“Arnie, can this be kept quiet indefinitely?”
“Probably. Since the two involved governments have no wish to say anything whatsoever.”
“And what about the guys? Someone may eventually talk.”
“If he does, it will be dismissed out of hand as the rantings of a lunatic.”
“And how about the President? Does he go along with this?”
“The President’s out of it for the moment. All he wants is to cruise through the last couple of years of his second term…and to see his beloved son again as soon as possible.”
“Which leaves us to organize a Navy Board of Inquiry, right?”
“That’s it, Joe. It’ll happen in San Diego, under the auspices of CINCPAC. Makes sense. CINCPAC is Captain Crocker’s Commander-in-Chief. He’s the guy who decides what happens downstream of the inquiry.”
“I just hope it doesn’t get messy…but I know it’s unavoidable.”
“You can say that again. The U.S. Navy simply cannot lose a billion-dollar SSN and not have an official and formal explanation to both the government and the taxpayer.”
“Jesus. You mean the Board of Inquiry hearings have to be public?”
“Hell, no. They’ll be held in camera, with a lot of witnesses. But the findings will be made public. The Board’s report will have to be published, with its recommendations.”
“And that’s where life could get a little tough…if they start recommending the severest reprimands, or even censures, of the senior officers of the ship.”
“Might not even stop there, either,” replied Admiral Morgan.
“Huh?”
“In a case such as this, they could actually recommend the court-martial of the CO or his XO, or even both.”
“A court-martial? Hell, Arnie, I wouldn’t think so. We don’t court-martial for carelessness. Only the Brits do that, and even then they usually find the captain not guilty. It’s been years since the Navy court-martialed anyone for anything that was not actually criminal.”
“Maybe, Joe. Maybe. But there is nothing ordinary about this case, and I’m interested to hear whether anyone decides to draw a firm line separating a genuine but inexcusable mistake from gross negligence. This is a very, very big loss…it’s beyond imagination that a captain with firm orders not to get detected proceeded to do so, two or perhaps even three times, and then crashed into a Chinese destroyer…I mean, Jesus…it sounds like the boat was being driven by some kind of nut.…Joe, I would not be surprised to see a recommendation for a special court-martial. Unless they got some real classy alibi.”
“Well, I hope they don’t feel the need to go that far…because that’s likely to muddy up the waters real bad. As it is, that Board of Inquiry is going to be told their brief, and indeed their powers, are restricted to those actions that led up to the submarine’s loss of propulsion in the South China Sea. They are not empowered to ask any questions beyond the moment when the Chinese moved in to assist them. Otherwise we’ll end up with a public report, which details the whole gruesome saga. Which no one needs.”
“Hell, no. We gotta avoid that, Joe. In fact, I think for the purpose of this inquiry we’ll have a Navy lawyer from the Pentagon sitting in at all times, to make sure our guidelines are strictly followed.”
“I don’t think we can avoid that, Arnie. But this might mean that the senior officers of the submarine may feel they have to be legally represented. Some of them might. I wonder whether the captain himself might be advised to do so.”
“Well, I think he would, Joe. And this will almost certainly mean the President will insist Linus has some hotshot attorney in his corner. I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I think it’s better we advise the President that’s what ought to happen. In Linus’s interests.”
“Of course, we don’t even know whether Linus was personally involved in this debacle.”
“No. We don’t. But I somehow doubt Judd Crocker achieved it all on his own.”
“Arnie, do I have the power to stop this?”
“Yessir. But you’d have to do it publicly. You’d have to say, Look here, guys, I’m the goddamned Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces and I hereby order you not to inquire formally into the loss of USS Seawolf. Do not come up with any conclusions or recommendations. Just forget about the whole thing.”
“Well, I plainly cannot do that.”
“Not if you like working here.”
“What I meant was, can I just ask you to express on my behalf a general disapproval of putting these brave men through some kind of a trial? Might my disapproval not be enough?”
“Nossir. It would not. The Navy is obliged to inquire into the loss of any warship. We cannot just put it down as bad luck and write the ship off. No one would put up with it. Least of all the Senate Armed Forces Committee. We cannot be held unaccountable for our actions. Not least because such an attitude would be held over our heads forever…What do you need? Another five billion? And you don’t even have to explain where it goes?”
“Well, Arnie, I really do not want any criticism or blame attached to anyone over this.”
“Sir, you might make that view known. It worked for the Brits after the Falklands War back in 1982. They found it politically convenient to avoid any courts-martial, which there probably should have been…they lost seven ships, for Christ’s sake. But there was no action beyond regular Boards of Inquiry. But I do not think your admirals would ever approve of a presidential restriction being put upon the men inquiring into a very serious disaster that cost the Navy a coupla billion dollars.”
“How about the other tack, Admiral? How about I threaten not to approve the massive increase in shipbuilding budgets unless they do what I say over this inquiry?”
“Sir, if anyone other than my loyal self ever heard you say that, proceedings would begin to have you removed from this office. Remember, sir, it’s Linus. His presence, right in the thick of this mess, makes you an interested party…interested to see your son exonerated from whatever blame there may be.”
“Arnold, I am interested. I do not want Linus in disgrace. And I’m not having it. You heard my threat. Do not ignore it. Though I shall deny ever having said it.”
“Sir, I am going to pretend I never heard any of the last few sentences you have uttered.”
“That may or may not be a wise move on your part. It could cost your beloved Navy a couple of aircraft carriers.”
“Then so be it, sir. The budget veto is your privilege. But I could not recommend you use it as a blackmail weapon to save Linus’s reputation.”
The President stood up and walked to the end of his office and back. And then he asked a question that had plainly been on his mind: “Have you seen the preliminary reports from Seawolf?”
“Nossir.”
“Are they in? Have the admirals read them?”
“I do believe so, sir.”
“Do you have any idea what they contain?”
“Nossir. Except there was a mighty problem right before the collision in the South China Sea.”
“Do you have details?”
“Nossir.”
“Could I demand to see the reports?”
“Yessir.”
“Would they acquiesce?”
“To the parent of one of the officers? I doubt it.”
“No, Arnold. To their Commander-in-Chief.”
“Possibly, sir. But they have one weapon that will always finish you. Any one of them could just say, ‘This is tantamount to corruption. I resign from the Board and I shall have no hesitation in making my reasons public. Crooked President.’