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Old 12-21-2020, 05:51 PM
cawest cawest is offline
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Chapter 2 On the run.

A splash of sea water brought Richard back to the real world. It also made his head jerk just a little, but it was enough that he could see the M40 recoilless rifle mounted on the bow of this sailing vessel. It was not a “real” M40 but a captured Norinco made Type 75, which was a clone of the American made weapon. That was not the only weapon, which the Bluenose III carried. Like a lot of things coming out of Mombasa these days. The Mombasa made vessel had a mixed heritage. Not that Richard was going to complain or point fingers.

She had come out of the growing support facilities, which were currently based in the harbor of Mombasa. Besides helping maintain the areas ships, they were adding to the number of vessels operating in this area. They had started building “new” ships, of the type that they had thought were a better fit to the current realities of this part of the world. The Bluenose III was over 140 feet long and massed just under 240tons empty, when she was launched out of a Mombasa dry-dock. She had twin mast to propel her from one point on the ocean to another. She also had a pair of multi-fuel engines salvaged from two wrecked five-ton cargo trucks center mounted in her hull. They were great for running around in a harbor, or when the horse latitudes reared up its ugly head.

She not only had the Chinese made Type 75 for teeth, which had come from some unit from Tanzania that had been hammered flat. She had a TCM-20 turret mounted on her aft deck. This went along with the small arms for every one of her 20-person crew to carry. She also had 4 light MGs to help with defense of the vessel against the growing threat of pirates. The only thing she was missing, was a SAM launcher. But SAM’s did not mix very well with things like sails, lines and masts. It was the whole fire thing.

Richard was only part owner of this vessel, but he was half owner and “the commander”. At least when it was on a mission for the military or when some combat was expected. The man at the helm or wheel was her day to day commander. Richard knew something about boats, but he didn’t know enough to handle something like this on the open ocean. He would convey his ideas to the Ship’s Master, and then the Master would try to make it happen or tell him to go pound sand. It was not an easy break up of responsibility, but it was working.

The last time something like the last boarder line offensive statement had passed, was when they had been attacked by a small group of Somali pirates. They had been able to take out two of the enemy ships, but when Richard had directed the helm to continue the attack against the 6 remaining pirate ships. The other co-owner had not let it happen. The ship’s master told him to go below and do something, that would not get them all killed in the next hour. Richard had nodded his head and kept his mouth shut for the next hour or so, but he did not go below decks. They only had been working together for a month, and they were still working on the fine details of working together back then.

Richard had taken proof of the two pirate boat kills; with both images and some key parts of wreckage he had pulled from the ocean. When they had returned to port? The local Kenyan government had been very pleased with them. The boat accounts were paid with 4 drums full of real diesel fuel, cash, and some hard-to-find ammunition. Richard had been surprised, when the two crates of MR483 flechettes had been pulled off the back of a cargo truck. Those four rounds had gone very nicely with the 10 Chinese copies of the M494 round. Those had been on the list as payment for removing two pirate vessels and an unknown number of pirate crewmembers from the local waters. Richard had taken it as a hint, that they were to keep up what they had just done.

That had been only the second mission, with Richard as part owner of this vessel. The actions of the Kenyan government had cemented his ties to the other owner. They had taken a few other missions, after that first little windfall. They had been anything from being a light escort to the fishing fleet to some scouting. Those were only side missions for Richard, but it paid the bills. He was chasing a few scattered reports about something strange, which had piqued his interest soon after landing in Mombasa. Richard had latched onto a report from the latest RDF convoy to make it to Mombasa, on their last port call. It was dropping off raw oil and picking up refined oil and other fuels to take back to The Gulf. There it would be used by the RDF units still fighting the Russians.

It had taken some time, but they had found what they were looking for. Now all they had to do was live long enough to make it back to a safe port, find someone to report to that would believe them, and then get back to the target. Now Richard was wishing that he had brought along a long-ranged radio, so that he could contact someone back at the Africom headquarters in Mombasa. Those devices were both hard to find and very expensive. That is if you could find one and keep it operational in a sea environment. Still, right about now? He was wishing for one of them.

This area was thick with pirates, and on that thought Richard started making his rounds around the top deck. He wanted to make sure that everyone was on their toes. If things went south, they would go south quick. The air and water might be warmer around here but being thick with pirates was something that these waters shared with the Baltic. Now if he could only get the boat to go faster than 16kts. At least with the current wind, they did not have to resort to operating her twin diesels. That would have slowed her down to only 8kts, and that might be enough to get them all a case of the deads by nightfall.

##########

Omar Muhamad looked threw his old spy glass. The spy glasses were Russian made and something that Omar had traded dearly to have. The Type 025 Torpedo boat had been built by the Hudong Shipyards, years ago. She had been in service with the Tanzania navy, before that country had fallen apart under internal and external pressure. Omar had not been the Captain of this vessel or any other vessel for that matter back then. The previous owners had fallen in and then had a major falling out, with what remained of the Soviet navy.

Omar had been doing some trading when he had found the vessel. He had been able to talk his pirate band leader into “buying” the boat for half of their fuel, some gold, and half a dozen uncut diamonds. Getting her back to the shores of Yemen had been an interesting experience, but her I band radar had help her avoid any major issues along the way. She even had been able to “collect” taxes on four fishing boats. All before making it to a safe harbor, that a part of their group used to provide land support to their tax operations. She had been a very nice cash cow every time she had taken to the ocean.

Omar loved the boat, but he could tell she was starting to show her age. The ones useful I band radar now was offline more than it was working. The four torpedoes that had come with the ship, were used in action or found to be defective. The two empty firing tubes for the torpedoes now were used to keep things out of the sea air, which did not like its sting too much. She still had the two twin turreted 14.5mm. They only had 100 rounds per turret, which should be enough for a few more collection missions. The real “show of force” were the three RPG-7s. He only had 3 real rockets, and 6 inert training rounds for them. They would only break out the real rounds if things went wrong. He only had the training rounds loaded into the grenade launchers, after one of his fumbled fingered troops had accidentally fired a rocket on a tax collection mission.

Omar was back to using his fine field glasses and scanning the local area of water. When one of the twin engines sputtered and threw off his balance? He remembered that he had been told by one of the Russian infidels, that they would need to be service regularly. Omar was a firm believer in inshallah. The engines would work, as long as they worked. He was jerked again, as one of the engines over revved. Omar shot a look over one shoulder to the helmsman, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes had been drawn to the tall billowing black cloud of unburnt and hard to replace bunker oil these engines were supposed to have been modified to use.

############

Richard saw the pillar of black smoke, before he could see the other ship. “Someone is about to burn out, or needs to replace a set of rings already,” thought Richard.

Richard gave a look to the other owner of the boat. He was an old, solidly built dark skin man that spoke with your typical London accent. Norwell Lionel just set his thick shoulders and grabbed the helm firmly in both hands. Both men knew of only one type of people that would treat their boat like that, and be in these waters. They were not the friendly type, as a general rule. They would know more, if the black exhaust kept coming towards them. Two strange friendly ships passing in the night, wanted to pass with a lot of distance between them.

Norwell would take care of making the boat move in the right direction, while avoiding most natural hazards. Richard would make his way to the hidden 105mm RCL mounted near the bow. Richard knew how to manage a boat’s books, crew, weapons, and a few other nautical skills that had gotten only better in the Baltic Sea. But he also knew how to shoot a heavy weapon off of a boat, a lot better than anyone else. Just don’t ask him to navigate away from the sight of land or climb a mast of any length. And there was a big difference between the Baltic Sea and the Indian Ocean.

#############

When Omar brought his gaze forward and away from the black smoke. If he could not see it? Then it was not there, inshallah. Still, it took him a few minutes of scanning, to see the white sails on the horizon. He should have seen it earlier, but inshallah. With an evil grin, he gave orders. That vessel would be their next “tax” collection. It also just happened to look like a nice replacement, for this current vessel.

The torpedo boat surge to “full” speed. The vessel would have been able to push 50kts when she had been first launched. Instead, the little boat could “only” manage 28kts with both engines pushing as hard as they could. At that speed? It would only take them a half an hour, to cut the corner and catch the speeding sailboat.

#########

Sweat was pouring down the back of Richard’s neck. It was very hot under the oil canvas used to both protect and conceal the heavy weapon. The closer the enemy got, the easier it was going to be able to hit it. Richard had no idea why the pirate was taking so long to catch up. They had started coming after them at a very good clip going across the ocean rollers, but then it had noticeably slowed down. Richard kept his eye glued to the siting eye piece. Threw it, he could see a group running around on the deck between weapons turrets and command structure. He was wondering why they were bothering with pulling out AKs and RPGs. They seemed light when they had two twin heavy machine guns, and two twin sets of torpedo tubes to use in combat.

###########

Omar was not a happy man. They had been closing on the target, when the second engine had stopped on them. He had been able to increase power to the one remaining engine, but if that one also failed? He would be without power, in more than one way, in the middle of the unforgiving ocean. He had already given the order for his crew to do their dances and being intimidating as possible. It would only take a little longer to get within the range he wanted. His boat was still faster than any sailboat on the ocean.

Omar made sure to catch the eyes of Asim. Asim was manning the forward twin machinegun turret. It would be his job, to fire the warning shot across the bow of the sailboat. Asim was the best shot in the whole group, and if he did not do his job right? He would lose part of the bonus, which he normally got on taking a tax collection. He would need to fire his twin machine guns close enough to prove a point, but not hit the target. Sinking ships were harder to collect from. It was not impossible, but it would be harder to collect from them. If it took more than two burst of machinegun fire? Then Asim would also have to help with the reloading of any recovered 114mm long brass cases from both MG mounts. With the look and head nod from the Captain. Asim was now in charge of when he fired the attention burst.

##############

Richard did not even flinch, when the forward turret open fire at less than 200m from his ship. He did not need to see the line of water fountains stitch a line in front of the bow wave of the Bluenose III. Richard had a tight smile on his face and adjusted his aim just slightly. If the other vessel would have just left them alone or had been a friendly? He would not have to unleash the dragon onto them. With the twin burst of heavy weapons fire? They were now listed as pirates or an enemy vessel, and subject to the beast that his hand was holding back.

Richard let a little breath out, which he was holding to steady his aim. He could have used the 50cal spotting rifle, but that would both reveal his location, and show what weapons were waiting for them. A round as heavy as the 50cal, tended to move a lot of air.

“Cut the Spinnaker.” Richard did not move, when he said those three words.

Behind Richard three people went to work just out of sight of the pirate vessel. They did not cut the Spinnaker sail. Good ones were hard to come by, anymore. They just released three ropes that had been set up with a quick release mechanism. With those three ropes now loose, the huge sail pulled up and away from the hidden firing point. Recoilless weapons were a great way to add heavy firepower to a lightly built ship. But to make them “Recoilless”. They had a back blast to almost equal the muzzle blast. That flaming back blast did not react well to ropes and sails. With the spinnaker flapping high in the wind, it also was now not helping pull the ship threw the water. So, the ship slowed making shooting from it easier, and now the back blast was also clear.

As soon as Richard felt the oil skin get ripped off of his head, by the freed sail. He pulled the trigger on the long-tubed weapon. A twin blast of gasses and heat left the long tube. It was hard to hit a moving sea target. That was the reason for the type of shell that was just shot. 105mm RCL rounds were hard to come by but using them to stop a pirate vessel that had twin 21inch torpedo tubes was worth a few of the very hard to find rounds.

Still Richard was smart. The first round he fired was a training round. It was a reloaded shell with a solid steal nose as the projectile. If he hit is target? It still would know it had been kissed, by a heavy weapon. Unless it was a warship, most vessels in these local waters were made of thin steel, lightweight aluminum or a mix of wood and tar. A solid 7kg slug moving at over 500m/s would punch into, if not all the way through the hulls of something like that.

Richard’s face did not move, as he saw the path of this “practice” round. The first shot was always the hardest, and it was one of the reasons that the practice round had been first loaded. As soon as the wind carried the smoke away from the RCL. The weapons team when to work. The second loader threw the lever to open the back of the weapon. He reached in with thick gloves and rotated the hot spent shell out of the breach. With a few quick steps. He placed the round upside down in a specially made wooden housing, so that the shell could be reused.

As soon as the Number 2 loader had stepped away. The Number 1 loader step forward with a second round in her hands. This was not another solid round or even an anti-tank round. It was a fragmentation round. She quickly, but safely, put the nose of the round in the breach. Then she rotated it to lock it into place. A split second after the round stopped moving, the breach lock was dropped back into place. Richard was slapped on the top of his fritz helmet, when the breach block was locked back down. Richard had seen where the first round had gone, and he had already corrected his aim for his second shot. Again, he did not show an outward sign when the warship opened fire again. This burst was not a warning shot.

##########

Omar had seen the long tongue of flame shoot out from the bow of the sailing ship, a heartbeat after the larger forward sail had started flapping in the wind at the top of the forward mast. He had not known what had happened, even when he saw the object (shell?) go skipping across the water off of his boat’s stern. It had happened so fast, that he had not been able to give any orders. That had not stopped Asim from reacting to the explosion on the other boat.

Asim had been watching the target, to try to judge if he was going to have to use a second twin burst to get the target to start dropping her sails. He had an idea of what had been fired at him. He had used an 82mm B-10, before he had been picked to crew this boat. He thought he had an idea of what those types of weapons would do, to the thin hull that was under his feet. With a few quick adjustments of the controls at his fingertips, he re-aligned his weapons on the enemy ship. He put a long burst into the side of his target.

Not all of the machine gun rounds, he fired hit the ship. That was just not how machine guns worked. The line of twin water fountains started about 3 meters short of the hull, and then walked up the side of the ship. The twin lines of now wood fountains made it about halfway across the deck, and then the cloth sails started to meet fast moving metal. Asim could not hear the screams over the hammering of the twin 14.5’s, but he could still hear them in his head. He knew that this boat would be added to his list of nightmares, as soon as he was able to put his head down on a bunk.

############

It was Richard’s job to make sure, that the crew of the pirate ship did not live long enough to have those dreams. With the slap on his head. Richard pulled the trigger again. With his slight adjustment to his aim point, he did not miss with this round. The round flew straight and true. Before his team could reload him with a HE round. The deed was done. It would only take a few minutes longer for it to be noticed by the rest of the Bluenose’s crew, that the “battle” was over. The 105mm gun would be unloaded of its oddly designed, holey filled slightly rusting metal case, and it would be returned to a weatherproof box. The two expended shell casings would stay where they were, until they reached the dock. Then the spend shells could be traded as part payment for other locally reloaded rounds of 105mm.

The round was traveling at over 1,110 mph. That is almost three times the speed of sound, at sea level. The hard nose of the round impacted just aft of the pilot house low on the main hull. That was where Richard thought the engine room might be. Richards aim was just a little off, and the round impacted forward of the twin abused engines. It went into the berthing and kitchen space on the vessel, after passing through the thin metal hull. The outer metal cover of the ship was hard enough, and the fuse was sensitive enough to interact. The shell did not fire off its bursting charge until it was fully inside the ships internal hull parts.

The blast wave, hot metal, and shell fragmentation went out in a bubble pattern. The wave of death went up, left, right and down. It killed or gravely wounded, everyone from the pilot house going back to the open back turret of the twin machine guns. Inside of the hull, it was something out of a nightmare. The hot metal cut threw bulk heads and bodies with equal abandon and resistance. The blast started a fire in the backup fuel tank. Soon the fire had spread to a half case of RGD-5 hand grenades someone had not put away into its proper place. The 45ton vessel lost its hull integrity, by the flying metal of the secondary explosion. That was when the 600 grams of filling from the grenades went into unfriendly mode. The ship was cut in half, just behind the piloting house.

########

Norwell Lionel was all white teeth on a black face, as the secondary explosion finished off what his partner had started with the beehive round. The twin 20mm cannons would not even have to unmask and take the pirate under fire. The sharks would take care of the rest of the problems. He turned the wooden wheel in his hands, and his beautiful boat turned at his command. He did not even look over his shoulder, to see if anyone had survived the interaction with the heavy weapon. One part of his mind knew that some of the pirates had to have lived.

Norwell felt that the wheel had just finished moving to put the craft on the right course. The aft part of the pirate vessel was already underwater. With a sudden jerk, he pulled out his camera. It was a very nice tourist job, which was worth more than he had paid for it. He quickly took two images on the 35mm film. By now the sharp bow of the torpedo boat was pointed up in the air, and the deck was pointed towards him. This was going to be the proof, to collect on the bounty the US Military and Kenya government had on any Pirates. He had no idea if Richard had already done so, or not. But he was not going to take the risk of missing a payday. At worst. The images would end up pinned on the wall in the mess area, that showed each of the pirates that they had taken off of the board.
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