Everyone chuckled at the President’s joke. Ten others, all civilian officials, except for the President’s Naval Aide, sat about the table.
The President continued, “May I present General Schultz, Joint Chiefs Chairman and one of your own, Admiral Baines, CNO.”
Both officers said in unison, “Captain,” and extended their hands.
Next came a flurry of introductions to the civilian officials, too quick for Marty to remember them. He did recognize Senator Darrel Manning who the President had narrowly defeated in the last election.
Introductions over, Marty got down to business. Shaky at first, but quickly getting into a rhythm, he provided a short overview of the Denver-Soviet minesweeper incident. President Dempsey preferred the adventurous details but permitted him to be pushed along toward the real meat of the briefing.
Marty cautioned, “It’s essential this be held in strictest confidence. The Soviets give no indication they know what we have.”
The President said with obvious delight, “Very good, Captain. Please go on.”
Continuing his briefing, Marty said, “This is an exceptional stroke of luck, sir. The equipment recovered from the minesweeper is low security and used only for local operations. For some unknown reason, the Soviets used it to retransmit a message sent earlier on their high security fleet-wide broadcast system. Having both messages enabled us to crack the higher code. We’re now able to decode previous and present Soviet naval radio traffic.”
This statement brought both senior military officers to the edge of their chairs.
General Schultz exclaimed, “What a break! You’re telling me we know what they’re going to do before they do it. Does the Army have this yet? We need this in the European Theater, and we need it now.”
Marty said, “Your Army people are hard at it, General, but so far, no joy. This is a naval code not used by the Soviet Army. Frankly, we’re amazed this happened. A simple bust by the Soviets, and we hope nobody catches it.”
Senator Manning asked, “Are you certain we’re not being fished in, Captain?”
“That cannot be ruled out, sir. But everything points to this as the real thing.”
Admiral Baines declared, “This is hot, Mr. President. It could turn the whole Pacific war around. What do you have on their current ops Captain?”
Marty read the message to all units of the Pacific Flotilla directing them to proceed north to screen units of the Northern fleet in the Bering Strait. “We’ve analyzed traffic leading up to this. The logic for their plan is clear. Soviets have problems of separating potential friends from known enemies in their submarine campaign. Treading so carefully severely limits the area a single unit can cover. The only solution is more submarines. They need the Northern Fleet units. I think we got ’em where it hurts. Unless they can shut down the Pacific to Allied shipping, we’re going to get back on our feet.”
President Dempsey asked, “How do we exploit this?”
The CNO, a submariner, replied, “Mr. President, if we deploy our units quickly, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel. These guys are so precise. They’ve told us not only where they’ll be, but when they’ll be there. And these Northern Fleet submarines are mostly old dogs and cats our guys can hear for a country mile.”
Even though he sensed optimism by his military chiefs, President Dempsey chose to use caution. They had known of the Soviet’s preparations for war, yet couldn’t stop them. Could history be about to repeat itself?
The President’s staff got their jobs through owed favors for help given during his campaign for the White House; none experienced warriors but they carried tremendous political clout. Several sat in Darrel Manning’s camp and believed the President should consider sending out peace feelers. Only a major triumph of Allied arms would turn them around.
The President wanted details on how this intelligence find might be converted into a meaningful victory. “Admiral Baines, give us your views on what should be done.”
“If the Soviets continue to carry out this plan, we get unbelievable tactical leverage. We could sink enough assets to make them pull in their horns. This will give us sea room to bring in supplies needed to take the offensive. That’s what saved their bacon in the second war. The Soviets know first hand of our vast manufacturing capabilities and they realize the only way to nullify this advantage is to isolate us from our needed raw materials.”
The President asked, “Can we expect the Soviets to maintain their schedule? Seems to make their movements awfully predictable.”
Marty responded, “Mr. President, experience shows Soviet naval units to be more regimented than ours. It’s likely a Communist Party mandate. Anything but total compliance is construed as disloyal. If they change anything we’ll know because we’ve broken their code.”
Pausing for a moment to absorb what Marty said, the President then asked, “What forces do we have to pull this off, Admiral?”
Admiral Baines answered the question. “Twenty to twenty-five attack submarines in the Pacific, 688s and 637s, both superior to the Northern Fleet units. And we’ll bring some Atlantic Fleet boats to the party by sending them under the polar ice cap.”
“Do we have someone good enough to run the operation out there?
Smiling, Admiral Baines said, “We have the best, Mr. President. Captain Eric Danis, Commander of Submarine Squadron Three. USS Denver of his command recovered the crypto machine.”
He had twice unsuccessfully argued the case for Eric Danis at flag selection boards but retained his unshakeable faith in Danis’s ability as a solid combat commander.
Addressing his aide the President said, “Yes, the USS Denver,” then asked, “Aren’t they scheduled for something here at the White House soon?”
The aide responded, “Yes, sir. A Medal of Honor presentation for her commanding officer, Captain Hal Bostwick.”
Marty winced. “If I may suggest, Mr. President, the Soviets don’t suspect anything. Denver is the source of this find. It might not be a good idea to focus attention on her just now.”
Baines said, “Good point, Mr. President, let’s hang that Medal of Honor on someone else this time around. I know Captain Bostwick, and I’ll make it up to him.”
The President concluded, “Very well then, gentlemen. It appears our work is cut out for us, so let’s get to it.”
Eric Danis entered the communications center housed in a small building erected nearby his yacht-headquarters. He responded to a summons from Gerry Carter who maintained his usual placid demeanor only with great difficulty. “I think we’ve got a live one, Commodore. Read this, sir, it’s an action message to COMSUBPAC and information to all Pacific Submarine Squadrons.”
TOP-SECRET (NOFORN) INTELLIGENCE REVEALS DETAILS OF MASSIVE SOVIET PACIFIC FLOTILLA SUBMARINE MOVEMENT TO SCREEN ENTRY OF NORTHERN FLEET UNITS SOUTHWARD THROUGH BERING STRAIT. DETAILS OF MOVEMENT COVERED IN SEPARATE MESSAGE. FOR COMSUBPAC, DISPATCH ALL AVAILABLE UNITS IMMEDIATELY. INTERCEPT AND DESTROY ENEMY UNITS ENCOUNTERED. COMMANDER SUBMARINE SQUADRON THREE DESIGNATED OFFICER IN TACTICAL COMMAND. MORE TO FOLLOW.
Looking well satisfied, Danis said, “Guess we’re finally gonna mix it up a little. Gerry, initiate a general recall. I want Dave Zane in here pronto. He’s gotta do what he has to do to get everyone out of here. That’s four 688s. We’ll need every damn one of ’em, regardless of condition. Tell no one anything other than what they need to get their jobs done. A leak can blow the whole operation.”