Sovereign

"Pirates, criminals, or savages. It doesn't matter what they call us. The 4th Fleet is prepared to end international shipping. For the sake of the global revolution. And if raiding convoys and ports is the way to that path - so be it. To all seafarers out there, civilian or otherwise, we issue official Letters of Marque to all those loyal to men's cause. Do not listen, you are not a pirate. You are a revolutionary."

- Admiral Rudolf Ackfurst's message to all Navies and Shipping Corporations, 4th Fleet of the Orlish Republican Navy.

+++

August 10, 2024

Somewhere in the North Allas Ocean

Strike Force 7

"We're launching the Monitors." Captain Schlatt reported.

"Good. Time for the ghost hunt." Replied Albert.

The 4th Fleet, Albert knew, was not an easy enemy to beat. They operated with the same training, doctrine, and naval mastery as the rest of the Orlish Navy.

More so, the 4th Fleet wasn't exactly a conventional fleet. It was known as the "Silent Seal" of the Navy, due to its composition and the modifications present in their ships.

Unlike the rest of the Orlish Navy, the 4th Fleet operated a disproportionate ratio of submarines. They had nearly a dozen of the Weirlöff-Class Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarines, produced during the Weirlöff Wartime Administration.

They were the most advanced generation of Orland's fast-attack submarines.

Alongside this fearsome wing of SSN submarines, were Strike Force 2. It was around the size of Strike Force 7, having just an extra Gallant-Class Guided-Missile Destroyer. More importantly, was their flagship, the ONS Matriarch - a Queen Areya-Class Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier. The sole ship of her class.

Only commissioned a year ago, just before the Great War ended.

As such, unlike the outdated air wing of the ONS Rebenslof, which mainly relied on the LF-12 Zapper, the ONS Matriarch fielded one squadron of Orland's new stealth aircraft - the LF-20 Phantom.

That, alongside the rogue ships of foreign navies and opportunistic civilian ships now turned into what amounts to pirates serving the 4th Fleet, and his headache was massive.

It was why they needed to link up with the rest of the 2nd Fleet. Their main goal after all was ASuW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) operations in the North Allas Ocean to counter the 4th Fleet's raids on merchant shipping. And the North Allas Ocean was massive - and there were reports of shipping attacks everywhere.

Which means the 4th Fleet is spread out.

"Did the ONS Seafire deploy their towed arrays?" Albert asked, setting aside his cup of coffee while watching another MIH-12 "Monitor", an ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) helicopter, take off from the flight deck.

It was Orland's main naval ASW asset. It could drop sonobuoys to passively/actively listen for underwater contacts, as well as utilize dipping sonars. It was also armed with two Mark 16 ACHT (Acoustic Homing Torpedoes) that could be easily dropped should a submarine be spotted.

"Two minutes ago." Captain Schlatt replied, and Albert nodded.

"Well, that's good. Tell them to stay careful. No need for us to lose a destroyer for no reason."

"Well, our Monitors should prevent that. They're already dropping sonobuoys at the moment. We are listening."

"Do you think it's just one sub?"

"Most likely. The faint pings we got point to the direction northeast of our position. Two hundred to four hundred kilometers away. I doubt any Orlish sub would operate that close to each other."

"That's still a massive search area though. Should we launch more Monitors?"

"Probably not."

"Alright. Do update me as the situation develops."

"Roger that, Sir."

For a while, Strike Force 7's escort ships began panning out a bit to scour the ocean. The ONS Seafire itself already detached itself by nearly sixty kilometers away from the Strike Force for the search.

Hours after hours passed as Strike Force 7 passively listened to any signatures from down below. Unfortunately, there wasn't much.

By the fourth hour, a ping was reported.

"Can you confirm what that is?" Albert asked the Captain of the ONS Seafire on the other side.

"We are checking the signature." He replied, and Albert awaited. The techs around the bridge had been hard at work around him, as Captain Vogel directed the ship's navigation.

He issued another set of orders to the helmsman, and Albert felt the Rebenslof turn slightly.

"So, what is it?"

"Probably biological." Replied Seafire's Captain. "Doesn't match any Orlish signatures."

"Keep verifying."

"Copy."

Albert placed down the radio and walked into the front of the bridge. He looked at the distant skies. This operation was growing tedious.

+++

One of the MIH-12 Monitors flew close to the surface of the ocean as it continued scouring the depths. It already dropped most of its sonobuoys, all of which were already passively listening for anything in a radius of a few hundred kilometers.

As such, they were now down to their dipping sonar. The MIH-12 Monitor descended in altitude as it slowed down, deploying the dipping sonar down into the water.

It was almost already afternoon, and the search was still ongoing, even when it started at noon. So far, Strike Force 7 has already been badly delayed by the ongoing ASW operations.

It was to be expected. Hunting submarines was no easy task. If hunting surface contacts was hard, what more when the foe is hidden beneath the waves? While sonar was powerful, the ocean was gigantic.

And everything - including the submarine that they were hunting, was on the move. Alongside it was the civilian merchant shipping, or random biological organisms that occasionally appeared, further confusing the search.

The dipping sonar continued listening. While the submarine could be silent, painfully silent, it should still return something. Anything that would narrow down the area being searched.

The pilot frowned as the rain started to return. That would mess up the search even further. Still, his hands and mind stayed focused on the task. After all, if he could find the submarine, he could drop the acoustic torpedoes his Monitor held to…"liquidate" said submarine.

However, that wasn't exactly his main task. His task was to find it. But, still…a lowly pilot of an ASW helicopter finding and killing a sub? That would be a great honor. And should improve his chances for a promotion - and a better paycheck.

The sonar operator said something on the internal comms. Fly at bearing zero-five-five, he said. There was something…they were picking up something.

The Monitor began turning, as it relayed the findings to the ONS Seafire.

+++

"What happened?" Albert asked after Captain Vogel finished conversing with the CO of the ONS Seafire.

"Sir, they reported that one of their Monitors picked up signatures that might match a Weirloff-Class SSN. The resolution is low though, and they aren't fully sure."

"Where exactly?"

"West. Two hundred kilometers away. The signature is moving northward. Slowly too. It seems to be hiding."

"How slow?"

"Definitely still faster than an average whale, Sir."

He looked down at the reports on the screen, alongside the map. All in all, in an area of almost four hundred radius on all sides from the Rebenslof, multiple Monitors and dozens of sonobuoys were deployed, marked blue on the screen. There was one faint red signature, which was where they suspected that the sub was hiding.

Suddenly, it disappeared.

"Seems like we lost contact," Albert commented.

"Indeed. Should we start searching with active sonar?"

"Alright. Do it. And once verified, fire our ASTORs immediately."

+++

The submarine lumbered down below. It knew it was being tracked. Already, pings from the Royalist active sonar could be detected from all sides.

It was almost as if the sea turned extremely noisy around it. The submarine began descending further down in the ocean depths, as it slowed down. It didn't know where the enemy was, as there were pings coming from all directions.

For the CO inside of the submarine's CIC, it was almost as if they were now surrounded by enemies. Of course, he knew that most of it was deployed sonobuoys, as they were almost stationary, or Monitor ASW helicopters that turned the active sonar of their dipping sonars on.

But he did know that something was moving closer to them. Something he could target. Of course, with all the noise in the ocean, it would be hard to target it, but he ordered his submarine to slowly listen to acquire it.

+++

<>

The ONS Seafire came ever closer to the faint signature that their Monitor had spotted earlier. The Seafire moved slowly, almost ten knots only, as its towed array was deployed in its wake.

Its active sonar was already on full blast, and the CIC was hard at work establishing contact with the signature. They already assumed that it was a Weirloff-Class and that it was most likely hostile, but they didn't fully know.

Truthfully, it could be a friendly submarine, for all they know. Submarines rarely, if ever, communicated with surface vessels of the Orlish Navy. It was a complicated quagmire, as, even if the ship on the surface and the submarine below the ocean were friendly, they would not know.

Unless they fully established contact.

But that wasn't happening. The only clue that the CO of the Seafire had if this signature was hostile or not was the fact that a civilian vessel was sunk nearby. The likelihood of this submarine being the culprit was high, but not absolute.

<>

"They're firing?" Asked the Seafire's Captain to his XO, who was in line with the CIC.

"Two torps are headed our way, Sir."

The Captain's heart dropped. With their active sonar fully activated, the sub must have acquired them for minutes already. Now that they fired, it didn't matter if it was friendly or not.

They would have to be treated as hostile. The Captain ordered the Weapons Officer to launch two ASTORs (Acoustic Submarine Torpedos) in the direction of the sonar contact before they turned off their active sonar and began evasive maneuvers.

While the Seafire began retracting its towed array, its VLS cells opened up, and two ASTORs rose up in the skies. It was a two-stage rocket that flew up, traveling in the direction of the submarine in the skies. It took a few minutes before the rockets finally stopped, separated its first stage, and dropped down into the ocean.

Just before they dropped, their parachutes opened up, and the ASTORs slowed down as it descended. By the time the two splashed, their active sonar turned on, and the two began plunging deep, homing to the submarine underwater.

<>

The Seafire already began turning hard to the direction of the ONS Rebenslof, increasing its speed to fourteen knots as noisemaker decoys dropped.

The same was true with the submarine, as two torpedoes bore down on it. It began erratic maneuvers, as the Seafire's torpedoes closed in.

<>

The loud noise generated by the sub's noisemaker worked, as the first torpedo of the Seafire passed right above the submarine, almost only a hair away.

Another noisemaker was deployed as the second torpedo closed in, and it would have worked if the timing was correct - but too late.

<>

But the Seafire's Captain could not celebrate yet. He continued barking orders to the helmsman for course adjustments as the enemy torpedo homed in into the wake of the Seafire.

Already, it was just four kilometers away when the Seafire completed a one-eighty-degree turn, and with a well-timed deployment of noisemaker decoys, the torpedo was successfully confused and it passed the Seafire.

"Crap, it's coming back." The Seafire's XO said as the men on the bridge held their breaths. The anxiety was palpable, as the submarine's torpedo almost completely turned back on them.

"Right-full rudder. Get us out again. Deploy noisemaker at my command." The Captain ordered.

"Aye, Sir."

The Seafire turned once more, as the submarine's torpedo began gaining speed after its turn. The Captain hoped that his sudden turn along the noisemaker would confuse it again, resulting in a miss.

"Deploy it."

As the torpedo closed in, the noisemaker was dropped. For a moment, the torpedo homed into it, almost turning away from the Seafire, but then - it turned back.

There was nothing that the Captain could do.

The operation ended with a massive detonation under the keel, completely stopping the Seafire from moving. Damage control parties scrambled to fix the mess, but the Seafire was disabled.

As the night dropped, the ONS Blackgem towed her wounded sister, all while the Rebenslof's air squadrons watched from the top vigilantly.

It was another costly skirmish.