D. M. Ulmer 01 - Silent Battleground

by D. M. Ulmer

  Silent

  Battleground

  A Novel

  by

  D. M. Ulmer

  Silent

  Battleground

  First Edition

  Copyright © 2008 by D. M. Ulmer

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-09791642-2-4

  No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recordings or information storage and retrieval systems without the expressed written permission of the author and/or publisher.

  Technical Editor: Nelson Ottenhausen

  Editorial Assistance: Doris Littlefield

  Map Chorography: Ed Bradley

  Managing Editor: Dari Bradley

  This is a fictional story: Use or mention of historical events, places, names of anyone or any similarity of the story line to actual persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

  Published by Patriot Media, Inc.

  Publishing America’s Patriots

  P.O. Box 5414

  Niceville, FL 32578

  United States of America

  www.patriotmediainc.com

  Reviews

  ‘Captain Ulmer parlays his knowledge and experience gained from command of a US Navy Diesel-Electric submarine and earlier service as a Department Head on one of the first nuclear-powered Polaris ballistic missile submarines to craft a fascinating alternative history in the early part of the last decade of the 20th century … unusual in this “techno-thriller” genre, Silent Battleground absolutely reeks of both technical and tactical credibility … readers will find a delightful blend of elements from On the Beach, Incredible Victory, Thirteen Days and Hunt for Red October. Submariners will approve, non-submariners will learn, but all will enjoy Silent Battleground.’

  James H. Patton, CAPT USN (Ret)

  Technical Advisor, film Hunt for Red October

  ‘Silent Battleground is a powerful, compelling novel. Author, D. M. Ulmer, a Navy veteran of 32 years, moves the reader through tense events with skill and expertise using his professional savvy to lace the plot with intrigue and speculation that makes the book a page-turner. Ulmer’s rare talent exposes torn loyalty and self-discovery the characters endure. They serve with duty, fear, and vengeance but the human element of love and family challenges them. I found myself believing fiction to be fact.’

  JR Reynolds, Author of Sustenance of Courage and Woman of Courage.

  ‘Don Ulmer’s Silent Battleground leaves me breathless at the end of every chapter. Don brings us, realistically, into the shipboard world. His wardroom scenes are so realistic that I found myself there. Don shows us a scenario that very nearly happened. In doing so, he not only gives us a view of professional Navy officers, but opens a rare glimpse into the war-fighters’ personal lives–on both sides of a conflict we hope never happens.’

  Dave Bartholomew, CAPT USN (Ret)

  Acknowledgements

  Las Plumas, a literary critique group that meets weekly in the King County, Washington Library System provided valuable counsel with this effort. I wish to thank Doris Littlefield, for her tireless manuscript review, editorial efforts and support, Dave Bartholomew, Dagmar Braun-Jones, Barbara Brown, June Goehler, Barbara Boyle, Margie Hussey, Wayne Littlefield, Liz McCord, Sue Meyers, Gina Simpson, Jan and Scott Stahr, and Kathie Arcide.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to Jack Liptrap, submariner, father, husband and shipmate and to submariners on both sides who sailed with Jack during the Cold War.

  Glossary

  1MC: General announcing system with speakers in every compartment.

  21MC: Tactical communication system interconnecting the Attack Center, wardroom, captain’s quarters, sonar shack, torpedo room, radio shack and maneuvering.

  688 class: Tactical communication system interconnecting the Attack Center, wardroom, captain’s quarters, sonar shack, torpedo room, radio shack and maneuvering.

  ACC: Attack Control Console, located in the Attack Center, a digital display that enables operator to interact with tactical data to ascertain target bearing, range, course and speed.

  ADCAP: Attack Control Console, located in the Attack Center, a digital display that enables operator to interact with tactical data to ascertain target bearing, range, course and speed.

  Akula: Soviet nuclear powered attack submarine.

  ASW: Anti-submarine warfare.

  Attack Center: Watch station of the Conning Officer. Here ship’s course, speed, tactical maneuvers and operating depth are initiated and controlled.

  Baffles: A twenty-degree wide blind spot astern of a submarine obscured by the ship’s hull and radiated noise from the propulsion system.

  Clear the Baffles: Turning the ship twenty degrees to the right or left to expose the previously masked area to the ship’s sonar.

  COB: Chief of the Boat.

  Crew’s Mess: Compartment where enlisted men take their meals. Serves also as a lecture and recreation area for the crew.

  Forms of address (regardless of military rank): Commanding Officer: Captain by all Executive Officer: Mister by crew XO or Exec by officers. All other officers: Mister by crew. First names to each other. Enlisted men: Surname

  Gun-Decking: A Navy term for entering a job as completed into a record without performing the actual work

  Maneuvering room: Compartment where the ship’s reactor and propulsions systems are controlled.

  Radio Shack: Secure compartment where the ship’s radio, message encryption and electronic counter measure equipment is located.

  Sealance: A long range ASW missile capable of submerged launch and able to deliver a light weight torpedo over long distances.

  Sonar Shack: Compartment that houses the ship’s sonar equipment consoles, acoustically insulated to provide a quiet environment for operators.

  Sound-powered phone: A system of phones throughout the ship for general compartment-to-compartment communications.

  Functions independently of ships electrical power.

  SSN: Submersible ship, nuclear powered.

  Tango: Soviet diesel-electric powered attack submarine.

  TSAM: Tomahawk Ship Attack Missile, long range, configured for submerged launch with its own radar homing system.

  TLAM: Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, finds its target by matching the actual earth contour via radar altimeter with stored information over tracks to the target.

  Wardroom: Compartment where officers take their meals. Serves also as a conference and recreation area for the ship’s officers.

  WCC: Weapons Control Console, located in the Attack Center, interfaces with ACC and transmits weapon settings to the Torpedo Room.

  Prologue

  Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus

  ‘In every circle, and truly, at every table, there are people who lead armies into Macedonia; who know where the camp ought to be placed; what posts ought to be occupied by troops; when and through what pass that territory should be entered; where magazines should be formed; how provisions should be conveyed by land and sea; and when it is proper to engage the enemy, when to lie quiet and they not only determine what is best to be done, but if any thing is done in any other manner than what they have pointed out, they arraign the consul, as if he were on trial before them. These are great impediments to those who have the management of affairs; for every one cannot encounter injurious reports with the same constancy and firmness of mind as Fabius did, who chose to let his own ability be questioned through the folly of the people, rather than to mismanage the public business with a high reputation. I am not one of those who think that commanders ought at no time to receive ad
vice; on the contrary, I should deem that man more proud than wise, who regulated every proceeding by the standard of his own single judgment. What then is my opinion? That commanders should be counseled, chiefly, by persons of known talent; by those who have made the art of war their particular study, and whose knowledge is derived from experience; from those who are present at the scene of action, who see the country, who see the enemy; who see the advantage that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked in the same ship, are sharers of the danger. If, therefore, any one thinks himself qualified to give advice respecting the war which I am to conduct, which may prove advantageous to the public, let him not refuse his assistance to the state, but let him come with me into Macedonia. He shall be furnished with a ship, a horse, a tent; even his traveling charges shall be defrayed. But if he thinks this too much trouble, and prefers the repose of a city life to the toils of war, let him not, on land, assume the office of a pilot. The city, in itself, furnishes abundance of topics for conversation; let it confine its passion for talking within its own precincts, and rest assured that we shall pay no attention to any councils but such as shall be framed within our camp.’

  Livy, "History of Rome", book 44, chapter 22—Livy, trans. Alfred C. Schlesinger, vol. 13, p. 161 (1951).

  Foreword

  In 1917, the Russian Bolshevik Revolution started what finally became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) better known as the Soviet Union. From the beginning and all through the 20th century, the Soviets stood at political odds with the United States and early on began creating unrest and economic chaos in small capitalistic societies of the world promoting their one-party rule. Then in 1943 during World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt President of the United States, along with Prime Minister of England Sir Winston Churchill became allies with dictator Joseph Stalin of the USSR to fight and defeat a common enemy, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.

  After the war, the Soviets continued building their massive army and naval forces to spread their communist beliefs throughout the free world. Tensions between the former allies built up over the next thirty years through conflicts and proxy wars with surrogate adversaries such as in the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the Beirut bombing, Grenada, Haiti and many lesser skirmishes. Economic confrontations in the form of sports boycotts and trade embargos erupted during this time all the while a military arms race continued in full force by both sides.

  We always prepare to fight the last war, is an over-used cliché that remains ever valid. During the mid-nineteen eighties, the U.S. Navy continued to use the tactic of vast naval forces gathered around aircraft carriers, the same tactics used successfully by the allied naval forces in sweeps through the Southwest Pacific against the Japanese in World War II. If war with the Soviets ever came about, the strategy was to deploy twelve U.S. Navy Carrier Battle Groups over both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. These Battle Groups would push Soviet naval forces into their home waters, opening the sea lines of communication, thereby protecting the movement of men and essential war materials.

  A flaw in this strategy is the failure to account for improvements in submarine warfare over those subdued by the U.S. and the allies during the Second World War. Nazi submarines patrolling the North Atlantic could submerge for only short periods and spent the greatest part of their time on the surface in transition to assigned areas, therefore they were vulnerable to search and attack by aircraft.

  The advent of nuclear power drastically changed submarine tactical operations. Nuclear powered submarines are able to remain submerged

  indefinitely, and unlike their diesel predecessors, perform best while submerged. Soviet submarines would soon out-dive and outrun any anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon in the U.S. Navy inventory and were not vulnerable to the current search and locating equipment.

  The United States pioneered the development and deployment of nuclear submarines, and by 1972 produced the 688 Los Angeles class attack submarines that epitomized the state of the art in underwater warfare. However, ensuring nuclear safety for this complex technical advance began to dilute the long-standing submariner importance on tactical excellence. Officer personnel selected to man the new ships began to be chosen on the basis of academic standards rather than the traditional method of evaluating operational performance.

  In the meantime, the Soviet military chiefs became aware of the American progress with nuclear powered submarines via information obtained from John Anthony Walker, a U.S. citizen working as a spy for the Soviets. From this information, the Soviets realized they must reduce submarine radiated noise levels or risk annihilation of their undersea fleet. Then through the illegal sales of propeller milling technology by the Japanese firm Toshiba and the Norwegian firm Kongsberg, the Soviets made great strides perfecting their Akula class submarine design and began building their new underwater armada.

  All during those troubled years after World War II, the Americans and the Soviets agreed in principle to resolve their differences using diplomacy to bring about peace. As charter members of the United Nations, they met often to do so, but failure after failure made things worse. During the Kennedy presidency in 1962, the two adversaries came the closest to all out war with what is now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The situation took a long time to de-escalate because even though the Soviets conceded to arming Cuba with missiles, they continued to push their ideology elsewhere for world domination.

  Two years after being elected as the President of the United States Andrew J. Dempsey ended diplomatic relations with the Soviet Premier saying he would only return to the negotiating table after the Soviets made serious gestures toward peace. He did so without the expressed approval of the United States Congress.

  Silent Battleground opens at this juncture in history.

  Silent Battleground

  Chapter 1

  Neither ship nor man is intended to be comfortable during a United States Navy shipyard overhaul. The vessels are dry-docked where they are deprived of the seaborne grace and agility as intended by their designers. They rest on huge keel blocks with sides ripped open and vital organs exposed for repair and maintenance.

  Man, too, is equally out of his element here. The environment is noisy, dangerous and unforgiving of careless acts. In wintertime, no amount of clothing provides adequate protection from the incessant, penetrating cold. Little has changed in the industry since the first Continental Navy, so named before it became the United States Navy, laid up wooden ships for overhaul in the shipyards in New England.

  During one blustery winter day, the USS Denver, a SSN 688 class nuclear attack submarine, rested in dry dock basin Number Five in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Several openings in the ship’s bottom, designed for the rapid influx of seawater, allowed workmen access points of entry to do repairs on the hull. As evening descended, the huge, sleek black hull glistened in a cold rain that began falling in the early afternoon. Reflections from the welders’ torches made sharp points of light over Denver’s entire length.

  Beneath the hull, two civilian yard workers, an older inspector and his young assistant, warmed their hands around mugs of black coffee drawn from a thermos.

  The younger man spoke. “If I’ve been in any colder places, Darby, I sure as hell can’t remember where.”

  “Well, at least half the job’s behind us,” replied Darby Cameron, a veteran inspector of submarine ordnance systems, having worked at the yard ten years before his assistant was born.

  After completing inspection of the starboard side torpedo launcher ejection pump and reinstalling the inspection plates Cameron said, “We’ll take a little break here. Not much warmer than outside, but it keeps us out of the drizzle.”

  “Sounds good to me,” the youngster replied. “Rain’s made a mess of this damn sandblast grit,” referring to the spent material blasted with a high-pressure air hose to remove the loose paint and accumulated rust on Denver’s under-hull.

  The young man looked up at the long narrow c
oncrete stairway leading to the dry dock’s upper rim and continued, “I got mud in my shoes and climbing outta here is gonna blister my feet some, not to mention it’s gonna be treacherous underfoot on the way out.”

  “Shift’s nearly over,” Darby said. “We better get started if we expect to get the port side done.”

  Darby shared his assistant’s lack of enthusiasm for climbing back into the near frigid bowels of Denver’s hull. This required a difficult entry through the main ballast tank flood ports at the keel line and then through a maze of stiffeners and dividers just to reach the inspection plates.

  The young helper asked, “Will the fasteners be as tough to get off as the other side?”

  “Afraid so,” Darby replied. “They’re always exposed to seawater so that’s what happens to ’em.”

  “We won’t be able to talk in there, Darby. Riggers in the other tank are making too much noise with their knuckle busters,” the young man said, referring to the pneumatic chippers used to remove paint and rust. “Damn, that noise is nerve-wracking. Why don’t we just gun deck this one? We’ve seen a hundred of these shafts and never found a sign of wear yet.”

  Gun decking is a Navy term for entering a job as completed into a record without performing the actual work and Darby knew it was the wrong thing to do. He paused for a moment, thinking about a double shot of bourbon and the warmth in Helmsman’s Tavern nearby.