Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

SEA OF SHADOWS 191
it wasn’t the worst of it. Whiley’s planning was straight out of the
textbook.
The chief shifted uncomfortably in her seat. There were three
commanding officers in the room, besides Whiley himself. Surely they
wouldn’t leave it up to her to say something. She was the only noncommissioned
officer present, and Whiley had already made it perfectly
clear that she was less than the dust beneath his chariot wheels. If she
opened her mouth, he would stick his foot down her throat. And pissing
off a full-bird captain would not be a good way to start her afternoon.
She was about to take her chances and say something anyway, when
Commander Bowie spoke up. He cleared his throat. “Ah, Captain? If I
may?”
Whiley continued for a few seconds before the interruption filtered
through to his brain. He stopped in mid-sentence and stared at
Commander Bowie. “Can I do something for you, Commander?”
Commander Bowie cleared his throat again. “Yes, sir. I can’t help
noticing that your search and attack plans follow Navy doctrine pretty
closely.”
Whiley smiled. “Thank you for noticing that, Commander. I pride
myself on keeping abreast of the latest tactics. Train like you fight, and
fight like you train. Anything else will get your ass shot off.”
“Yes, sir,” Commander Bowie said. “Ordinarily, I would agree with
you one hundred percent. But we’re dealing with an unusual case here,
Captain. We’re taking on submarine crews that are trained in NATO
tactical procedures. If we try to use NATO strategies against them, we’re
going to get our heads handed to us.”
Captain Whiley’s cheeks reddened visibly, even in the semidarkness.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Commander Vargas, commanding
officer of the Benfold, jumped in. “With all due respect, Captain, I have to
agree with Commander Bowie. So far, every ship that has tangled with
these guys has followed standard doctrine, and all they’ve got to show for
it is a string of downed aircraft, dead Sailors, and broken ships. We’re the
last line of defense here, sir. We can’t afford to make the same mistakes
they did.”
Captain Whiley pressed a button on the remote, and the lights snapped
on without warning, half-blinding everyone in the room. “Are you two
seriously suggesting that we flush years of battle-tested doctrine down the
toilet and start over from ground zero?”
Commander Culkins piped up. “We wouldn’t exactly be starting from
ground zero, sir. Commander Bowie and his USW team have already