Pappy was stunned by this entire explanation. The fact that it was possible to travel at 150 knots underwater and pull four Gs was one thing, but what affected him more was the realization that this paradigm shift in thinking had never occurred to him, even though equivalent shifts had been made in aviation and surface warfare. Pappy just shook his head. How stupid can I be? This is what real ingenuity is all about!
Pappy remembered a story he had read many years before. He had probably read it in junior high school, but remembered it vividly to this day. The story was about a village that relied upon a well for all its water. As the population of the village grew, the village needed more water. So all the great minds of the village were put to the test to create new ways to dig the well deeper so more water could be extracted. People from the village went to great universities and studied well digging so they could make miniscule improvements in the efficiency of the well. Finally, however, even the greatest minds could not dig the well deep enough to produce enough water for the village. All hope was lost, and the villagers were about to give up when a small boy stepped forward, pointed at the ground, and said, “Why don’t you just dig another well over here?”
Pappy sadly shook his head. I have the mind of a villager, and the captain has the mind of the boy.
“By the way,” George added. “We do have a variant of the rocket with a more capable warhead.”
“I knew it!” exclaimed Pappy. “Five pounds just can’t be enough!”
“Well actually, it’s still five pounds, but it’s a shaped charge, which gives it armor-piercing capability. If we really need to go for a total kill — that is to sink someone — this warhead gives us that capability.”
“Wow. That’s really something!”
“One more thing,” said George. “To use these sub-fighters to full advantage, you really have to think like a fighter pilot… and that means thinking in three dimensions.”
Pappy looked somewhat confused. “But submariners already think in three dimensions. We’re not like surface ships, which operate in only two dimensions because we also change our depth.”
“That’s true, but we normally change depth very slowly, and in tactical situations, we do it to try to get above or below a thermal layer to hide from enemy sonars. What I’m talking about is real-time use of the vertical dimension to reposition your fighter relative to a contact. And I’m talking about using the classic fighter maneuvers like the Immelman and the Split-S.”
Pappy was still confused. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“It’s like this, Pappy. Let’s say, for example, you are on a head-on collision course with a contact at several thousand yards. Our normal way of thinking is to turn right or turn left to avoid the collision and maneuver around the contact. In a sub-fighter, instead of doing that, you could pull the nose up forty-five degrees, climb two or three hundred feet, level off, and pass over the top of the contact. You could then perform a Split-S maneuver where you roll inverted and pull the nose down to fly the second half of a loop, bringing you back down to the level of the contact closing on him from astern. You have to remember — not only can we fly horizontal circles around these guys, we can also fly vertical loops around them.”
Pappy finally grasped the point the captain was making. “You’re right. I could also dive and fly below the contact and then perform an Immelman, which is like the first half of a loop. At the top, you just roll back upright and once again, you’re directly behind him. It’s going to require reorienting our thinking… I’ll do my best.”
“That’s great. I know you will.”
Pappy looked at George and said, “One more question for you, Captain: you’ve talked about using these sub-fighters to destroy the enemy. Who is the enemy? Where do we draw the line concerning who we shoot at?”
The captain looked at his XO and said, “Until we have safely deployed our deterrent warheads, everybody is the enemy. We have signaled the U.S. with a message that should let them know that they are not our target. If they insist upon continuing their efforts to find and sink us in order to maintain the political status quo, then we have no choice. Until we are in a position to complete our mission to deter future terrorist attacks, everyone trying to stop us is the enemy.”
Chapter 29
The work at Platform Alpha progressed rapidly. The overcast sky the first day was welcome and enabled twelve of the twenty-four nose cones to be offloaded before nightfall. Dwight had equipped the rig with large shrouds, which were lowered from the main deck to the water line on all sides to form an enclosure under the rig. Interior lighting within this enclosure enabled the work to continue throughout the night. By daybreak of the second day, all of the nose cones had been offloaded from the Louisiana, brackets for the sub-fighters had been welded to the Louisiana’s deck, and one of the fighters, SF-2, had been mounted on the deck.
The captain, XO, and Dwight sat down for a steaming cup of morning chicory coffee. Dwight sat with his eyes closed and his nose close to the steaming brew — temporarily oblivious to the world around him. George and Pappy exchanged glances and smiles. Finally, Dwight sat back and opened his eyes, only to see two guys with big grins staring at him!
“Hey, what’s with you guys?”
They laughed. “Oh nothing, Cousin,” replied George. “It’s just nice to see a man who really enjoys his coffee!”
“Hey, very funny. You know I’ve seen you get off on this stuff, too!”
“Very true, Dwight. Like you, I do love my chicory coffee!”
George and Dwight laughed, while Pappy sipped the coffee, trying to determine what was so special about this Louisiana specialty. Dwight snickered as he watched Pappy tentatively sample the elixir and cautioned, “Watch it, Pappy — that’s habit formin’!”
As they settled in, Dwight turned to George. “Tell me, Cousin. Have you had any second thoughts?”
“About what? Anything in particular? About the way I made the approach to Platform Alpha?”
“Very funny. About the whole deal — the whole shebang! Any regrets?”
Pappy stopped sipping while glancing sideways at George, wondering what he was going to say. The captain projected such an air of confidence and certainty that no one on the crew sensed any doubt or regret whatsoever.
George sat back with a look of irritation on his face that made Dwight wonder if George was about to let him have it! Much to his surprise, George started speaking softly.
“Dwight, life is a series of compromises. Every day, we’re presented with a number of decisions. For each decision, we choose a particular path; and for each path chosen, there’s at least one path that we give up. There are hundreds of thousands of such decisions in a lifetime, and we can’t go back to see what would have happened on a single one of those paths if we had chosen differently.”
The office was eerily quiet. Dwight and Pappy silently waited for George to continue.
“We all know that. But we’re human, and we can’t help wondering about those other paths. By making this decision, I threw away a career. I threw away a lifetime of study and work to get where I was. To many people, I betrayed an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Are you asking me whether I feel bad about that?”