Cold is the Sea by Edward L. Beach Read Free Book Online Page B

the engineroom or reactor compartment of the prototype. At these times the reduced manning level made possible thorough and even leisurely study of the fascinatingly intricate mechanisms. During the day watch there was a steady schedule of operational drills to participate in, with result that there was little time for investigation of the “why” as well as the “how” of what was going on. This had to be done at night. Early in the game it had become necessary to set up a rigorous schedule of work and sleep if they were ever to be finished. Admittedly ambitious and several times revised, this schedule was now so tight that interruption of even a single night’s work would be directly reflected in a reduction of the six hours of sleep they had allotted themselves for “regular” nights (defined as not having critical evolutions forcing emergency use of the cot in the ladies’ lavatory). Admiral Brighting’s invitation was welcome but, like everything else about him, not without its cost.
    Never had any of the three seen their chief so relaxed. The flat monotone speaking voice was unchanged, but now there was added a subtle difference, a puckish quality never before evident. “Now do you see what I’m trying to do?” he asked, looking mildly and yet shrewdly from one to the other.
    â€œYes, sir,” said all three together. Keith and Buck glanced toward Rich, willing him to continue the response.
    â€œI think we do, Admiral,” Rich said. “None of us has ever been through a training period this tough, nor this satisfying.”
    â€œIt’s doing you a lot of good, is that what you’re saying?”
    â€œYes, sir. We’re learning the operational concepts of a totally new source of power, and a totally new engineering development. And we’re learning them more thoroughly than we’ve ever learned anything.”
    â€œYou admit all the training you’ve had before was wasted.”
    â€œNot wasted, Admiral, but clearly not on a par—”
    â€œYou know it’s been wasted. You could have learned twice as much in half the time if you had been forced to put your mind to it. That’s the trouble with our Navy. People are more interested in organization charts than they are in what really counts. That’s why so many things break down. The designers and operators are all incompetent!”
    Richardson felt they were being baited. There was a set to Admiral Brighting’s mouth, the manner in which he pursed his lips, that conveyed as much. But he could not be certain, decided to try another tack. “There’s one thing sure, and that is your nuclear power plants have been making records for reliability ever since the Nautilus went to sea. That ought to prove something.”
    â€œThey’ve been making records like that ever since Mark One went critical in 1953!” The words were words of pride, but the puckish look remained.
    â€œOf course, but it’s when the Nautilus began to operate that everyone recognized it,” Rich began. As before, Brighting interrupted.
    â€œThat’s exactly the point, Richardson! You’re like all the naval officers. You’re not interested in real performance. What good is a four-hour full-power run? A twenty-four- or forty-eight-hour run would mean something, but what naval battle is going to be decided in four hours these days? A four-hour run doesn’t mean a thing!”
    Richardson was about to expostulate that he had made no reference to the regular engineering performance standard, a four-hour run at full power, that in fact he had been about to point to the Nautilus as having far exceeded this on her first day at sea, but Brighting swept on without pausing. “Before Nautilus was even launched, her prototype, right here, made a full-power run the equivalent of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. No new powerplant has ever been put to this sort of a test before.