He directed, "Officer of the Deck, come to one-five-zero feet and clear baffles. Then proceed to periscope depth."
As the scope broke the surface of the ink-black sea, Miller rapidly scanned the horizon. Nothing was visible except the sea and the sky. Not even a whitecap disturbed the torpid night. The brilliant moon sketched a highway of light to the East while a million stars, carelessly scattered over the black bowl of the sky, filled the night with diamonds.
Miller ordered, “Chief of the Watch, raise number one BRA-34.”
As the COW replied, “Number one BRA-34 coming up,” the OOD saw a gray and black shape block his vision for about 30 degrees to the right of dead ahead. Some genius of submarine design had placed the two large radio antennas directly ahead of the two periscopes so that when the antennas and scopes were used at the same time, vision was blocked ahead. To top off a poor placement decision, the masts were about fourteen feet taller than the scopes and needed to be fully extended to be used. This made it impossible to see over the top of the masts. The arrangement necessitated either limiting the use of the mast to short periods or frequent course changes to unmask any ships or obstacles that might be screened from view.
Hunter grabbed the microphone hanging from the stanchion by the periscope and said, “Radio, captain, establish voice communications with the ESSEX.” Turning to the fire control technician of the watch (FTOW), he directed, " Report into the LINK and get us an updated JOTS picture.”
Chief Tyler's reply from radio squawked over the 21MC speaker, "Captain, radio, aye. Tuning the antenna now. Give me thirty seconds."
After a few minutes of waiting, Chief Tyler reported, “Captain, radio, we have sat secure voice comms with the ESSEX ARG. Admiral Schultz requests to speak with you. Patching through to the conn.”
The FTOW turned from his display screen and reported, “We are active on the LINK, receiving the JOTS picture in fire control now.”
Hunter reached over and grabbed the red phone. “Admiral, SAN FRANCISCO reporting. Request permission to join formation.”
The speaker crackled with static. “Permission granted. Jon, General Kendall and I welcome you to the ESSEX ARG. Glad to have you with us. Is there anything that we can do for you?”
Hunter replied, “Admiral, we are happy to be part of your group. SAN FRANCISCO is fully operational and ready to complete all missions. We don’t need anything right now. Request instructions and station assignment.”
Admiral Schultz answered, “Jon, I’ve been briefed a little on your mission. No details, just that you will be leaving us for a little while and that we are to give you any assistance that you need. I understand that you are going to be of limited help to us. Looks more like we will be escorting you rather than the other way around. Joe Strang over on FITZGERALD is Echo Xray and will be acting as submarine element coordinator. FITZGERALD is equipped with BGIXS so you shouldn’t have any problems communicating with her. Talk to Joe. He will give you your assignments. Schwartz out.”
The secure radio came to life with a new voice. “SAN FRANCISCO, this is Echo Xray. Jon, this is Joe Strang. We are directed to pass you around ahead of us and try to keep up. I understand that your speed of advance is thirty knots. I’ll assign you the area fifty nautical miles ahead of track and beyond. That should give you plenty of room to run. We’ll maintain twelve-hour comms cycle. Does that work for you?”
CDR Hunter replied, “Echo Xray, this is SAN FRANCISCO. Would prefer a twenty-four-hour comm cycle, the same as what we have with SUBPAC. Also, recommend that you back up your messages through the SUBPAC broadcast to make sure that we have delivery. Have you been informed that because of operational security, we can not make position reports?”
“We understand,” Captain Strang answered. “That should make coordination interesting. Concur with the twenty-four hour comm cycle and SUBPAC back up. Keep us informed as best you can, given the security constraints. Echo Xray out.”
“Well, XO, did we piss him off?” Hunter asked as he replaced the red phone. “We just told our erstwhile boss that we were not going to tell him anything or do what he says. Just to make it worse, we don’t want to talk but we expect his help. Hope he's understanding.”
In FITZGERALD’s combat information center, Joe Strang contemplated this new development. His team had some experience in operating with a submarine and even worked with SAN FRANCISCO during their pre-deployment work-up training. They knew the basic tenets of operating with submarines and the special procedures needed to communicate with one. Those procedures included assigning the sub to a defined patrol area so mutual interference could be avoided. Frequent communications were also recommended so planning could be enhanced and the sub kept better informed of the Battle Group’s intentions. They had just violated both of these tenets for operational security. He had an uncomfortable feeling that trouble was brewing.
SAN FRANCISCO raced ahead of the ARG, passing through the Solomon Sea and the Louisiade Archipelago, entering the Coral Sea. The Group changed base course to 300 degrees to head for the Gulf of Papua. From there, they would turn to the Southwest to pass between Papau New Guinea to the North and the Great Barrier Reef to the South and West as it extended Northward from the Eastern shore of Australia. This narrow, treacherous passage provided a deepwater access though the sharp coral reefs. Many of these reefs lay
