There seemed a weariness in the Admiral’s tone, which Rodenko perceived at once when Volsky settled into his chair, his heavy features clouded over with inner thought. It’s not his tooth this time, thought Rodenko, it’s this endless war. We’ve already fought our way through 1941 and 1942, not to mention that little sortie to 1908! Then we back stepped to 1940, and here we are back in 1941 all over again. The Admiral is tired, and not just of standing his watch here on the bridge. It’s the killing that bothers him most, which is something that never preyed on Karpov’s mind. That said, I’d rather have Volsky here in command. Karpov knew no limits, and for all his tactical prowess, his hubris continually put the ship at grave risk. I wonder what would have happened in that final battle against Togo if Kazan hadn’t pulled us out of the borscht?
Rodenko looked at his bridge crew, as he was now acting Captain in Fedorov’s absence. The men were still fresh and ready for anything. Tasarov was listening under his ASW headset, in spite of the liability with the loss of their bow dome sonar. The towed array was still an order of magnitude better than anything of this era, and he had every confidence that the submarine threat could be answered. And Samsonov was his old self, stalwart, broad shouldered strength with lightning quick reactions, like a good heavyweight at the CIC. He had circulated among the crew, and found them to be remarkably buoyant with Volsky back at the helm. The shadow that Karpov had cast had lifted, and the men seemed eager for the coming fight. But what of the ship itself?
Kirov was holding up as well as might be expected. Their reactors and propulsion systems had been running smoothly, in spite of a brief glitch just before Fedorov departed on the KA-40. The hull repairs were holding up, but would need attention soon. As the British fleet could make no more than 20 to 24 knots, speed was not an issue now, and so the stress on the hull was lessened. The crew had just completed a full inspection and maintenance evolution on all weapons, and Kirov was ready for action. There was only one concern Rodenko still had in mind, their missile inventory. It still seemed ample now, but he noted that Volsky was committing only five of the S-400s here, and knew they would switch to the Klinok system soon after this salvo.
His new radar man on the watch caught his eye, and he knew they now have solid contacts with the Fregat system. So Rodenko notified Admiral Volsky, and soon they were watching the first missiles fire from the long, forward deck. Off they went, the five fingers of doom, a fist of supersonic fire and steel that would soon catch the Italian bomber formations well before they could ever expect to be targeted. The enemy learned this lesson from us once, thought Rodenko. The British adapted fairly well, and the Japanese too. Let’s see how the Italians learn. That air defense fire was at fairly close range over the Suez canal when we arrived in theater. This time we’re hitting them nearly 300 kilometers out. They are probably still forming up after takeoff from their bases. The shock is going to be very telling here.
It was. They watched the digital track of the five missiles as they traveled unerringly to the target zone. Rodenko was counting down the range, until he saw Volsky raise a finger. So he waited, allowing an interval of silence until the missiles were on target. Then he leaned over the radar display, waiting for the system to refresh. He could already see that the S-400 attack had the effect of poking a bee hive with a sturdy stick. The once regular contact formations had disintegrated into a confused scatter. He waited for the digital readout, then reported.
“Admiral, Fregat system now reports 42 contacts still airborne. The strike had taken down an astounding eighteen planes. Perhaps not all of those were kills, Rodenko knew. The S-400 had a very wide blast radius for its fragmentation rods. It likely damaged enough wings, rudders and canopies to thin the herd, though he knew they had probably killed half the planes that were now unaccounted for in the contact count. Some would be limping back to base now, and outside our coverage zone. I wonder what they will have to say to their wing leaders when they hit the ground?
“Contact reorganizing and continuing on a projected intercept course,” said Rodenko. “Range now 220 kilometers at about 4500 meters altitude. Speed increasing to 400kph.”
