“Syria,” DeWitt said. “We’re going to get dragged into that one, aren’t we?”
“I have no way of knowing,” Stroh said. “But if there were an official request from the Syrian government… I’ll let you decide that one for yourself. In the meantime, we have our small mission. Two medium-sized subs in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, which is on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Night mission,” Murdock said. “I’d guess you’ll want us to leave at first dark.”
“Thereabouts. It’s not an easy target. This sub pen is at the port, but there are a scattering of little islands and one big one just offshore. After dark, our guys say they can get you past the islands and hope not to get shot out of the sky. They can move you within two miles of the port.”
“A two-mile swim, no problem. A chopper?”
“Your old friend the Sea Knight. Plenty of room for your goodies. Take IBSs if you want. The Knight can get in there at a hundred and fifty miles an hour. It’s about a hundred and twenty miles from the carrier over there. We’re still watching the strait and flying some guard duty on it, so the Iranians might not get too upset if we stray a little. Well inside the radius range of the Knight. What’s your best choice?”
Murdock called up Dobler and Jaybird. “Let’s do some talking about it. Then we’ll let you know. It’s about 1300. Get back to you in a half hour. Oh, how big are these subs?”
“Russian built, two hundred thirty-eight feet long. Diesel power. Been in the Iranian navy since 1992. Carry eighteen torpedoes and can cause a lot of hurt. So the boss wants them out of action. Blow off their propellers, blast a hole in the bow, or drop them in the mud of the harbor. Up to you.”
Stroh left the room without a good-bye. He’d be back. Jaybird and Dobler caught the last bit from Stroh.
“A sub?” Jaybird asked. “We’re going after an Iranian submarine?”
“Unless it comes after us first,” DeWitt said. “Sit down, and let’s talk. How can we best take out two Iranian submarines about a hundred and twenty miles away from here?”
“On the Iranian coast?” Dobler asked.
Murdock told them the where, about the islands, and the thought of going in by Sea Knight.
“Yeah, the range is okay,” Dobler said. “We can sneak in under any radar they might have. But what about patrol boats? The Iranians have a whole scumbag full of patrol boats of all sizes.”
“They also have three frigates and two corvettes with a lot of missile firepower that would make our IBSs mincemeat,” Murdock said. “You jokers want to live forever?”
“Yes,” the other three said in unison.
“Then what and how?”
“How close can a Sea Knight get us to the harbor?” Dobler asked.
“Stroh said two miles, but we’ll have to talk to the chopper pilot. He’s gonna be slicin’ and dicin’ to get in that close.”
“Even at that, we’d have to swim in with the rebreathers,” Jaybird said. “The IBSs might work, but they would be a much easier target for some patrol boat to see.”
“I’d say if they can get us within five miles of the target, we go with our wet suits and rebreathers,” DeWitt said. “Might depend on how much ordnance we’re gonna be packing.”
“First getting there,” Murdock said. They booted it around for another ten minutes. Quickly they ruled out a chopper drop on land, negated the idea of a parachute drop HALO, and came back to the Sea King and the rebreathers.
“Sounds best, gents,” Dobler said. “If we used the IBSs and got cut up by a patrol boat, we could lose half our ordnance. We go in slower but with ninety-nine percent chance of a surprise mission.”
Murdock called to Ching and had him go find Stroh. The CIA man came in. Evidently, he’d been standing in the companionway, waiting for them.
“We need to talk to the chopper pilot who would take us in on his Sea Knight,” Murdock said. Stroh went to the phone and made three calls. Then he motioned to Murdock, who took the handset.
“Lieutenant West Jones, Commander,” the voice on the wire said. “What can I do for you?”
“You know where Bandar Abbas is opposite the Straight of Hormuz?”
“Right, Commander. Some of us have been talking about a run in there. Shitpot full of islands in front of the navy base there. Don’t know if they are fortified or not. They should have some antiair missiles out there.”
“Say you’re going in there after dark. How close could you get fifteen SEALs to that navy base?”
There was a silence, then the flyer let out a long breath. “Yeah, thought you might be asking that. I talked with my CO, and he says I have the assignment. I’ll have to look at the detailed charts we have on that area. Might come down the channel between the coast and that long island. Could surprise them. Have to do some homework. Hell, Commander, I’ve been shot at before. Just want to have a halfway even chance of coming home.”
“Read you, Lieutenant. You have an hour to figure it out. We’ve got to make some decisions here.”
“Will this be a round trip for you on the Knight?”
“Probably not. Since noise won’t be a problem coming out, we’ll try for the Pegasus. It’ll do forty knots.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll get back to you on this line within sixty, Commander.”
Murdock told the others what the flyer had told him.
“Let’s assume that we’ll go in by chopper and come out by Pegasus. We’re what they built that critter for. So, how do we take down two submarines?”
They worked over that for a half hour. They at last decided how to do the job. Mostly it was a discussion between using TNAZ and the larger limpet mines with shaped charges.
Stroh sat and listened to them. When the talk slowed down, he lifted his brows. “So when do you guys want to go to the dance? Right after dark or about midnight?”
Murdock looked around.
“Midnight,” Jaybird said.
“Yeah, midnight to 0100,” Dobler said.
DeWitt nodded.
Murdock looked at Stroh. We’ll check out of here at 2300, get to our drop point a little after midnight, and swim in. We’ll be on site and ready to go by 0030.”
“I’ll clear it with the captain and talk to the COD for the chopper clearance. You guys better go draw some ordnance.”
“You should come with us this time, Stroh,” Jaybird jawed.
“Maybe next time,” Stroh said and hurried out the door.
At 2310, the big Sea Knight helo slid down until it was ten feet off the Strait of Hormuz water. Fifteen black wet suited SEALs dropped out the rear ramp into the water, each one holding a neutral buoyancy bag filled with the tools of his trade. Standard weapons for each man lay across his back, held on with black rubber tubing.
The SEALs hit the water, teamed with another man, took a sighting on the lights of the naval base onshore, and dove down fifteen feet into the black water.
Up front Murdock checked his attack board, a plastic device with two handgrips and a compass in the middle faintly lighted by a light tube. He adjusted his angle slightly, fastened the eight-foot buddy cord to Holt, and they stroked toward the Iranian coast two miles away.
They surfaced after half a mile. The SEALs had swum underwater with their Drager LAR V rebreathers so much in practice that they could tell within ten yards how many strokes it took them to cover a half mile. The rebreathers recycled the air so there were no bubbles to trail to the surface to give away the swimmers below. Here there was little current, so that helped. They popped up all within twenty yards of each other. Murdock counted heads, waved them forward, and they went down to the fifteen-foot depth and swam again.
The floatation bags they dragged behind them on a line contained all the explosives that they would need. They were waterproof and stabilized with enough air to make them near neutral in buoancy, but the SEALs still had to drag them through the water.