The Massachusetts was running dark: no lights, no radar, and no radio, to help keep from being seen. Running dark, he thought, what an ironic match for my mood. The sophisticated BQQ10 Sonar and the AN/BSY-2 tactical system created a three dimensional representation of everything around the sub, including other ships, buoys and shipping lanes, but you still needed to watch out for debris and silent objects on the surface of the water, such as logs or dead trees that had escaped through rivers and found their way into the ocean, and the stray shipping container that had fallen off a freighter. That’s why his being on the top of the sail was so important.
“Passed Coupeville, new heading 270 degrees,” John Silverton, his Executive Officer, reported from the control center below. With the new heading, the open ocean lay straight ahead with new challenges and new concerns. Maybe now I can leave the broken part of my life behind.
Once the Massachusetts had submerged and settled in at a depth of 500 feet, Lieutenant Tiffany Grimes gathered her crew in the torpedo room. “As some of you are aware, the torpedoes stored in this compartment fall into four general classifications: the Mark 48, Mod 7’s are the heavy weapons of the Massachusetts, we also have several Mark 50’s, Mark 54’s, and ten Mobile Submarine Simulator or MOSS decoy torpedoes. The handling and readiness of each of these weapons is our responsibility. Safety is our primary concern. Each of these Mark 48 torpedoes is 19 feet long, 21 inches in diameter, and weighs 3,695 pounds. If one of them gets loose in here, people get injured or killed and our equipment becomes damaged. If that happens the Massachusetts loses its combat readiness. In addition, each Mark 48 carries a 650 pound high explosive warhead, so we’re not going to drop one, are we?”
“No, ma’am,” they all replied.
“Okay, Petty Officer First Class Caleb Johnson is your team leader. We are going to practice loading and unloading each of the different torpedoes until the operation becomes smooth, fast and automatic to everyone. Petty Officer Johnson.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. The Mark 48, Mod 7 is an ADCAP, an Advanced Capability torpedo with CBASS, the Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System installed. It can be programmed to run in several different modes, listen for and acquire any number of targets and can also be guided by wire. These torpedoes cost the Navy $3.8 million apiece. The Massachusetts exists as a platform to transport these devices, identify targets, and deliver these weapons to those targets.
“Notice how each torpedo is cradled in the heavy steel frames and bolted into place with three clamps. This is because the Massachusetts can tip, roll, turn, rise and fall in any direction. The only time a torpedo is not clamped is when we are loading or unloading it. We’re going to begin with this one.” He placed his hand on a Mark 48 mounted near the deck.
Tiffany kept track of the time as he led her crew through the extensive safety procedure of moving the lifting frame in place, unbolting the torpedo clamps, and securing the torpedo to the lifting frame. The hydraulic cylinders lifted the torpedo above the cradle. Once in position, the lifting frame was driven forward by gears on a track, where the torpedo was placed on a loading tray. From there it was moved in front of an open torpedo tube and hydraulically pushed into place. The needed connections to the torpedo were made, the tube door was closed and locked and the torpedo tube was filled with water. Tiffany was learning the intricate process at the same time as her crew.
She looked at her watch. “Okay. Good job. You safely loaded your first torpedo. Load time was forty-eight minutes and twenty seconds.”
“How long is this supposed to take?” Hector asked.
Caleb Johnson grinned. “In case you thought this was a vacation cruise, best time so far is eight minutes and thirty two seconds.”
“We’ve got to cut forty minutes off our time?” Hector asked.
“Yes,” Tiffany said. “There are no shortcuts. Safety first. We are going to be loading and unloading torpedoes twelve hours a day, every day we’re at sea. This torpedo is ready to be programmed by the fire control center and fired. Right now, we’re going to drain the tube and leave the torpedo in there for this patrol. The Mark 48 right over here is your next one to load and it goes in this tube, so let’s get started.”
CHAPTER 25
“What’s the emergency?” Willa asked as she entered Betty’s Gift Shoppe.
“I’ve just been notified by my wholesale distributor that only one in ten products on my order are available. How can I run a gift shop without gifts?” Betty asked.
“I saw on the news that Chinese freighters have stopped showing up at ports on the west coast. Is that behind this?”
“Almost everything I sell comes from China. Your sister’s a senator, can you call and find out how long this is going to last?”
“I’ll get back to you later today,”
When Willa entered the City Office building, the receptionist handed her four phone messages.
“These all came in in the last ten minutes?”
“Yep,” she said. Just then the phone rang again. “You want to take this one or should I take a message?”
“Take a message — I’ve got to call my sister.” She walked into her office, closed the door, picked up the phone and punched in the number. “Yeah, this is Willa McBride, is my sister available? Yes, I’ll hold.” She flipped through the phone messages: the hardware store, the drug store, Marty’s Beach Wear, Klinger’s Grocery Store. They all needed the same information: when would they get their products? “Liz? Yeah, products from China. What’s going on?” She closed her eyes, breathed out heavily and sat down as she listened. “Short term or long term?” This is bad, she thought, really bad. “Okay, thanks.” She hung up the phone.
She grabbed the new message on her way out the door. “Keep taking messages, I’ll be making the rounds. Let everyone know I’ll visit them today.” She crossed the Village Center and entered Betty’s Gift Shoppe. “Which of your best selling items are from China?”
“The ceramic knick-knacks. The White sided Dolphin is our top seller.”
Willa picked up one of the last remaining ceramic dolphins. “What else?” Betty pointed out six more knick-knacks. Willa selected one of each. “Can I borrow them for a few days?”
“Sure, what are you up to?”
“You’re going to need a new supplier. We have a ceramics club here — I’m going to see if they can make these for you.”
“But how much is that going to cost?”
“I don’t know that yet, but what I do know is you’re not getting any more from China in the foreseeable future. So for now it’s local or nothing.” Betty’s mouth was still hanging open as Willa walked out the door.
Two blocks away was Andrea’s home where her ceramics club met every Wednesday afternoon. “Willa, what are you doing here?”
“There’s an old Chinese saying — every disaster comes with an equal opportunity, which I find ironic at the moment.” Willa laid out the ceramic knick-knacks on Andrea’s coffee table. “Is it possible to make molds of these and then duplicate them?”
Andrea picked up the White sided Dolphin and studied it closely. “Yes, I can duplicate this, but designs like this are either patented or trademarked. It’s against the law to infringe on the design.”
“And if I can work it out so you could own the trademark on the design, would that make a difference?” Andrea raised her eyebrows. “Can you work up a price for, say, a quantity of a hundred at a time?”