These concerns had come home to roost, for much of his Cabinet’s advice reflected Manning’s position. The Secretary of State ran his Department autonomously and regarded the President as a figurehead to preside at formal state functions and ceremonies, the real business of the Executive Branch carried out by the Cabinet. Senator Manning in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wielded tremendous influence over the Secretary of State.
At twenty-three past ten, Senator Manning entered the Oval Office and made no apologies for being tardy. Tall, slender and in his late fifties, the senator cut a handsome figure. Despite his hectic schedule, he reserved an hour each day for his squash game. Reputed to be brutal on the court, he eliminated all opposition with ease.
As the two shook hands the senator opened with, “Good morning, Mr. President. I trust you’re having a good day?”
“Good morning, Darrel,” replied the President then gestured for the senator to be seated. “The term is your nickel, I believe.”
“Ah, yes, sir. I did schedule the meeting as I recall.”
The President thought, Damn, I wish I had Manning’s diction. It’s magnificent. He can make small talk in the men’s room sound like a major political address.
“Did I get your agenda, Darrel?”
Ignoring the barb, Manning said, “Mr. President, I’m anxious over the progress of this war. All the signals are dismal as you well know.”
“We don’t have a lot of good news, Darrel, but we’ve been at this thing for less than three months. Five months passed in World War II before the first win at the Midway. Up until then, the Japanese kicked our asses all over the Pacific.”
Not approving the use of coarse language, Darrel Manning ignored the analogy. “I see no comparison at all, sir. Today the problem is simply one of supply and demand. Our demand for resources continues to rise and by far exceeds our supply, much worse our ability to re-supply. Further, we have no capability to change that. We live with the results of building our forces upon fifty years of bickering among our service chiefs, rather than filling the needs of a major power.”
“What do you see as my alternatives, Senator?”
“Stop this madness. We’re losing far too many American lives for no purpose. Unless a clear path to victory is identified, continuing the war is an emotional, not an intelligent alternative.”
The President sighed, “What do you recommend then?”
Manning considered out-dueling the ineffectual Andrew Dempsey as hardly a triumph and felt no elation at this sign of the President weakening. “I recommend you contact the Soviet Premier and inquire of his terms for ending this war. I know how difficult this is but you have nothing to offer the American public except defeat at the hands of the Soviets. You have no other choice.”
“Such an inquiry to Premier Rostov is tantamount to surrender. It signals we’re helpless and have nothing left to bargain with. We need more time to at least show the Premier there might be something important he must lose in order to defeat us.”
The senator asked, “And what might that be?”
“Success in the coming Battle of the Bering Sea.”
Responding to the President’s answer, Manning shook his head and asked. “You’d hang your hat on that flimsy peg? I demand you perform your duty, sir. I shall return in a week’s time to hear your answer. I will not sit idly by and permit the issue to remain unanswered after that time.”
Chapter 18
Commander Buchanan quickly adapted Denver to her assignment as flagship for Operation MACEDONIAN. With no staff aboard, Eric Danis looked upon the new skipper as his Chief of Staff officer, with Denver Operations Department doubling up to perform both staff and ship functions. Brent Maddock devoted a lot of his efforts to tactical planning.
With the little time he could spare, Buchanan walked about the ship, meeting his crew and familiarizing himself with the general material status. He found both men and equipment to be in good shape. His efforts also elevated the crew’s confidence in him. Buchanan led by precept and example, not by fear as did his predecessor.
In the Attack Center on Brent’s and Henri’s watch, the new skipper greeted the two men with a cheerful, “Good morning, Petty Officer Henri. Are you keeping Mr. Maddock on the straight and narrow?”
Henri answered, “Good morning, Captain. Matter of fact I am, sir, but he’s a slow learner.”
The captain asked his conning officer, “Going okay, Brent?”
Brent answered, “Just fine, sir. We’re right where we’re supposed to be and so far haven’t missed a radio broadcast.”
Buchanan said, “I almost wish we would miss a few. Maybe the Soviets plan to win by giving us more information than we can possibly read before the war is over.”
Ever apprehensive, Brent asked, “Should this make us suspicious, Captain? Seems like we’re getting an awful lot of detail. Luring us into a trap, maybe?”
“So far, their actions confirm what we’ve learned about Soviet Naval operations. They use their new technology to tighten control from ashore. We watched this during their fleet exercises. They don’t leave engagement details to their commanders at the scene.”
Buchanan thought, Lucius Aemilius Paulus didn’t know how lucky he was not to have all this technology back in his day.
Brent replied, “Guess that was a dumb question, sir.”
“There are no dumb questions in this business, Brent. And none of us have all the answers. Everybody tosses what he knows into the pot. Most of this is being tried for the first time and needs all the devil’s advocating it can get.”
Henri spoke after the captain left. “Different kind of wind than the one that used to blow through here, sir.”
Brent did a poor job of masking his pleased expression. “Don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about, Henri.”
Later, Dan Patrick, MACEDONIAN Operations Officer, briefed the attack plan to the Denver officers at a wardroom meeting. Commodore Danis wanted a final review before transmitting it via the new laser system to a communications satellite for rebroadcast to all other MACEDONIAN units.
Dan opened with, “Twenty-three SUBPAC units are proceeding to the area. Fifteen Atlantic Fleet units from SUBLANT are heading this way under the polar ice cap but won’t be here in time to make the rendezvous. No plans for them yet.”
He moved a pointer over a collage of charts covering the planned engagement area then continued. “MACEDONIAN will be carried out in this big triangle. To orient you, here’s Severo Kuril’sk atop of the Kuril chain and the southwest corner of the area. The southeastern corner is at Kiska here in the Aleutian chain. Then we go north to Saint Lawrence Island just below the Bering Strait. This landmass running from Saint Lawrence back to Severo K is Koryakski and the Kamchatka peninsula. And here is the port city of Petropavlovsk.”
Hesitating for a moment, Dan let the geography lesson set in. “First, the Soviet’s plan. A hundred sixteen submarines from their Northern Fleet will attempt to transit the Strait en masse then fan out to establish control of merchant shipping in the Pacific. These are old Hotel, Echo and November classes, along with Yankee and Delta I ballistic missile submarines converted to attack class in compliance with SALT II. They’re noisy. If we get to them before they reach the open ocean, we’ll clean up big time.”