said Volsky, and all eyes were now focused on that screen, a wide HD panel that could link with the ship’s Tin Man optical systems, and receive feeds from all the helicopters. The KA-226 was particularly suited to scouting and reconnaissance, with an array of very powerful cameras. Volsky squinted at the screen, seeing two ships there in the sea haze. It was difficult to make them out, particularly as they were steaming bow first, but the helo soon began to angle away at about 10,000 meters, swinging around to get a silhouette view.
The moment was coming, thought Fedorov, for he knew what they were most likely to see now. Yet how to convince the Admiral and Karpov that these were old WWII class vessels? He reached quickly for his silhouette book from the small library he kept at his station, waiting tensely. There they were, three stacks amidships, slightly inclined, and the center stack thicker than the others. The ships looked to be approaching 10,000 tons, and he knew exactly what he was looking at.
“Very odd,” said Volsky. “That certainly does not appear to be a Type-45 destroyer, and they look much too big to be Norwegian or Danish frigates. They are certainly not Type-23 Class British frigates either. Am I correct, Mister Fedorov? You said you could identify these ships. Any thoughts?”
It had to begin somewhere, thought Fedorov. Yes, the insanity had to begin. It was already started, and well underway, except he was the only one who knew that now. So his course was clear, his mission obvious. This ship and crew would eventually determine that what he was now about to say was the truth, as impossible as it might sound. So there was nothing else to do here but to speak that truth, as convincingly as possible.
“Sir,” he said, clearing his voice as Karpov frowned at him again. “This will not make any sense, but I believe those are a pair of County Class heavy cruisers, Royal Navy ships. See the three stacks amidships? That is very distinctive of this class. There were several variations, and that would be in the Kent subclass. This other ship would be in the London subclass, but it’s very similar. I have the silhouettes right here, Admiral.” He held up his book, all the world’s fighting ships, and he was reaching for his pad device where he also had several applications stored with digital imagery of many WWII vessels.
“County Class?” Volsky adjusted his hat. “I am not familiar with that class. Is it something new? These ships do not look like anything else in active service with the Royal Navy.”
“Not in our day, sir.” He let slip that first subtle hint, but did not lean on it too heavily.
“Let me see that,” said Karpov, huffing over, an irritated expression on his face. He squinted at Fedorov’s book, hovering over his station like a shadow, his finger running down the ship silhouettes as he shook his head. “This is useless,” he said. “This is old data, Fedorov.”
“Here, sir,” Fedorov pointed. “Now have a look at that video feed.”
“Karpov glanced up at the screen, then back at Fedorov’s book, still shaking his head. “Yes, there is a clear resemblance, but you are seeing a bear in the kitchen, Fedorov. What is this, one of your old WWII books? Don’t be foolish.”
“But sir, look at those gun turrets on the video!”
Karpov looked again, a sudden silence settling over the bridge. The guns… yes, those nice big twin 8-inch gun turrets up front, in a shape and configuration that had not been used in naval ship design for decades. They were sure to get attention, a commanding presence even in this video feed. The image zoomed as the KA-226 switched to high powered optics, and the image focused to a sharper resolution. There was no hull number, but an obvious wartime camo scheme was painted on the hulls.
“Those are 203mm gun turrets, two forward and another two aft. This is a County Class vessel. I am certain of this. There was no other ship built to this configuration.”
“But certainly very old, yes Fedorov?” Said Volsky. “When might these have been built?” the Admiral swiveled in his chair, listening to what Fedorov was saying now.
“They were laid down in the mid 1920s, sir. May I ask Nikolin to do something here? I think it can solve this mystery once and for all.”
“More bright ideas, Lieutenant?” said Karpov, his tone obviously irritated. “You want to