Sledgehammer427
03-06-11, 03:04 AM
So, it's been a while since I really was into subs, but I felt like writing a little fiction, just a random impulse. Let me know what you think!
A little warning, my knowledge of a US attack setup is probably a little rusty, rivet-counters and Fleet Boat diehards, please, take this with a grain of salt.
__________________________________________________ ___
August 14th, 1943, Celebes sea, Philippines
"Still tracking due west, sir?"
"Yup, from the looks of it this guy is getting paid by the hour. Ready tubes one through four for a spreadshot, ready tubes 5 and 6, in case we get any more duds."
"Aye sir."
Commander Nicholas DeHaven pulled his eye away from the periscope and looked around the cramped conning tower. Immediately to his right there was Nilsson, his "talker," communicating with the forward torpedo room. To his left stood the sonar operator, hunched over the set, eyes screwed shut as he used his ears to listen for other ships that might try to sneak up on Sawfish.
USS Sawfish is a Gato-class submarine. Her electric motors barely turning over, she was sliding as quietly as possible towards the unsuspecting merchant Commander DeHaven was watching through the scope.
"Forward Torpedo says all tubes ready, one through four are waiting on your command and 5 and 6 aren't far behind."
"Very well. Johnson, prepare for another observation."
Torpedo Data Computer operator Theodore "Teddy" Johnson adknowledged the order and rested his hands on the dials of the TDC.
Nick leaned forward and rested his eye on the scope. On the other side of the metal tube stood the "yes-man" whose sole job was to watch the bearing marker, in case the commander called a bearing.
Nick took a deep breath, like a sniper preparing a shot. He observed the merchant plodding along the slightly choppy seas at a leisurely pace. He spied a sailor in his white uniform leaning on the rail, at this range, Nick could guess he was smoking a cigarette.
He centered the vertical crosshair on the center of the merchant.
"Bearing...Mark!"
"Three-four-seven!" called the yes man.
"Bearing in," replied Teddy.
"Collecting range," announced DeHaven, "use a... 90 foot height"
Nick then grabbed a knob on the back side of the scope with his right hand, he started to spin it and the image of the merchant split into two images, he lined up the bottom of the upper image with his 90-foot reference point and called, "range, mark!"
"Range, one-four- double oh!" said the yes man.
"Range checks with the Position Keeper!" responded Teddy, verifying that Nick's earlier observations were correct and that the merchant was going the same speed and moving on the same course as it was during his last observation.
"Alright Ted, read it back to me."
"Ship should be bearing 349, range about 1400 yards, speed 5 knots!"
"Good, good." replied Nick, giving an appreciative nod.
The TDC was feeding gyro settings to the torpedo computer, and the position keeper allowed a submarine commander to leave the scope down, reducing his chances of detection, while it continued to feed data to the TDC. However, an unescorted merchant gave Nick a rare opportunity to watch his prey, from first contact to when the torpedos hopefully hit the side.
"Torpedoes ready?""Aye sir, ready to shoot on your command."
"Tube one! Fire!"
Nilsson smashed the button marked "ONE" on the bulkhead and was greeted with the "hiss-WOOSH" of the torpedo leaving the tube.
everyone in the forward compartments felt an increase in pressure as the air used to fire the torpedo vented inwards.
Ten seconds passed.
"Tube two, one degree right, FIRE!"
and again, another torpedo left the tube. Down in the control room, the diving officer gave orders to the sailor manning the ballast controls, compensating the loss of the torpedo with water, to keep the nose of the submarine down.
This happened twice more as tubes three and four were adjusted right and fired.
"Torpedo run-time estimated at about 1 minute, 25 seconds, sir" said teddy.
"That means the first one should hit in about..." Nick checked his watch, "15 seconds."
Teddy nodded and Nick leaned into the scope again and started counting aloud.
"Six...Five...Four...Three...Tw-"
KA-POW!
The first torpedo struck the side of the merchant just aft of center, and dutifully exploded with full force. The sound took a second to travel to the boat, and even at 14 football fields' distance, shook the boat and rattled some of the loose cookware in the galley.
"Tube two...."
"is a dud sir, I just heard it bounce off the side."
"Dammit, another dud."
"5 seconds on tube three." called Teddy.
"....now!"
Another explosion rocked the freighter, this time near the forward cargo hold, and with that hit the poor merchantman, flying the "meatball" of the Japanese flag, started to list and sink.
"Another kill, good job boys!"
Throughout the boat, Nick heard cheers. He realized that he could probably be heard through the mic on the sound powered headset.
The sonarman's hand shot up.
"CONTACT! Bearing one-nine-five! fast screws approaching!"
Nick's gut turned to lead, fast screws meant an approaching escort. He swung the scope around, nearly bumping into the unwary yes man, to see the bow of a destroyer fast approaching, splitting the sea with its knife edged prow.
"DOWN PERISCOPE! Crash dive! Take her to 450 feet fast and rig for depth charge!"
"Aye sir! DIVE, DIVE! Ahead Flank! Flood negative! Give me 25 degrees on the bow planes!"
The deck lurched beneath Nick's feet as the submarine dove deeper into the depths. He knew from experience that he didn't have to worry about hitting the bottom, there was well over a thousand feet of sea beneath Sawfish's keel.
"So sorry sir, he was getting lost in our prop wash, didn't hear him comin' 'till he stepped on the gas."
"It's alright Roscoe, just be a little sharper next time."
"Alright sir."
"Diving officer, what's my depth?"
"Passing 150 now, sir."
The whole crew on the boat heard the destroyer start pinging them. The destroyer was emitting pulses of sound, feeling through the depths for Sawfish's metal hull, which would return an echo.
The sound made the hairs on the back of Nick's neck stand on end. On the surface, the destroyer beared down on Sawfish's last position.
"Bearing constant sir, he's headed in."
"Let me know when he steps on the gas Roscoe."
"Aye sir."
The crew sat tense, waiting for their next order, looking up at the curved bulkhead, as though they could see through it at the destroyer approaching above.
"passing 300 feet sir, sorry, had to solve a problem with a trim tank."
"Carry on, dive"
The crews voices became mere whispers, nobody moved, to create as little noise as possible. Sawfish and her crew were trying to be a "hole in the water."
"There he goes, sir, hes speeding up! Bearing constant!"
"Hard to starboard! bring her about nine-zero degrees and stop the motors!"
"Aye sir, hard-a-starboard!"
The boat heeled minutely as she leaned into the turn.
"splashes above sir. depth charges on their way down."
Nick nodded, "Nilsson, tell the compartments that charges on their way down"
"Aye sir"
Nick squeezed his eyes shut, and thought of his family.
Click-WHAM! Click-WHAM! Click-WHAM!
A little warning, my knowledge of a US attack setup is probably a little rusty, rivet-counters and Fleet Boat diehards, please, take this with a grain of salt.
__________________________________________________ ___
August 14th, 1943, Celebes sea, Philippines
"Still tracking due west, sir?"
"Yup, from the looks of it this guy is getting paid by the hour. Ready tubes one through four for a spreadshot, ready tubes 5 and 6, in case we get any more duds."
"Aye sir."
Commander Nicholas DeHaven pulled his eye away from the periscope and looked around the cramped conning tower. Immediately to his right there was Nilsson, his "talker," communicating with the forward torpedo room. To his left stood the sonar operator, hunched over the set, eyes screwed shut as he used his ears to listen for other ships that might try to sneak up on Sawfish.
USS Sawfish is a Gato-class submarine. Her electric motors barely turning over, she was sliding as quietly as possible towards the unsuspecting merchant Commander DeHaven was watching through the scope.
"Forward Torpedo says all tubes ready, one through four are waiting on your command and 5 and 6 aren't far behind."
"Very well. Johnson, prepare for another observation."
Torpedo Data Computer operator Theodore "Teddy" Johnson adknowledged the order and rested his hands on the dials of the TDC.
Nick leaned forward and rested his eye on the scope. On the other side of the metal tube stood the "yes-man" whose sole job was to watch the bearing marker, in case the commander called a bearing.
Nick took a deep breath, like a sniper preparing a shot. He observed the merchant plodding along the slightly choppy seas at a leisurely pace. He spied a sailor in his white uniform leaning on the rail, at this range, Nick could guess he was smoking a cigarette.
He centered the vertical crosshair on the center of the merchant.
"Bearing...Mark!"
"Three-four-seven!" called the yes man.
"Bearing in," replied Teddy.
"Collecting range," announced DeHaven, "use a... 90 foot height"
Nick then grabbed a knob on the back side of the scope with his right hand, he started to spin it and the image of the merchant split into two images, he lined up the bottom of the upper image with his 90-foot reference point and called, "range, mark!"
"Range, one-four- double oh!" said the yes man.
"Range checks with the Position Keeper!" responded Teddy, verifying that Nick's earlier observations were correct and that the merchant was going the same speed and moving on the same course as it was during his last observation.
"Alright Ted, read it back to me."
"Ship should be bearing 349, range about 1400 yards, speed 5 knots!"
"Good, good." replied Nick, giving an appreciative nod.
The TDC was feeding gyro settings to the torpedo computer, and the position keeper allowed a submarine commander to leave the scope down, reducing his chances of detection, while it continued to feed data to the TDC. However, an unescorted merchant gave Nick a rare opportunity to watch his prey, from first contact to when the torpedos hopefully hit the side.
"Torpedoes ready?""Aye sir, ready to shoot on your command."
"Tube one! Fire!"
Nilsson smashed the button marked "ONE" on the bulkhead and was greeted with the "hiss-WOOSH" of the torpedo leaving the tube.
everyone in the forward compartments felt an increase in pressure as the air used to fire the torpedo vented inwards.
Ten seconds passed.
"Tube two, one degree right, FIRE!"
and again, another torpedo left the tube. Down in the control room, the diving officer gave orders to the sailor manning the ballast controls, compensating the loss of the torpedo with water, to keep the nose of the submarine down.
This happened twice more as tubes three and four were adjusted right and fired.
"Torpedo run-time estimated at about 1 minute, 25 seconds, sir" said teddy.
"That means the first one should hit in about..." Nick checked his watch, "15 seconds."
Teddy nodded and Nick leaned into the scope again and started counting aloud.
"Six...Five...Four...Three...Tw-"
KA-POW!
The first torpedo struck the side of the merchant just aft of center, and dutifully exploded with full force. The sound took a second to travel to the boat, and even at 14 football fields' distance, shook the boat and rattled some of the loose cookware in the galley.
"Tube two...."
"is a dud sir, I just heard it bounce off the side."
"Dammit, another dud."
"5 seconds on tube three." called Teddy.
"....now!"
Another explosion rocked the freighter, this time near the forward cargo hold, and with that hit the poor merchantman, flying the "meatball" of the Japanese flag, started to list and sink.
"Another kill, good job boys!"
Throughout the boat, Nick heard cheers. He realized that he could probably be heard through the mic on the sound powered headset.
The sonarman's hand shot up.
"CONTACT! Bearing one-nine-five! fast screws approaching!"
Nick's gut turned to lead, fast screws meant an approaching escort. He swung the scope around, nearly bumping into the unwary yes man, to see the bow of a destroyer fast approaching, splitting the sea with its knife edged prow.
"DOWN PERISCOPE! Crash dive! Take her to 450 feet fast and rig for depth charge!"
"Aye sir! DIVE, DIVE! Ahead Flank! Flood negative! Give me 25 degrees on the bow planes!"
The deck lurched beneath Nick's feet as the submarine dove deeper into the depths. He knew from experience that he didn't have to worry about hitting the bottom, there was well over a thousand feet of sea beneath Sawfish's keel.
"So sorry sir, he was getting lost in our prop wash, didn't hear him comin' 'till he stepped on the gas."
"It's alright Roscoe, just be a little sharper next time."
"Alright sir."
"Diving officer, what's my depth?"
"Passing 150 now, sir."
The whole crew on the boat heard the destroyer start pinging them. The destroyer was emitting pulses of sound, feeling through the depths for Sawfish's metal hull, which would return an echo.
The sound made the hairs on the back of Nick's neck stand on end. On the surface, the destroyer beared down on Sawfish's last position.
"Bearing constant sir, he's headed in."
"Let me know when he steps on the gas Roscoe."
"Aye sir."
The crew sat tense, waiting for their next order, looking up at the curved bulkhead, as though they could see through it at the destroyer approaching above.
"passing 300 feet sir, sorry, had to solve a problem with a trim tank."
"Carry on, dive"
The crews voices became mere whispers, nobody moved, to create as little noise as possible. Sawfish and her crew were trying to be a "hole in the water."
"There he goes, sir, hes speeding up! Bearing constant!"
"Hard to starboard! bring her about nine-zero degrees and stop the motors!"
"Aye sir, hard-a-starboard!"
The boat heeled minutely as she leaned into the turn.
"splashes above sir. depth charges on their way down."
Nick nodded, "Nilsson, tell the compartments that charges on their way down"
"Aye sir"
Nick squeezed his eyes shut, and thought of his family.
Click-WHAM! Click-WHAM! Click-WHAM!