NationStates Jolt Archive

Wolves of the Sea

Intro: Only fools believe that the Khailfah al Muslimeen Arm Forces during peace time, sit around and nothing, the smart ones know that the arm forces are testing themselves to the max, learning from past mistakes and adapting their tactics to the every changing face of war , this was most true to the infamous Submarine fleet of the Khailfah. It is said to the commandeering officer of the SSBN in the High Seas Fleet. There is infamous quote, about the captains of the SSBN fleet within the High Seas Fleet, here goes the quote

“And the seventh angel poured his bowl into the air, and a voice cried out from heaven, saying: It is done…. I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."

To keep the blades of the arm forces, shape and not rusted…one must always be ready to do war games of unheard size, yet in the High Seas Fleet Command, the Admirals of High Seas Fleet Command were plotting a new test for their captains of the Sub fleet..it was test to see if the Captains of the world largest sub fleet can handle the hunt of the greatest prey of the seas, their prey for these Sub captains was the their own comrades of the SSBN sub fleet, in this war game.. The goal was of this game was to see if the sub fleet best captains could hunt down the SSBN subs that were on Silent drive, if successful the fleet will be given new insides in the ever changing face of sub warfare.


Location: Izmir Naval Base/Shipyards
The Izmir Shipyards were one of the largest shipyards in the entire Khailfah and Dominions; It had about 80 dry dock slips. The only shipyards that could compare the Izmir Shipyards, they were the following Alexandria, Salonika ,Algiers, Rabat, St.Petersburg, Murmansk, Arhangel’sk, Odessa, Sevastopol, and Bombay, these were the top shipyards if the Khailfah and her dominions. The other shipyards in the Khailfah were no matches to these massive shipyards, which produce the most ships for the Khailfah. This base is know as Izmir Naval shipyards, it has a garrison of 40,000 marines which is the 24th Marine Corp and over 250,000 personal at the base alone. There are well over 80 dry dock slips that were building new subs and surface ships for the High Seas Fleet. It is the home base for the 13th Surface Battle Groups and the 1st Amphibious Assault Force. Yet there are large numbers of unassigned ships that are in dock waiting to assign to any major naval battle groups which may need them.. Also Izmir is one of the prime shipyards for Submarine building in that yard. Also the outer areas of the base or inland areas are where the barracks for the 24th Marine Corp officers are house and base.
Today was important day for the Naval Base, the heads of the High Seas Fleet Command, and number of High Ranking Naval officers from number of allies states from were coming to visited the Naval Base and will use the state of art, command center to run the massive mult nation naval war games. Line up to welcome the Naval officials were the Honour Guard of the KLM marine core, this honor guard was made up of the many groups of people living in the KLM and dominions…it range from Blacks, Asians, Turks, Indians, Arabs, Persians and other of Europeans backgrounds( Mainly Slavs and Germans). It was somewhat cold, the temperature was at 16 C or 61 F, it was normal for this time of year for the temperatures to be this low, and everyone was dress warmly for working outside in this weather. The first to come the command center were, the high-ranking officials of the High Seas Fleet Command, they were welcome by the Base Commanding officer Admiral Shaykh Taj ad-Din al-Hasani (He was of Syrian Arab Backgound). And here is a list of the KLM officers that came to the Commmand Center, Subhead of Navy- Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Hassan Pasha III (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/saral-al20Dawleh.jpg), Flag Rank Admiral Ivan Yurevich Putin (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/hfro08.jpg), Admiral Vasily Borodin (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/310nopapers.jpg), Fleet Admiral Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/FranzVonHipper.jpg), Fleet Admiral Konstanitin Von Neurath (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/Donitz.jpg), Flag Rank Admiral Ivan Fedoseevich Botsis (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/AdmiralLeyton2372.jpg), Flag Rank Admiral Nikolai Semenovich Mordvinov (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/MaxwellForrest2153.jpg), Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Mikhail Leopoldovich Abramov(Head of the Sub Fleet) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/Ottoman01/k19_10.jpg), Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari, Commodore Curzon , Fleet Admiral Khair ad Din, Rear Admiral Ahmet Cevdet Pasa, Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Osman Pazvantoglu and number of other commodores, admirals, rear admirals, vice admirals, plus support staff . Enter the state of art command enter with many plasma sceens showing data and the latest fleet reports in Arabic only. Officers at the doors of the Command Center were handing out the reports to all the Admirals telling them the following..

To: All Admirals and other high ranking officers taking part in this wargame

The Black Night report
The object of this war naval game is to find a way to detect Submarinces, that are fitted with the slient drives systems…it is the prime goal of the naval war games to finds ways to defect and see thought the slient drives. It is the goal of the wargames fleet to think of new ways of detecting these subs for the stake of the state. These wargames will be taking place in the mid Altantic. Also this naval war game will test the skills of our fleets crews and commanders.That is all.

Orders of Battle for this naval war game( These ships have been already deployed one month ahead of this wargame.)
Overall Commanding Officer: Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari

“The Hunter taskforce”
4th Fleet Surface Battle Group (SBG)(Mediterranean Sea, Base in Alexandria)
Salah al-Din class Battleship
2 Uthman-class Battlecruiser
2 Abu Sufyan class cruiser
2 Hunter-class command Battleships
Monarch-class BBG
2 Region-class CBG
2 Province-class CG
5 County-class DDG (AD)
5 City-class DDG (GP)
10 Furtive-class FFH
4 Forthar-class SSGN
5 Flansburgh-class AOR

7th Fleet Carrier Battlegroup(Mediterranean Sea, Base in Algiers)
1 Hunter-Class Command Battleship
2 Salah al-Din class Battleship
2 Repulse-Class Battlecarrier
4 Boar-class missile cruiser
2 Union-class trimaran CVBN
4 Kreml class Aircraft Carrier Cruiser
2 Abu Sufyan class cruiser
2 Uthman-class Battlecruiser
6 Kirov Missile Cruisers
20 Sovermenny Class Destroyers
20 Neustrashimy Class Frigates
4- Johnston Class Supply Ship (AOE)
2- Replenisher Class Oilers (AO)
10 Al Hijaz SSN-774 (Virginia-class rename)

11th Carrier Battle Groups (CVBG)(Atlantic Ocean, Base in Rabat)
2 House-class CVAN
Bastion-class BBGN
2 Duchy-class CAG
5 County-class DDG (AD
5 City-class DDG (GP)
10 Furtive-class FFH
4 Forthar-class SSN
Lem-class AFS
5 Smith-class AOE
Aylesburgh-class AS

Sub assign to this Hunter taskforce
10 Forthar-class SSN
10 Stortbek-class SSK
10 Haenulf-class SSF
10 Vanguard Class SSN
20 Al Hijaz SSN-774 (Virginia-class rename)
20 Black Hawk Class SSN (Maritime Underwater Future Capability (MUFC)
20 Fighter Class SSK (Scorpène class rename)

Air support
100-P-7A LRAACA (Maritime patrol)
60 E-3C Sentry
200 F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet”

“ The Slient Wolf Group” ( All Subs in this fleet have refitted with the slient drives.)

8 Osman class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)(Ohio class rename)
10 Algiers class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)(Type 94 rename)
20 Tower Class SSBN
18 Chamberlain-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)
6 Kasatanov-class SSBN/SSGN refits
18 Typhoon-II SSBN
20 Delta-V SSGN
2 Palace-class SSBN
5 Pechtas-class SSGN
10 Port-class SSGN
12 Borei SSBN


After most of the Admirals read the report, Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari began to speak

“Genetlmen of the High Seas Fleet Command, today we began the hunt for the wolves of the sea…at this moment the subs in the Slient Wolf Group have turn on their slient drives and are running slient..meaning we have lost all contact with these subs during this wargame…so genetlemen the game is foot…the wargames have started…now we wait for our allies that we have invited to this wargame to have their officers come here…and we’ll where it goes from there.” Said the Flag Rank Fleet Admiral.

The Honour Guard stood awaiting for the officers of the allies states that were invited to the wargames..

The Allied States of Celtayoshi was honoured to recieve an invitation from Ottoman Khaif. Despite being a long standing ally of the Ottomans they were delighted to be considered worthy of an invitation to the War Games. The Celtayoshi Navy had a long an proud history, its origins could be traced back to the Great Colonial War, when Celtayoshi had fought a desperate war with its protectorates. Since then technology had moved on, and the great wooden ships used back then were far inferior to the multi-billion dollar investments made yearly in new weaponary.
As part of these investments Celtayoshi had developed its own unique Submarine Hunting Groups. Constructed to the desires of the then Admiral in Chief, High Naval Commander, Lord Gammonner, these groups had been used effectively in wars before, neutralising enemy submarine threats.
Now, five years on, Lord Gammonner's pet project had evolved into a sophisticated network for the defence of Celtayoshi. The now Admiral in Chief, High Naval Commander, Admiral Nevski would be travelling to Ottoman Khaif to participate in the preliminary discussions about the war games, whislt the Navy quickly refitted the vessels for use in the exercises.
Nevski was a man who stuck to tradition, and he despised some of the new technology around, and had been instrumental in the sale of numerous super-carriers maintained by the fleet, instead focusing on several normal Nimitz - style ships. He had often been described as a man with the look of one who was wise, and wise he was, he was a perfect gentleman, and a great sailor. He understood the tactics of Naval Warfare better than anyone of his generation, and yet, he had dropped out of school at a young age. Given a choice by a judge he joined the Navy, where he was reconised at once by his senior officers. Fastracked and given the oppertunity to complete his studies he rose fast, becoming the Navy's star. His last command had been CYNV ~ Celtayoshi, the Navy's flagship, and pride.
Now, as he boarded the aircraft to Ottoman Khaif, he slept, a man of such wisdom must rest. When he awoke it was a bright dawn, and they were arriving in Ottoman Khaif.

The Imperial Commonwealth of Malkyer, being a nation with far-flung colonies and holdings across vast seas, was a power with a strong tradition of naval prowess. Or so one would think. In reality, only in recent years had the yeoman Navy begun to catch up with the aristocratic Army or daredevil Air Force in terms of funding and recruitment.

This was, of course, not to say that the Navy was ineffective as a fighting force. The Royal Navy had been instrumental in innumerable victories through Malkyer's history. The Navy's top brass simply wished for officers to get a little more exposure to doctrines of other nations. They had happily and quickly accepted the invitation from the Khailfah al Musilmeen to participate in that nation's wargames.

Admiral Lucius Howe and two other officers boarded their plane, taking late at night so that they would arrive on time in the Khailfah.

(OOC: For the stake of time and lets just said that both the Malkyer and Celtayoshi land at the same time.)
At Izmir International Airport

The KLM Marine Honour Guard salute the Malkyer and Celtayoshi Admirals and they were drove to the Naval Base, which they again welcome by another Honour Guard of Marines. Then they were led to the Command Center and welcome by the 60 year old Admiral Shaykh Taj ad-Din al-Hasani, who lead them in the inner workings of the command center , where the neve center of the wargames was taking place. The games are already start, the officers were ranning and updating their display panels with the latest data from the seas. Everything was in Arabic and everyone was speaking only in Arabic..it was a rule of KLM arm forces that everyone has to only Arabic, when on duty…that rule was in forced. There were was one naval officers from the West African Dominions, giving report updates on the latest news from the Hunter Taskforce group.He was of Nigerian backgound, they only in their late 20s and had the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He yell out the latest reports

“Admiral Tcherepnin, of the 11th Carrier Battle Groups, has began standard Sub hunting protocol, so as Rear Admiral Saad , of the 7th Fleet Carrier Battlegroup, and also Fleet Admiral Sokollu, of the 4th Fleet Surface Battle Group. That’s is all for now.” Reported the Lt. Commander

“Well, well I wonder why Admiral Tcherepnin is doing standard protocol, while these SSBN have been refited with the Slient Drive..most odd..” comment Subhead of Navy- Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Hassan Pasha III

“Its because old Admiral Tcherepnin, who I know for 20 years is an old ass who refuse to belive that these subs are undetectable by standard protocol…so he is going to make a point by trying to detect them by standard protocol.” Said Flag Rank Admiral Ivan Yurevich Putin

“Allow Admiral Tcherepnin do as he please, he is good commandeering officer,and I see that old hard ass Sokollu as finally come out of retirement…and to think he is only 70 years and Grand Vizier grandfather and still an hardass.. now I am ordering my Admirals under my command to do this standard protocol..to see if they can still pull someone out of their asses and see if they could still use this protocol..they are working closely with hunter subs on this mission…and we’ll see soon.” said Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari

“Aye, we shall see that standard protocol would work, besides those damn bloody SSBN captains are trickly and hard to found at times. now…now I do wonder what do our comardes from Malkyer and Celtayoshi to this war game?” ask Fleet Admiral Khair ad Din in Arabic

Assign to Malkyer and Celtayoshi was an KLM Naval Officer who spoke English and told what the Fleet Admiral had asked them


Also in the Backgound, working along side the officers ,were a number of AMI Political Commissars along them..they were dress in Naval unform and had their ranks…no who would guess they were commissars…they were watching the allies officers like hawks..and making sure no classifed files got into their hands…

bump for the other players

Somewhere in the mid Altantic

On aboard the A.M.S.S.(Al Muslimeen Service Ship)Ghazi (Al Hijaz SSN-774 class, SSN)

Captain Adnan Menderes and Commander Yuri Ilyich Padorin was thinking about new ways to detect the silent drive sub fleet..

“Blasted Magnetohydrodynamic drive(aka Slient Drives), how can we find a sub running under that drive….they are nearly undetectable…bloody hell..” Said Captain Adnan

“Not unless….we do sonar sweep…” comment Commander Yuri

“ Active sonar is useless for hunting slient drives….wait but passive sonar may work..if we do once massive sweep of the area…we can catch those SSBNs….yet we need the entire taskforce to do this sweep..with passive sonar…and we will find them.” Said Captain Menderes

“Very good idea my Captain…should we send out a highly encoded tranmission to fleet command and the fleet about this?” ask Commander Yuri

“Yes, order the station to send out a order about this to Fleet Command and the taskforce itself, soon we’ll have the SSBNs in our hands and get them before they could get us.” Reply the Captain

“Aye, Aye, Captain.” Reply the Commander Yuri, then The Commander give the orders to the comm station which relay it to the fleet and Fleet Command


At Izmir Naval Base, Command Center

The West African Officer handle the latest message from Captain Menderes to Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari, the Flag Rank Fleet Admiral read the message and said

“Give the order for this passive sonar sweep…but I do have a feeling our friends of the SSBNs…are plotting to counter this….” Reply Flag Rank Fleet Admiral

“Using the passive sonar systems to detect these slients…ingenius..” remarked Fleet Admiral Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock

“Yes, we shall see if this sonar works…besides… I trained half of those SSBN captains…I know they may try to form a plan to counter this sweep and use it in their favor..” comment Fleet Admiral Konstanitin Von Neurath

“I don’t doubt Fleet Admirial Neurath, but I also train these officers in change of the SSNs and SSBNs…its going to be a tought call on who fires first and gets out alive…” reply Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Mikhail Leopoldovich Abramov(Head of the Sub Fleet)

“So what do our allies , think of this plan?” ask Flag Rank Admiral Ivan Fedoseevich Botsis

In the mid Altantic
Fleet Admiral Sokollu, got the orders that he has been waiting for to began the sweep with using the passive sonar…soon the game was going to get more interesting..

Admiral Nevski pulled out of his uniform pocket a piece of paper, it listed the deployments for Celtayoshi. They were as follows:

8xVerrazano Class
8xTwin Towers Flight IA Class
4xSeawolf Class
4xHades Class
4xAEGIS Flight IIA Class
8xShield Class
20xSH-60F Seahawk

8xVerrazano Class
8xTwin Towers Flight IA Class
4xSeawolf Class
4xHades Class
4xAEGIS Flight IIA Class
8xShield Class
20xSH-60F Seahawk

1 Omega Class Trimeran Battleship
1 Invincible Class Carrier
2 Alpha Class Trimeran Heavy Cruiser
2 Trebuchet Class Trimeran Shore-Bombardment Cruiser
1 Jolt Class Trimeran Long Range Pursuit Destroyer
5 Cassius Class Trimeran Destroyers
5 Dauntless Class Trimeran ASW Frigates
5 Earl Class Trimeran AA Frigates
1 Insidious Class Electronics Warfare Destroyer
5 Legionary Class Minesweepers

4 688 Improved Class Submarine
4 Hades Class Submarine
2 Seawolf Class Submarine

The Admiral indicated that Celtayoshi would allow its submarines to drift in the ocean, just listening to detect anything. They intended to idenfy the submarines by the noise not being made in the water. The surface battlegroups would also use passive sonar, whilst helicopters would drop sonobouys, forming a net. Aircraft, especially those with FLIR and MAD gear would be used. A special Celtayoshi development had also been fitted to some of the newer models, it involved detecting heat changes in the surface temperature of the water, caused by a submarine near the surface, although this was unlikely to help for deep submerged vessels.

OOC: I will be joining ASAP. Some school work issues at the moment though!

The KLM Admirals listen to the Admiral Nevski and nodded in agreement

“Admiral Nevski, I must said that this plan of your plans may work out in our favor…if everything goes well…yet I do have a feeling those SSBN captains of my…will pull a trick on us..some how…I must say that your fleet and ours musts work closely together and we will have a highly chance of catching these pesky subs.” Said Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari

Out in the mid Altantic

The P-7A LRAACA Maritime patrols were dropping sonobouys within the area of the war games to create a sonar net in the hopes of catching the SSBNs and also giving the Hunter Taskforce a better picture of the area and have more tools to hunt these subs.

It was wrong to said the SSBN captains were doing nothing…they had their own plan of attack and how to avoid the patrols and buoys , they order their crews to take their subs to near the max depth which the subs can stand the pressure of the sea on them. They just were drifting in the deep sea…awaiting for their prey to walk into the trap which they set out by having one of the Delta-V SSGN going in same area and staying in that area. And the SSBN captains were waiting for the taskforce to pick her up, then they will attack… the unsuspecting fleets.

Admiral Howe had the Malkyeri deployments committed to memory. Given the fact that the Royal Navy had deployed only one Carrier Battle Group for the exercises, this was not such an impressive feat. Budget strains and the coming war in Kahanistan had forced the Navy to spread itself thin.

The Carrier Battle Group was led by a Conquistador class carrier, the HMS Thomas Jefferson. The carrier's support and defense consisted of a further three Scimitar class cruisers, eight Saber class destroyers, four Wilson Harman class frigates (for ASW), and four Juneau class attack submarines.

The plan was fairly simple. The submarines would prowl the oceans, listening for the enemy. The frigates and destroyers would form a perimeter around the rest of the battlegroup, to protect against enemy submarines. The carrier's AWACS planes would conduct an aggressive sonar hunt, looking for enemy subs, and would be escorted by fighters.

Bump for Independent Hitman and whoever else was invited to this rp.

The Celtayoshi fleet had arrived in the exercise sectors, immediately the Captains had ordered quiet ships, cocntact was established with surrounding allied ships, and the fleet took up a traditional Celtayoshi Naval Position, referred to at Celtayoshi Naval Academy as the 'Protectionist Deployment.' The purpose of this was to search the immediate area for any submarines that may be lurking. Once convinced of the certainty that the Protection Zone was clear they would begin to move out. Admiral Nevski had flown out to the lead ship just one hour earlier, along with some Ottoman Admirals, and translators. The Celtayoshi fleet requested further instructions from the Ottoman Fleet as to how best to proceed next, would they search individual zones, sticking to the one position, or maintain constant movement?

IHS Independence, Periocles Class Attack Carrier
Flagship of Rear-Admiral William Hardy, Commander of Task Force 44


The large Hitmen carrier was nearing the edge of the exercise zone, the co-ordinates of which had been sent to the carriers CIC from Naval Headquarters at Gillen.

Rear-Admiral William Hardy was, as usual, standing on one of the open bridge wings smelling the jet oil from below and the salt from the sea breeze coming across the deck. The ships Captain was in the CIC, whilst the XO was on the bridge standing just the otherside of the thick glass to the Admiral.

All of the bridge crew found it amazing how the Admiral would voluntarily stand on the wing as spray from the choppy Atlantic Ocean whipped around his face and soaked him to the skin. The Atlantic was never a particularly nice place to be in, the crew much preferred the Indian Ocean where they had been until quite recently. The carriers after deck would often be crammed full of sun bathers for most of the afternoons when they had time off, and several of the crew still had the remains of a tan.

The XO on the bridge considered calling the Admiral in, but realised that he was in a state of mind that would best not be disturbed.

Wierd Individual

Wierd or not he was one of the most reknown sub-hunters in the IH navy. His exploits on the Destroyer Martin during the Talaax Conflict were legendary in his own navy, and no doubt a few were known in others around the vast world. However those victories had been over Alfa and Delta Class Soviet Boats. Very worthy opponents, yet they were of a different league to those they were likely to be "playing" against today. This silent drive was interesting, and very little about it was known.

It would appear that the time tested method of trial and error would be needed here, whilst the prayer that no metaphorical holes appeared in the sides of the two carriers, or numerous support vessels that made up TaskForce 44.


OOC: Taskforce 44:

1 Periocles Class Attack Carrier (Independence)
1 Nimitz Class Carrier (Christopher D. Anderson)
3 Heavy Guided Missile Crusiers (Hampton Roads, PortHaven, Free Port)
7 Kidd Class Destroyers
4 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers
7 Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigates
2 Los Angeles Class 688I SSN's
2 Seawolf Class SSN's

In the deep depths of the Atlantic

On Board the A.M.S.S. Azerbaijan (Borei SSBN class)

Admiral Hiren was the head of The Silent Wolf Group, he was waiting for the right time to make his move against the Hunter fleet…he had set up a time table for his sub fleet, it told when to act and not to act. He had all his sub captains before the black out to drive to max out depths and just turn off their engines and just sit and wait for the right moment to come up. He look at his watch and said

“ It is time…soon the trap will take out a good number of our dear friends..” said the Admiral

Like clockwork the twenty Delta-V SSGNs of the Silent Wolf Group, turn their silent drives and began moving out…spreading themselves out in the deep depths of the ocean.

On the Passive Sonar screens of the ships of the 4th Fleet Surface Battle Group which was patrolling the area…they were barely picking some kind of objects moving in the deep depths of the ocean…..they were roughly picking up 20 moving objects.. when Fleet Admiral Sokollu was told of this major movement…he order to send word out to all ally fleets, they have made contact with the Wolf Group.


In that area, there was about 10 Vanguard Class SSN patrolling the area. When they pick up the Delta-V on their sonar…they change course and were now heading to attack this Wolf group ships…by the time when the other ships of the Hunter group got word, they too far to aid right away, all they all change course and were heading to support their comrades in the hunt.

Back on the on Board the A.M.S.S. Azerbaijan (Borei SSBN class)

“Well, well, I can’t believe our luck men, they fell for our trap…now began plotting the firing solutions for our remote detonated torpedoes….our dears friends are going to get the shock of their lives..” comment the Admiral

The Azerbaijan and her sister ships, just were sitting in the silent and were waiting for their prey to walk into the trap.

At 1800 hours Admiral Nevski walked into the command ship, which held the top Admirals of each Navy. He proposed that they add an additional round to the search and destroy exercise. What the Admiral suggested was that following the conclusion of this they add merchant ships, which the new silent subs would try to hunt, whilst the various Navys protected. He flt this would increase co-operation, especially since each escort group would have to comprise of more than one Navy.

Meanwhile, back on the nunting rounds there had been little to report. The ASW ships had begun to pair off, hunting in groups as the sought to smoke out their enemy. However, they never strayed too far, and there was always an allied submarine nearby. The silent wolfs were a bitch to catch, they all agreed. However, the sonar officers maintained the hope that they would crack the secret, and obtain a sound signature for the engine plants.

Joining the conference of Admirals from all those nations participating, plus a few who were not, Fleet Admiral Joshua White was pleasantly surprised at the environment that existed between them. He had feared that it would be like the naval games that he had attended as a newly frocked Commander where every Admiral seemed to be out to beat the others into the ground with this new ship or that new missile. Here everybody seemed so much more....civilised. Altogether a much more pleasant environment for a game, at least in his opinion.

Scanning the assembled Admiral's with his dark blue eyes he picked out one from Celtayoshi and strode over for an informal meeting whilst one of his accompanying officers informed the hosts of their arrival. The Admiral's staff had come up with several ideas about tracking these so called invisible subs, one of which involved tracking the magnetic disturbance that the device should surely cause. Before they were put into action he wanted to talk them over with somebody from another nation, partly so they wouldn't be a Yes-man looking for promotion and partly to remind everybody that the USIH still had some good operational thinkers.



IHS Independence, now in the exercise area

The fourth S-3 Viking ASW aircraft took off from the carrier's deck barely half a minute after its predecessor had cleared it.

A possible submarine contact made by one of the outer sonar pickets was being prosecuted by the four fixed wing aircraft as well as two SH-60 with their dipping sonars.

The S-3's were dropping lines of sonar bouys in an attempt to find the submarine that one of the dipping sonars had gained a enough of a fix on to be reasonably sure it was a submarine and not some kind of whale deep beneath the seas.

The two helicopters had been attempting to localise the contact for half an hour, and even with the help of the S-3's and their sonar bouy boxes it appeared that if there had been a sub there it had gotten clean away.

Disgruntled and low on fuel the two helicopters crews turned their aircraft towards their relative ships and headed towards them for more fuel, whilst the S-3s continued the fruitless search for a further ten minutes before heading back to a standard patrol infront of the moving carrier group.

On all the ships equipped with sonar the ASW watch was maintained. There were several false alarms during the next few hours, one of which was generated by a hit on one of the LA Class Subs attached to the group. Due to this Rear-Admiral Hardy ordered the groups SSN's to proceed infront of their planned line of advance and see if they could detect any hostile subs.

Admiral Nevski was interested in what the Admiral for IH had to say,

"I totally agree, we have also discussed this tracking method amongst our own captains and they believe it to be a worthwile exercise. We have them installed on all our helicopters as standard. However, one of our as of yet untested methods is attaching them to a sonobouy, and having it transmit what it detects back to the parent craft. Our captains seem to think that the best way to track a silnt sub is either by detecting areas of unusual or limited sonar signals, or else by MAD, or FLIR gear. This puts a heavy reliance on our aircraft systems, but our lone carrier somes equiped with some special features on the aircraft, which are similar to FLIR. What is the general feeling amongst IH Navy?"

" The general mood is that these silent drives are over rated. This may be because our own submarine drivers are so quick to dismiss them, they fear that if the cost of each submarine was increased the numbers of them would have to decrease appropriately and they are worried about their numbers. They love their 688's and are always improving them rather than purchasing or developing new models. But I digress."

"The concensus in the navy is that they are a potentially lethal weapon, however our intelligence on them is sketchy, this exercise should help to firm up our estimates as well as give us an understanding of the vessels capability. Our heavy reliance on aircraft, both fixed wing and rotary, has been commonplace for quite a long time in our navy. Our limited Battleships and single Dreadnought are configured primarily for supporting ground assualts, and the carriers are the principle weapons of power projection against enemy surface combatents. From what I have seen of their surface commanders their sub drivers should be at the very least highly competant and therefore should pose our sonar operators a challange to say the least."

"Your idea you mentioned of attaching devices to sonar bouys is also highly interesting. It would allow a single helicopter to gain a triangluation on a contact and then prosecute it with minimal help, alllowing a wider net to be used. However the accountants may have something to say about the number that would have to be used."

"Indeed, they always do. Currently we have three helicopters that have been adapted witht he new technology. We hope that it all works to paln, but you know what these things are like first time out.

In the meantime, we need to discuss how to best go about tracking down the submarines. Personally I believe it is nto advisable best to allow our commanders to go it totally alone. This will prove counter-porductive if areas go unchecked because of a misunderstanding. What we need to do, in my opinion, is to have each battlegroup working closely together, with constant communication. This will also make it easier to get a fix on submarine positions. Unfortunately I am a carrier man, and have been all my life. I was always more concerned with finding things above the surface, rather than below!"

Back at the Command Center at the Izmir Naval
Rear Admiral Ahmet Cevdet Pasa had walk up to the Admirals from Celtayoshi and Independence Hitmen and listen to what they had to said and then state his opinion

“Gentlemen, I must say one shouldn’t underestimite the power of the submarines….in the High Seas Fleet, we have a policy to keep a large surface fleet and a large sub fleet..its not to said that these slient drive subs are undetectable , there is always way to find them…I must agree with Admiral Nevski ,our battle groups must work together to hunt these blast silent subs.. communication is key for us to win this naval war game.. yet we must know that these sub commander of the silent wolf group are the best of the best of the High Seas Sub Fleet., this isn’t going to be a walk in the part as they said it.” Said Read Admiral

Out in the Atlantic the Celtayoshi Fleet had begun operations, they followed a fairly regualar pattern. Initially they relied heavily on passive sonar. This was especially true around the main fleet, where everything and everyone was being a silent as they possibly could be. Further out still the frigates worked in co-ordination with their helicopters, normally they were paired, however, those with the MAD gear sonobouys were sent in alone, why not test them now to see what would happen. Even further out the Celtayoshi submairnes hunted alone, they were the silent creepers of the underworld, rarely meeting with their naval comrades, instead, they kept themselves to themselves, and did their duty alone. No-one had herd anything yet.

Back at the command centre Admiral Nevski was still chatting to the Ottoman and IH admirals,

"What do you propose Rear Admiral? How much do you know about the silent drive systems on the submairnes. Is it linked to a totally new drive system, or a revamped traditional screw? Certainly this would give us an idea of what sounds we were looking for."

"Yes it certainly would be interesting to get your opinion on this matter. Surely your navy has conducted long studies on how to track these boats enough to launch a torpedo after them. Also I presume you have a torpedo fast enough to catch these vessels, from my Intelligence reports there is a possibility that the vessels equipped with the drive can accelerate very well and sustain a much higher speed than a standard torpedo."

"Erm, I may seem ignorant here, but how fast can these things go, or do I have to write a horrible letter to our technology department for better hardware, ie torpedos, the poor buggers already got an angry letter from the Air Force when their pretty planes got caught out with long range weaponary.
But alas, one thing at a time, I suppose we have to find them first!"

The Rear Admiral listen to the Admirals questions reply

“ Well, I do know much about the silent drives systems, do the fact I am the commandeering officer of the 8th SSBN squad base out of the Persian Gulf. The KLM High Seas Sub Fleet has its SSBN fitted with both a traditional screw and silent drive system , its in case if the silent drive fails, the Sub still can move with the traditional system. It’s a back up so to speak…but remember the silent drive doesn’t have any moving parts on the outside which will make a sound..its like a underwater jet engine so to speak.. Yes its true that these subs that are fitted with the silent drives can go faster then a normal sub..our fleet has had the silent drives since the mid 80s…back then we only had a few working prototype and we had learn a lot from these prototypes …from what we learn is that normal weapons can still take them out…yet they need to within close range to effective…we are still working on a long range torpedo to take these subs out.” Reply the Rear Admiral

"Interesting. Perhaps our intelligence assessements were incorrect as to the speeds of this new drive. But I must now go and communicate with my battle group as to how the exercise is going so far. Excuse me Gentlemen."

The Admiral shook hands and then headed back towards a corner of the room where some of the men accompanying him had set up a Tactical Satellite Radio in order for him to communicate with the battle group.

Rear-Admiral Hardy was on the other end of the dedicated link in less than a minute from the call going through.

"Admiral Sir, how is the conference going? Have you learnt anything that can help us track these subs?"

"I have some information Will. They will send it through in a minute. Are things at your end proceeding as planned?"

"Yes Sir. We have a brief contact but it fadad several hours ago. The sonar guys suspect it was noise bouncing off some convergent zones that triggered the sonar. Whatever it was its a long way off now, over by those Khaif boys."

"Very well Will. I want you to continue as planned, but contact the Celtayoshian group in the area and start working closely with them. Their man here seems like a decent chap and they have some good equipment and doctrine for hunting these silent subs. Carry on."

"Sir"

The click on the other end of the link announced the end of the conversation.

Somewhere in the mid Altantic

On aboard the A.M.S.S.(Al Muslimeen Service Ship)Ghazi (Al Hijaz SSN-774 class, SSN)

Captain Adnan Menderes and Commander Yuri Ilyich Padorin were in chase to get to shadow contacts that they have pick up on their passive sonar…they were barely maintaining contact with shadow contact, the Ghazi and 10 Vanguard Class SSN were on the trail of the shadow contacts.

On the Command Bridge of the Ghazi , Commander Yuri had bad feeling about the latest turn of events.

“Captain..something is not right…why are we only picking up only twenty contacts….so easily its not making sense for me…it’s a bloody trap I am telling you!” remark the Commander

“Yuri..don’t be so jumply…just watch…we’ll get them soon enough..just watch.”reply Captain Adnan Menderes

Then at the that moment, the Ghazi and the Vanguards enter the kill zone, Admiral Hiren give the orders for the entire Silent Wolf to attack and fire at will on the Hunting group subs… Then he give the order to fire the remote detonated torpedoes just ahead of the Hunting Subs..after the torpedoes were fired, they were remote detonated just causing a binding effect for sonar systems of the Ghazi and the 10 Vanguards SSNs…. Admiral Hiren order his captains to began to finish out the confuse hunter subs, and they did…they destroyer every single one.( OOC: note they didn’t really use real ammos..its all fake torpedoes and after the subs is hit with the fake torpedoes they surface and just head to homeport their port in the war game is over and return to their duties. )

The Ghazi and the 10 Vanguards SSN were taken out the game with Admiral Hiren trap…yet Hiren trap did give the Hunter group a good idea where the his subs were, and orders came from Flag Rank Fleet Admiral Muhammad Naji al-Otari, to began a full out attack on the Slient Wolf pack group, since they fire the first shot. Just they give a way a rough location of where they were at…He send orders to the ally fleets to hit that area hard.. The Flag Rank Fleet Admiral order taskforce to attack and take out the slient wolf pact at all cost.

IHS Impecable Los Angeles Class 688 SSN
Attached to the Independence carrier group

600 feet below the surface the black hull of Impecable drifted along at 2 knots on a course of 180. This speed and depth were giving the best performance for her passive sonar array strung out some 1000 feet behind her slowly turning screw.

Inside the submarine Captain McWalter was studying charts of the area along with his XO and diving officer. A small ping from the bell above the radio room announced that there was a message awaiting them at the surface.

Captain Amos let out a deep breathe and then stepped three paces into the centre of the control room. When there he reached up and took out the speakerphone that connected him to the sonar room, twenty feet away through a bulkhead.

"Sonar, Conn. Any contacts?"

Amos knew the answer, but he checked anyway.

"Negative Captain. No contacts at this time"

"Very Well. Keep me appraised."

He replaced the handpiece into its holder and then began to speak again.

"Diving Officer, come up 10 degrees on the bow planes and bring us to periscope depth. All ahead two thirds."

The commands were repeated even as the submarine angled up towards the surface and quickly increased her speed, some hull popping announcing the change in depth.

Two minutes later the Captain was reading the dispatch about the ambush that had been sprung on the OK hunter submarines. Ducking back into the control room he handed the dispatch to the XO and began issuing orders.

"Diving officer take us to 700 feet. Increase speed to two thirds and come to course 210."

"Weapons Officer, set up Tube's One and Two with Mark 48's ready for a snapshot, put a Mk48 in Tube Three and a MOSS unit in Four."

"XO you have the Conn. I'm going forward to sonar."


Stepping through the open bulkhead door the Captain poked his head into the sonar room. Five men were already in there crowded around several sonar waterfall displays.

"Chief, can you track these suckers?"

"Not sure at the moment Sir. Computer is still processing some noise we heard a ways off when we were at the surface, could be something."

"Right Chief. They just sprung an ambush on the Khaif Hunter Killer group, they are out of this one and will be motoring home on the surface. We have a reasonable idea on the SSBN's positions, about 50 miles on course 210. We should be in sonar range in about half an hour, I'll drop the speed down when we do and turn to give you boys the best sonar performance I can. They may be running from the area so give me everything you've got Chief"

"Aye Aye Sir." replied the Chief to the Captains retreating form.

OOC: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this thread, reply comming soon.

CYNS - Deep Sea

The -688 class was now twenty miles out from the nearest Celtayoshi ship. Her captain was enforcing a silent ship routine, and the men where taking to it with gusto. Deep Sea was drifting along using only passive sonar to discover what might be beneath the waves.
The Captain went down to his sonar operators, "Any contacts to report?"

The sonar man was, however, deep in thought, listening through his headphones, "Captain, take a look at this."

The captain took the headphones, "Can you here it captain, that faint noise, it seems mechanical somehow."

"Yes," replied the captain, "Can you locate it?"

"No, buts its definately off our port side."

"Thank you, I have an idea..."

The captain left and went to weapon control. Once there he ordered the flooding of No.2 tube, it contained a noisemaker, programmed to run for 350 meters and then activate. He hoped that if it was a submarine, they weren't looking at him.
The noisemaker ran its programmed distance, and got began making emmitting submarine like noises, mimicking the -688 class. There was no luck, the noise being reported by sonar did not change.

"Sonar, go active on suspect," ordered the captain

"Yes, sir."

The Deep Sea began active pinging of the area, but the resutls came up negative. Infuriated the captain knew he would now have to move his submarine out of its current position, just in case someone was watching him. The established a new position five miles North-East of where they were, and began the tedious process all over again.

IHS Impecable Los Angeles Class 688 SSN


"Whoa. Chief, we got active pings bearing zero-four-two. Computer is classifying."

"How far away Tap's?"

"At least one convergence zone, probably two. I would say at least forty miles, give or take."

"Ok, before I take it to the Conn lets see what the computer makes of it."

A minute later the chirping of a the electronic printer could be heard. It printed up a page of results and at the bottom posted its classification.

Classified as BQQ-5E bow mounted active sonar. Los Angeles Type 688.

"Snap. One of ours?"

"Don't think so Chief. Last we had of Tempest was her heading South of us. She would have had to sprint run to get there, and we would have heard her if she did."

"Ok Taps. I'll take it to the Conn. Give us a buzz if anything happens."

Picking up the thin piece of printed paper, Sonar Chief Noble went through the watertight door and took the ten or so paces to the conn.

Captain McWalter was at his plotting table along with the XO.

"Captain, we just picked up some active sonar pings coming from zero-four-two at a range of at least 40 miles."

Subconciously the Captain's eyes traced a path along bearing 042 up to a range of forty miles. Nothing. The nearest thing to it was the Celtayoshian Battle Group, but the outer pickets of that were at least twenty miles further on.

"What did the computer classify it as Chief?" this question came from the XO.

"Computer says that its an BQQ-5E."

"A 688?" this from the Captain.

"Would appear that way Sir. Taps says it can't be Tempest, completely the wrong direction."

"And Roy wouldn't use his active sonar unless it was absolutely necessary."

"That too Captain. It came off the convergence zone just as we finished out sprint, so its not the most detailed contact. On passive we have nothing but the active pings."

"Right Chief. Lets work this out. The Khaif don't have any 688's which rules out that possibility. I would assume however that the Celtayoshians do. It could be an advance screen for their battle group" his finger traced a point from the area that the active pings had come from to the Celtayoshian Battle Group.

"Or it could just be a Hunter-Killer that is trying to scare some boomers into moving?" the XO put forward.

"Could be. There is only one way to find out. Officer of the Watch, bring us to course zero-four-two and maintain current speed and depth."

"Coming to new course zero-four-two Aye Sir. Speed is five knots, depth eight hundred feet."

The submarine was turning slowly to the bearing zero-four-two and maintaining her silent speed of five knots. At this she was just a hole in the water.

The towed array sonar, some thousand yards behind the boat, slowly curved around and was continuously feeding the sonar crew details on what was out there. In this case nothing aside from a pair of whales.

Captain McWalter was going to take his boat towards where the active pings had come from hoping to find some Khaif Missile Boats to shoot at.