“Aye-aye, Sir,” Silverton said.
Silverton was an experienced officer and was on a career path to become a submarine captain. This was his first assignment as an XO since making Commander and he needed some seasoning. The Massachusetts was a good place to learn. Silverton would make a good sub captain one day, but he still had a ways to go.
“Request sent and approved, Captain,” Silverton reported. “Now what?”
“The old Russian Alfas ran deep.” Jacobs said. “They were one of the reasons the Seawolf class was developed. The Virginia class sub will cover the twenty-to-thirty miles along the coast. Plot a course 60 miles parallel to the coast and head north at sixteen knots. If the ghost sub turned south, we want to come up on it as quietly as possible. Thermal layers will isolate the sound to specific layers, so make your depth 1,500 feet. That should leave a lot of the surface noise behind so we can focus on our ghost sub.”
“Aye-aye, Sir,” Silverton answered.
“Notify me if you hear anything.”
Silverton nodded and turned his attention to the men in the control center. “Come to a heading of 045 degrees; make your depth 1500 feet.”
“Course 045 degrees, depth 1500, aye-aye, Sir,” the helmsman replied.
“Once you reach 60 miles from the coast, come to a heading of 300 degrees and maintain depth at 1500.” Satisfied with Silverton’s orders, Jacobs retired to his cabin.
The officers of the Massachusetts met in the wardroom for lunch. Everyone was present except for a Lieutenant Junior Grade who remained on duty in the control center as the OOD, or Officer Of the Deck. Each officer was required, in addition to his or her main assignment, to spend some time as the OOD, mostly to become familiar with the command and overall operation of the boat. Once the meal was finished and the stewards cleared the dishes, leaving the officers alone in the wardroom, the conversation quickly turned to the ghost sub.
“What do we actually know about the ghost sub?” Tiffany asked. She was one of two female officers on the Massachusetts, the other one being a young Ensign currently assigned to supplies and general maintenance of the boat.
“We’re looking for an old Russian Alfa,” Lieutenant Commander Stephanos, the sonar officer replied. “They’re small and fast. The sound signature match is only 91 % instead of the usual 98 %, so some changes have been made over the years since it was last in the water.” Stephanos had been the sonar officer on the Massachusetts for a year and a half. He was five-ten, stocky with black hair and solid Greek facial features. Every time the chief cook on the sub fixed baklava for dessert, ten to twelve members of the crew would thank Stephanos, as if he had specifically requested the tasty dish himself. He hadn’t, of course, but it didn’t stop him from nodding and smiling every time he got credit for it.
“Probably a new reactor vessel,” Lieutenant Kent added. “Because of the small size of the Alfas, a liquid metal reactor is the only thing that will fit inside the hull.”
“The report from SOSUS says this sub was supposed to be scrapped,” Silverton added. “It doesn’t make any sense that the Russians would be using it. So odds are somebody bought it and refurbished it.”
“So who are we looking at?” Tiffany asked.
“That’s the big question,” Jacobs replied. “At this point it could be anybody.”
“North Korea, or Iran,” Stephanos suggested. “They would certainly have an interest in probing our west coast.”
“I’m thinking North Korea,” Kent said. “At this point, they have more submarines than we do.”
“We can’t ignore China, either,” Silverton pointed out. “If it’s not Russian — North Korea, China and Iran are the other big players on the board.”
“So is India,” Tiffany added. “But I can’t really see them trying to sneak around our west coast.”
“Me either,” Kent added.
“So North Korea, China, or Iran — is that what we’re thinking?” Silverton asked.
“That seems to be the consensus,” Stephanos added.
“Any one of those three could be a major problem,” Jacobs said. “The remaining question is — are they just gathering information or is this an operational mission, and if it’s operational, what exactly are they doing?”
“Personally,” Silverton said, “I don’t think it’s gathering intelligence information.”
“Why not?” Tiffany asked.
“The primary use for an Alfa is deep water,” Silverton replied. “You can gather more intelligence from the surface than you can from a thousand feet down. The only thing that makes sense to me is this is a covert operational mission.”
There was a momentary pause in the conversation as everyone mulled over the implications. “I’m inclined to go with a covert operational mission,” Stephanos finally said.
“Me too,” Tiffany replied.
“I’ll go with that as well,” Kent added.
“I agree with your analysis,” Jacobs said. “Who is behind the ghost sub and exactly what they are doing is going to have to wait until we find it, so for now, we go hunting.”
CHAPTER 32
Vice Admiral Billingsly checked on the storm building in the Pacific Ocean as soon as he arrived in his office. It was now officially Tropical Storm Loretta and was moving to the north. China was clearly guiding and building what would certainly become a full-blown hurricane. The prevailing westerly winds would normally push the disturbance toward the coast and the cooler water flowing down from Alaska would ordinarily suck energy out of the system. Neither of those things was happening. China was heating the atmosphere above the counter-clockwise rotating low pressure area while tightly controlling the dip in the jet stream that wrapped the intensifying depression on three sides. The only direction the weather system could move was directly north. The combination of heat and the left-hand circulation of upper level air guaranteed a very violent and devastating outcome.
The Secretary of Defense had called a general staff meeting for 0800 this morning. Billingsly checked his watch. His update from the NRO would have to wait. He walked through the network of halls inside the Pentagon. Because they were all laid out in the basic five-sided pattern with connecting cross-halls at regular locations, it was easy to lose track of exactly where you were in what amounted to an over-sized maze. After a while, every hall started to look like every other hall. Billingsly’s mind was focused on the storm in the Pacific Ocean. When he went to enter the conference room, he found the door locked. He stepped back and checked the room number. He had taken a wrong turn somewhere. He was in the “C” ring. The conference room was in the “D” ring. He hurried, but still entered the meeting several minutes late. The Secretary of Defense glared at him as Billingsly quietly took a seat.
“Because of these factors, the situation with China has become critical,” the Secretary of Defense continued. “I am thus issuing a stand down order for everything having to do with anything Chinese. You are to give Chinese ships and aircraft a wide berth. This applies to civilian as well as military craft and vessels. If they come into your area, you are to move away from them. Do not approach, do not attempt to contact. Any questions?”
“Yes,” the Secretary of the Navy said. “What about other countries? Russia, for example.”