Blue Fish: The War Beneath Read Online Free PDF Page A

turn so that the torpedoes in the first compartment line up with the enemy submarine.
    "Enemy torpedoes 30 Meters... 20 Meters..." Ramana said.
    The enemy torpedoes again just passed by from the side of 'S21', with huge sounds.
    "They missed us Sir," Ramana said.
    "How far is the enemy now?" Sharma asked.
    "400 meters, Depth 110 meters Sir."
    Sharma went to the intercom and asked if the torpedoes were ready in the tube.
    None of the torpedoes were placed in the tubes; Taan Singh tried to load one by one. 3 more crew members from the third compartment rushed towards the first compartment to help in loading torpedoes.
    "Two more enemy torpedoes in water fired Sir," Ramana said.
    It was exasperating for us, as the enemy was attacking us continuously and we were still trying to fix the torpedoes.
    I rushed into the first compartment and helped them to lift the torpedoes and load them into the tubes.
    "Torpedoes loaded Sir," I said.
    "Prepare to program it," Sharma said.
    "Enemy 200 meters away Sir, in range," Ramana said anxiously.
    "Program torpedo distance 200 meters with speed 8 knots," Sharma muttered through intercom.
    Taan Singh quickly set up. Ramana reaffirmed the target to be in range; Sharma made his way to the torpedo launching unit and pressed the button.
    Our first torpedo was fired. This was like a first aggressive move on a chess board by a relatively defensive player. I felt a surge of pride within me.
    "200 meters for impact... Enemy torpedo 150 meters," Ramana said.
    "Load another torpedo," Sharma whispered into the intercom.
    Prathap, Taan Singh and I along with 2 more crew members in the first compartment were quickly setting up the other torpedoes into their respective tubes.
    In the control room, Sharma ordered the Diving officer and Steering operator to make port 20 0 with full speed ahead. ’S21’ bent at a steep angle and tilted on her side. This naturally made the task of torpedo loading difficult as we were barely able to hold ourselves straight up. One of the crew was severely injured while pulling the chain to load the torpedo. We had to make him step aside as he was bleeding profusely.
    The two enemy torpedoes again narrowly missed us. Either it was luck or it was sheer planning of Sharma that we were missed by enemy targets. Our torpedo was still in the enemy’s range. We waited awhile for the sound of impact. A minute passed by and nothing. We realized that our torpedo also missed the target. Count was equalized, and we felt a strange calm.
    We lost contact with the enemy submarine, I guessed even they had shut their engines off. As a result of this, it usually becomes difficult for a sonar operator to detect the enemy.
    I went up to Ramana "Keep looking, they should be nearby," I said."Sir, they are just above us," he said.
    The crew looked up, and tried to sense the enemy on top of our boat.
    "Match course, make slow port movement. We will rise up and from there we will get into position to fire," Sharma said.
    "Yes Sir," I said "Ramana, What's their depth?"
    "Depth 150 meters Sir," Ramana said.
    "Match the depth." In a few seconds, we were rising up.
    "We need to fire 3 torpedoes at a go," Sharma said.
    "Sir! Enemy in range 100 meters," Ramana said.
    "Program Torpedo 2 at a distance 100 meters with a speed of 8 knots; Torpedo 3 at a distance 120 meters with a speed 8 knots and Torpedo 4 - distance 130 meters, 10 knots."
    Taan Singh quickly confirmed their programming. Sharma pressed the button of first torpedo and it was fired. He then changed the switch and pressed the button again; the second torpedo was also fired. Mr. Sharma seemed sufficed with two torpedoes and I thought he must have saved the third one for later.
    We all knew that this was it; this time we were not going to miss our target. I was looking at Kamal, he was fully aware that he was going to be questioned about how he could allow war being the political officer.
    Our enemy was not silent on the other hand; even they fired 2