WargamerScott
01-13-06, 12:17 AM
"So there I was, tooling around the Gulf of Mexico in my P-3C Orion when we get some flash traffic about a snooping ChiCom HAN-class submarine in the area. We begin a standard area search and before too long, one of our VLAD sonobuoys gets a whiff of a possible sub. Now, since there is a lot of surface traffic in the area---if I recall correctly, there were three freighters in the immediate area---it proved difficult to localize the sucker. However, after laying a further pattern of both DIFAR and DICASS buoys, and waiting for the surface civies to move off, we get a tighter fix on the possub---heck, who am kidding? It was a DEFsub at this point---and I ordered two of the DICASS to go active but to no avail.
"I start doing some box searches for the sub in the general area that my buoys are getting hot when Wayne---Wayne was my MAD guy---shouts MAD! MAD! MAD! By dumb luck, we happened to cross over the sub's path and detect its distortion of the earth's EM field. Well, I can tell you we were all jazzed by this point and I make a quick turn for a second MAD pass---bingo!---we have him on a southwesterly course.
" I order the bomb bay doors opened and line up for a torp drop by approaching the sub from the south. I drop a MK 50 active---that is 'pinging'---but, due to a computer error, it falls way short. So I make another pass and drop a Mk 46, set to passive---listening mode---much closer. To my surprise, the further out MK 50 gets a sniff with its active seeker and starts driving the sub north. Well, that's a race NO sub can win. It wasn't too long before my sonarman reports a loud explosion in the water and our sonar grams go white with broadband noise. That's a kill....
"But then we get a surprise. We hear a good long emergency blow, and, sure enough, to our north, we can see the ChiCom's bow break the surface of the water! Clearly, judging by the angle, its stern was filling with water, but there it was nonetheless. So we took a few photos, called in the SAR guys, and called it a day---homeward to paint a nice, red sub silhouette on our airframe in avengence for San Fransico."
---"Tales of Hunting Steel Sharks, 3rd Ed." by Lt. Cmdr. Bill West.
Pictures from the book:
There she blows! (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=0)
Close-up (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=1)
IR Shot (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=2)
If the pictures do not display, please visit:
http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/
"I start doing some box searches for the sub in the general area that my buoys are getting hot when Wayne---Wayne was my MAD guy---shouts MAD! MAD! MAD! By dumb luck, we happened to cross over the sub's path and detect its distortion of the earth's EM field. Well, I can tell you we were all jazzed by this point and I make a quick turn for a second MAD pass---bingo!---we have him on a southwesterly course.
" I order the bomb bay doors opened and line up for a torp drop by approaching the sub from the south. I drop a MK 50 active---that is 'pinging'---but, due to a computer error, it falls way short. So I make another pass and drop a Mk 46, set to passive---listening mode---much closer. To my surprise, the further out MK 50 gets a sniff with its active seeker and starts driving the sub north. Well, that's a race NO sub can win. It wasn't too long before my sonarman reports a loud explosion in the water and our sonar grams go white with broadband noise. That's a kill....
"But then we get a surprise. We hear a good long emergency blow, and, sure enough, to our north, we can see the ChiCom's bow break the surface of the water! Clearly, judging by the angle, its stern was filling with water, but there it was nonetheless. So we took a few photos, called in the SAR guys, and called it a day---homeward to paint a nice, red sub silhouette on our airframe in avengence for San Fransico."
---"Tales of Hunting Steel Sharks, 3rd Ed." by Lt. Cmdr. Bill West.
Pictures from the book:
There she blows! (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=0)
Close-up (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=1)
IR Shot (http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/index.album?i=2)
If the pictures do not display, please visit:
http://wargamerscott.tripod.com/storage_bin/