“Yes, captain, will do.”
Magsaysay was making twenty-one and a half knots and still gaining slightly. She could go much faster submerged, but that would not help her now. Ahead the Oakland Bay Bridge was visibly much closer than it had been.
“Steer three three zero,” the OD directed.
“Three three zero, sir.” The phone talker retained his calm and passed the order crisply. He was a good young professional and the captain took note of it. Because of the extraordinary circumstances, he knew very few of the crew members who were serving under him, but that would be rectified.
Twenty-two and a half knots showed — that was about the best that she could do, although her full performance spectrum had not yet been determined; she was the first of her class and she incorporated a number of refinements that had not yet been fully explored. In the east the sky was very bright now and there were beginning hints of the sunrise to follow.
Four minutes later Magsaysay began to pass under the Oakland Bay Bridge.
“Steer three one zero.”
“Three one zero, sir.”
The OD checked a bearing on the Alcatraz water tank.
“They could be laying for us at North Point,” the captain reminded.
“Yes, sir, I’m keeping Blossom Rock on the port side.”
The mile-and-three-quarter run to the rock took an agonizing five minutes; during most of the time the captain kept a careful watch on the sky, looking for planes. The OD was tense now; the element of surprise had been dissipated and all hell would be breaking out wherever in the area the enemy had forces in being. The fearful firepower that Magsaysay represented was well known, and every possible means that could be employed on short notice to stop her would be totally committed.
One more landmark: the Blossom Rock was passed. “Steer two six nine.”
“Two six nine, sir.”
With unruffled dignity Magsaysay slowly turned until she was aimed straight toward the Golden Gate, three and a half miles ahead. Ten precious minutes would be needed to reach it. After that the land area would be left behind, but beyond the gate there lay eleven and a half miles more of shallow water and Four Fathom Bank that would force the submarine to use the ship channel until at last she reached hundred-foot-deep water and minimum diving depth. Meanwhile she was moving on the surface in clear and gaining daylight, a broad wake marking her exact position.
17
When Operation Low Blow had been in its final planning stages, Admiral Haymarket had sketched out the primary areas of major concern and determined in his own mind whom he would assign to be responsible for each of them. For all of the coordinating and operation at Hunters Point — Walter Wagner. Ted Pappas had wanted that assignment desperately, but he could not match Wagner’s field experience or his exceptional ability to dive unhesitatingly and safely more than a hundred feet from a crane boom into the water. There had not been any other acceptable method of recovering the crane operator available and therefore he had had to concede.
The mechanical and supply details went of course to Stanley Cumberland. Pappas, with his near genius for detailed planning and organization, was given the job of making everything fit and preparing a full set of alternate plans to meet every visible contingency.
Ed Higbee was committed to the second phase of the master plan, to be activated if the first part succeeded. There his almost uncanny knowledge of psychology, propaganda, news distribution, and negotiation would be of prime value. That left one more vastly important job and two extraordinarily capable men to handle it — the protection of the Magsaysay from the moment that her lines were cast off until she was safely hidden under the vast waters of the open Pacific. General Carlton Gifford had accepted the assignment with dedication and relish; it was right up his alley. His first action had been to request the help of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Prichard, the search and rescue specialist who was celebrated for a cast-iron nerve and the ability to handle himself even during extreme emergencies. More than forty men marked for death had been saved by him and not one of them had ever seen him display the least recognition of fear.
Together the two Air Force men had gone to work systematically to produce a miracle, and the magnitude of the task did not dismay them. They had begun by carrying on a highly selective recruiting program concentrated on the West Coast. They had found people in the armed forces, in law-enforcement agencies, and in such civilian organizations as Mensa and the Masonic Lodge. The Japa-nese-American Citizens League provided help and a few were chosen through the Knights of Columbus. Ham radio operators were very carefully culled over and a handful were selected. Lastly, a few men were picked from the ranks of the Teamsters Union. When the job had been completed the necessary backup force numbered almost five hundred men and a few women. Of all of these very few knew what they were to do or why, but they were all highly qualified in one way or another and every one of them had a proven ability to keep his or her mouth shut.
The next step had been the organization of this work force into a cell system so that any possible leak could be stopped within a local area involving, at the maximum, ten people. Certain outstanding individuals were chosen for supervisory duty, and they in turn came under the direction of full-time field personnel who reported directly to the headquarters of Thomas Jefferson.
In the meantime, detailed operational plans had already been drawn up. It was recognized from the start that a high degree of flexibility would have to be incorporated into every phase of the effort since a large number of unpredictable variables could not be eliminated. But variables or not, the job had to be done and Gifford was determined that it would be.
With the aid of the personnel selected, a close day-to-day watch was kept over the enemy throughout the San Francisco region. Every piece of equipment that was taken over was noted and recorded. The people concerned were evaluated and in some cases probed for weaknesses. Whatever the enemy did, wherever he established a force of any kind, he was watched and the information gained was passed on to the operations room. Colonel Prichard was in charge of that. Laid out on a huge table he had a detailed presentation of the San Francisco Bay area and all of its military facilities. Everything that the enemy did was noted and marked on it. The board was kept up to date on an hour-by-hour basis and manned around the clock.
As S (for sailing) day grew closer, the operational orders were prepared and passed to the waiting people in the field. Most of them still did not know what was to take place, but they did know that a major move was to be made and that they would be part of it. Every enemy post or installation that could in any way interfere with the safe departure of the Magsaysay from Hunters Point was kept under surveillance and a specific team was appointed to deal with it. To minimize risk and protect secrecy to the utmost, General Gifford confined most of the scheduled efforts to apparently simple, nonspectacular procedures which in many cases could be interpreted as accidents or simple bad luck — unless someone took the time to put them all together into a single pattern. But that could not be done until after the event, and then it would be too late.
Forty-eight hours before S time the operational personnel were deployed. In certain parts of San Francisco and its environs, repair and construction crews showed up to work on street installations. In each case they had the proper blueprints and work orders; their legitimacy was established. They closed off some roadways — as they apparently had to — and began to dig trenches in the usual manner. These activities were widely scattered, and when they were viewed against the background of all of the other street work going on at the same time, no visible pattern was apparent.