Vengeance

73 USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT

On Theodore Roosevelt’s Bridge in the ship’s Island superstructure, Captain Ryan Noss had watched in dismay as three consecutive rounds of HAAWCs were shot down, their remnants splashing into the ocean. The three approaching Russian submarines, classified as Akula by the P-8A crews monitoring their sonobuoys, had now cleared the buoy field and were beyond detection range. The submarines had undoubtedly changed course after speeding past the buoys, so the P-8As now had no target solution to guide additional HAAWCs toward the approaching threats.

The P-8As were busy laying another layer of sonobuoys closer to the carrier, and Noss watched as the buoys splashed into the sea, but it likely wouldn’t matter. The Akulas would be within firing range before the area was sufficiently populated with buoys.

Noss turned to his Officer of the Deck, ordering him to turn east, bringing the ship as close to the minefield as possible, buying a few more minutes as the Akulas closed on their target.

The ASW commander apparently had come to the same conclusion — that the sonobuoy fields wouldn’t be populated fast enough — and Noss listened to the speaker on the Bridge as the ASW commander ordered a half-dozen MH-60Rs aloft. Since the helicopters had proven quite vulnerable to the anti-air missiles, they had been held in reserve, with the ASW commander depending instead on the P-8As, which flew at an altitude beyond the range of the Russian missiles.

However, with the P-8As temporarily ineffective, the MH-60Rs were being pressed into action. Many, if not all, of the anti-submarine helicopters would be shot down, but hopefully the Russian guided missile submarine would run out of missiles before the carrier ran out of helicopters, and three MH-60Rs would survive long enough to detect and kill the approaching Akulas.

Noss felt the carrier banking to starboard as it commenced a turn to the north. They had traveled east as far as possible, with the minefield less than two thousand yards away.

There was nowhere else to run to.