their territorial waters.
Springfield
decided to gamble on the French.
So soon after withdrawing from NATO, the French Navy was not inclined
to
cooperate with their former allies in small matters. The worst they
could do
was deny Barracuda passage through the Strait and
send her back the way
she came.
When
it arrived,
contact was with Sirène ,
a diesel-electric of the Daphné class. Davic, on duty in the sonar
room, was
not surprised to discover the French sub already on an interception
course with Barracuda. Springfield ordered all stop, and they waited.
As
soon as
Sorensen arrived in the sonar room
he could see the French sub moving slowly across his screen. The chop
of her
propellers came through the speakers.
"Get
lost, Davic."
"The
French are
pigs," Davic, the
linguist, muttered on his way out. "De Gaulle thinks he's Napoleon."
Fogarty
came in
and sat down.
"Practice
your
sonic codes,"
Sorensen said. "You're going to need them."
Maneuvering
in
close proximity to another
submerged ship was a tricky business. Sorensen never enjoyed it. A
collision
underwater could rupture the pressure hulls of both ships and send
their crews
to the bottom.
Three
quarters of
an hour after the first
contact, Sirène came to a full stop five hundred yards away, her echo-ranging sonar
pinging
every three seconds off Barracuda' s hull with
monotonous regularity.
Sorensen didn't know how adept the French were at identification. They
might
mistake Barracuda for a Soviet sub, in which case
there was no telling
what her captain might do. While he was considering this possibility
the pings
ceased, were replaced by a standard NATO sonic
code. The French
sonar operator was tapping out an enciphered message in Morse over a
gertrude,
the underwater telephone. Sorensen transcribed the message onto a
notepad, and
the captain took it into the locked code room to decode it.
AMERICAN
SUBMARINE: YOU ARE IN FRENCH
WATERS.
IDENTIFY YOURSELF. SIRENE S 647,
DELONGUE
COMMANDING.
Captain
Springfield composed his reply as a plea from one submariner to another.
BARRACUDA
SSN 593: SIRENE S 647: WARGAME TARGET
KITTYHAWK
PLEASE ESCORT THROUGH STRAIT
ON
PARALLEL COURSE SPRINGFIELD
COMMANDING.
While
the
French captain decoded Springfield's message, Sirène did not communicate
with the surface. Her captain alone was deciding what to do.
SIRENE
S 647: BARRACUDA SSN 593: FOLLOW SUB
BEACON
18 MINUTES N LONG 9 DEGREES 30 MINUTES
W
AT 8 KNOTS DEPTH 35 M RUN PARALLEL AT l00
M
TO STARBOARD. DITES BON CHANCE A L'AMIRAL
NETTS
GOOD HUNTING. DELONGUE.
"Well
I'll be goddamned," said Pisaro. "Looks like Netts had it rigged all
the time."
Springfield
said nothing, studied a chart. Two
nerve-racking hours were required to align both subs astride the beacon. Barracuda , on the
right,
was longer and broader of beam than Sirène , and the
Italian operators of the
fixed arrays would surely
notice something peculiar about the
passage. In order to resolve the anomaly they would go through
channels, would
inform their superiors, who would then query the French commander on
Corsica.
The French also would have both subs on their screens and yet be unsure
of what
was happening. By the time it was sorted out. Barracuda should
be clear
of the Strait,
There
were three
channels deep enough for
submerged passage, two on the Italian side and one on the French. Each
was a
sonar trap. The bottom was seeded with fixed arrays of active and
passive
sonars impossible to elude. The echo rangers also served as submarine
beacons
to guide submerged ships through the Strait, which was frequently
transited by
submarines from all NATO navies, plus the French, but always with prior
notice.
The
Italians had
extremely quiet
diesel-electric subs and competent sonar operators. As part of NATO,
the Italians
would report Barracuda s presence to the fleet, and
so the element of
surprise would be lost. The French were less predictable, though
generally
inhospitable toward incursions into their territorial waters.
Springfield
decided to gamble on the French.
So soon after withdrawing from NATO, the French Navy was not inclined
to
cooperate with their former allies in small matters. The worst they
could do
was deny Barracuda passage through the Strait and
send her back the way
she came.
When
it arrived,
contact was with Sirène ,
a diesel-electric of the Daphné class. Davic, on duty in the sonar
room, was
not surprised to discover the French sub already on an interception
course with Barracuda. Springfield ordered all stop, and they waited.
As
soon as
Sorensen arrived in the sonar room
he could see the French sub moving slowly across his screen. The chop
of her
propellers came through the speakers.
"Get
lost, Davic."
"The
French are
pigs," Davic, the
linguist, muttered on his way out. "De Gaulle thinks he's Napoleon."
Fogarty
came in
and sat down.
"Practice
your
sonic codes,"
Sorensen said. "You're going to need them."
Maneuvering
in
close proximity to another
submerged ship was a tricky business. Sorensen never enjoyed it. A
collision
underwater could rupture the pressure hulls of both ships and send
their crews
to the bottom.
Three
quarters of
an hour after the first
contact, Sirène came to a full stop five hundred yards away, her echo-ranging sonar
pinging
every three seconds off Barracuda' s hull with
monotonous regularity.
Sorensen didn't know how adept the French were at identification. They
might
mistake Barracuda for a Soviet sub, in which case
there was no telling
what her captain might do. While he was considering this possibility
the pings
ceased, were replaced by a standard NATO sonic
code. The French
sonar operator was tapping out an enciphered message in Morse over a
gertrude,
the underwater telephone. Sorensen transcribed the message onto a
notepad, and
the captain took it into the locked code room to decode it.
AMERICAN
SUBMARINE: YOU ARE IN FRENCH
WATERS.
IDENTIFY YOURSELF. SIRENE S 647,
DELONGUE
COMMANDING.
Captain
Springfield composed his reply as a plea from one submariner to another.
BARRACUDA
SSN 593: SIRENE S 647: WARGAME TARGET
KITTYHAWK
PLEASE ESCORT THROUGH STRAIT
ON
PARALLEL COURSE SPRINGFIELD
COMMANDING.
While
the
French captain decoded Springfield's message, Sirène did not communicate
with the surface. Her captain alone was deciding what to do.
SIRENE
S 647: BARRACUDA SSN 593: FOLLOW SUB
BEACON
18 MINUTES N LONG 9 DEGREES 30 MINUTES
W
AT 8 KNOTS DEPTH 35 M RUN PARALLEL AT l00
M
TO STARBOARD. DITES BON CHANCE A L'AMIRAL
NETTS
GOOD HUNTING. DELONGUE.
"Well
I'll be goddamned," said Pisaro. "Looks like Netts had it rigged all
the time."
Springfield
said nothing, studied a chart. Two
nerve-racking hours were required to align both subs astride the beacon. Barracuda , on the
right,
was longer and broader of beam than Sirène , and the
Italian operators of the
fixed arrays would surely
notice something peculiar about the
passage. In order to resolve the anomaly they would go through
channels, would
inform their superiors, who would then query the French commander on
Corsica.
The French also would have both subs on their screens and yet be unsure
of what
was happening. By the time it was sorted out. Barracuda should
be clear
of the Strait,
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