“You know, I think that could be fun,” the President said. “Admiral, draw up and sign that contract. If you need me to sign it, bring it up,” he said over the telephone. “When you get back to Washington, I think you will find a few changes made. Come with Captain Hammond when you get in town so we can discuss a few other things I have in mind,” he said.
“My pleasure, sir,” Shranski said.
“Is there anything else to discuss?” the President asked.
“I don’t think so, sir,” Hammond answered.
“Good. Thank you all very much. Our country is in a bind right now and I’m glad we have people like you working to get it fixed. Mister Reardon, you may call me anytime,” he said. “Thank you again.” The line went dead.
Everyone in the room let out a whoop. Reardon came over and slapped Shranski on the back. “Mike, that’s one hell of a boss you have there.” He turned to Hammond. “And you, sir, are a shrewd operator. It’s a pleasure to work with you,” he said shaking Hammond’s hand.
Reardon then asked the people in the room to sit again as he brought up his ideas. “In order to make this work and get that bonus, I need people. Not just shipyard workers, but the workers that put those ships together and operated them. They are the ones who will know what to look for and how to get them working. Craig,” he said indicating one man at the table, “I want every retiree from this place identified and brought back in for this special purpose. If they worked on these things, then they get a bigger salary. Bill, get up with Ingalls and Brooklyn. Get what you can there too. I think even the old Philadelphia Navy Yard had some people. We got phones back, so let’s use them where we can. Tom, you get on the horn to Norfolk and get all the plans for these things. George, get the ball rolling internally to hire these people back and outfit them, then make sure all the shops are online and ready to go on a 24-hour rotation as of tomorrow. When these ships come in, I want work to start immediately and be at 100 percent until they are accepted by the Navy.”
Then he turned to Shranski. Admiral, we don’t have the access to the ammunition or the electronics that these things had. If something is broken, I can probably get it to work, but specialized equipment might be a problem. If you guys can deliver what radars you want on them, the fire control radars and stuff like that, we can get them installed and operating. Then you guys will need a crew. The quicker you can get them here, the quicker I can help you get them trained on where things are and how they work. After that, it’s up to you,” he said with a grin.
Shranski was taking notes. “I’ll see to it. Will you need any materials shipped here quickly? I can probably muster up some transportation.”
“I’ll need a couple train loads, but I can let you know. We have enough for now. The big thing right now is manpower. I am going to bring in a shitload of people to get these things out the door. The good news is that the work is mostly just time consuming. We’re not building hulls. Most of this is piping and clearing out the Cosmoline. I may even throw in some air conditioning for these older ones,” he said standing and extending his hand. “Mike, I’ll get them done for you,” he said. “And I’ll operate on a handshake until you get the ink dry,” he said.
Shranski took Reardon’s hand and shook it firmly. “Tim, let’s make history.”
After a few minutes RADM Shranski and Captain Hammond were walking out the front door of the headquarters building. They looked around for VADM Granger, but he and the car were gone. They heard a helicopter overhead and looked up to see the one they came on pass over them. Hammond looked over at Shranski. “The son of a bitch took our ride.”
Chapter 6
The Joint Chiefs stood when the President entered. He came in with Butler and the Secret Service agents in constant companionship. “Please be seated,” he said as he took his seat.
“Gentlemen, I called you all here today because things are not going totally as I asked. As you recall, I instructed each of you to come up with plans to be able to engage in a conflict. I said, based on your reports and estimates; that we would probably have to be prepared for at least a sealift and incursion on some foreign soil. I also asked for contingencies to do so in the soonest possible time.” He opened a folder he brought with him. “What I got from some of you was a pretty good start, but from others all I got was an estimate of how many ships and tanks to build, helicopters, aircraft, totaling well over two trillion dollars in one year alone, with the earliest possible start date being one year from now. Gentlemen, this is not good enough.
“What’s more, I have heard from my colleagues on the Hill that some of you have been shaking the tree to get all this paid for, not only without letting me know, but in opposition to what I requested. Gentlemen, never try to out-politic a real politician. General Black, you say you have 90,000 men and materials to sealift wherever needed and can go within 10 days after I say jump.” He smiled at the General. “We won’t have to go that quick,” he said with a grin. “You also recommended we take the ready force out of Diego Garcia and some of our European assets to provide the tanks and support. That’s a good idea. Quick and dirty.”
Then he turned to the Coast Guard Admiral. “Admiral your forces are ready with a few exceptions and you say here you don’t anticipate any problems with your current mission. Let me ask you, can your guys pull some escort duties if we need you?”
The admiral thought a moment. “Sir, we never have had much in the way of deep ocean equipment. My cutters are not all that big, but there are twelve of them if you need them. They weren’t affected by the EMP except for the electronics. Right now I have them using Morse and signal lights. We can cut out the drug interdiction and some of the mundane tasks and go wherever you need. The rest are coastal only.”
“What about helos?”
“Now there’s a problem. I can get about two-thirds of them up, but again it’s a radio thing. Once some of those NATO sets arrive, I can replace the basics and make due. Our birds just aren’t as high tech as the others. I do have a flock of old C-130s for coastal patrol. We can set some watches along the coasts. Won’t be much, but at least there’ll be some eyes overhead,” he said grinning.
“Nice work. Let’s start some of those patrols around the major ports as soon as we can.”
“They will be starting tomorrow sir. I kind of anticipated that.”
“Good. Now General Foote. I see you have been talking to some of my staff,” he chuckled. Butler had told him about the telephone call between Foote and Hammond after the trip to Norfolk. “How was your enquiry?”
Foote seemed to swell. He had been stumped by his politicking staffers until he talked to Hammond and heard his idea. From that point on, he was in the pilot’s seat and enjoying the hell out of it. “It’s still going to take some time, sir. But I have been assured by the people at Davis-Monthan that they can get 100 B-52s back online within 90 days if they pull out all stops. It will take longer if we do a full load, but I suggest we do just that. I want all the 52s, the F-4s, the 15s and 16s, and Warthogs they can spool up, and we can even include a bunch of others if the Navy wants them,” he said. “I talked to the CO and he is doing what the shipyards are doing, calling in everybody that can turn a screwdriver,” he said beaming. “I can probably have some equipment in the air at about the 50-day mark with a hell of a lot more a month or two after that. Your man had a great idea.”