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SEA OF SHADOWS 113
“He says it’s not unusual for subs in a rotating diesel barrier to alternate
their depths according to a predetermined schedule. That way, not all the
subs are at periscope depth at the same time.”
“This isn’t exactly a rotating diesel barrier,” Shari said.
“True,” said Andy. “But that’s the closest tactical example that anyone
can think of. Nobody’s had to deal with a roving diesel wolfpack since the
Second World War.”
“I understand that,” Shari said. “But we still don’t know for a fact that
the subs are sticking together. What if we get all our eggs in one basket,
and some of those subs slip by us to the north?”
“They’re going to have to refuel somewhere,” Andy said. “The intel
weenies think they’ll head for Tobruk, Libya. That’s the nearest port
that’s seriously hostile to the good old U.S. of A.”
Shari glanced at her own fuel gauges. “Sounds like a pretty big gamble
to me,” she said. “How much time will we have on station before the
carrier gets there and steals our thunder?”
Andy took a swallow of coffee. “Those guys are making tracks. We’ll
probably have the Op-Area to ourselves for an hour before AEW gets
there.” He shrugged. “The carrier will be, what? An hour behind that?
An hour and a half, maybe?”
Shari pursed her lips and nodded once. “Let’s make the most of it. I
want to have those subs filleted and on a plate before the big boys even
stick their toes in our Op-Area.” She pulled her headphones from around
her neck and positioned the left earpiece over her ear. The other earpiece
she put over her right temple, leaving her ear uncovered so that she could
hear her copilot. She keyed her mike. “George, let’s get FLIR warmed up
and ready to play.”
The TACO’s voice cracked in her left ear. “You got it, Lieutenant.”
Down in the belly of the plane, the Forward-Looking Infrared cameras
came to life and began scanning the water below and in front of the aircraft
for thermal signatures. The temperature contrast between a periscope and
the surrounding water was sometimes drastic enough to make it detectable
to IR. But FLIR really worked best against snorkeling submarines. A
snorkel was a specially designed ventilation pipe that a submerged
submarine could extend above the surface of the water to allow its diesel
engines to suck in fresh air and expel exhaust gasses. In the infrared
spectrum, the heat plume from a snorkeling engine was like a giant arrow
pointing directly back to the submarine.