Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

240 JEFF EDWARDS
Her tongue retreated into her mouth. She punched keys on the CDRT,
calling up a history of encounters with the German submarines. The data
she was looking for came up quickly. The subs had tangled with the
Antietam SAU at 2152, right in the middle of watch relief for the 2200–
0200 watch. The day before, in the Gulf of Aden, they’d nailed the Kitty
Hawk strike group at 0647, during the turnover for the 0700–1200 watch.
The pattern fell apart when she looked at the attack on the British ships
in the Straits of Gibraltar. That one had taken place at 0348, and the Brits
wouldn’t have been turning over the watch then.
Or maybe they had been …
In the late 1990s, in response to reduced manning, the U.S. Navy had
shifted from six watches a day to five. Instead of the traditional rotation,
with six four-hour watches per day, the Navy now ran a five-section
rotation, with four five-hour watches and one four-hour watch—the 2200–
0200.
What if the Brits were still running an old-style six-watch rotation?
That would put the Gibraltar Straits attack, which had occurred at 0348
hours, right in the middle of the 0400–0800 watch turnover!
The chief stared at the list of attacks on the CDRT and shook her head
slowly. “Every time,” she said softly. “You crafty bastards hit us during
watch turnover every single time. Right when we were at our most
disorganized. And you were even smart enough to account for the
differences between our watch rotation and the British rotation.”
She glanced up at the battle clock above the Aegis display screens
again. The large red digits read 21:22. The early birds would start
trickling in about ten minutes from now, but the majority of the reliefs
would show up at about 2140. She keyed her mike. “TAO—USWE, I
think I know when the subs are planning to attack, sir.”
The Tactical Action Officer on watch was Lieutenant Nylander, the
Operations Officer. His voice sounded as tired as Chief McPherson felt.
“USWE—TAO. Practicing a little black magic over there, Chief?”
“No, sir. Just your run-of-the-mill crystal ball. And if you’ll step over
here to the CDRT, I’ll show it to you.”
“On my way,” the TAO said.
Two minutes later, he keyed his mike. “Bridge—TAO. Call away
GQ.”
“TAO—Bridge. Say again?”