“We won’t know that till they start rolling back from patrol. And the jury’s still out on whether we can support them adequately with Pitstop operations.”
“Submarines are our only real hope for regaining sea control. Can they do it?”
“If we can knock off enough Soviet front-line nuke submarines, I think maybe we can. But it’s got to be their new stuff, not the old dogs and cats you and I used to chase around. If we can pin them back to first and second-generation equipment the job’s doable. With 637s, 688s, and patrol aircraft, we ought to be able to secure enough water to move the stuff we need. If we could get the bastards to meet us in a big showdown, we might pull it off. But they’re too smart for that. They’re winning; they know it, so why should they change anything?”
“They’ll have to invade to get us to knuckle under completely.”
“Yeah, Dave. They can take their own sweet time about it and consolidate the rest of their holdings worldwide while they cut us off from what we need to mount opposition. Then they can strike at their leisure.”
“You might be right, Eric. Damn it, you’re probably right. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and count on you warrior types to figure something out.”
“President Dempsey comes across stronger than he did during the election. But he’s got a lot of influential defeatists to fend off in addition to the lack of any good news we’re unable to provide.”
Dave exclaimed, “Damn! Now that makes me mad. When I think of those people we saw along the road on the way up here. They’re not quitting and they’ve got a helluva lot less to cheer about than Dempsey’s wimps. These people deserve better than that.”
“Don’t prejudge Dempsey. He might surprise us if we can give him some indication we can win. If we can’t, then his decision boils down simply to how many lives we lose before he cries ‘Uncle’.”
The phone rang as a gust of wind rattled the windows so hard they seemed on the verge of shattering. Bea picked it up and after a short exchange with the caller, summoned Eric. “It’s the base. Commander Carter.”
“Evening, Gerry. What’s up?”
“Bad news, Commodore. Waves are coming over the breakwater and breaking the base anchor chains. Not sure how much longer we can keep it off the rocks.”
Chapter 14
Brent and Dan Patrick met with Jack Olsen in the Wardroom to determine how the Soviets evaded the Denver attacks. Convening such meetings is a command responsibility, but Bostwick avoided it. Olsen then had to initiate the session, though it made him uncomfortable to do so. Additionally, Bostwick had confided to Olsen his concern over their inability to unscramble the mystery and that it justified aborting the land attack against Vladivostok. The captain argued the attack failures signaled a fatal vulnerability leaving Denver with no capability against threat submarines. Sharing this with Brent and Dan would have the effect of dumping fuel on the captain’s fire so Olsen remained silent on the subject.
Their brainstorm session carried well into its second hour and nerves had grown ragged when Brent used a tone that annoyed Dan. “Whatever they’re doing is simple. Plain as the nose on our faces but we’re not seeing it.”
“You and your thoughts, Brent. I’ve got a bellyful of both. Damn it! We’ve been turned back six times. Let’s face it. These guys know far more than we give ’em credit for.”
Jack Olsen spoke with a tone that signaled the two lieutenants to contain their emotions. “That’s exactly why we gotta figure it out. So let’s use our energy for that instead of bickering.”
Shrugging off Dan’s put-down, Brent said, “Not only figure it out but bring the answer home with us to spread it around. You’re right, XO. We need to get cracking and time is running out.”
Brent broached the Bostwick-Olsen issue over the land attack in his next comment. “We’re now down to two ADCAPs. We oughta hoard these for self-defense on the trip home. I suggest we move the land attack up and get out of here a few days early.”
Both pair of eyes turned toward the executive officer as he said, “A good thought, Brent, have you worked up the target package?”
They didn’t need a target package. SUBPAC’s directions required none. Brent knew Olsen wished to exclude the land attack from the meeting agenda and correctly sensed the reason: the captain’s reluctance to pull Denver’s trigger against Vladivostok.
“A few more items on strike timing should do it, XO. I’ll have it for you in two hours.”
“Good, Brent. Now back to the subject at hand.”
Both Olsen and Patrick knew Brent had the best grasp on tactics so they yielded the lead to him. “I believe we have plenty of data from our busted pick operations. Each time a target was well within range it has evaded our torpedoes. I’ve arranged all the shots into this matrix.” He unrolled a large piece of plotting paper onto the table. “The most significant is Doppler but we eliminated that with our one-two combination, first Doppler in and then out. And we’ve worked both sides of the layer.”
Dan asked, “What about countermeasures?”
“Can’t eliminate them so they remain a possibility. Sonar recorder data for all shots showed nothing. They shoot back immediately, likely to make us evade. Bottom line, nothing definitive. Maybe they’ve got a countermeasure we don’t know about.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Not a lot to go on but what little we have shows our torpedoes continue beyond where we think the target is but don’t attack anything.”
Jack asked, “Something wrong with our torpedoes, maybe?”
“Possible, but contradicted by the Tango success.”
Dan suggested, “He was coming toward us. The rest were going away. Could that be it?”
“I don’t think so, Dan,” said Brent. “The only difference is the Doppler. The weapon shouldn’t care whether it’s up or down just as long as it’s there. But right now, we gotta consider everything. That answer leaves us trouble. Shooting only bowshots oversimplifies his counterattack problems. Our second attack, you remember, the Akula came closer to cooking our bacon than I like to think. If we were on his bow when he shot, there’s no doubt we’d be history. We do know he makes initial detection on the noise from our torpedo.”
Olsen exclaimed, “Damn it! We make the quietest submarine and the noisiest torpedoes.”
“Next time we’re in town, mention that to Den Mother’s dad, Dave Zane. He oughta be good for two hours on the subject.”
“Okay, wizards,” said Olsen. “Keep the big think on it. We’ll meet again in the morning.”
The two left and Jack braced himself for the next meeting with Bostwick. Subject: Move up the Vladivostok strike.
Eric Danis and Dave Zane covered the final mile of their abruptly initiated journey on foot through a newly carved trail built to facilitate bringing power lines to the Pitstop.
Dave berated himself. “How could I be so dumb? Worst storms are out of the southwest and I missed the anchor points completely.”
Strong southwest wind pressured the chains one at a time, depriving them of collective holding power. However, sufficiently stout all together, one alone couldn’t carry the entire load, therefore the anchor chains broke one by one like pulling open a zipper.
Eric took everything in his customary matter-of-fact stride. He knew Dave had done a great job just getting the project moving. He also knew omissions would reveal themselves and be corrected as they emerged. Irony here, the first storm threatened to destroy the entire operation. This would seriously, if not fatally, delay turning around submarines desperately needed for the war effort. Eric had learned over the years that frustration did not help, hence wasted no time on it. But this obstacle challenged his emotional control to a new high.