MacIntyre was wearing a black Navy Windcheater over his khakis, and an officer’s cap sat upside down and ready to hand on the desktop. “I’m flying back to Hawaii tonight, and before I hauled out, I also wanted to tell you it’s been a damn interesting ride-along. It’s quite obvious you’ve accomplished everything I’ve asked you to do with the task force. Well done, Captain. Exceedingly well done.”
“I’ll pass that along to my people, sir. Thank you.”
There was a silence in the little room then, encompassing them both and extending for a long time. Yet, strangely, Amanda didn’t find it uncomfortable and she sensed that Elliot didn’t find it so, either. It was merely a mutual acknowledgment of many words that could not be said.
“There was one other thing as well,” MacIntyre said finally, reaching for a book on the desk. “I never did get a chance to finish this. Would you mind if I borrowed it for the flight?”
Amanda looked and saw that it was her battered old copy of Count Luckner, the Sea Devil.
“Keep it,” she said, smiling into Maclntyre’s face. “I’m done with it.”
Author’s Note
Dedicated followers of the Amanda Garrett series will likely note the change in designation for the USS Cunningham, from DDG (Destroyer Guided-Missile) to CLA (Cruiser Littoral Attack)-79. There were a couple of reasons for this.
For one, the Duke in her original destroyer incarnation had become hopelessly obsolete. Back in the early nineties, when I set out to write Choosers of the Slain, I was endeavoring to project what the U.S. Navy’s next major class of surface combatant would look and operate like. In a few ways I got fairly close. In many others I was totally off the mark, a frequent problem with prognosticators of the future.
By all indications, the actual DD-21-class stealth destroyers the U.S. Navy will soon be building will actually be far more advanced, sophisticated, and capable vessels than I ever dreamed of. I wish I could go back and start over.
This is a curse the technothriller author is living under currently. Possibly the greatest revolution in military affairs since the introduction of gunpowder is under way. Technologies and doctrine are changing almost on a daily basis, and the military author, like the military professional, is caught in a perpetual round of catch-up to stay on top of the game. Portions of this book had to be rewritten half a dozen times because seemingly solid assumptions were proven wrong.
The future looks to be an interesting and challenging place.
As for my second reason for changing the Duke’s DDG-79 designation: There is now a real DDG-79 in commission with the United States Navy, the Block II Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Oscar Austin.
I would not wish to claim any credit for the honors this fine new ship and crew will no doubt rapidly accumulate. May she always have fair seas and good hunting.
Glossary
Boghammer. Generic name for a light, high-speed motor gunboat. Generally an open 30-to-40 foot fiberglass hull propelled by powerful outboard motors and armed with an assortment of machine guns and shoulder-fired rocket launchers. The name originates from the Swedish boat-building firm that manufactured a large number of the craft used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard during the Persian Gulf tanker war of the late 1980s.
Cipher UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Another of the rapidly growing family of Remotely Piloted Vehicles proposed for use by the United States Armed Forces. A small vertical-takeoff and — landing drone aircraft, the Cipher uses a set of ducted fans for lift and flight power. Literally a “flying saucer,” the Cipher offers great potential as a very compact, very stealthy reconnaissance and special-missions platform.
Eagle Eye UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Built by Boeing Textron, the Eagle Eye reconnaissance drone uses the same Tilt Rotor technology developed by Boeing for the V-22 Osprey Vertical Take Off and Landing transport aircraft, permitting it either to maneuver as a conventional aircraft or hover like a helicopter. With a 300-mile radius of operation, the Eagle Eye’s dual-mode flight capacity has rendered it of great interest to the Navy, permitting comparatively small surface warships to have an aerial search and surveillance capacity.
ELINT (Electronic Intelligence). The collection of battlefield intelligence (target location, systems type, nationality, force strength, etc.) via the analysis of emissions produced by radars and other electronic systems.
GPU (Global Positioning Unit). A mobile navigation system that utilizes radio impulses beamed down from an orbital network of satellites. Simple, compact, and extremely accurate, this technology is finding hundreds of uses in both the civil and military arena — so much so that serious consideration was once given to building a GPU into the stock of every rifle issued by the US Armed Forces.
Hellfire. U.S.-designed heavy antitank missile. A powerful and accurate surface- and air-launched weapon, utilizing either laser or radar guidance. The Hellfire is rapidly finding a second mission with the United States Navy as an anti-small-craft missile.
Hydra 70. A 2.75-inch folding-fin war rocket. Originally designed as an aircraft-launched air-to-surface weapon, it is also carried as a weapons option by the Queen of the West-class Sea Fighter. An unguided projectile, the Hydra is usually fired in salvos from a cluster of launching tubes. Effective and simple, it can be modified in the field to carry any one of a number of different warheads: antipersonnel, antiarmor, incendiary, and high explosive.
LPD (Landing Platform Dock). A large amphibious-warfare vessel with a floodable “well deck” in its stern, permitting it to load, launch, and recover conventional displacement landing craft, hovercraft, and amphibious armored vehicles.
LPDs also have a large helipad flight deck and servicing facilities, permitting them to act as seaborne bases for a large number of Marine and Navy helicopter types.
Current U.S. amphibious-warfare doctrine calls for its amphibious forces to stand well offshore, shuttling their Marines, equipment, and supplies to the beach via landing craft and helicopter, improving the amphibious group’s survivability against modern weapons.
LSM (Landings Ship Medium). A small, lightly-armed amphibious warfare vessel used to deliver motorized transport and armored fighting vehicles to an invasion beachhead. Carrying the bulk of its payload in a large vehicle deck within its hull, the LSM’s hull is designed to permit the ship to run its bow up onto a beach without doing damage to itself. Once beached, a pair of watertight doors open in the bow and a ramp is extended, permitting the vehicles stowed on the vehicle deck to be driven ashore.
Still found in many Second and Third World navies, LSM- and the larger LST (Landings Ship Tank)-type vessels are now obsolete within current U.S. Navy amphibious warfare doctrine.
M-4 Modular Weapons System. The new firearm of choice for the U.S. military special-warfare units. Essentially a short-barreled carbine version of the 5.56mm M-16A2 assault rifle, it comes equipped with a telescoping shoulder stock and the Picatinny Arsenal’s “Grab-Tight” rail mounting system.
This latter permits the weapon to be modified to suit the mission requirements and personal preferences of the user. Various handgrips and carrying handles can be installed, and either a 12-gauge riot gun or an M-203 40mm grenade launcher can be mounted beneath the barrel in an over-and-under configuration to augment firepower. It can be equipped with a variety of targeting systems ranging from simple iron and telescopic sights to laser, nite-brite optics, and thermographic imaging.