“I’d say about three seconds. No longer.”
“And was that long enough?”
“Definitely long enough for the CO, sir.”
“How do you know?”
“Sir, he solved the problem right away. He said the destroyer was only five hundred yards away. Not the mile Lieutenant Commander Clarke had stated. He said the XO had turned the periscope handle the wrong way, right onto low power, which made it look like a mile when it was nothing like that.”
“And did the XO reply?”
“Yessir, he did. He said, ‘Oh my God,’ twice. And then he said he was extremely sorry.”
At this point Myerscough sprang to his feet and said that he objected to this line of hearsay questioning involving his client.
Admiral Archie Cameron was furious. He ordered, “SILENCE.” And then he said quietly, “Mr. Myerscough, if you attempt to interrupt these military proceedings one more time, I’ll have you escorted out of the room, and right off the station, by Navy guards. You may speak when I say you can speak, and at no other time. Do you understand me?”
It was a while since Myerscough had been spoken to in quite those terms. But he was not about to tangle with this admiral, and he did not think he would be much thanked by the President for being evicted in the first hour of the proceedings.
And so he just nodded formally, apologized and sat down. The admiral then added, “I do not consider the sworn testimony of a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and second officer of the deck at the time, to be giving us hearsay when he recounts a conversation that took place within five feet of where he was standing.…Please continue, Admiral Curran.”
“Lieutenant, was it your impression that Lieutenant Commander Clarke agreed with the CO’s assessment or his error?”
“Yessir. Very definitely. He was really upset. Very apologetic.”
“Did you, the officer with the conn, agree with the CO’s assessment?”
“Absolutely, sir. No doubt in my mind. The difference between five hundred yards and one mile through a periscope is unmistakable.”
“Quite so,” replied Admiral Curran, a lifelong submariner himself. And with that, he said he had no further questions for
Admiral Cameron conferred with his colleagues very briefly, and they were in agreement that this was as far as the investigation should go — to the point where the submarine became disabled. No further.
“Very well,” said Admiral Cameron. “The attending lawyers may now ask questions of the witness. But I do stress, this is not some kangaroo civilian court. This is a United States Navy Board of Inquiry. And I will not tolerate theatrics or aggression toward one of my trusted submarine officers.”
“I have no questions, sir,” said Art Mangone.
“I have a few,” said Philip Myerscough, rising to his feet on behalf of the President of the United States. “First, I would like to ask whether three seconds is a sufficient amount of time to make a judgment call of this dimension?”
“Plenty, sir. We are all trained to make the fastest possible observations through the periscope. Seven seconds is routine maximum in hostile waters. Captain Crocker is renowned for his grasp of the surface picture. He’s the best, sir. The best I ever saw.”
“That was rather more than I asked for, Lieutenant,” said Mr. Myerscough, not quite interrupting, but almost. “Perhaps you could restrict your answers to my precise question, rather than adding on a character reference for. your CO.”
“Absolutely, sir. No problem right there. I just thought you’d like to know, sir.…he’s the best.”
Philip Myerscough visibly flinched. But he recovered and then said, with civilian inexactitude, “So you believe that short space of time would be fine to make such a judgment?”
“Oh sure, sir. Three seconds’ concentration, for a man trained like Captain Crocker…no problem. He probably could’ve done it in one second.”
Admirals Cameron and Curran could hardly contain their thin smiles at the obvious discomfort of a city lawyer trying to deal with Navy precision.
“Lieutenant,” said Mr. Myerscough. “You stated that you thought Lieutenant Commander Clarke was plainly upset and apologetic. Could you have been mistaken in that assumption?”
“Nossir.”
“On what do you base that assumption?”
“It’s not an assumption, sir. It’s a fact. He was upset and apologetic. I heard him saying, ‘Oh my God,’ and I heard him say, ‘I’m extremely sorry.’”
“Are you quite sure of that? Because Lieutenant Commander Clarke has a very different recollection.”
“He was probably too upset to think straight right then, sir. Anyone would have been. You make a mistake like that. Sir, I even recall what Captain Crocker said after the XO said how sorry he was.”
“I have not asked you to recount that.”
“Nossir. But I’m real happy to tell you. He said, ‘So am I, Linus. So am I.’”
“No further questions.” Mr. Myerscough shook his head in some exasperation, as if unable to cope with the ingenuous, no-lies, no-bullshit mind-set of a Navy officer accustomed to telling the truth to all higher authority. Lieutenant Warren, like everyone else, had it ingrained in him since first he entered Annapolis and was told, “The only thing they’ll throw you out for is lying. So don’t even consider telling one. They’ll forgive damn near anything, except for a lie. That’s death in the Naval Academy.”
“Call Master Chief Brad Stockton.…”
Recovered now from the battering he had taken in Xiachuan Dao, the Master Chief entered the room and walked purposefully to the front, saluted the admirals and swore to tell the truth.
Admiral Curran walked him through the first exchanges and then concentrated on the significant points.
“And when did you first realize that Lieutenant Commander Clarke was intending to conduct a maneuver with which you were personally uncomfortable?”
“Just as soon as he said he was intending to cross the stern of that destroyer, sir.”
“And what was your own judgment?”
“Sir, I knew we were uncertain about the length of the Chinese towed array. And I did tell him that, just as a kind of warning.”
“But what did he say?”
“He said he had no intention of coming in closer than a mile, which would be plenty of clearance.”
“Did you know that he was seeing the destroyer a mile off?”
“Nossir. I did not look through the periscope. I assumed he was certain of at least that fact — like we were a mile clear of the Chinese warship.”
“And was the clearance distance the biggest thing on your mind?”
“No sir. It was not.”
“What was?”
“That we were not informing the CO of our actions. I thought that was really wrong.”
“And did you inform Lieutenant Commander Clarke of your concerns?”
“Yessir. Twice. I told him that since we were groping around the backside of a six-thousand-ton destroyer in Chinese waters the captain ought to be informed.”
“And did he heed this warning from the Chief of the Boat?”
“Nossir. He did not. He said there was no need. He said the destroyer was not transmitting on anything and he was just going in closer for pictures.”
“And what then?”
“Well, sir. I was being overruled by our Executive Officer. I had no choice but to accept his order. But I did say again, I still thought the CO should be told what we were doing.”
“And was that final advice accepted?”
“Nossir. It was not. Lieutenant Commander Clarke proceeded to order the boat across the stern of the
