“Yes, Sir,” Ash said.
The WAVE brought in two mugs of coffee on a tray, placed one in front of Commander Lusk and the other in front of Ash, and departed.
“You’ve been the commanding officer of Chaser 3 since February of ’42, if your record is correct. That right?”
“Yes, Sir,” Ash said.
“And how do you find it, being in command?”
“Good,” Ash said, “good, but exhausting.”
Commander Lusk laughed. “I would think so,” he said, “considering the operating schedule you’ve been meeting. I’ve just come in myself, from a destroyer command in the North Atlantic, but I don’t think our operating schedule kept us at sea quite as much as yours. We simply had more upkeep and turn around time than it looks like this chaser of yours has had. Happy crew?”
“Very, in so far as I can read them,” Ash said. “And I have to suppose that we’ve been lucky too. One of those Germans fired a couple of torpedoes at us, but we dodged those and may have sunk him. Otherwise, we’ve heard few shots fired in anger.”
“So, I notice, your record reads, and from what I’ve read here, you also organized the sinking of a second U-boat just last month.”
“I hesitate to take any credit for that,” Ash said. “The PC out of Newport picked up the contact, and all in all, I’d say that five of us shared joint responsibility for the sinking.”
“Don’t let modesty run away with you,” Commander Lusk said, turning serious and looking Ash straight in the eye. “Knowing where to look for that U-boat in the first place and putting your search onto it was a fine piece of work. The fact that the PC was the first to make sonar contact amounted to about 5 percent of that action. The fact that you put your formation in the right place at the right time amounts to about 95 percent of the success, or at least that’s the way we see it here. What do you have planned for after the war?”
“I got married this past year,” Ash said. “My wife’s in Yarmouth.”
“I know,” Lusk said. “It’s in your record. Talked about it with her yet, the after-the-war part?”
“No,” Ash said. “It’s seemed too far away.”
“That’s a talk the two of you need to have,” Lusk said.
“You’re right, I know,” Ash said. “I think we’ve been too distracted, by each other.”
Lusk grinned. “Perfectly natural,” he said. “Given any thought to augmenting—to applying for a regular commission?”
“Some,” Ash said. “Do you think the Navy will want to retain many of us? Reservists, I mean?”
“I’d say ‘yes,’ in cases like your own,” Lusk said. “If you think you’d like to make a career out of it, I think you’d be wise to apply for a regular commission now, and not wait. My guess is that the minute the war ends, in a year, or two, or three, we’ll see the same thing happen that happened at the end of the First World War. There will be a scramble to demobilize as fast as possible, a scramble to ‘bring the boys home.’ With a regular commission, you’d be relatively secure. Just at the moment, I can’t tell you how the Bureau of Naval Personnel might handle an application like that, but if you’d like to stay in, I think you ought to look into it.”
“Thank you for the advice,” Ash said.
“Now, Captain,” Lusk said, “we have other matters to attend to. As of 2200 tonight, you are relieved of command of Chaser 3, so when you go back to your ship, assemble your crew, and read off your orders on that point. Your executive officer, Lieutenant, junior grade Solomon may then read himself in and take command according to this packet I am handing you, and Lieutenant, junior grade Hampton will then become the exec. Once detached, you are granted 15 days’ leave, and in the morning, if you like, you may ride the ship up to Yarmouth as she goes into the yard. You will then be free until your leave expires.”
Ash felt stunned, and then, with a suddenness that almost made him feel dizzy, he felt a wave of relief sweep over him.
“Feel like you’ve been hit in the solar plexus, do you?” Lusk grinned.
“Yes,” Ash said. “I guess I hadn’t expected anything so quick.”
“It gets you that way,” Lusk said. “Felt the same way when I turned over my last destroyer to her new captain. These ships, no matter whether they’re built of steel or wood, have a habit of taking a hold on us, and in one way or another they never let us go. Now, for the next week, while she’s up on the beach being scraped down, Chaser 3 will only have two officers, but a new ensign will join the ship as third officer before she gets underway. The question, Lieutenant Miller, is what are we to do with you?”
Ash looked up from his coffee mug. “I’m guessing that the Navy has something in mind,” he said.
“Inevitably,” Lusk said. “So here’s the long and the short of it. With your experience, they seem to want you in two places. The first place is the command school for small ships down at Pier 2 in Miami. It’s warm there. You’d be an instructor, and from what I’m told, it’s good duty. You’d be instructing prospective commanders for subchasers, PCs, net tenders, yard craft, and so forth. Half the hotels on Miami Beach have been commandeered, and the school, along with the other training facilities there, is huge. It’s a good assignment, and the chances are that you’ll spend about six months there before being sent out again, probably as the X.O. of a DE.”
“And the second place?” Ash asked.
“The second place is right here,” Commander Lusk said, “at COMDESLANT Headquarters, working for me in plans and operations. With what you know and with the experience you have, I think you can be very useful to us. If you take the assignment, I plan to put you directly to work advising the hunter-killer groups, tracking U-boat sightings, organizing searches, directing attacks from a distance, and so forth. You’ll be one of many, of course; I’ve already got about 30 men working on the same thing, but it will give you a hell of a lot of responsibility keeping track of the plot and making decisions, and then, after you’ve been on the job for six months or so, I can guarantee you an assignment as the X.O. of a DE. So, Ash, what do you say? I’m sorry about it, but I have to have your decision now. BUPERS is waiting to cut your orders.”
“I’ll take the assignment with you,” Ash said. “Miami is nice, I’m sure, but this job sounds far more interesting.”
“Good,” Lusk said, “glad to have you on board. Now, get back to your ship, turn things over to Mr. Solomon, and enjoy your leave. I would imagine that your lady will be overjoyed to see you, and I shall look forward to meeting her at some time in the future.”
“I will enjoy making the introductions,” Ash said. “For what she is about to receive, I imagine that she will be willing to send you a quart of Scotch.”
“If she can do that,” Lusk laughed, “she is a paragon beyond reason.” “That she is,” Ash said.
29
At 2200 that night, beneath pier lights that were none too bright and with Chaser 3’s crew assembled around the depth-charge racks on the fantail, Ash read the letter relieving him of command, and then Solly stepped forward and read himself in with the letter that Ash had brought him from Commander Lusk’s office. Thus, the ship changed hands, not with a shout, a ceremony, or a parade of dress uniforms, medals, and campaign ribbons, but with a straightforward approach to business that required no trumpets and no waving of flags. Ash then made the rounds, shaking hands with each member of the crew, thanking them for their attention to duty, to the ship, and to himself; when the round was made, the crew, save for the watch section, turned in with expectation of early rising for the transit to Yarmouth and the leave schedule that Hamp and Solly had arranged to follow.
Back in the wardroom, with their blouses hanging in their lockers, their ties off, and down to T-shirts and khaki trousers, Ash, Solly, and Hamp poured themselves mugs of the coffee that Watts had brought up.
“There’s something in this,” Hamp said, with a grin, “that usually isn’t.”
“That’s Watts’ medicinal prepa
ration,” Ash said. “I recognize it, from once before. I think he calls it ‘Five Star.’”
“I think I’d call it Hennessy or Remy Martin,” Solly said. “Makes for very good coffee.”
“Indeed it does,” Ash said, raising his mug. “So, with Watts having done us the honors, here’s to you both for a job well done.”
“And to you,” Hamp said, “for teaching us the ropes.”
“And for being a fine example,” Solly said.
Ash couldn’t be sure what he felt in that moment or what Solly and Hamp might be feeling, but for a start, it seemed to him like a little bit of his life was being torn away. For 18 months, he had lived and breathed Chaser 3—not just the ship but the men who crewed her and the jobs they had done—now, in a matter of hours, all of that was about to disappear.
“This has come on a lot faster than I expected,” Solly said.
“Yes,” Ash said, “much faster than I expected. I nearly dropped the mug I was holding over there at COMDESLANT. Lusk caught me totally by surprise”
“Don’t drop that mug,” Hamp said. “You will regret it forever.”
All of them smiled.
“I guess there’s no avoiding it,” Ash said, “but I can’t say that I don’t feel a bit of a let down. I don’t suppose anyone ever achieves the goals they set for themselves, but even so, I can’t help wishing that we’d been able to do more. I would like to have given us all something a little more tangible as a payback to the Germans, as a mark of what we’ve tried to do out here. It seems all to have happened so fast.”
“It seems pretty clear to me,” Solly said, “that DESLANT is more than satisfied with the job you’ve done. I’ve never heard of a chaser officer being taken onto their staff before, Ash, and absolutely never into plans and operations. They usually save that stuff for the regulars and send us to places like Adak, Midway, or Topinamboo for shore duty.”
“Where the hell is Topinamboo?” Hamp wanted to know.
“In Jonathan Swift’s mind” Solly laughed, “but you get the idea, and so, if I’m not mistaken, does Ash?”
Ash nodded. “They’ve given me a plum, no question” he said, “but still … Well, things are what they are, and there’s no point wishing for the moon. So, what’s on tap for the two of you? Heading for Brooklyn, or something else?”
“Chana and Keren are coming up for the week and staying at The Eiseley” Hamp said, brightening. “What with the august promotions you’ve given us, the two of us can’t afford to be away. I’ve spoken to Watts; he’s agreed to let us give them a formal dinner in the wardroom, with an immense candelabra of some kind”
“I think that would be a beer bottle with a candle stuck into it and wax running down the side,” Solly said.
“You’d better tell the girls not to wear heels and formals" Ash said, “or you will never get them down here. I haven’t spoken to Claire, of course, but suppose you let us give you dinner at The Jarvis on Saturday night, with drinks to follow? We’ll wrap this thing up right.”
“You’re on,” Hamp said.
“We accept,” Solly said.
The following morning, early, Solly backed Chaser 3 from the pier, put on turns, and made way up Casco Bay toward Yarmouth. For once, Ash was not on the bridge. Instead, he was down in the wardroom, packing up the last of his gear, so when the ship made Anson’s yard and tied up, ready to be dragged ashore for scraping down, Ash pushed his B-4 bag up onto the deck, climbed up after it, and headed for the brow where Solly, Hamp, and Bell were standing by to shake his hand one more time and see him off. And then, without another word, Deitz, the bosun, piped him over the side, and Ash didn’t look back.
Once through the gate, Ash made straight for the nearest telephone box.
“Hello, it’s Ash,” he said when Claire answered. “I’m in Yarmouth. I’ve been relieved. I’ll be ashore for at least six months, and I’ll be home as soon as I can catch the next bus”
“Oh, love,” Claire said, “I’ll be waiting.”
Splinter on the Tide Page 31