by David Capps
“Yes, Sir,” Billingsly said as calmly as he could. “We could…”
“Enough!” the Secretary of Defense shouted. “We’re already getting pushed back by China’s military. We don’t need to make matters worse. Whatever you’re doing over there, shut it down, NOW.”
“Yes, Sir, but…”
“NOW, Admiral!”
“Yes, Sir,” he replied strongly. Billingsly turned and left. Why is all of this falling apart? And why now?
CHAPTER 24
Puget Sound, Washington
Captain Paul Jacobs stood in the small trapezoid-shaped observation platform in the top of the sail (or what used to be the conning tower on older submarines) and guided his vessel out of the Bangor Submarine Base and toward the open ocean. The U.S.S. Massachusetts – SSN 224 – was a Seawolf Class Hunter - Killer submarine, assigned to Submarine Squadron 5, Pacific Fleet, based out of Bangor, WA. The sub was 353 feet long and 40 feet wide, displacing 9,138 tons of sea water when submerged. The Massachusetts had a crew of 14 officers and 146 enlisted personnel on board.
Jacobs was amused at how Navy tradition had developed its strange and sometimes twisted logic. Technically, a boat was something small that could be lifted up onto a larger ship. The early submarines were small and carried anywhere from one-to-six-man crews, so they were boats. Over the years, submarines became much larger, but the classification of boat still stuck, even though the Massachusetts was considerably larger than many of the Navy’s ships.
Jacobs checked his watch: 2:08 AM. The weather report called for overcast skies. He examined the sky above for any large holes in the cloud cover. So far there weren’t any. The low fog that had formed on the surface of the water just after midnight swirled gently around the sub as it moved silently through the water, giving the Massachusetts the cover it needed. As one of the four most advanced submarines in the world, foreign countries tried hard to keep track of where it was, when it came into port, and especially when it left. Satellites and ground observers were his main concerns for as long as the Massachusetts was on the surface. Once he reached deeper waters and slid quietly beneath the waves, his sub would become the deadly invisible threat to America’s enemies that it was designed to be.
His mind drifted back to the awkward conversation he had had with his girlfriend, Lynn Waggoner. I needed more time to consider all of the consequences. She has obviously been considering her decision for months. Why couldn’t she give me the same time and consideration she took for herself? I asked her to wait until this next patrol was over, but no, she had to have an answer now. What did she really expect me to do? Disappointment and guilt filled his heart. He’d hardly spoken to anybody before they left port. At least now the duties and activities of being on patrol would consume his mind and his time. At least I hope they will.
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
Dolphin Beach, Oregon
“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 g
ot 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?”
Andrea studied the dolphin again. “Yes, I could do that. I have the clay, the colors and the glaze on hand. How soon would you need them?”
“How soon could your club make them?”
“Let me make some phone calls. I’ll let you know later this afternoon.”
“Perfect,” Willa replied. Her cell phone chirped and it was from Chelsea, her daughter. What now? “Chelsea?”
“Mom, I just got a call from Dakota. She’s at the mall in Astoria. She says the mall is being mobbed. People are emptying the shelves of everything. What’s going on?”
Willa covered her phone. “Andrea, I’ve got to go.” She walked out the door. “Chelsea, listen to me. I’ve talked with your Aunt Elizabeth. All products imported from China have stopped. There won’t be any more, probably for years.”
“Is our economy crashing?” Chelsea asked, a definite tone of panic in her voice.
“No.” Willa replied. “But you need to get Dakota out of there – she could get hurt. Tell her to leave, now.”
“Could you call her? She won’t listen to me. If I tell her to leave, she’ll camp out there. Please?”
Just what I needed in the middle of this emergency: an emotional teenager! Willa tried to calm herself. “I’ll call her. How did she get to the mall?”
“Friends’ parents were going. They dropped the girls off at the mall while they went to appointments,” Chelsea said.
Great, so they can’t actually leave. “Chelsea, don’t panic, I’ll take care of this.” Willa brought up Dakota’s name on her screen and connected.
“Gramma?”
“Dakota, honey, listen. Get your friends and get out of the mall. I don’t want you to get hurt. Do you understand me?”
“But everything’s disappearing! There won’t be anything left. We’re all going to starve.”
“Dakota, nobody’s going to starve. There’s plenty of food. It’s only things from China that are going to be out of stock for a little while. It’s all going to be fine. Now please get your friends and leave the mall. Do you have a place where you are meeting your friends’ parents?”
“At the east entrance,” she replied. “Don’t you want us to buy something before it’s all gone?”
“No, honey, everything in the stores will be restocked. We’re not going to be out of anything. It’s just stuff from China that will take a little longer to be restocked. Don’t try to buy anything. Just go to where you are going to be picked up and wait there.”
“You’re sure we aren’t going to be out of everything?”
“Honey, I talked with your Great Aunt Elizabeth in Washington, D.C. She’s taking care of the situation. Everything’s going to be fine, now please get your friends and leave the mall, okay?”
There was no immediate reply. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. You need to leave now, honey. Can you do that?” Willa waited through another awkward pause. “Dakota?”
“Whatever,” Dakota replied.
“Not whatever, honey, you need to leave, right now. Okay?”
Willa heard the sound muffled. She’s probably discussing it with her friends. I hope someone there has some sense. The sound cleared. “Okay, we’re leaving. Bye Gramma.”
I sure hope Elizabeth knows what she’s doing, because people aren’t going to settle down until the store shelves are full again.
CHAPTER 26
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
“The chair recognizes Senator Elizabeth Bechtel from the great State of Oregon. Senator, you have the floor.”
“Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and thank you for being here. We are facing the greatest political challenge in the last several decades. As you are aware, something drastic has happened in our relations with China. Even the most optimistic appraisals of the situation estimate it could take several years to resolve whatever is causing China to act against us the way it is. While our military is certainly able to protect us from an attack, our most immediate concern is what China’s actions are doing to our economy. All trade between China and America has come to an end, and it will not resume in the foreseeable future.
“We must act, and act now, if we are to prevent a major disruption to our economy. The reality is that one of every thirty-five dollars in this country has gone to China. That’s half a trillion dollars, every year. Yes, that’s trillion, with a T. One in every five products on American shelves comes from China. While we have considered China a Most Favored Nation for international trade, China has routinely ignored our patent laws and violated the patent protection we provide to American companies, which has resulted in the loss of sixty billion dollars every year to China in patent, trademark and intellectual property rights violations.
“Now that China has unilaterally ended trade with America, it is time to reset our trade policies with China. The proposed legislation will return all patents, trademarks and intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Chinese companies to America. This will free American companies to produce millions of products for American businesses that currently have no viable suppliers for their customers. We have struggled with a sluggish economy for the last eight years and I am sick and tired of hearing comments that this is a jobless recovery. This legislation will put two million Americans back to work, supplying billions of items to fill the empty shelves in our businesses, where eager Americans are waiting to buy them.
“We are the answer to this economic crisis. Any American company that wants to produce an item that has previously been made in China, can apply for, and be granted, exclusive rights to make that item through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This legislation will bring our
manufacturing jobs home, where they belong. If China doesn’t want us in their country, we don’t want their products in ours. It’s time we took back control of our own economy. Pass this legislation. The American people are relying on you, and our whole economy hangs in the balance. We have to act now.”
She looked around at the standing ovation her speech received. The Bechtel Bill, as it was known in the Senate, had 23 co-sponsors and was gaining bipartisan support by the hour. The House version, which contained the financial incentives and grants for American businesses to quickly replace Chinese companies in the supply chain, had 87 co-sponsors with another 43 Representatives committed to signing on later in the day.
Eight years of economic stagnation and political posturing, she thought, and all it took was bringing our country to the brink of war. What an elegant solution. “Carpe facultas,” she whispered to herself. Seize the opportunity, the means, while they present themselves. This is the gateway to greatness.
* * *
Senator Elizabeth Bechtel’s Chief of Staff had arranged a press conference to follow her speech in the Senate.
“Thank you for being here today,” she began. “We are facing what some are calling ‘an economic crisis.’ Some of our citizens have panicked and store shelves have gone bare. I understand your concern. But I do not view this as a crisis. It is certainly an economic challenge, but with every challenge comes an equal opportunity, and it is that opportunity I believe we should be focusing on today.
“Let’s look at this challenge more closely. One in five retail items have come from China in the past. That has stopped, and is not going to resume any time soon. This is not cause for panic. The bulk of our food does not come from China. Grocery store shelves are being restocked as we speak. There is no shortage of food. Gasoline stations still have plenty of gasoline with more on the way. There is no shortage of gas. Our heating fuel for winter does not come from China. We have plenty of heating fuel to keep us warm all winter long.
