by Stephen Makk
Nathan sat at the conn. “Planesman, up angle fifteen degrees, come to periscope depth.”
The deck angle tilted up at the bow, then levelled.
“Sonar, do we have any close contacts?”
“No sir. Just the usual port traffic, no big vessels making way close by.”
“Periscope depth sir.”
He looked into a monitor at his station and selected full rotation from the touchscreen. Nathan looked at the view on screen and rotated the view, all clear. He could pick off the bearing, range to any targets, and zoom in if necessary. The scope could switch to night mode if needed.
And there it was. Cape Orote, Guam, just three miles to starboard. It would be around the cape and into Apra harbour, then he’d come south into the base.
“Surface the boat.”
The USS Stonewall Jackson broke surface on an overcast but warm afternoon. There was a slight rolling sea from the west.
“Crack the hatch, COB.”
“Aye sir.”
Chief of the Boat was the senior enlisted man aboard. The boat’s COB was Seamus Cox, known as Dick, a tough shit eating Texan. The COB was in charge of all enlisted men, watch station assignment, racking assignments, and crew discipline. He was indispensable and could train, blame, curse like a rap star and chew ass.
The boat came to her assigned berth and tied up.
“Comms, make to COMSUBPAC that we’ve arrived.”
“Aye sir,” said Lieutenant Commander Lemineux.
The COB organised a roster and three skeleton crews to look after the boat, while most of the crew took a walk on shore. It was their first taste of land for four weeks.
Several hours later, the boat’s officers met in the wardroom for dinner. It was a simple affair but well made, with fresh vegetables that the cook had brought on board from the base store.
“Good to be off the boat for a while,” said Sayers.
“Yeah, fresh air blowing in your face. I grabbed a burger too,” said Weaps.
“I walked into a regular store,” said Kaminski, “and bought a magazine. Out there, they don’t know what it’s like to be able to do that,” she sniggered. After the meal, Nathan walked towards the control room. Lieutenant Kaminski squeezed her way down the companionway close by him, and pushed a note quietly into his hand. She picked up a few papers in the control room. “XO, sir, I’m going ashore for a time,” she said, “to make the most of it.”
“OK see you later.” Nathan wrote up the log, it didn’t take long, and then walked aft to his cabin. He took out her note from his pocket and read it; he smiled faintly. He changed into civvies and left the boat. At the main base entrance, he walked over to the first cab at the rank.
“Hi, boss. Come on in. Where are you going?”
“Take me to the Tamuning Hotel, South Marine Drive.”
The Tamuning hotel was an unassuming beige concrete building. Nathan took the elevator to the second floor, walking down the corridor until he came to room 211. He knocked softly. After a short pause, the door was opened by Lieutenant Nikki Kaminski. Her hair was down and she wore a blue bathrobe. She smiled and stood aside as he walked in.
“Hi sir, I’ve got something for you.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. “But first, you’ve been having those quick showers in the head while on the boat. You need a real shower, come on.”
He’d been involved with Nikki for a little while now. He knew he shouldn’t, but at least they’d kept it away from the boat. He hoped.
She pushed him into the bathroom and ran the shower. Nikki looked into his eyes and pulled his shirt off, unfastened his belt. Then roughly, quickly, pulled down his trousers and boxer shorts. She walked a few paces to the door and turned to face him. She smiled, lowered her chin and looked at him doe-eyed as she opened her robe, revealing her nakedness. Nikki let it fall to the floor. She slinked over to him and pushed him into the shower.
“Right sir, let’s get you scrubbed down. Then I’ve got someone who wants to meet this.” She took him in her hand and squeezed.
Later, she sat astride him on the bed.
“Look at my hair, Nathan. It’s all wet.”
“You look flushed.”
She got off him. “I need another shower, I’m fucked.” She smiled. They’d sleep on the boat tonight, travelling back at different times.
He dressed, then pushed the bathroom door open; she stood in the shower with her back to him. He ran his eyes up and down, taking in her shapely bum.
“I’m off back to the boat now.”
She turned and blew him a kiss. “See ya.”
THE FOLLOWING MORNING Nathan and XO Larry Sayers walked into Jeff’s Pirate Cove Bar and Grill, on the east side of the island.
A waitress wearing a cutlass and a black skull and bones bandana approached.
“What can I get you guys?”
“A Pirate breakfast with coffee.”
“Make that two.”
Nathan sipped his coffee. “Sooty raised an issue with me back at Pearl. Asked me how I’d feel about being permanently forward deployed here. What do you think?”
Larry shrugged. “Fine by me, it’s a good island. What did you say?”
“Pretty much the same as you. We’d get several free rides a year back to the mainland.”
As the waitress poured their coffee top up, Larry was vaguely aware of some guy walking towards their table.
“So, how are my dirty job boys?” They turned to see a smiling Rear Admiral Sutton; he was out of uniform.
“Hello sir.” They both stood and shook hands. The Admiral sat.
“I didn’t expect to see you out here sir. How did you know where we were?”
“I asked my secretary to track your cell phone.”
“Ain’t no place to hide now,” said Larry.
The waitress brought the food over, and Sutton ordered the same. “As far as the reason you’re here... Nathan, who’s on your war committee?”
Nathan quickly decided it would be the same as last time. It’d worked out well. “The XO here and Lieutenant Kaminski.”
The Admiral nodded. “I’ll brief you all together when we’re on the Jackson.”
THE THREE MEN CLIMBED down the ladder from the sail down into the submarine’s main companionway and Nathan stuck his head into the control room.
“Lieutenant Kaminski, come to the Wardroom. It’s a war committee meeting.”
The Admiral looked at them one by one. “The reason I asked you to come to Guam is that we have a mission for you. It’s going to be the most dangerous one that the USN’s carried out since the Cold War. The Joint Chiefs asked me to bring out the big stick for this one, so here we are. Do you know about operation Ivy Bells?”
“No,” said Nathan, “go on, sir.”
“Back at the end of the seventies, we.....
.....SO THAT WAS IT. A SPY sold the information to the Soviets and that was that. You’ll be aware of the recent events in the South China Sea.” There were nods around the table. “The Chinese occupied islands. We need to know more about them and what’s going on there. Therefore, we want you to do an Ivy Bells operation on these Islands. If the Chinese catch you at it, they’ll consider you to be hostile.” Admiral Sutton leaned forward and stared them one by one in the eyes. “They will attempt to sink you. This one is so secret that only the President, the NSA, The Joint Chiefs, me and you will know about it. Don’t tell wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends or even the pet dog about it. Do I make myself clear?”
They nodded.
“I said, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“Yes sir.”
“Yes sir.”
“We’ve flown in the bugs, as we’re calling them. They’re the listening and recording devices, they’ll need to be placed over the cables by divers. Also, we have two divers here who’ll join you to place the bugs, it’s a two man job. I’ll bring them aboard. I know space aboard is limited, so
they’ll try to keep out of the way.”
“We only need one of them,” said Nathan, “we have a very capable boat’s diver in CPO Innes.”
“These men are Navy Divers First class, specially trained for the task.”
“Then one of them will be able to teach Innes what to do,” said Nathan, his jaw set.
“No, they’re specially trained for the task.”
“How much diving have they done from a submarine?”
“They did some practice dives from a boat in San Diego.”
“And prior to that?”
“They’re good divers.” Did he sound apologetic?
“So they’re rookies at submarine work.” Nathan raised his voice. “Admiral, if they’re out there they need to know boat work. There could be nets, mines, underwater trips and all manner of things a boat’s diver knows about.” The XO looked across at Nathan, he thought, Boss he’s an Admiral. Nathan lowered his voice. “These people don’t know shit about any of that sir. Innes could be the difference between this working out and it turning into a giant clusterfuck.” Nathan paused. “I’ll take one of em. Innes can’t nursemaid two.”
“Commander Blake...” Oh shit, the XO thought, here it comes.
He cut the Admiral off. “That’s final, sir.”
The Admiral knew it was time to give ground. “Ok, one then. I’ll bring Hugo Alves and the bugs around later. You’re getting four, three to deploy and one spare.”
As the Admiral got up to leave, he took a RAM stick out of his pocket and handed it over to Nathan. “Here are pictures and documents of what we know about the Islands. You’ll know they’re top secret.”
“I understand Sir.”
“I’ll be back later on, Commander.”
Larry waited for Sutton to leave and then smiled. “You were pretty hard on the Admiral there.”
“I know, but it’s right, you never know what it is you’re going to find out there. I’m not a boats diver but I’ve tried it when I was on USS NYC. The dark, the bad visibility, the confusion. You’re working partly on instinct.”
The XO nodded. “Yeah, I’ll feel better having Innes out there with him.”
“I’ll give him the good news when we’ve sailed.”
“Let me know when you’re going to do it.” Larry grinned.
“Why are you going to give him a hard time and laugh at him?” asked Nikki.
“No. I’m going to the other end of the godamned boat.”
Nathan laughed. “Nikki, can you get your tablet, let’s take a look at these files?” They spent over an hour going through them.
“I knew this was going on, but not to this extent,” said Nathan.
“Yeah,” added Nikki, “they mean business. They must have cost a big pot of money.”
She got up and paced the room. “He said we’d be getting three of these bugs and one spare. I’d say Fiery Cross Reef is probably number one on our list. Then either Johnson South or Mischief Reefs.”
The XO nodded. “I agree, Skipper.”
“We deploy three. Yeah, let’s start with Fiery Cross. We do need to know more about these bugs, before we can put too much detail down. Come on Nikki, you named the last operation and that went well. So you get to name these.”
She looked through the files.
“Ok, Fiery Cross Reef is named after a British Tea Clipper who ran aground there. So that’ll be Operation Tea Leaves. Johnson Reef was the site of a skirmish between China and Vietnam, so that’ll be operation Skirmish. Mischief Reef may be named after the Tea Clipper Mischief, who sailed around these seas. So that’s Operation Clipper.”
Nathan smiled. “You got it. Open a file Nikki, Operation Tea Leaves. Let’s get to it.”
SOME HOURS LATER, A voice called down the sail.
“Hey, down there.”
The COB looked up to see a face staring down at him.
“Can we have a lift up here? We’ve got stuff to carry.”
“And who do you think you are? Get your ass off my fucking submarine.”
“I’m Admiral Sutton, get Commander Blake up here now.” The COB was mortified, he looked up with an open mouth.
“Right sir.” Within a few minutes the COB, Nathan and four ratings where on the quayside.
A truck with open rear doors was backed up to the boat’s access way; inside were four wooden boxes. They were around twenty inches square and five feet in length.
Admiral Sutton led over a short man, powerfully built, with swarthy skin and brown eyes.
“Commander Blake, this is Chief Petty Officer Hugo Alves.” They saluted each other.
Nathan saw the silver badge of a First Class Diver, a diver’s hard hat with fish curling around the neck.
“Welcome to Stonewall Jackson, CPO Alves.”
“Thank you sir. I’ve got slings in the van, could we get the bugs into the boat?”
“Yes, COB?”
Seamus ‘Dick’ Cox organised the ratings to help with the boxes. Men carefully lowered them down into the boat.
“Where do you want them, Dick?” asked a seaman.
“Stow them in the torpedo room.”
The boat was now fully replenished, but would meet a replenishment vessel in the Sulu Sea southwest of the Philippines, as they’d have voyaged 1,200 miles by then.
Nathan and the XO stood on the sail. “Take her out, Sayers.”
“Cast off.” He spoke into the microphone to the control room, down below. “Twenty degrees right rudder. Astern three knots.” The boat came about. “Centre rudder, ten knots.” They crossed Apra Harbour and left south of the breakwater. The sun had gone down and they headed west into an orange sky.
“It’s going to be a tough one, Larry. The PLAN is a lot more formidable than the North Korean People’s Navy.”
“I know, and they want those rocks so bad.”
“The boat’s going to need to be at her best out there. Nothing else will do.”
The two men climbed down the ladder and sealed the outer and inner hatches. Nathan went into the control room. “Set a course for the Sulu Sea.”
“Two two five degrees, sir,” said Kaminski.
“Make for that course, Planesman. Flood one and two, down bubble twenty. Open and trim vents fore and aft. Dive, dive, dive. Make your depth 70. Speed 17 knots.”
“Two two five degrees, 70 at 17, aye sir.” The deck sloped to forward and men leaned backwards to remain upright. On the surface, the huge bow wave climbed its way up the sail, until it was covered.
The USS Stonewall Jackson embarked on the most dangerous patrol for decades.
Chapter 3
NATHAN KNOCKED ON THE door to the Goat Locker; the Petty Officers’ quarters and rec room. “CPO Innes?”
“Sir he’s reading. I’ll get him.” Nathan heard the CPO in the bunkroom.
“You in there? Coz all I see is that jack off curtain. Come on Innes, quit beating your dick, the skipper’s here to see you.”
Innes came out looking like he’d been asleep.
“Could I have a word outside, CPO?”
They walked out into the companionway.
“Innes, we’re going to need divers where we're going. It’s a job for two. They wanted to place two divers aboard, but I said that we had a perfectly good one already.”
“Thank you sir.”
“You won’t say that when you find out what you’ll have to do. I did allow one on board, Hugo Alves, a Navy first class diver. You’ll be working with him.”
“I can do that. I’ve worked with Pork Chops before, sir.”
“Pork Chops?”
“A Portuguese, sir, Alves is a Portuguese name.”
“Ok, I’ll introduce him later. Get back to your bunk, Innes.”
NATHAN RETURNED TO the control room and removed the microphone from its holder.
“All hands, all hands.
We’re off on a new mission. It’s going to be difficult and dangerous, the Joint Chiefs wanted a big stick for this
one. So they came to us. We’ll need every swinging dick on top form for this one. We’re going into the South China Sea, where we’ll likely encounter the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN. I want you to know what we’re up to, because we’ll need to be at the top of our game. The South China Sea’s been disputed for centuries, but tension has risen recently. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei all have competing claims. China has been creating artificial islands in the South China Sea, growing small islands and former reefs forming the outcrops into permanent outposts by reclaiming land with millions of tons of imported rubble and concrete. Uncle Sam is pissed at this. They now include runways and ports. They’re frequented by ships and aircraft of the PLA and have their own surface to air missiles systems.
“Joe China thinks these Islands are his. China does possess a large part of the islands of the South China Sea. Most of The Paracels, The Spratlys and the Scarborough Shoal are de-facto Chinese territory.
“Back in the seventies it was the cold war, and we were able to listen in to Soviet communications by tapping into underwater cables. We targeted the cable running under the Sea of Okhotsk, from the Soviet navy base at Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka peninsula to the Pacific fleet HQ in Vladivostok. The idea worked; we’d tapped into an intel goldmine. The submarine Halibut had done it. She returned to the cable with a recording device they could leave on the seabed for up to a year.
“Well, you know what? We’re going to do it again. We’ve got three bugs we’re going to leave out there. Joe China won’t be able to take a dump without us knowing about it.
If the PLAN discover us, they’ll be looking to sink us. Stonewall Jackson won’t let ‘em.
This boat will have ‘em running around like a monkey fucking a football. We’ll be in Pearl laughing our asses off and listening to Joe stroking off.
“Just as an add on: there’s also been a change to the galley’s menu tonight. Ok, stop groaning. I know it’s pizza night, but we’ve taken on board a meal to go, from Jeff’s Pirate’s cove. So tonight, it’s a 16 oz Porterhouse steak, fries, salad and italian, all courtesy of the Navy. Or the big blue dick, as many of you know it. As you know, we’re not allowed to bring beer on board; but nobody told Jeff’s that. There’s one for everyone. I know you’ll do your duty and get rid of it down the pisser. Captain out.”
