Captain Murray Wilson stood before the operations center display on the front wall, examining the location of Atlantic Fleet ASW forces, organized into a wide arc across the Atlantic Ocean. Thus far, there had been no detection of the Russian submarine, but that wasn’t surprising. The ASW barrier was stretched too thin.
However, Wilson’s new directive—prevent Kazan from attacking the East Coast of the United States, sinking her if necessary—offered hope of a better outcome. Wilson could disregard Kazan’s potential journey into the Mediterranean Sea and focus all ASW resources on detecting the submarine’s approach to the East Coast.
Wilson had spent the last hour analyzing the situation, beginning with the capability of Kazan’s missiles. According to the Russian Navy, Kazan had been loaded with the land-attack version of the Kalibr missile, designated by NATO as the SS-N-30A, with a range of 1,500 miles and armed with nuclear warheads. Kalibr was a formidable missile, traveling at up to Mach 0.8 at ten yards aboveground while automatically following the terrain height, and able to make 147 in-flight maneuvers during its approach.
The key question was—did Kazan’s crew intend to attack one city, or twenty separate ones? The answer was critical, because attacking twenty cities meant Kazan would have to come closer to shore, so that all twenty cities were within launch range at the same time. If Plecas intended to attack only one city, he could stay farther out to sea along a wider launch arc, stretching Wilson’s ASW forces thinner. Wilson decided the Russian submarine captain planned to attack twenty separate cities; it seemed pointless to plow twenty nuclear weapons into one place.
With that in mind, Wilson entered one of the submarine crew tactical trainers, directing the supervisor to load a Tomahawk missile attack scenario. When the supervisor asked which target set, Wilson’s response elicited a raised eyebrow.
“The twenty cities along the East Coast with the highest populations. Be sure to include Washington, D.C. Set missile range to one thousand, five hundred miles.”
The target set was loaded and Wilson waited while the Tomahawk software calculated the launch basket—the area where all twenty targets were within range. A hatched area appeared on the display, with its outer edge about a thousand miles off the Eastern Seaboard.
Armed with the necessary information, a new plan emerged in Wilson’s mind—a revised ASW barrier closer to the East Coast, which was helpful. It was a shorter arc, extending from Newfoundland in Canada down to Puerto Rico. Wilson analyzed the situation further, assessing whether to establish a single-layer ASW barrier, or a layered defense incorporating the P-8A submarine hunter aircraft, submarines, and surface ship assets.
Although the Newfoundland to Puerto Rico barrier was less challenging than one extending across the Atlantic, it was still a wide arc, spreading Wilson’s ASW forces too thin for a layered defense. A single line it was, integrating all ASW assets.
If Kazan slipped through it, however, there would be no way to prevent the launch.
After fermenting on the issue, Wilson changed his mind. Not having a backup plan was antithetical to Submarine Force training. If something could go wrong, it would go wrong. He decided to place the cruisers, the Navy’s most capable anti-air missile platforms, close to the coast, to shoot down the cruise missiles if Kazan made it through the ASW barrier and launched.
Wilson returned to the operations center and issued new orders, repositioning all assets.