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SEA OF SHADOWS 193
Captain Whiley glared at her, and for a half-second he seemed to
consider refusing to give her the pointer. But apparently he couldn’t think
of an even remotely viable reason for refusing such a simple request, so he
dropped the pointer into her outstretched palm.
“Thank you, sir.” The chief flicked the power button on the pointer and
directed the beam toward the all-but-forgotten video screen. The
computerized projection was nearly washed out by the fluorescent
overhead lights, but enough of a ghost image was visible to make out the
Straits of Hormuz and the neat black arcs and lines that represented
Captain Whiley’s assessment of the tactical situation.
In the lighted room, the dot of the laser pointer appeared more pink
than red. Chief McPherson maneuvered the pink dot back and forth in a
semicircle, tracing and retracing a curved black line on the captain’s
programmed projection.
“As I understand it, sir, this is the farthest-on circle for time fourteen
hundred local. Is that correct, sir?”
“Yes,” Captain Whiley said. “Yes, it is.”
“And you computed it using the formula for diesel submarines found in
standing Navy USW doctrine?”
“Of course I did.”
The chief swallowed again. “Sir, with all due respect, it’s not only
wrong, it’s not even in the ballpark.”
The captain grabbed a stack of hardcopy printouts of radio messages
lying on the table and began to rifle through it. “You sound pretty sure of
yourself, Chief. Am I to assume that you have better access to satellite
intelligence data than I do? I assure you that my data is up to the minute!”
“I’m certain that it is, sir. But you’ve calculated the rate of travel for
the subs at fifteen knots for the first hour and five knots for every hour
after that.”
The captain nodded. “In accordance with tactical doctrine, Chief.
Now, will you please make your point?”
“Captain, those speed figures are based on the fact that a normal diesel
submarine operating on batteries can only sprint for about an hour before
its batteries begin to go flat. After that, it has to slow down drastically, or
it won’t have enough battery power to run even basic systems.”
The captain crossed his arms. “I know this, Chief. In fact, I’d venture
to say that every person in this room knows it. That’s just about the first
thing the Navy teaches you in Surface Warfare Officer school. But I’m
sure we all appreciate the refresher training.” He reached for his pointer.
“Can we continue, now?”