“Lieutenant Commander Clarke had the conn, correct?”
“Yessir. And then the destroyer slowed right down. We were twenty-four hundred yards off her starboard beam.” I had the conn while Linus Clarke used the periscope. He ordered me to keep the ship straight and level, which I did.”
“And then?”
“Lieutenant Commander Clarke was going in closer. He was after some close-up shots of the extra-large housing for the towed array, which he could see on the stern.”
“Did he say he was going in closer?”
“Yessir.”
“And did you reply?”
“Yessir. I said, ‘steady, sir, we don’t know how long that towed array is.’”
“Do you normally issue that kind of advice to your Executive Officer?”
“Nossir. In this case I meant it as some kind of a warning. In good faith, sir.”
“And did Lieutenant Commander Clarke reply?”
“Yessir.”
“And what did he say to you?”
“He said, ‘don’t worry, Andy.’ Then he said he would not go in closer than a mile. I remember he said the towed array ‘won’t be that long, will it?’ And he mentioned that it would be angled down in the water, not straight out like a submarine.”
“And what happened then?”
“Well, by now Master Chief Brad Stockton was in the control room, and he spoke up suddenly. He said he thought the CO should be informed we were ‘groping around the ass of a six-thousand-ton destroyer.’ I remember his words very well.”
“And was he issuing those words to Lieutenant Commander Clarke in an informative way, because he thought the XO did not know what he was actually doing?”
“Oh, nossir. He was telling the XO to inform the CO of our actions.”
“And did the lieutenant commander heed that warning?”
“Nossir. He said there was no need to alert the CO. He was just going to take the destroyer’s stern a mile off and take some pictures.”
“And did the Master Chief reply?”
“Yessir, he said again that, in his opinion the CO should definitely be informed because this was a critical part of our mission.”
“And did Lieutenant Commander Clarke heed that second warning?”
“Nossir. He did not. He said in his judgment, he was fine. And then he ordered the course change to cross the destroyer’s stern.”
“You still had the conn?”
“Yessir. He ordered me to steer right standard rudder, course zero-nine-zero at eight knots.”
“And did you do so?”
“Yessir.”
“And what happened then?”
“Sir, I thought we had made it, but there was a sudden slowing down in power. We were still at PD, and I could feel there was a slight alteration in trim, stern-down just fractionally. The regular beat of the machinery was just different, and we were slowing down, definitely not completing our crossing of the destroyer’s stern.”
“Were you able to ascertain what had happened, Lieutenant?”
“I KNEW what had happened, sir. We’ve had enough talk about the length of the new Chinese towed arrays.”
“And then what happened?”
“Captain Crocker came charging into the conn.”
“No longer asleep?”
“Nossir. Wide awake, and not real pleased with Lieutenant Commander Clarke.”
“Did he realize what had happened?”
“Nossir. Not immediately. He kinda snapped, ‘What’s going on, XO?’ Then he grabbed the periscope and took a very quick look before it washed under the water because of our stem-down trim.”
“How long was he able to look?”
“I’d say about three seconds. No longer.”
“And was that long enough?”
“Definitely long enough for the CO, sir.”
“How do you know?”
“Sir, he solved the problem right away. He said the destroyer was only five hundred yards away. Not the mile Lieutenant Commander Clarke had stated. He said the XO had turned the periscope handle the wrong way, right onto low power, which made it look like a mile when it was nothing like that.”
“And did the XO reply?”
“Yessir, he did. He said, ‘Oh my God,’ twice. And then he said he was extremely sorry.”
At this point Myerscough sprang to his feet and said that he objected to this line of hearsay questioning involving his client.
Admiral Archie Cameron was furious. He ordered, “SILENCE.” And then he said quietly, “Mr. Myerscough, if you attempt to interrupt these military proceedings one more time, I’ll have you escorted out of the room, and right off the station, by Navy guards. You may speak when I say you can speak, and at no other time. Do you understand me?”
It was a while since Myerscough had been spoken to in quite those terms. But he was not about to tangle with this admiral, and he did not think he would be much thanked by the President for being evicted in the first hour of the proceedings.
And so he just nodded formally, apologized and sat down. The admiral then added, “I do not consider the sworn testimony of a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and second officer of the deck at the time, to be giving us hearsay when he recounts a conversation that took place within five feet of where he was standing.…Please continue, Admiral Curran.”
“Lieutenant, was it your impression that Lieutenant Commander Clarke agreed with the CO’s assessment or his error?”
“Yessir. Very definitely. He was really upset. Very apologetic.”
“Did you, the officer with the conn, agree with the CO’s assessment?”
“Absolutely, sir. No doubt in my mind. The difference between five hundred yards and one mile through a periscope is unmistakable.”
“Quite so,” replied Admiral Curran, a lifelong submariner himself. And with that, he said he had no further questions for Seawolf’s Officer of the Deck, though his colleagues might wish to question him further.
Admiral Cameron conferred with his colleagues very briefly, and they were in agreement that this was as far as the investigation should go — to the point where the submarine became disabled. No further.
“Very well,” said Admiral Cameron. “The attending lawyers may now ask questions of the witness. But I do stress, this is not some kangaroo civilian court. This is a United States Navy Board of Inquiry. And I will not tolerate theatrics or aggression toward one of my trusted submarine officers.”
“I have no questions, sir,” said Art Mangone.
“I have a few,” said Philip Myerscough, rising to his feet on behalf of the President of the United States. “First, I would like to ask whether three seconds is a sufficient amount of time to make a judgment call of this dimension?”
“Plenty, sir. We are all trained to make the fastest possible observations through the periscope. Seven seconds is routine maximum in hostile waters. Captain Crocker is renowned for his grasp of the surface picture. He’s the best, sir. The best I ever saw.”
“That was rather more than I asked for, Lieutenant,” said Mr. Myerscough, not quite interrupting, but almost. “Perhaps you could restrict your answers to my precise question, rather than adding on a character reference for. your CO.”
“Absolutely, sir. No problem right there. I just thought you’d like to know, sir.…he’s the best.”
Philip Myerscough visibly flinched. But he recovered and then said, with civilian inexactitude, “So you believe that short space of time would be fine to make such a judgment?”
“Oh sure, sir. Three seconds’ concentration, for a man trained like Captain Crocker…no problem. He probably could’ve done it in one second.”
Admirals Cameron and Curran could hardly contain their thin smiles at the obvious discomfort of a city lawyer trying to deal with Navy precision.