Butler smiled at Hammond. “I think we have a true believer,” he chuckled. Hammond nodded.
Footsteps sounded from up the passageway and Master Chief Garza rounded the corner. The Master Chief recognized LCDR Macke and smiled. “What the hell, Commander,” he said. “I was just getting ready to hit the sack when a Marine shakes me loose.”
“Master Chief, we need your expertise,” Butler said extending his hand. “What do you know about the equipment in this room?” he asked.
You could tell the Master Chief thought it was a joke. “That stuff?” he shook his head. “I haven’t worked on that kind of gear for at least 20 years.”
“But you do know how to get it online.”
The Master Chief rubbed the stubble on his chin and gave a sigh. “Yes sir, I guess so. I remember slaving over this stuff up through second class, and it was in all the training courses I had to take. I can run down to the old ET shop and see if the schematics are available for all this stuff. If not, I guess I can wing it a little. What do you want to try and bring online first?”
“Let’s bring up the HF transmitter and receiver first. Even if we only have the key, it’s better than nothing,” Hammond chimed in.
“Do you think this will make a difference, sir?” the Master Chief asked.
“Chief, if this works, it will probably be the only way we can communicate with the rest of the world for a while. If we can get most of this gear working, we might be able to talk to the fleet,” Hammond said.
“Then let’s get it working sir,” the Master Chief grinned.
Lieutenant Collins and an array of sailors and technicians came in a minute later. The doors were opened and the people poured into the rooms, uncovering equipment and searching for manuals. The two high frequency transmitters were located on the back bulkhead. They were nondescript lumps of steel cabinet with a couple of gauges on the front. The Master Chief opened the front and stared at the inner workings. The old tubes were dusty, but still solidly in place. He pulled out a rag and cleaned each one. Then he took his pocket meter and checked for power. The circuit was dead. “The first thing we need to do is get power up here, Lieutenant.”
Collins turned to one of the sailors who took off toward the engine rooms and the main switchboard. Three minutes later, the meter jumped to read 220 volts. By then, one of his team had returned from the old ET shop with some old technical manuals and test equipment. The Master Chief set up the equipment and continued checking circuits in the old transmitter.
That was when Rear Admiral Rich Thacke walked into the room. He was in civilian clothes and obviously just out of bed. His normally perfectly groomed hair was a mess and his clothes wrinkled, but his demeanor told everyone an admiral had just arrived. He scanned the people with his eyes and settled on Butler. Then a small grin appeared on his face. He and Butler had worked together on several occasions involving the White House and even during some fleet operations. Thacke was an operator — meaning he knew ships and men and how to get the jobs done. His respect went to other operators. He and Butler had hit it off very well. “Jim, what the hell have you got all my people doing around here? Last I heard this was not part of your territory.” Thacke was a hard nosed officer that liked things by the book. He knew right away that Butler wouldn’t be here unless it was important. If it had been anyone else, he would have chewed them up and spit them out. Of course he also knew who the Captain represented.
Butler introduced Hammond and then laid out their ideas. After a few minutes the Admiral nodded. “That’s a good idea. If we can get some phone lines set up like I was told by Macke, this ship could act as a comm center for the whole area. How long do you think it should take, Master Chief?”
“Not too long sir,” he said from inside the cabinet.
The admiral nodded. “Okay then, if I’m up, let’s get cracking.” He called over a sergeant and told him to get up the cooks. One of the things Thacke was famous for was making sure the workers were taken care of. Within 30 minutes there was hot coffee and some pastries for people to snack on.
It took nearly an hour, and the temperature in the space became sweltering, but the old Master Chief and two of his crew finally stood up and grinned. “I think we’re ready here,” he said. Then he turned to another man working on some other equipment. “Is that thing set up yet?” he barked.
A First Class Petty Officer closed the front of a small box and flipped the switch. A red light came on the front panel. He had already attached a microphone to the set. “Hang on a sec,” he said as he walked over to a small switchboard and reset some knobs. “This should do it, Master Chief. You all set?”
The Master Chief nodded. “You sure those guys got the antenna hooked up?
“Yea, Master Chief. I watched them bolt the lead on myself, and the line was tested before they set it up. You should be ready to go.”
The Master Chief looked back at the old transmitter and smiled. It was sitting in stand-by. The old tubes had warmed up and glowed like new. When he checked the test points, they were pretty close to their calibration settings. He ran his hand over the now warm cabinet and turned to the admiral, who was munching on a cookie. He held up the microphone.
The admiral shook his head. “Give it to Captain Butler.”
The Master Chief handed Butler the mike. “You want to do the honors?”
Butler took the microphone and the room got silent as every eye turned toward him. He keyed the mike. “Any station this net, any station this net, this is USS Barry, USS Barry, over.” He waited a moment for a reply. He then repeated his call. “Any station this net, any station this net, this is USS Barry, USS Barry, over.”
Suddenly a voice crackled over the speaker with a pronounced British accent. “USS Barry, this is His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, I read you loud and clear, over.”
A cheer rang out through the old radio room as the reply came in. The men slapped each other on the back with congratulations. In the midst of the congratulations Butler keyed the mike again. “Portsmouth, this is USS Barry at the Washington Navy Yard, Captain Butler speaking. We are establishing communications and request you maintain a watch on this frequency. Also, can you notify Whitehall that we have established this circuit so we can maintain communications for the near future? As we get more equipment online we will use this circuit for coordination, over.”
Another voice came on the line. “USS Barry this is Captain Longwood. I am fully aware of your situation and will set things up from this end. Do you have the capability of encryption, over?”
“This is Captain Butler. Not at present; however, if you understand about our situation, you will know the difficulties we face. We may have to use one time ciphers initially or the Allied Signals Book, ATP-1. We need to get organized on this end, over.”
“Roger, Captain. We are standing by for any changes. If there is any way to give us the nomenclature of the eventual equipment or code, my people will be ready to match it. I have the ATP-1 available when usable, over.”
“Thank you, Captain. We will relay equipment requirements via the Prime Minister’s office, over.”
“Very good, Captain. We will be standing by here if you need us, over.”
“Thank you, Captain, we will be back shortly, out,” he said. He hung the mike in its holder. “Well, we are in business,” he said to the admiral.
The admiral clapped him on the shoulder. Then he turned to Collins. “I want a 24-hour watch in here in case we get a call. I have a feeling that this is going to be a busy place for a while.” Then he addressed the Master Chief. “How long before you get the rest of this gear up?”
“It will take a couple of days, Admiral,” he said. “We need to weed through the sets and see what will work. Voice and key will be okay, but there aren’t any encryption units here. They were all taken off. I may even have some sideband stuff up later on, sir. I will get people on it right now.”