Hodges commented to Benson, “That’s a new twist.” He opened the second coded message. It only read: “DEPLOY CUTLASS – SECTOR 21 –2300 HOURS.”
Sector 21 was code for specific navigational coordinates given to Captain Hodges before he left port. Hodges asked Benson, “How close are we to the coordinates?”
The XO replied, “About two and a half hours at our current speed.”
Hanna was getting ready to end his duty shift and head to the mess at his assigned chow time. Ben Schneider, sonar operator and Hanna’s friend, also changed duty shifts at this time and they often went to mess together. Captain Hodges waved Hanna and Schneider over to him and said, “Why don’t you two grab some quick chow and return to control. I want you both as lookouts when we surface.”
Hanna and Schneider both nodded and said “Yes, sir,” and quickly made their way to the mess. Both grabbed a tray and got through the mess line quickly and sat down to eat. Tom Guerra, one of the SEAL team members, had a duty schedule similar to Hanna’s. They frequently came to the mess at the same time. Hanna had gotten to know Tom quite well.
Neither Wade nor Schneider uttered a word about the messages they just heard read in the control room. Both knew Hodges’s rule that, “What you hear in the Control Room stays in the Control Room.” This rule especially applied to all who worked in or around the control room.
The conversation turned to typical topics of football and basketball standings, family stories, and movies. Hanna and Schneider seemed to be eating faster than normal. Tom had been there longer and noticed they were finishing their meal at the same time he was. Tom was about to say something about their unusually fast eating when the captain came on the intercom.
“This is the Captain. We just received orders from CNO to deploy Cutlass at 2300 hours. We are about two and a half hours to launch point. Bravo members check with your team leader and prepare for deployment.”
Tom jumped up from the mess table and briefly stared at Hanna and Schneider but didn’t say anything. Hanna broke the uncomfortable silence by asking, “You guys ready?”
Tom replied, “We’ve been ready.” Tom left their table to return his tray while Hanna took a last bite of mashed potatoes. When Wade looked up, Tom had turned back from the hatch waving his hand for Hanna to come over to him.
He asked Hanna, “Look, can you do me a favor? We can’t deploy with any personal effects. I have this picture of my wife Cheryl. I wrote her phone number on the back. When you get onshore would you please give her a call? You have been a friend and I want her to know that we were shipmates and you saw me just before I deployed -- just in case anything goes wrong. It’s kind of code between us – she’ll understand.”
Hanna said, “Sure, I’ll see you onshore when all this is over.”
Wade put the picture in his shirt pocket and returned to the control room with Schneider. Captain Hodges and XO Benson were discussing deployment procedures. The captain looked up when he saw Hanna and Schneider, “You guys can get some shut eye now, be back here at 2200 hours. We’ll call you if we need you before.”
Both replied “Yes, sir,” and went back to their respective bunks in different parts of the boat. Hanna laid in his bunk thinking about the SEAL Team Bravo and their mission. He didn’t know exactly what their mission was except that Tom had mentioned they were meeting up with a Ranger team on shore.
All Hanna knew was they had a hell of a lot of what looked liked explosives, underwater gear, and weapons going with them. He also knew these guys were tough and had rehearsed their departure procedures at least three times a day and several times live at sea. Hanna thought these guys knew their stuff and hoped they would make it.
Hanna looked at the picture that Tom had given him. Cheryl was beautiful. He wondered what it must be like being married and in this situation. Tom told him they had been married eight months and were expecting their first child. Hanna’s heart was pounding as he thought about what Tom would be going through. He tried to lay back and get some sleep, but that was not going to happen.
Hanna and Schneider arrived in the control room five minutes early and reported. The captain said, “Get your glasses and stand by.” Lookout binoculars kept in a control room cabinet were passed to the two lookouts. The captain said, “Hanna take the starboard, and Schneider take the port.” The captain turned to the XO, “Are we close, Charlie?”
Benson replied, “We’re almost there” and ordered the helmsman to turn two degrees starboard.
The captain, looking at his watch, asked for a sonar report.
The sonar operator replied, “All clear, sir, both screens.”
A few seconds later the captain said, “Charlie, let’s bring her to periscope depth; I want to take a look around.”
The XO responded by giving the order to bring the boat to periscope depth at a five degree bow angle. Within 30 seconds the XO said, “At depth, sir.”
The captain ordered, “Up periscope,” and turned his hat around to view the periscope optics. The captain rotated in a slow 360 degree turn and asked for sonar and radar readings.
The operators indicated, “All clear, sir, both screens”.
After he carefully viewed the surface, the captain commented, “We have a good overcast night with no moonlight. It’s like a tar pit out there.” Then he asked, “What’s our time, Charlie?”
The XO replied, “We are on coordinates now, 20 minutes early, sir.”
The captain grabbed the intercom mike and said, “This is the Captain, Bravo Team. We are on coordinates getting ready to surface. The XO will give you the signal when we’re on the surface. Report your readiness to deploy.”
He said to the XO, “Give me a low profile on the surface, like we discussed.” He questioned, “Lookouts ready? I want sonar and radar readings, short bursts, every twenty seconds.”
The operators acknowledged.
The captain replied, “Keep your signals very short. I don’t want to telegraph our arrival.”
The operators replied “Aye sir” confirming the captain’s order. Hanna and Schneider tucked their binoculars in their shirts as standard procedure so they wouldn’t be hit going up the ladder and through the hatch. When the hatch is opened sometimes the captain wants to go up first and other times he wants the lookouts to precede him. The boat surfaced, and the XO opened the hatch, bringing a small amount of sea water into the control room. The captain said, “Lookouts above.”
Hanna went first and assumed his position on the starboard side followed by Schneider on the port side. The lookouts immediately started searching the horizon as they had been trained and done many times before. The captain came right behind the lookouts and assumed his position in the center of the conning tower below them. He turned to the lookouts and said, “I want full 180 degree sweeps from the hull to the horizon and the air space above. Call out any floating objects. We may have mines in the area.”
Both replied confirming the order. Each lookout carefully searched the ocean from the hull to the horizon in ten degree increments, adjusting their binoculars as they moved to different distances. While the lookouts were scanning, the captain picked up the com mike and said, “Charlie, I need more air under us. We have a two foot chop.” The captain wanted the lowest possible surface profile, but not at the expense of compromising the deployment.
The XO knew what the captain needed and immediately ordered seawater expelled from the boat’s diving tanks. The vessel rose a little higher in the water.
The captain said, “We’re fine now, Charlie.” He asked, “Are the lookouts clear?”
Both replied “All clear, sir.” as they continued their visual search pattern.
Next the captain asked, “Charlie, is Bravo ready to deploy?”
The XO replied, “Yes, sir.”
The captain said, “Lights out in compartments below deployment hatches.”
Charlie replied, “Yes, sir.”
The captain said, “Bravo can deploy when ready; mark
our time.”
While maintaining his sweeps of the horizon, Hanna couldn’t help but notice the SEAL Team in action on the deck below him. He kept one eye in the binoculars and the other on what was going on below. Two hatches quietly opened, one forward and one midship. Two SEAL Team members dressed in black wet suits, their heads covered with blackened faces and wearing black gloves, appeared on deck. The dark overcast night provided a small reflection of light off the shiny diving suits. The two team members each carried a large package with a black compressed air canister. They did not run but moved in a hurried walk.
The team members positioned themselves at two previously designated places on deck and began unfolding their black packages. Air canisters were released and the packages expanded into two black rubberized inflatable boats. When the boats were filled, they were secured to the hull at predetermined locations. A third inflatable was passed to the men on deck and its canister released. As the three inflatables took their positions, additional men appeared on deck. Equipment boxes were passed through the hatch and placed at predetermined specific locations on deck in a choreographed ritual.
During the operation, SEAL Team members didn’t speak to each other. All communication was by hand signal. Each member had a flash light on his waist belt with a dark red filter. The lights were being used to read numbers on the side of the equipment boxes and to signal when a task was completed. In less than fifteen minutes, their extensive supplies were on deck being loaded in a particular order into the slightly larger inflatable. The supply inflatable was covered in a dark camouflage pattern material similar to the team’s wetsuit and tied down on all sides. Two SEAL Team members closed the hatches as quietly as they had opened them.
The SEAL Team quickly boarded two of the inflatables, with men aligned behind each other on both sides. They began to paddle into the two-foot chop with the supply inflatable in tow. One SEAL Team member in the lead inflatable turned back and gave a hand signal to the captain.
The captain called out to the XO “Bravo Team deployed; what’s our time, Charlie?”
The XO replied, “27 minutes, sir.”
As Bravo Team pulled away, Hanna looked one last time through his binoculars. He focused along the line where the inflatables left the Prowfish. He saw only a foggy black night where SEAL Team Bravo was once visible. There was no sign of either the team members or the inflatables.
The captain ordered, “Lookouts below.” Glasses were quickly stuffed in the lookouts’ shirts, and Hanna, then Schneider, slid down the ladder into the control room, followed by the captain.
The XO was waiting to close the hatch behind them and declared, “Hatch secured.”
The captain said to Benson, “Take us out the same way we came in, then dive to 160 feet and resume prior course.”
The XO replied, “Aye, sir.” The XO immediately communicated the captain’s orders to the control room crew.
The captain said, “Charlie, send CNO a coded message: ‘Cutlass Deployed Sector 21,’ and our deployment time.”
“Yes, sir.”
The XO asked the captain, “How did it go up there?”
“Smooth as silk. We had good overhead cover, no moon, and we were on time.”
The captain continued, “That SEAL Team has enough ordinance to blow up half of Cuba. I think they’re going to stash the hot stuff tonight and meet up with a Ranger Team and await orders. It’s tense out there; you can feel it in the air. Something big is going to happen.” He went on, “Let’s recharge batteries after we clear the area between 0100 and 0400 hours while we still have this overhead cover. After that we go hunting for our Russian Target.”
Hanna returned to his bunk and reflected on the operation he had just witnessed. He looked at Cheryl’s picture again and felt concern for his friend Tom as he drifted off to sleep.
28
A couple of days after deploying SEAL Team Bravo for Operation Cutlass, life on board the Prowfish settled into a normal routine. Captain Hodges was following his search pattern according to intercept coordinates and orders given by Command. Hanna was about halfway into his watch when the sonar operator in the compartment behind him spoke out, “Captain, I have a sonar contact bearing 135 at 9,200 yards.”
The captain, who was in discussion with the XO about coordinates, stopped in mid-sentence and said, “Give me a broad band reading, and put the readings through the analyzer.”
The sonar operator confirmed and put the reading through the analyzer, which applied algorithms to the signal, providing much more detail. The resulting signal breakdown was displayed in several different graphic formats before him on two screens. The operator said, “Captain, this looks strange. You’d better come have a look, sir.”
Hodges replied, “I’m on my way,” as he headed to the sonar room. He and the sonar operator crammed in the small operator’s room for several minutes before the Captain commented, “This is very interesting. Call the XO over.”
Benson came over and also jammed into the already crowded sonar room. Hodges and Benson discussed several displays. Benson pointed at the screen and suggested, “If we change course to this direction we may be able to get a broadside reading.”
The captain agreed, and the XO gave the new order for a course correction to Hanna who immediately complied. The Captain also ordered the engine room to slow speed. For now, the captain was content to stay at long range and collect sonar readings from several angles.
At one point, the captain said, “I think this may be our Target. It’s not clear what she’s doing right now.”
The XO responded, “Do you think she can see us?”
“I don’t think so at this distance. She’s not acting like she does, and I don’t think the Russians have equipment with this range. For now, let’s just take our readings from a distance. As soon as we know more, we’ll send a message to CNO and see what they want us to do.”
After several more course changes and sonar readings, Wade finished his watch and was ready to head for the mess. His replacement assumed his helmsmen’s position and started his duty watch. As Hanna was leaving the control room, the captain told him, “When you finish chow come back here and check in with me, I’m working on something.”
Hanna replied, “Yes, sir.”
After his meal, Hanna returned and the captain explained, “Charlie and I are talking about getting closer to the Target, but I don’t want to do that until we get more sonar images from this distance. I’d like you to help the XO plot some of these approach angles so I have a better feel for our options. We have a number of ideas, but we want to first see if the target continues in the same direction for the next 4 hours.” He continued, “Why don’t you get some sleep and meet the XO here at 1300.”
Hanna replied, “Yes, sir,” and retired to his bunk and soon fell asleep.
Hanna was fresh when he met Officer Benson at the designated time. Benson explained, “The Target changed its pattern over the last four hours, and we’re trying to figure out if this is a new pattern or a variant of the old one.”
He showed Hanna the plotted patterns.
Hanna asked, “May I comment, sir?”
XO said, “Surely.”
“I think it is a variant of the old pattern, sir. You see the tail in this early pattern and the one here. I think they have just extended this tail for some reason,” he said, pointing at the chart.
The XO considered Hanna’s thoughts. “You may be right. Our next move will be to get closer for readings and see if we can find the Target’s sonar range, but we want to keep enough distance between us to stay out of effective torpedo range.”
The XO continued, “Assuming the Target maintains the same pattern, we can get 1,000 yards closer at this point. If we beat her to this spot we can run silent and wait for her to pass our stopping point,” pointing to one of the charts.
The XO asked, “Can you plot that scenario Hanna?”
“Yes, sir.”
The XO said, “I need dire
ction, speed, depth, and time to get to this point before the Target turns on her next leg,” pointing to the chart.
Hanna answered, “Yes, sir. I will have that in few minutes.”
Benson said, “Good, I’m going to be working on a more aggressive scenario. The captain is getting shut eye right now and will be up in an hour.”
Hanna and the XO plotted their respective courses, and the captain soon joined them in Control. He looked at their work and decided to take the more aggressive course of interception. Just after ordering the new course change a coded message came in from CNO. This was the message prepared by Marks and Simon but sent through normal naval command channels encrypted for secure transmission. The unencrypted message read:
“INTELLIGENCE HAS CONFIRMED TARGET WAS SOURCE OF RELEASED INTELLIGENCE AGENTS OFF MISSISSIPPI COAST. TARGET IS BELIVED TO BE NEW CONVENTIONAL POWERED SUB WITH NEW NUCLEAR HULL DESIGN. NO REACTOR. ILLNESS ON BOARD IS BELIEVED TO HAVE COME FROM TARGET’S RELEASE OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL FROM AFT TORPEDO TUBES. DO NOT TRACK FROM REAR POSITION. TARGET MISSION NOW UNKNOWN. BELIEVE TARGET IS WELL ARMED BUT MAY HAVE ORDERS NOT TO ENGAGE. MAINTAIN CURRENT ORDERS FOR TRACKING AND ID BUT DO NOT ENGAGE UNLESS TARGET TAKES AGGRESSIVE ACTION. KEY WEST AWS SQUADRON ORDERED TO YOUR LOCATION TO OVERSEE ENGAGEMENT. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION.”
After reading the message aloud, the captain said, “Belay that last course change and return to our previous course.”
The helmsman replied, “Aye, sir.”
The captain was prone to often thinking out loud. He was looking at the XO, but really talking to himself as he said, “We have a lot of new information to consider in this new communication. We have to stay away from the aft of this Target. We don’t want to follow her. She may have a hull capable of diving deep. She’s well armed but may have been ordered not to engage. We have Key West AWS squadron coming into the situation, which means they will take over our operation. I think we have limited options now, but our sonar readings may still be helpful to the CNO.” The captain now addressed the XO. “Is that the way you read it, Charlie?”
Silent Sanction: A Novel Page 18
