USSR 1991

In order to detect whether it has been tracked and tracked by other submarines, the submerged Soviet submarine will suddenly and drastically change its course.The Soviets' use of towed array sonar is called "crazy Ivan" by Americans; where "crazy" refers to a sudden sharp turn, and "Ivan" is a common nickname for Russians.

"Captain, our sonar seems to have detected something following us." Deputy Captain Vance reported the news to Marcus Remus.

Captain Remus put down the newspaper, raised his head and asked, "Are you ready to detect an American submarine?"

The deputy captain shook his head, "We only vaguely detected something following behind us, but according to past experience, the Americans do like to monitor the movement of submarines in our Arctic waters."

"Turn left immediately, turn to channel 250, and check whether it is an American ship." Remus stood up, watched every move on the screen from the command platform, and remained silent.If there are really American submarines following them, a crazy Ivan tactical move can expose the opponent's position.

"Vance, I have an ominous premonition. We seem to be following a ghost from the Arctic Ocean." Captain Remus said slowly.

But it really made Remus guess right. They were indeed followed by an American submarine, the Los Angeles-class USS Baton Rouge.They came to collect the "voiceprint" of the Sierra-class nuclear submarine.Each type of submarine has specific acoustic characteristics, which are also called "soundprints", and collecting "soundprints" requires approaching and tracking collection, and then building a sound sample database based on this.

Whether in peacetime or wartime, this kind of database is extremely valuable information.This kind of intelligence gathering work is very risky, especially if you go to other people's territorial waters, once they are discovered by the other party, there is a great risk of being attacked.American submarines often went to the vicinity of Soviet naval bases to collect intelligence, with the purpose of obtaining the opponent's "voiceprint" and understanding the opponent's anti-submarine detection system and anti-submarine tactics.

When K-276 had just sailed out of the port, the Baton Rouge followed K-276 just out of the port, maintaining the same speed as the tracked person.

"Captain Jones, the Soviet submarine has made a crazy Ivan." The deputy captain, who observed that he was about to make a sharp turn, urgently reported this news to him.

Hearing the deputy captain's report, Captain Jones of the USS Baton Rouge, who has dealt with Soviet ships for several years, quickly said, "Quickly, stop the engine running and stop the propeller blades from spinning, self-control and prohibit any possible sound, we Make them think there's nothing behind them."

The huge submarine suddenly became quiet, like a log floating silently in the sea, without the slightest sound, and the huge inertia led the submarine to move on.

The needle drop could be heard quietly on the podium, and everyone waited silently, not knowing what the Soviet ships would do.

However, the emergency stop of the Baton Rouge was a little hesitant. The Sierra class is the third generation of Soviet SSN nuclear-powered submarines. The sonar detection system is relatively advanced, and its navigation noise is low. It was discovered by K-276.And Remus, the captain of the Soviet submarine, had a panoramic view of every move of the USS Baton Rouge, just like watching a child playing hide-and-seek.

"Captain, it is indeed an American Los Angeles-class submarine. What should we do? Get rid of them?" the deputy captain asked.

"Wait, Comrade Vance." Remus interrupted the vice-captain's speech with a gesture, "Do you know the recent competition and contest between the Kremlin and the Americans? The new leader urgently needs to reverse the situation." Disadvantage. This can be seen from the increasing publicity of the general secretary’s image in newspapers and the public opinion offensive against the West.”

"Captain, what do you mean?" Vance asked a little puzzled.

Remus put his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "I said, since the Kremlin's top officials have been looking for an opportunity to humiliate the United States, then let's give them this opportunity. Follow my instructions, change the course to 310, and hit the American submarine with all your strength."

"Are you crazy? Captain." Vance turned pale when he heard this, and hit the American submarine. My God, only a crazy commander like Remus can do such a crazy thing. .

"Don't worry, Comrade Lenin said that death does not belong to the working class, Comrade Vance." Remus said calmly.He is well aware that the Soviet nuclear submarine has a double-hulled small subdivision structure, which has a large reserve buoyancy and good sinkability.Coupled with its large size, when colliding underwater, the opponent may be destroyed.In fact, Remus's considerations before launching the collision were rough and detailed. He never thought of using a conventional boat with a small displacement and thin structure to collide underwater. Only the Sierra-class nuclear submarine can do this.

K-276 once again made the crazy Ivan action, and after locking the position of the American submarine, K-276 drove towards the USS Baton Rouge with full horsepower.This crazy action caused a panic in the command room of the American submarine.

"Oh my God, the Americans are coming towards me." The deputy captain exclaimed, and he turned to Captain Jones with a livid face behind him, "What should we do? It's too close to dodge."

Captain Jones grabbed the railing tightly, and he gave the last order, "Can't dodge, prepare for impact!"

Seeing the Soviet ships getting closer in the sonar detection, they could almost feel the behemoth rushing toward them tens of meters away.Getting closer and closer in the vice-captain's countdown.

"30 meters, 20 meters, ten meters, get ready for impact."

As soon as the words fell, a huge impact almost threw everyone out of their seats, as if the entire ship had hit the ground.Under the crazy collision action of K-276, the pressure-resistant hull of the USS Baton Rouge suffered heavy impacts.The command platform enclosure of the submarine is a non-pressure hull, and it is not fatal to hit it at this position, but such an impact on the pressure hull is very fatal.

The bridge of K-276 was hit and damaged, but not to the point where the hull was seriously damaged.But the situation of the Baton Rouge was worse. The power system lost its function and had to surface. At the same time, an order was given to all members to abandon the submarine.

After the near-miss collision, Remus immediately reported the situation to the command of the North Sea Fleet, and asked them to send submarines to the wrecked waters to hunt down American submarines.Because the location of the accident was in the waters of the Soviet Union, they had an aboveboard reason to seize the American submarine.

The sea surface of the Arctic Ocean was extremely cold, and all the American soldiers were shivering on the lifeboats, complaining about the extreme climate in Russia. It took almost half an hour before the K-276 submarine floated from the bottom of the sea, out of humanity Based on socialist considerations, we are ready to rescue these American imperialist hawks.In the words of Remus, the half-hour that was spent was to hope that the cold sea water of the Arctic Ocean would teach this group of despicable people who secretly came to other people's seas to collect information.

Wearing a warm coat, Remus carried a bottle of vodka, whistled to the poor American sailor on the submarine, raised the wine in his hand and said, "Hey, friends from the United States, welcome to the Arctic Ocean, very Sorry for crashing your submarine, because that's how we Russians welcome guests from afar."

Chapter 126 The Arctic Ocean Crisis

The Secretary of Defense, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up by a phone call from the Pentagon telling Dick Cheney that a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine had disappeared in Soviet waters in the Arctic Ocean a few hours ago. Whereabouts are unknown.Realizing that something was wrong, he immediately got up and rushed to the Pentagon headquarters, thinking that this would cause another diplomatic disturbance that shocked the world.

Also drilled out of the bed are US President Bush and US Chief of Naval Operations Frank Kelso.In addition to worrying about the fate of all officers and soldiers on the American submarine, the U.S. government is more worried about the crazy revenge and actions of the Soviets who are no longer on the same level of thinking and understanding.

In the Pentagon's operational command room, Dick Cheney, who was the first to hear the news, showed everyone a recording, which was the last message sent to the command by Captain Jones of the Baton Rouge.Captain Jones' tone in the recording sounded panicked and bewildered.

"Our sub got rammed by the Soviets, man, it's Crazy Ivan, the damned Soviets. Command, Hull Damaged, Repeat, Hull Damaged, Command, Baton Rouge Ready Abandon the submarine, coordinates have been sent to you. We are waiting for rescue where we are, repeat we are waiting for rescue where we are.”

Then there was a rustling sound, and after the short recording ended, a sleepy-eyed Bush asked, "Can anyone tell me what the crazy Ivan mentioned in the recording means?"

"That's an underwater submarine tactical action that the Soviets are used to." Frank Kelso, the chief of naval operations, replied, "They will use the submarine to make sharp turns to detect the blind spot of the sonar, but this tactical action is very dangerous. If other submarines were really following behind, then the two submarines are very likely to collide, and then they will end up on the bottom of the sea.”

"You mean that one of our nuclear-powered submarines sank in the waters of the Soviet Union? And the soldiers in the submarine are still missing?" Bush said weakly, holding his forehead.

Kelso touched his nose in embarrassment. This kind of espionage is not a glorious deed that can be discussed on the table, but he still replied honestly, "Yes, Your Excellency. I think the most urgent task is to negotiate with the Soviet Union , extradite our soldiers back so we can figure out what happened."

What Kelso said is unreasonable. The United States now knows nothing about what happened in the Soviet waters.Intelligence is at a dead end.However, the Soviets control the absolute right to know in their own waters, which means that from the very beginning, this was not an equal dialogue and exchange between the two countries, but a unilateral accusation by the Soviet Union.

"Let's assume that the Baton Rouge sank in the Soviet Arctic Ocean. Assume that all members of the submarine were rescued by the Soviet Navy. The only thing to do now is to negotiate with the Soviets. Send our soldiers back. Then discuss the submarine As my country's nuclear submarine, Baton Rouge has long coveted many secret technologies that the Soviets have long coveted, and they must not be allowed to obtain them! Moreover, it will take at least three months for the Soviet Union to penetrate the secrets of the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. Months is enough for us to continue to exert diplomatic pressure to return the salvaged nuclear submarine to us."

"I will negotiate with President Yanayev through the hotline first to see what the Kremlin's attitude is. I hope this issue can be resolved peacefully." Bush sighed. After all, his nuclear submarine and a ship of officers and soldiers are still there. In the hands of the Soviet government, if the attitude is too tight and the Soviet Union does something stupid, Bush will have to step down under the angry protests of the domestic people.

In addition to the White House, Yanayev of the Kremlin is not idle.After hearing on the phone that the American nuclear submarine had been crashed by the Soviet Navy's Sierra-class submarine, Yanayev's first reaction was to shout subconsciously, "The boys in the Navy did a great job."

Of course, schadenfreude belongs to schadenfreude, and the aftermath work is another matter.It is very embarrassing for the U.S. Navy to dive into the Arctic Ocean. Yanayev decided to give these arrogant guys a little color.Otherwise, Uncle Sam really thinks that the five oceans of the world are the back garden of their home, and they don’t need to pay tickets if they want to come and go.

He summoned Defense Minister Yazov, Chief of the General Staff Lobov, Minister of External Relations Eduard Shevardnadze in the conference room.Discuss this matter together.Everyone has noticed that Yanayev did not call Marshal Chernavin, the commander-in-chief of the Navy, for such an important matter. The hidden meaning behind it is worth savoring carefully.

"Comrade Shevardnadze, when the US ambassador to the Soviet Union negotiates with you, you must remember to change the topic, especially when it comes to the submarine issue, you can only pretend that you don't know. You don't understand it clearly, understand? ?” Yanayev said.

After the collision, the destroyers of the Soviet Navy first rescued the American soldiers whose lips were purple from the cold in the Arctic Ocean, and then towed the Los Angeles-class submarine back to the port for disassembly.

For this reason, the North Sea Fleet also made a special show in front of the officers and soldiers. The remaining destroyers deliberately aimed their shells at the direction of the Los Angeles-class submarine, making an action to blow it up.And now the submarine was drastically dismembered in the dock.Submarine experts carefully check every detail, constantly absorbing American technology and secrets.

"I understand this, but how long do I have to delay them? A week or a month?" Foreign Minister Shevardnadze asked.This is what he is most concerned about, and it will be a headache to talk to the ambassador every day.

Yanayev said, "Anyway, you're just playing the role of a megaphone. The exact time will wait for the people in their navy to understand the technology and secrets. Comrade Lobov."

"Okay." Shevardnadze rubbed his temples and said helplessly.

"Yes, General Secretary." Lobov said with a serious expression. He was a general supported by Gorbachev, but he was also one of the few people who still held high positions after the August [-]th incident.Yanayev once told him that as long as he was loyal to his duties, he would not embarrass Lobov, so that Lobov became the most loyal watchdog around Yanayev.

"You know why I gave you full responsibility for this matter. I don't want the Navy to intervene in this matter." Yanayev pointed to Lobov, "So I also hope that the shipyard will take care of it." You can speed up the progress and find out the secrets inside the American submarine as soon as possible, you know?"

"Understood, we will definitely not disappoint the general secretary's expectations." Lobov said firmly.

"There is one more thing to report to you, General Secretary Yanayev." Defense Minister Yazov replied, "The information I obtained from the crew of the Baton Rouge before, they finally reported to the United States. The ship was damaged, the boat was abandoned. That means the message to Washington is that their sub has sunk. I think we can make a difference on that.”

"You mean to deliberately lie to the Americans that their nuclear submarine sank in the Arctic Ocean, and we need to salvage it for several months? Then during the period again, we can learn the secrets of the Baton Rouge submarine unscrupulously?" Yanaye Husband suddenly became interested.

"Yes, as for the officers and soldiers, we can detain them for a few months because of the cumbersome procedures. Anyway, our Soviet Union is a bloated bureaucracy that you say. Since the bureaucrats want to release people so much, it is not that simple."

The idea is shameless, but I love it.These cunning old foxes are ashamed, but the tsar bomb can't break the face.Yanayev almost wanted to give Yazov a thumbs up, but held back because of the image of the supreme leader.

After the meeting, Yanayev returned to his office.Not long after he sat down, the presidential hotline on the table rang.When the hotline for communication with the Office of the President of the White House rings, nothing good will happen.But Yanayev still had to pick up the phone and say hello.

"Hello Comrade Yanayev, I am President Bush of the United States." The person on the other end of the phone said in Russian with a somewhat humble tone.