Northern Fury 2: X-Ray Station - a CMANO AAR

Started by Airborne Rifles, May 18, 2015, 10:15:02 AM

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Staggerwing

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

OJsDad

He's just following the example of his Command In Chief. 
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.


Airborne Rifles

Quote from: Freyland on June 07, 2015, 01:58:37 PM
Cancel your vacation. NATO is depending on you!

Ha! I'll let you explain to my mother-in-law why I have to cut the family vacation short :P

Staggerwing

Based on newly obtained Intel I suggest a pause in all hostilities until such time as the battlespace is clear of any MiLs*.






(*Mothers-in-Law)
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

OJsDad

HA, the truth comes out, we now know who really runs things!
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

Freyland

All we have to do is get her to take a selfie in front of her Command Center, then the Operation may resume.

Airborne Rifles

All right, after a nice vacation and a move, I'm back into the saddle here and picking back up where I left off. Here's the next installment. Enjoy!


To the southwest of the battles that were ending around the Soviet carrier groups, USS Connecticut was in a bind. In his attempt to maneuver closer to the ships passing to his east, Connecticut's captain had unwittingly put his state-of-the-art open-water attack submarine into the middle of a Soviet carrier group centered around the Kiev-class carrier Baku. This would have been ideal, except for the fact that he had barely 600 feet of water under his keel, even shallower water on all sides, and didn't know for sure yet whether the world was at war or not. These restricted waters prevented him from using his boat's greatest strength, the ability to go deep and cruise silently at relatively high speeds to maneuver into positions of advantage.

"Sir," the lead sonarman told his captain, who was watching over his shoulder at that moment in the sonar room, "the formation looks like the helicopter carrier here, two Kashin-class destroyers, one of them sounds like a Mod, here and here. These two are doing lead and trail for the carrier. Then further to the west" (Connecticut was currently east of the main bulk of the formation) "is what sounds like a Kresta II cruiser. There was that frigate that passed us earlier sweeping ahead of the formation. We lost him a few minutes ago. And just know we picked up another frigate bringing up the rear. They're all moving at 8 knots, and their chances of picking us up under these conditions are better than makes me comfortable."

"Me too," said the captain, "and you can bet the air above us is swarming with Bears and Helixes."


Aboard TAKR Baku, less than four miles from Connecticut, the Russian task group's ASW Commander, Senior Captain Rodnik, heard one of his staff officers call, "Tovarich captain! Baku's towed array is making intermittent contact with a submerged target on a bearing of zero-four-zero. It is very faint, but there is definitely something there comrade."

Rodnik had received with horror the news of the loss first of Kuznetsov, then of Kirov. He was determined that the same fate would not befall his charge.

"Order the Admiral Levchenko to put a rocket torpedo onto that bearing, two miles from our location," Rodnik commanded brusquely.

"That is a little close tp us," the staff officer protested mildly, before a withering look from the captain turned him back to his communication terminal to send the order. A few seconds later a Metel anti-submarine torpedo roared out of the launcher of the Admiral Levchenko, an Udaloy-class destroyer a dozen miles to the northeast, and settled onto a course towards Baku. Two miles distant the torpedo separated from the rocket and dropped into the sea.

"Torpedo in the water! Torpedo in the water bearing three-one zero!" called the lead sonarman, a little too excitedly. "Range looks to be about two miles sir," he said,  more calmly this time.

"This isn't normal at all," muttered the captain, "maintain course and speed for now." Then and there he knew they were at war, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot and potentially be the one to start World War III without confirmation. The torpedo, though uncomfortably close, was too distant to actually pick him up, but it did tell him that he had been detected but not localized. The noise of the fish should actually give him a few minutes to to communicate, evade, or attack. But first he needed more information.

"Release the comms buoys," he ordered, "report what we've heard so far and see if there are any orders from Norfolk."


Back at CINCLANT Headquarters in Norfolk, the report from Connecticut provided the last piece of the puzzle regarding the whereabouts of the major units of the Red Banner Northern Fleet.

"Sir," the J2 briefed Admiral Adams, CINCLANTFLT, "that accounts for every one. We have both Kuznetzovs, both Kirovs, both Kievs, and both of the Slavas, not to mention the amphibs that Trafalgar picked up and all the escorting older cruisers and tin cans. The Varyag being ready for sea was quite a shock, but it appears Boise was able to put Kuznetsov herself out of action. On the losses ledger we picked up New York City's distress beacon a few minutes ago."

"Damn," muttered Admiral Adams. Losing not just men, but also whole ships, was a new experience for him. He didn't like it, but he felt proud of what his young captains had accomplished so far. He hoped the rest could stay alive. He would need every boat he had, what with the whole Soviet navy surging into the north Atlantic and all of his own carriers out of position. The Russians couldn't have piked a worse time to start a war. But what did we expect? he asked himself, that they would give us a courtesy call to let us know that the war would start on Thursday?. Waiting until the Atlantic fleet carriers were out of position and attacking in the dead of winter was looking like a brilliant stroke on the Russians' part.


After sending their burst transmission and receiving the by this point expected war warning in return, USS Connecticut went deep. Her captain knew he only had a short time before the enemy torpedo circling to his west ran out of fuel. When that happened, he would be vulnerable to detection again.

"Weps," he said to the weapons officer, "it's time we show these Russki bastards what this boat can do." He left un-said that he had come to the conclusion that the only way out of the predicament that he had maneuvered his ship into was to fight his way out. This was going to be tight.


OJsDad

I'm so glad you could pull yourself away from your mother-in-law long enough to indulge the rest of us.    ;D
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

Airborne Rifles


"Weps, do we have solutions on all the targets?" asked the captain of USS Connecticut.

"Roger sir. The shots will be a little long, but we've got good solutions on all enemy ships. I'd recommend concentrating on the center of the Russian formation."

"That's what we'll do. I want to fish targeted at each of the Kashins, and four at the carrier. If we're going to do this, let's make it count."

This was where USS Connecticut would show one of the decisive advantages of the Seawolf-class submarines over the older and smaller Los Angeles-class boats. Connecticut's eight torpedo (as opposed to a 688's four) tubes, housed in a two-deck torpedo room, allowed her to launch a devastating opening salvo. Her captain intended to make good use of this advantage.

"Match generated bearings and shoot!"

The bid attack submarine shuddered eight times as one after another each of her torpedo tubes was emptied their deadly contents into the sea.

"All fish are running normal sir," reported the weapons officer.

"Conn, take us as deep as we can go," ordered the captain. "Make you course one-five-zero, speed 28 kts."

"Course one five zero, speed 28 aye," responded the petty officer.

Connecticut's captain would try to use the confusion of his attack and the ability of his submarine to cruise silently at relatively high speeds to escape from the center of the Soviet formation. At this range, he knew at least some of his torpedoes were bound to miss, but if he could put some distance between himself and the Russian ships then they stood a good chance of survival, which he viewed as his primary mission at this point.


Aboard Baku, Senior Captain Rodnik cringed as he heard the report he had been dreading.

"Tovarich captain, there are torpedoes, many torpedoes headed this way!" called his staff officer. "There is much noise between our own torpedo and these new ones, but there could be as many as ten! I cannot give you a clear bearing, but their range appears to be approximately 7 kilometers."

Ten?! How was that possible? Rodnik considered. Could there be two enemy submarines out there? How would they be working together? He thought NATO submarines usually operated alone. Whatever the situation, it appeared that his attempt to drive the enemy away has spooked him into launching a large though long-range attack.

"All ships evasive action away from the incoming torpedoes. Order all ships to go active with their sonar, and order the Admiral Levchenko to launch another anti-submarine rocket," ordered Rodnik.


"All the Russian ships just went to full power sir, sounds like they're turning their screws to us and...they all just started pinging sir. Multiple medium and low frequency sonars just lit up from the bearings of all the targets we've been tracking...wait...there's another one sir, a low-frequency sonar pinging far to our north. It sounds like the one they put on their DDGs, but I can't be sure at this range sir.

Luck had smiled on USS Connecticut. She hadn't heard the Udaloy-class submarine Admiral Levchenko that had been protecting the northern flank of the Baku's formation, but neither was the potent Russian ASW destroyer near enough to detect the American sub. In fact, Connecticut's attack location put her beyond the reach of any of the Russian sonars now pinging away. The captain felt rather pleased with himself until...

"Con, sonar, torpedo in the water! One just dropped in right behind us, just about where we launched our fish from."

"All ahead flank!"

Connecticut accelerated downward through the thermal layer, building up to her maximum speed of 35 kts.

"I don't think it has us, sir," the sonar room reported. "Fish is circling, looks like about 2000 yards behind us.

"Slow to 5 kts, give me a report on our own fish," ordered the captain.

"We lost the wires when we dove, sir, but they all appear to be running straight and normal."


Senior Captain Rodnik was desperately trying to maneuver the ships of the task force whose ASW defenses were his responsibility out of harm's way. His two nearest escorting destroyers were already at flank speed, but the big Baku was only slowly building up to her maximum of 30 kts. His sonars hadn't picked up any enemy submarines, but they had localized the tracks of eight torpedoes heading for the heart of his formation. Then, the captain of the nearest Kashin-class destroyer did something incredibly brave. In an attempt to save the carrier, he turned his ship across the wake of the bigger ship to try to decoy the torpedoes away. The ploy didn't quite work as Rodnik had hoped, though the destroyer captain's bravery was oddly rewarded. The four fish heading for Baku continued to home in on the carriers thrashing propellers, but the two targeted on the destroyer lost their prey and plowed past both ships in search of another target.

Baku was not as fortunate. The four MK48s closing on her continued to draw closer. The first was lured away by the carrier's towed decoy, and a huge explosion aft marked the effectiveness of that piece of equipment. The detonation of the first torpedo caused the second to malfunction, but the two remaining bored in and struck the helicopter carrier on her starboard side. Two huge geysers on water drenched the ship's superstructure as the explosions shook the ship like a piece of paper.

As Baku passed out of the mist and falling water, Rodnik's first impression was that the damage was not fatal. The ship's engines were still moving her at maximum speed, and his staff reported that the ship's sonars were still intact. He would let Baku's captain handle the damage to the ship. His job was to exact revenge on the NATO submarines that were tormenting him.

"Tell the aviation commander that I want every helicopter aloft, every maritime aircraft searching the area between us and Admiral Levchenko," he ordered.

"Captain," the staff officer reported, just after the attack one of our buoys may have picked up reactor noises, somewhere west of where those torpedoes came from.

"What are you waiting for?!" Rodnik yelled. "Tell Admiral Levchenko to put another rocket on top of it, now!"

Airborne Rifles

The Captain of USS Connecticut, Commander Ahab Romeo by name, was beginning to breathe easier after the chaos his torpedoes had apparently caused in the Soviet ship formation. His sonar technicians were tracking the Russian ships fleeing away from his torpedoes like spokes away from the hub of a wheel. Then came the rumble of explosions as the Mk48s exploded against the Baku. As the torpedoes were occupying the attention of the Russian sonarmen, Romeo had taken Connecticut deep and increased speed, increasing speed to 30 kts so as to clear the datum of his attack. Romeo was just about to order his boat to slow when the sonar room reported, "sir, a torpedo just started pinging to our north...range seems to be about two miles."

"They must have caught a sniff of us when we picked up speed," muttered the captain. "OK, here's what we're going to do..."

Commander Romeo explained on for a few minutes, then set his crew to work. Forward in the double-decked torpedo room the weapons handlers had managed to reload four of eight torpedoes. These they now readied for launch.

As the Russian Metel torpedo continued to search two miles the north, Connecticut turned from her southeast course to a westerly one, back towards the Baku.

"Flood tubes one, two, four and five," ordered Romeo.

"Tubes flooded sir."

"Launch tubes one and two at target one, then cut the wires and execute part two."

Two Mk48s ejected from Connecticut's torpedo tubes and sped on a pre-determined course towards the stricken Russian helicopter carrier. Immediately the American submarine turned hard to starboard until it was moving away from the weapons it had just launched.

"Fire tubes four and five," ordered the captain.

Two more Mk48s sped northeastward towards the distant Udaloy which could still be heard pinging with its distinctive low-frequency active sonar. Connecticut once again turned sharply to starboard, accelerated to a quiet 20 kts, and descended on a southeastward course.

"Let's hope they don't expect us to evade towards the coast," Romeo muttered.


Aboard Baku, Senior Captain Rodnik's fist struck the arm of his command chair at the inability of his primary anti-submarine weapon, the Metel rocket, to find its mark. Baku had taken damage, and he just watch one of his escorting ships, the Kashin-class destroyer Stroyniy, take two torpedo hits to his north and begin to sink. Baku could still launch aircraft and fight, but his task force had been hurt and so far he had failed in his task as the group's ASW commander. Just then he received reason for his blood pressure to shoot even higher.

"Captain!" called the staff officer, "the Admiral Levchenko reports multiple torpedoes in the water, they report they are under attack and evading to the north!"

Another officer reported, "sir, Baku's towed array reports they hear two torpedoes bearing on us!"

Rodnik gritted his teeth. There had to be two NATO submarines out there in a area of ten square kilometers. How on earth could he be missing both of them? He had eight helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft dropping listening devices and searching for the magnetic signature of the enemy submarines within an absurdly small area. In fact, his aircraft were in great danger of colliding with each other. Why was this so hard!?

"Order the Levchenko to counter-attack!" Rodnik shrieked. "Again!"

"Sir," the staff officer reported lamely, "Levchenko reports that they are heading north and cannot turn to bring their rocket launchers to bear until they've evaded the torpedoes heading towards them!"

Rodnik looked at the man, mouth agape. How could this be happening?


As USS Connecticut sped silently southeast towards the Russian coast her sonar operators noted with satisfaction two explosions on the bearing where Baku should have been, though none on the bearing of the Udaloy. Romeo hadn't expected anything from those two fish other than to distract the capable ASW vessel enough to allow him to escape. Not that his sonar room was picking up a forest of active buoys pinging far in his wake, Connecticut's commander could breathe a little easier. He had managed to get his boat into a pickle, but this time he's been able to fight his way out...this time.

Senior Captain Rodnick had collapsed into a catatonic state shortly after the two torpedoes impacted the flagship of his task force. Baku was a wreck. She was afloat, but the one of the escorts was coming alongside to pass over a line. She would not be returning to port under her own power. One more capital ship on the Red Banner Northern Fleet was out of the fight.

OJsDad

Great job AR.  Nothing like attacking when the enemy thinks your retreating.
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

Freyland