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SEA OF SHADOWS 231
could shift, bleeding precious air out through some newly formed crack.
The water might gradually find its way into the space, slowly flooding the
compartment until all the air was gone. The chief swallowed heavily and
tried to push these thoughts from her mind.
Captain Bowie nodded toward the XO. “Thanks for the update, Pete.”
He looked at the team of men and women assembled around the table.
“I’ve already said a few prayers for the crew of Antietam—the unharmed
ones, as well as the injured, and the missing, and the dead. I intend to say
a few more. I know that you all have different religious beliefs, and that
some of you don’t believe in God in any form. But I would take it as a
personal favor if you would find the time over the next few days to say a
few words of prayer for the crew of Antietam.”
Every head around the table nodded slowly.
“Thank you,” the captain said. “Now, I’d like to turn this meeting over
to Chief McPherson.”
Chief McPherson stood up. “Thank you, Captain.” She walked to a
pair of charts that had been taped to the wall. The first was a navigational
chart of the Arabian Gulf region. The second was a geographic map of the
world. She nearly smiled; her visual aids were a far cry from Captain
Whiley’s whiz-bang computer graphics. She pointed to the chart of the
Arabian Gulf. “We are currently steaming through the Straits of Hormuz
at thirty knots. Our sonars are degraded by our speed, and we are
generating quite a bit of noise, which makes us vulnerable to submarine
attack. But it’s a calculated risk, and the captain has decided to take it.
The German Type 212B diesel submarine has a maximum submerged
speed of only twenty knots.” She pointed to the northern end of the Straits
of Hormuz on her chart. “The idea is to outdistance the submarines and
establish a choke point at the northern end of the straits, before the subs
can get there.”
“Works for me,” the XO said. “Then what?”
“Well, that’s what we’re here to figure out, sir. The next time we
encounter those subs, we have got to give them something unexpected.
And therein lies the problem. Whatever it is can’t look like something
they’re not expecting.”
Ensign Cooper frowned. “I’m not following you, Chief.”
“Look at it like this,” the chief said. “In the three battles that have
occurred so far, the German submarines have met only with variations of
NATO tactics. By now, they are probably convinced that the U.S. Navy is
too hidebound by doctrine to try anything creative. Hopefully, that means
they’ll be expecting more of the same. Therefore, whatever the SAU tries