The Lurking Submarine
West of the eastern Andamans, the nuclear submarine numbered 411 lay hidden at a depth of sixty metres, watching the Indian fleet to the south of India and Sri Lanka. In truth 411 had been waiting all along for a chance to follow them and operate off India's west coast. If these warships did not leave, 411 would not easily get through there either.
"Captain, the Indian detachment is sailing northwest along the edge of the Gulf of Mannar," a petty officer reported in the command compartment.
"Oh?"
Captain Ma Lin rose from the command seat and went to the chart table. His submarine had shadowed the Indian fleet based in the Bay of Bengal for many days now, but of late the Indian fleet had been busy with its movements, and he had never found a chance to slip through this sea lane between air raids; now they had begun to move at last. And, as expected, they were shifting from south of Sri Lanka toward the Arabian Sea. Plainly it had to do with the tense war.
"Particulars."
"At least one Kolkata-class destroyer, and one that may be a frigate. In the formation there is also one judged to be the A59 ocean replenishment ship,"1 the intercept operator said. The lead ship of the Kolkata class had, a few months earlier, held a joint "counter-terror" exercise with Vietnam in the South China Sea, and at that time 411 had been watching from very close indeed, so the sonar operator could easily tell this ship apart by the acoustic signature already collected; and the A59 (INS Aditya) was one of India's few replenishment ships, its diesels very old, and not hard to distinguish. But the other two ships, whose propeller signatures were less marked, were not so easy to tell.
"By the way, any sign of the rest of the fleet at Visakhapatnam?" the captain asked, and stumped the sonar petty officer at once.
"Too far off, my boat's sonar has found no sign of anything," the sonar petty officer said, and it was the plain truth. The fleet before them was not the whole of the Indian Eastern Naval Command; but to go north and watch the Eastern Command or Kolkata would mean losing watch on the important lane south of Sri Lanka. Above all, it was known that the Kuznetsov-class carrier the Indian navy had just got was on trials in the Bay of Bengal, but she had never been found.2 By common sense this ship was far from combat-ready; Russia had not even delivered most of her fighters. So she was hardly likely to go to the waters off Karachi or any other combat zone to join the fray; her most likely course was to press on with training in the belt from the Andamans to India's east coast. But where had she got to?
"Captain, that ship is of no account; no harm if we can't find her. West is what matters; since the Indian fleet has left the lane, this is just the chance for us to pass," the political commissar consoled him from one side.
"Perhaps she is somewhere near Visakhapatnam..." Ma Lin grew a little hesitant.
"Comrade Captain, I see no need for that," the commissar said. "Visakhapatnam is an old, crowded military port, mixed up with civil shipping, and can perfectly well be watched by ground intelligence and satellites. For us to raise the periscope would be dangerous instead."
The commissar, Su Changjin, explained his view. Since entering the Indian Ocean, 411 had gained great latitude; in truth this was a helpless makeshift forced by the reach of communications, for to this day they had received no specific ELF order, which showed that, for the sake of concealment, their superiors had left them great freedom of action. Still, to grasp the whole posture of the Indian Eastern Fleet with a single boat was very hard, the more so as the navies active in this belt were far from India's alone.
"There is reason in what you say. We can follow them, and perhaps reach the waters off Karachi ahead of our own freighters."
Ma Lin nodded. Because the hydrographic data of the Indian Ocean were incomplete, this submarine could not move freely wherever it wished, but had to run along the few lanes marked on the charts.
"Report, new contact. Destroyer to the southwest, twenty-five nautical miles south of the Indian formation. Heading zero-seven-five, speed fifteen knots. About one hundred and forty nautical miles from us."
"American?"
"Main engines not running, can't be sure yet, but she seems to be a Burke class. By her speed she may be running an anti-submarine exercise."
"Keep listening."
"Aye."
Ma Lin turned and glanced at the commissar, seeming to want to speak and yet to hold back.
"I think his judgement is right; the Washington is somewhere behind. Perhaps a cruiser too. For the moment we can hardly press on by the lane south of Sri Lanka. In the end the Indian Ocean is not India's to command," the commissar said, putting into words what the captain had wished to say.
"I only worry... even if we don't move, you know, there may still be some..."
"You worry about the American navy's nuclear submarines?"
"Just so; there is surely a Virginia class nearby, perhaps a Los Angeles too; and once... that would be a headache indeed. Our task is to hide and reconnoitre, to gather as much useful information as we can, not to spar with their carrier group. Though I should very much like to spar with them a while. I truly cannot fathom what they left the war zone and came here to do," Ma Lin said.3
The commissar nodded cautiously at his side, said nothing, and walked straight to the chart table to study the situation.
"Planes down fifteen degrees, flood main ballast, dive to one hundred and twenty metres. Engine room, drop speed to four knots. Do not raise the control rods, lower the secondary-loop pipe pressure; we may need to build speed at any time." Ma Lin issued a string of orders, but no helm order yet; where the submarine went, he still had to await the commissar's opinion.
"Comrade Captain, how about here?" the commissar said, his back to the captain. Ma Lin came over quickly, and saw the commissar's hand pointing to a spot on the chart.
"Chennai?"
"Mm, the area south of Chennai. There we can listen to the VLF traffic of the Indian submarine command, and watch their surface ships putting out south from the Kolkata repair yard; and if their submarines leave Visakhapatnam, our passive sonar has a good chance of finding them. And... it is also far enough from the American carrier group."
The submarine began to tilt slightly forward, its depth increasing. Ma Lin felt some hesitation, for the commissar's very compromising plan was not one he liked; it put 411 almost in the centre of the Bay of Bengal, able on the face of it to hear all around and watch every direction, but in fact, with 411's passive-sonar reach, its watch on every direction was middling at best. Its one merit was that the plan was very safe, keeping them from coming too close to one or two American carrier battle groups crossing the Indian Ocean. Though both sides had gathered here to watch the India-Pakistan war, one did so openly and the other by stealth, and it was best they did not meet. Ma Lin had never feared that any Indian submarine would find him first, but an American Virginia was another matter.
"I think it will do; we could go a little further north as well. The American formation, leaving the war zone to come here, very likely means to test the real state of the Vikramaditya carrier, and is not likely to press deep into this area. When they turn west, we will watch for our chance to cross past Sri Lanka and enter the western Indian Ocean from the north side of the Maldives. Our charts of this area are incomplete, and that is the surest way."
"I agree."
With the two of them of one mind, this plan of lying low for the time being was as good as settled.
"Left five, correct heading to three-zero-five, engine room raise steam pressure, up to ten knots."
Little by little he could feel the deck turning slightly, and the speed building.
1. Kolkata class and the A59: The Kolkata class is a modern Indian guided-missile destroyer type; the lead ship's joint drill with Vietnam in the South China Sea is how 411's sonar team already holds its acoustic signature. The A59 is the fleet tanker INS Aditya, identifiable by her worn old diesels. ↩
2. The carrier: The ship the author calls a "Kuznetsov-class" carrier is INS Vikramaditya, the former Russian Admiral Gorshkov, rebuilt at Sevmash in the north of Russia and armed with the MiG-29K; the loose class label groups her with the Soviet carrier line. Her real state, undelivered fighters and unfinished systems, is exactly what the coming chapters turn on. ↩
3. The American presence: 411's real fear is not the Indian navy but the US carrier group in the area, the Washington with its Burke-class escorts and, unseen, a Virginia- or Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Ma Lin's puzzle, why the Americans have left the war zone to shadow this belt, is answered two chapters on, when Washington quietly passes Delhi the submarine's position. ↩