Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

94 JEFF EDWARDS
Bleeding from their shattered ears and dazed by the concussive force of
the explosion, the two remaining engineers managed to scramble up the
steep ladder to the engine room’s upper level. By the time they were
through the watertight door at the top of the ladder and had dogged it
behind themselves, the water level was halfway up the sides of the
acoustic isolation modules for the gas turbine engines.
The larger of the turbines, a 50,000 horsepower Olympus TM3B, ran
on—oblivious to the water swirling around its airtight isolation module.
Its air supply and exhaust were routed through ventilation ducts that were
still well above the water level. Closer to the blast, the isolation module
for the smaller boost-turbine had been penetrated by shrapnel. Seawater
poured in through several holes, quickly drowning the engine.
The ship began to slow.
Rising water reached an electrical junction box and shorted it out in a
shower of sparks, igniting the fuel slick, and instantly converting the huge
compartment into an inferno.
The ship’s firefighting systems were more than adequate to handle the
blaze. Fifteen cylinders of compressed halon gas stood ready to suppress
the flames with a combustion-inhibiting chemical reaction. An extensive
network of piping and sprinkler nozzles stood ready to spray hundreds of
liters of firefighting foam throughout the massive engineering
compartment, blanketing the fuel slick with a layer of chemical bubbles
that would smother the flames and form a vapor barrier against reflash.
Neither system was activated, because neither system was automatic.
Both systems required manual activation, either from control panels
located inside the engine room or from duplicate control panels in the
passageway outside the main entrance. Bloodied and dazed by the
explosion, neither of the escaping engineers had thought to activate the fire
suppression systems.
Fed by the still-gushing fuel pipe, the fire grew larger, stronger, and
hotter.
On the bridge, the captain shouted, “Hard right rudder! Get us around
so the port Phalanx can cover us!”
“Helm, aye! Sir, my rudder is right thirty degrees, no new course
given!”
A dazzling ball of flame lit up the sky as a Sea Dart missile swatted a
German fighter jet out of the air. Kensington’s heart jumped in his chest.
His pulse was racing, and every explosion brought another involuntary