“In view of the fact that both the Japanese officers were known to be experts in jungle warfare and inasmuch as the U.S. Navy’s Marine Corps is now engaged in a bitter battle to hold on to Guadalcanal, it has been officially decided that the, ah, mining of the bath house was a heavy loss to the enemy and Mako is hereby given credit for sinking one, ah, Japanese bath house!”
“Bloody good show!” Major Struthers bellowed. “Our turn now?” He looked at the Australian General, who nodded.
Major Struthers executed a smart left face, took two steps and did a right face and cracked his boot heels together. He put his riding crop under his left arm and snapped off a smart salute, his right hand quivering at his hat brim in the Australian Army style. The Operations Officer returned the salute and Major Struthers held out his hand. The General stepped forward and gave him a manila folder, one of two such folders the Major had handed him when he walked up on the Wharf.
“It is my privilege to present you with this copy of my report to our General Command, sir.” He handed the folder to the Operations Officer.
“I will summarize the contents for the benefit of those here and for the benefit of the U.S.S. Mako’s Captain and officers who have not seen the report,” Major Struthers went on.
“I have detailed the special mission from start to end with my own estimates of damages inflicted on the enemy.
“I have strongly endorsed what I assume you know already, gentlemen, that Captain Hinman is a courageous, aggressive, highly skilled Naval officer with a fine crew.” He drew a deep breath.
“Further: I have made a strong recommendation that Captain Hinman and Chief Torpedoman’s Mate Gordon Rhodes be awarded the Order of the British Empire for gallantry in action in the face of the enemy!
“I have strongly recommended that the Submarine Command, United States Navy, serving in Australia in the common effort against the enemy, be commended by His Majesty for their daring use of the submarine as a diversified weapon and that the U.S.S. Mako and each member of its crew be commended by His Majesty for gallant service!” He stepped back a pace and saluted again.
The Australian General cleared his throat.
“We are most happy to forward Major Struthers’ recommendations, gentlemen. I might add that the Major’s recommendations will carry great weight. Recommendations for the award of medals for gallantry and for commendations for gallantry which come from a holder of the Victoria Cross with a bar for a second Cross are most seriously considered.”
There was a dead silence on the Wharf. Joe Sirocco nudged Don Grilley slightly. Grilley nudged back to let Sirocco know he understood. The Major had taken no part in the Wardroom discussions about defective torpedoes and the political bickering in the Brisbane Submarine Command. But he had, by his résumé of what he had put in his official report, effectively spiked the guns of those who might have intentions of reprimanding Captain Hinman for his prodigal use of torpedoes.
The Australian General cleared his throat again.
“I might add this to the Major’s report, gentlemen. Major Struthers is a very dangerous combat man. He has been threatening for a long time to bag a General. Now that he has done so I think I can sleep safely of nights!” A gust of laughter swept the Wharf.
“The buses will be here at fourteen hundred hours, Captain.” The Operations Officer was talking to Captain Hinman. “You’ll have to warn your men to be on their best behavior. The Canberra Hotel, where they’ll be quartered, is a temperance hotel, that is, there is no drinking allowed. We have no separate accommodations for your Chief Petty Officers but the good people of this city beg us to quarter Americans in their homes. The Chiefs will be billeted in private homes if they so desire. Officers will be housed in homes we have leased for the duration. My aide will get together with your Executive Officer and take care of the details. If you don’t mind, I’ll send a car for you and your Executive Officer at fourteen hundred so we can get the de-briefing over with today. I’ll have read your report of the patrol by then.”
“This place don’t allow no liquor or beer, that right, Pops?” Ginty growled at the one-armed elevator operator in the Canberra Hotel.
“Matter of speaking, that’s the way it is,” the old man said. “But us old sojers stick together. I lost my left flipper in the first Big War, at the Dardenelles. All you have to do is let me know what you want. Same price as you’d pay in the pub.”
“You wouldn’t have a girl up that empty sleeve, would you?” Ginty grinned.
“I’m past the time for that, bucko,” the old man said. “But you’ll not want for girls. All you have to do is stand on the street corner and look lonesome. There’s women so starved for a man in their bed in this city they’ll fair kidnap you!”
“God!” Mike DeLucia said from the back of the elevator. “We’ve all been killed and gone to Heaven!”
“My first reaction to your patrol report,” the Operations Officer said to Hinman and Sirocco, “is that your tactic of a night surface torpedo attack on the convoy you sighted was wrongly conceived. You wasted four torpedoes on a destroyer escort. We are very short of torpedoes, Captain! One would have been enough. Two at the most.”
“I felt I had to fire the spread of four, sir,” Hinman said. “It was a down-the-throat shot, sir.”
“If you had made your initial attack against the troop-carrying ships, as ordered, the odds are you might have had a much more advantageous firing angle, sir,” the Operations Officer said. “One torpedo fired at the first two troop-carrying ships, one torpedo at each ship, would have brought the destroyer escort back to his charges and you could have picked your firing angle. If you had been submerged, as you should have been, the DE wouldn’t have had a chance! You stayed on the surface and enticed the DE!”
“Sir,” Hinman’s voice was stubborn, “I fired at the DE in what I thought was the best action I could conceive. Once the escort vessel was out of the way I could set up and fire one torpedo at each troop-carrying ship at leisure, take my time, get my hits.
“I did that. As I noted in the patrol report, I fired at seven hundred yards. I made each set-up very carefully. The torpedoes ran too deep! My sound man, there isn’t a better officer in the whole of the submarine Navy than Lieutenant Cohen, heard the fish run through the target bearings, sir! Even when I set the depth at zero feet on the last torpedo it ran under the target!”
“Captain, the torpedoes do not run deeper than the depth setting! I should know, I spent two years working on torpedo depth setting and performance! You missed!”
“Sir,” Hinman said, “with all due respect, sir: Captain Rudd fired three torpedoes out of Plunger’s forward tubes before I left Pearl. Fired them through a net. Each torpedo ran much deeper than set to run. One fish ran almost sixteen feet deeper than it was set to run!”
“Three torpedoes fired in a hastily contrived operation do not constitute a body of proof,” the Operations Officer said calmly. “Show me the results of three hundred torpedoes fired in a carefully supervised test at a proper test range and I’ll consider the evidence of those tests and evaluate them. You Pearl Harbor Captains are very good at complaining about your torpedoes, sir. All of the senior officers in the South West Pacific Command are torpedo experts; we all worked on them at the range in Newport. Your complaints about torpedoes will get no ear in this command, sir! As for the rest of your patrol, I congratulate you.
“The special mission to rescue the missionary and his family was carried out very well. The way your crew treated those unfortunate people has been noted and will undoubtedly be noticed by Sir Winston Churchill. It will help cement better relations between our two nations. This last special mission at Bougainville, very well done, sir!” He paused, his eyes distant.