Sino-Soviet trade relations were obviously booming, Captain Mackey realized as he read the message traffic.
The Russian president, Gennadi Zyuganov, was allowing his navy to supply the Chinese with the Akula Us. That was bad enough. Worse, though, was the fact that these sales were being consummated so quickly that China could not crew the SSNs, and Russia had wholeheartedly agreed to supply Russian 'observers.' These observers had turned out to be nearly the entire crew. The only real exceptions were some Chinese interpreters for their Chinese message traffic.
The Russian president had, of course, initially denied these sales at all. Then, when the crewing reports surfaced through the CIA, he tried to use the 'observer' gambit. The United States had recognized this for what it was-a feeble attempt for Russia to avoid its own war with the United States-and Mack couldn't help wondering how his own government would respond to this.
But for now, at least, he didn't have to worry about it. All he had to do was to carry out his orders and to execute the missions he was tasked with.
Several days later, as Cheyenne 'steamed' past Grande Island inbound to the Subic Bay complex, Mack was saddened at the sight of the once-proud base. The buildings and guest cottages were run down and dilapidated, and even the swimming pool was empty and cracking.
It was clear that nothing had been done to take care of the Grande Island after the departure of the United States five years before. Mack expected that the same would be true of the airfield at what was once the Cubi Point Naval Air Station. That airfield had once been busy bringing in supplies as well as being the launch and recovery field for carrier-based aircraft leaving and returning to Subic Bay.
When Cheyenne rounded the point of the airfield and headed for the gaping jaws of the now-flooded-down Area, Mack saw how right his guess had been. At the sight of jungle growth overrunning the Cubi Point Officers' Club, Mack felt a wave of nostalgia and regret wash over him, and he was glad that Cheyenne had only two days in the Philippines to reload and resupply.
Since the refit crew was on board McKee, which was still in transit to Subic Bay, Mack and the executive officer had informed Cheyenne's crew that they would remain on board, for sleeping and security purposes, until the tender arrived. Seeing the devastation that had occurred since the United States left the Philippines, Mack could see that he had made a wise decision. The CPO and enlisted barracks, as well as the Submarine Sanctuary (where the officers used to partake of rest and recreation), had been looted and destroyed by vandals.
Captain Mackey had also informed the engineer officer and auxiliary division officer-who also was the SUBSAFE (submarine safety) officer-that Cheyenne would take the opportunity to complete some of the SUBSAFE maintenance requirement card (MRC) inspections. With the ongoing war against the Chinese, these inspections, which could only be completed while in drydock, were in danger of becoming overdue. Taking care of it now, with the drydock capabilities that Area offered, would ensure that Cheyenne's SUBSAFE certification remained in force and they would have no restrictions in depth during upcoming operations.
Maintaining certification during a war was not just a perfunctory administrative paper drill. It was extremely important. The certification meant that the home which protected the men of Cheyenne from the perils of the sea was satisfactory for keeping water out of the 'people locker.'
The SUBSAFE criteria, which began in Cheyenne's new construction period and continued for the life of the ship, included the capability of various important components to withstand underwater explosive shock without endangering the lives of the crew. Integrity of these components was paramount if the crew was to survive the rigors of enemy attacks and reach the surface safely.
Mack planned to avoid that situation, of course, but with the reports of seven Akula II SSNs en route to the South China Sea, he knew Cheyenne would have her work cut out for her. And so did her well-informed crew, who set about their inspection duties as soon as the dry-dock was pumped down.
The late arrival of McKee meant that Cheyenne would have only one day to reload the vertical-launch tubes with Tomahawk missiles and the torpedo room with Mk 48s. Arco had no capability to reload SSN weapons, other than small-arms ammunition. So far, Cheyenne had not had to resort to that limited method of warfare, and Mack didn't intend to need them in the near future, either.
Arco, like all the floating drydocks in the fleet, did not have a formal commanding officer. Drydocks, which were not commissioned as United States ships and so did not receive the 'USS' designation, had officers-in-charge instead.
In talking with Area's officer-in-charge, Mack learned that Arco had managed to off-load some Navy Construction Battalion equipment and a small contingent of Seabees at a pleasure boat launch ramp near the Cubi airfields. That would have been very good news if they were on a longer timetable. As it was, repair of the runways would probably be too late for Cheyenne to count on any air support in her upcoming missions. Besides, Mack thought, deciding to forget about having to coordinate operations with aircraft, even if the Seabees got the runways repaired, it wouldn't do much good. The supporting infrastructure that had once been at the airfield, as well as the air-traffic controllers and radars, had been spread to other airfields around the world.
Which was fine with Mack. This was a submarine war; it was Cheyenne's submarine war. He did appreciate, however, that Arco had brought a replacement screw for Cheyenne. She didn't need it yet, but there was always the outside chance that Chinese torpedo shrapnel would get close enough to cause damage to the screw. The 'singing' screw that could develop from that would limit Cheyenne's speed, and that was worse than a SUB-SAFE depth restriction to one-half test depth. Singing screws were a condition that could not be tolerated even in peacetime.
Arco also had brought the 'ship's key,' the huge wrench needed to remove and replace the screw's hub nut.
The following morning, McKee arrived in Subic Bay under the cover of darkness. She didn't moor at the sea wall, but instead moored outboard of Arco at the SRF (ship repair facility) just down the street from the old Naval Forces headquarters building. Mack knew that the captain of McKee would consider moving his ship after Cheyenne's departure, and after his men were able to assess the safety of the previously normal berth for large ships like McKee. Those berths had been unattended for nearly five years, and he would want to be sure of the sea wall's status, including the mooring bollards, before he felt comfortable enough to moor there for the duration of the war.
There was another good reason for that choice. As Mack knew, the sea wall was located across the relatively narrow channel from the aircraft carrier mooring at Cubi Point, and tending submarines there had never been done before. In the old days, when the United States was maintaining and operating this base, submarine upkeeps always had been conducted within the SRF gates both for security purposes and because it was near the SRF shops and weapons-storage areas.
At daylight, McKee slacked its mooring lines to Arco for the flooding down of the drydock and the 'dead stick' move of Cheyenne to outboard of McKee. For safety reasons, the two captains agreed not to load weapons while Cheyenne was still inside the drydock.
When the drydock was flooded and seawater systems were once again flooded and vented of any entrapped air, Cheyenne received the word 'prepare to snorkel' and passed it along, internally, over the 1MC. With no current to contend with, this move went smoothly and safely. Cheyenne's diesel generator provided power to the emergency propulsion motor (EPM) and to the ship's vital electrical loads, which remained energized during 'rig ship for reduced electrical power.' Had this been done in San Diego, without Cheyenne's reactor power and steam in the engineering spaces, it would have required at least one tug, and maybe two if Cheyenne had needed to make the move at other than slack tide.
When Cheyenne was positioned properly, the combat systems officer, engineer officer, and their other division officers remained on board Cheyenne to take care of the weapons loading and reactor start-up preparations. Captain Mackey, along with his executive officer, operations officer, and navigator, proceeded to McKee's war room for their pre-underway briefing.
There was a new face at this meeting: the CSS 11 commodore was present-which, Mack knew, could mean major changes, or it could mean nothing. Either way, he'd know soon enough.
Once the formalities were out of the way, the briefing officer again took control of the meeting. He informed Mack and the other officers of Cheyenne that, with McKee no longer requiring air protection from the Carrier Battle Group, CINCPACFLT had decided to move Independence and his other surface forces to an area west of the Spratly Islands. USCINCPAC, with JCS approval, had concurred. Which meant that there would be a change in the location
