Scorpion in the Sea (51 page)
Read Scorpion in the Sea Online
Authors: P.T. Deutermann
The Al Akrab, submerged, Jacksonville operating area, Wednesday, 7 May; 2245
The Captain sat erect in his steel chair at the head of the wardroom table. The officers watched him attentively as he re-read the message from naval headquarters. The Musaid stood behind him as always, his eyes focused on the other end of the wardroom. The Captain cleared his throat.
“The evening of Friday is confirmed,” he announced. “The day after tomorrow.”
“We will conduct a daylight attack, then?” asked the Engineer, his eyes intense.
“I think a twilight attack better describes it,” replied the Captain. “The intelligence report indicates the carrier must be in the basin by 1900 to ensure sufficient depth of water. So sometime between 1600 and 1900, probably closer to 1730, we will make the torpedo attack. But there is more.”
The officers leaned forward.
“The agents report that the three ships escorting the carrier are based in Norfolk in the state of Virginia, to the north of Mayport; our agents in Norfolk confirm the names.”
He looked up at them with a cold smile.
“This means Coral Sea will be alone.”
“An easy target, then,” observed the weapons officer. “We know the most likely approach route from the sea, we know the area which she must pass through to make the sea buoy, and we know the arrival time in the basin. We can kill her at sea,” he said with an excited grin on his face.
The weapons officer had little faith in the mines, and wanted the torpedoes to succeed. The Captain appreciated the weapons officer’s blood lust. They were all excited by the prospects of finally making the attack. But there were still risks. He held up his hand in admonition.
“What we do not know is whether any escorts will be sailed from Mayport,” he began. “And we do not know if the carrier herself will put up helicopter screens. They could make this very difficult because the water is quite shallow along the attack area. But the report analysis indicates that since she is coming home after a month in the Caribbean, the carrier’s airplanes will all be flown off and dispersed to their bases around Jacksonville that morning, and that the concentration will be on getting safely in and their people ashore.”
He permitted himself another wolfish grin.
“But, yes, this may succeed beyond our best dreams.”
“When shall we plant the mines, then,” asked the operations officer. “Tomorrow night?”
The Captain nodded.
“Yes, tomorrow night. We have reviewed the practice run, and we will allow another hour to make the approach. The field will be planted at the same time, around 0200; the weather will be what it will be. The Navigator has found two other lights which can be used for rough cross bearings in case we cannot see the river range. We did not really get to practice the firing of the mines the other night, but that is a relatively simple detail once we put the Al Akrab in position. Open the outer doors, fire three tubes, close the outer doors and run for the sea. Deputy, brief the approach plan.”
The Deputy unfurled the approach chart on the wardroom
table; the other officers stood and gathered around him to look down at the chart.
table; the other officers stood and gathered around him to look down at the chart.
“Sir: we are currently fifty miles out from the base,” he began, pointing with his finger to their current position. “We will begin a submerged approach this evening, aiming for a point here, where there is a shallow, submarine canyon. We will spend the entire day there tomorrow, and then begin a submerged approach to this point, twenty miles out from the river. Our plan is to surface at midnight, run in on the diesels for an hour and a half in the darkness while recharging, flood down and switch to electrics for the final approach at 0200. We have established that there is no radar surveillance of the base and river approaches. Once the mines are laid, we will withdraw on electrics, switch to diesels and run on the surface while recharging batteries until 0430, submerge in this area here, and then commence a slow, submerged transit to the attack corridor, which we estimate to run from here to here.”
He pointed to a long, trapezoidal shaped box drawn on the chart, beginning with its wide end some fifty miles out from the base, and narrowing down at the seaward end of the river approach channel.
“Why this shape, Deputy Commander?” asked the weapons officer.
“Because she can enter the box from many directions, and thus there is uncertainty at that end. There is no uncertainty about where she must be when she finishes transiting the box. Thus it narrows.”
The Captain put his finger about two thirds of the way down the box.
“Here would be ideal. The water depth is sufficient for a submerged approach and for some, but not much, maneuvering room. There is this gradual ridge running north-south, behind which we could loiter and be masked from sonars looking inshore. The box has begun to narrow, which means that the probability of Coral Sea being in the box has begun to rise, and thus we ought not to end up in a pursuit maneuver. That is important—we cannot pursue on the surface, and there is limited depth for any submerged
maneuvering. The essence of this plan is that he must come right by us.”
maneuvering. The essence of this plan is that he must come right by us.”
“Sir. You will fire from ahead?” asked the Engineer.
“No. I will fire from the quarter, as he goes by. Remember these are steam driven torpedoes and they leave a wake.”
The mission planning in Tripoli had been specific on the torpedo type. The Russians had the best electric anti-shipping torpedoes in the world, but their older, straight running, steam driven torpedoes packed the largest warheads in the world in a torpedo that went better than fifty miles an hour. They had decided to trade off the detectability of the World War II type torpedo wakes for the lethality of those 2000 pound warheads. The Deputy stood back from the chart.
“Are there any questions?” he asked.
The officers continued to study the chart. There was not much to ask; the plan was straightforward.
“This is a simple plan, but there are many things that can go wrong,” said the Captain, leaning back in his chair. “The weather, the schedule of the carrier, passing escort vessels, an equipment casualty here in the boat, interference from merchant shipping, both in the river tomorrow night and in the operating areas the next afternoon. We cannot plan for all of these things—we must simply be alert, aware, and ready to deal with the unexpected.”
He looked around the table at his department heads, making sure he had their attention.
“I want all of you to go through your spaces in the next twenty-four hours. Prepare the boat for battle. Prepare the boat for underwater damage, for silent operations. Prepare the men to fight. Review with them damage control procedures, isolation procedures, medical first aid. We did not come out here to die for the Jamahiraya; we came out here to exact justice from the Americans, to execute a smashing success against the American Navy, and to return as heroes to our homeland. The outcome of this battle shall be as Allah wills it, but if the enemy continues his sleep, we shall do all of these things. That is all.”
The officers stood, waited for a moment to see if the Captain was going to leave, and when he did not, they filed past him. Their voices rose in excited tones as they scattered to their various compartments to make final preparations. The Captain put his head in his hands, his arms akimbo on the table. The silence in the wardroom was broken only by the sounds of fans and the air vents as the submarine loitered 300 feet beneath the surface.
“Well, Musaid, we are nearly there,” he said, lifting his face out of his hands and rubbing his eyes. “How long has it been—six weeks?”
“Nearly that, Effendi,” rumbled the Musaid, who remained standing behind the Captain’s chair.
“I think we actually have a good chance to do this outrageous thing,” said the Captain. “The Americans are truly asleep. What we must watch for now is the chance thing, the unexpected thing, the hissing thing that emerges from a sand dune and strikes your foot while your eyes are fastened upon the horizon. We have had an abundance of good fortune so far; I fear for the day of battle that we may run out of it. Make your way through the boat for the next night and day. Sharpen the men’s edge, build their confidence. There are still those who think this is a suicide mission; make sure they understand that I do not feel that way and that I will make every effort to get all of us home.”
“As you command, Effendi.”
Mayport Marina, Wednesday, 7 May; midnight
Mike parked the Alfa in the nearly empty marina lot; Diane’s white four door was parked up by the office, under one of the pole lights. The office was dark, as was Maxie’s forty two foot sloop, which he moored right next to the ramp leading down to the piers from the office. As Mike walked across the floating pontoons, the cool air from the river junction eddied around the boats, clinking the rigging on some of them, and making others bump and creak
against their pilings. It was a clear night, with only a sliver of a moon. Only the sounds of the kitchen fans from Hampton’s disturbed the night air over the waterway. The Lucky Bag was also in darkness as he walked down his pontoon.
against their pilings. It was a clear night, with only a sliver of a moon. Only the sounds of the kitchen fans from Hampton’s disturbed the night air over the waterway. The Lucky Bag was also in darkness as he walked down his pontoon.
He went aboard, and headed aft to the porch deck. Diane was in the chaise, her long figure draped demurely in a white bathrobe. She silently handed him a gin and tonic as he sat down on the foot of the chaise. He took it and set it aside, and then pulled her into his arms for a long kiss. She sensed that he needed strength more than loving, and held him against her for what seemed like a long time. He pulled away finally and kissed her again, and then recovered his drink.
“I stink of ship,” he announced. “I’m going to take a quick shower. Be right back.”
He went below and stripped down, pitching his khakis into the hamper, and headed for the shower, where he stood for a long time, trying not to think about anything. Diane joined him after a while and they made love awkwardly in the shower, laughing afterwards at how difficult a slippery, wet shower stall made everything. They dried off and went back out onto the porch deck. Diane gathered her robe tighter, as the light breeze after midnight was almost chilly. They sat together on the long, rattan couch at the back of the porch, completely in the shadows. Out on the waterway a lone Chris Craft motor cruiser rumbled south, all of its windows dark and only side lights reflecting across the light chop in the channel.
“This is so perfectly—I don’t know the word,” Mike said at last, nuzzling her thick, damp hair. “If you’d come to live with me we could do this every night.”
He surprised himself with what he had just said. She felt him tense up as he waited to see what she would say, whether she would let it pass by as an offhand comment or address it seriously.
“Did you plan to say that?” she asked, softly.
“I think my subconscious just said what I didn’t have the
nerve to say,” he replied. “I know it’s probably a totally impractical proposition, but I wish you would.”
nerve to say,” he replied. “I know it’s probably a totally impractical proposition, but I wish you would.”
“I don’t think we could just set up house here in Mayport,” she murmured. “This is altogether a Navy town.”
“Boats move,” he replied. “I could put an engine in this old girl and we could go anywhere it suited us to go. I’ve got plenty of money saved up; I wouldn’t even have to go to work for a couple of years. We could do the intracoastal, see a lot of the country from the perspective of something besides Navy orders. Whatever, as long as we’re together.”
She turned to face him, her eyes shining, the features of her face indistinct in the darkness. He traced the line of her cheek with his fingers, seeing like a blind man, combining touch with memory to see her face.
“I mean it, Diane,” Mike persisted. “I love you and want you. I’d really like to marry you if you’d consider it. I know we’re talking divorce and all that hassle, which is easy for me to talk about but a bitch for you to go through. But: I think your marriage ended a long time ago, and I don’t think J.W. Martinson gives a damn about anything but his career and occasionally his girlfriend up there in Norfolk. You don’t even have to marry me if you don’t want to, I’ll settle for just having you here, however you want to work it, I’ll—”
She put her fingertips on his mouth to shut off his increasingly urgent flow of words.
“OK,” she said, so softly he almost didn’t hear it.
“OK? Did you say OK?!”
He gave out a loud warwhoop, which echoed around the Marina. Diane clamped her hand over his mouth this time, but he was laughing and hugging her and kissing her all at once. She finally calmed him down, and then sat up on the couch to look him in the eye.
“There’s a condition,” she announced.
“Oh-oh,” he said, in mock fear. “She wants a church wedding. Her mother will have to live with us. She wants—”
“Will you shut up,” she said. She ran her fingers through her hair for a moment.
“My condition is this: I will handle the business of separating from J.W., and you will stay out of it until it’s a done deal. I know you’re going to want to help and be supportive and all that, but you’ve got to let me do it, my way, and my rules, OK?”
“Whatever you say, Diane, but I’m not sure—”
“Because if the Navy finds out that you and I have been seeing each other, you will get sudden orders out of here, that’s why. My husband and I can call it quits privately and discreetly, and the Brass’ll smooth it over. But if I run off with one of the destroyer Captains, there’ll be all hell to pay. So—my way, OK?”
“You got it,” he said, wonderingly.
A woman who thought ahead and who understood consequences was a new phenomenon in his life. God, what a catch. Diane felt another warwhoop coming on, and smothered it with a kiss. Mike was so happy he forgot all about the submarine.
But it came back when they were nestled in bed below. It was a little past one in the morning, and Mike had set his alarm clock for 0600, which had brought the entire reason for their sundown departure tomorrow—today—back in a flood of concern. He lay awake, with Diane cuddled in the crook of his left shoulder. Her breathing indicated that she was asleep. Mike stared at the dark ceiling of the cabin as he worked through the possibilities of the next seventy two hours. Light from the channel buoys winked on and off the ceiling, first green and then red. The waterway made small noises under the transom of the boat.
It would be a close run thing, as Wellington had described his adventures at Waterloo. On their side was an element of surprise, in that the Libyans probably thought they were undetected and might get a free shot at the Coral Sea. Just by showing up, Goldsborough complicated the submarine’s problem a lot. The water was not very deep, so Goldy’s sonar had a good chance of getting contact, as long as Mike managed to place his ship in the same part of the ocean the Libyan picked.
That was the rub: the Libyan CO could hide anywhere,
just lurk on the bottom or very close to it, and come in from any direction at all when the carrier hove over the horizon. Maybe, he reasoned, the Exec was right: Goldy ought to go out covertly, not pinging, quiet ship, operating on only one screw instead of two, and using only her commercial radar. Don’t turn into a destroyer until late afternoon Friday when we get radar contact on Coral Sea. But where? Where along that thirty mile long approach track to Jacksonville would the sub be? At the seaward end? If so, they had little chance—too much ocean to search. But then, the sub had the same problem. The only area where the sub CO knew he would find the carrier would be at the Jacksonville end of the approach corridor; the carrier could come
from
any direction, but she had to end up at the St. Johns river. The sub was going to get only one chance; once the carrier got into or even near the river channel, she was safe from torpedoes.
just lurk on the bottom or very close to it, and come in from any direction at all when the carrier hove over the horizon. Maybe, he reasoned, the Exec was right: Goldy ought to go out covertly, not pinging, quiet ship, operating on only one screw instead of two, and using only her commercial radar. Don’t turn into a destroyer until late afternoon Friday when we get radar contact on Coral Sea. But where? Where along that thirty mile long approach track to Jacksonville would the sub be? At the seaward end? If so, they had little chance—too much ocean to search. But then, the sub had the same problem. The only area where the sub CO knew he would find the carrier would be at the Jacksonville end of the approach corridor; the carrier could come
from
any direction, but she had to end up at the St. Johns river. The sub was going to get only one chance; once the carrier got into or even near the river channel, she was safe from torpedoes.
What if the carrier ignored his warnings and kept coming? Maybe she would be safer if she did—if she turned away back to sea, the sub would get another shot at her, or as many as she wanted until Mike got lucky. It all depended on whether or not Goldy gained contact before the carrier first entered the torpedo danger zone. Maybe, he thought, maybe the thing to do is warn him to do a big zig zag around the “mines” and then continue into Mayport and safety. If Mike had the sub engaged, that might be the best maneuver. Yeah. Get Coral Sea inport or at least inshore and then it’ll just be Goldy out there. Alone in the open ocean with a submarine full of fanatics who’d just been cheated out of their primary target. He wondered how fast he could get Goldy into Mayport if that happened. Horseshit, you stay out there, find the bastard, and bag his ass. Right, John Wayne. And the rest of the Navy will be behind you. Way behind you, as they used to say in ’Nam.
The other thing was that they had to shoot fast once they gained contact. This meant that he would have to break the conditioning of years of peacetime ASW practice. Any time a Navy ship was given a sub to exercise with, the objective was to gain and hold contact for as long as possible, to
maximize training for the sonarmen and the CIC plotting teams. But in a real fight, you had to make your classification very quickly and then fire, before the other guy did the same thing to you.
maximize training for the sonarmen and the CIC plotting teams. But in a real fight, you had to make your classification very quickly and then fire, before the other guy did the same thing to you.
Fire. Fire what? The torpedoes would be next to useless in shallow waters. They’d go screaming down into the depths, turn on their homing sonars, and see the bottom. Oh, shit, they’d have to use depth charges! That meant Goldy had to literally run over the top of a maneuvering submarine that was hardly going to stand still long enough for him to drop depth bombs.
He felt the urge to get up and walk around while he sorted out all the possibilities. Diane stirred in the crook of his arm, but then went back to sleep, which ruled that out. My God, she said yes! He thought about that for a while instead of the submarine. However this whole deal came out, she had said yes, she’d leave the jerk and come to live with him. He fantasized about taking his Navy retirement and spending a year or so wandering the coastal waterways with Diane at his side. Have to put an engine in the Bag. He considered the engineering details of that project and was soon asleep.
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