Submarine Warriors: The Enemy Beneath by Rob Tiffany Read Free Book Online Page A

motioned her hands in the air like she was turning a steering wheel.
    “ The kids received training on diving and driving the ship this morning at TriTraFac, so they should be more of a help than a hindrance,” the Admiral remarked.
    “ That’s great news,” the Chief replied. “We have a working nuclear reactor, a full complement of Mark 48 torpedoes, 24 Trident II D5 missiles, plenty of air and water, and enough food to last us a few weeks. Let’s move forward to Control so we can get underway. It won’t be long before somebody topside starts to get suspicious.”
    As the group moved forward through the passageways, Mike pulled out Wi-Fi access points from his backpack and plugged them in every so often in order to stitch together a wireless network for the kids.
    “ Are we really going to need this stuff?” Caroline asked as she watched Mike geek-out.
    Upon reaching the Control room, the Admiral greeted the other crewmembers and then grabbed the 1MC microphone next to the periscope.
    “ Station the Maneuvering Watch,” the Admiral ordered over the 1MC.
    The children ran to the stations on which they’d trained earlier in the day and the Admiral sat in the Officer of the Deck’s chair.
    “ Helm, ahead one-third,” commanded the Admiral.
    “ Ahead one-third helm, aye,” Annie replied, as she twisted the engine order telegraph to the 1/3 position with a ring of the bell.
    Back in Maneuvering, a bell rang and an indicator displayed “Ahead 1/3.” Luckily, the ship’s engineer, the Eng as he’s called, had decided to put his own naval career in jeopardy and was onboard so he could spin the large wheel one full rotation to the right. With that, the reactor’s steam drove the turbine which caused the giant propeller at the back of the sub to rotate.
    “ Rudder amidships.” The Admiral barked out his next order to Annie.
    “ What does that mean?” Annie asked frantically.
    “ It means steer us straight,” replied Admiral Connery.
    Topside on the pier, a Marine was tripped by a rope connected to the submarine as it moved forward along the dock. The large crowd of crewmembers and loved ones who hadn’t gone home yet noticed this and began to ask each other if this was planned or not. Some started following the sub down the pier and a few others made phone calls to squadron personnel.
    “ We’ve got unauthorized movement of one of our submarines!” A Lieutenant yelled into his walkie-talkie as he walked briskly along the pier.
    The Petty Officer of the Watch who had previously ushered the group of kids inside the sub had already begun running up and down the length of the 560-foot submarine when each of the hatches had slammed shut. He made calls to the ship’s radio room but got no answer. When he saw the propeller spinning, his heightened sense of panic caused him to pull out his gun; he then sounded the alarm and called the Commander of Submarine Squadron 17.
    “ Admiral Cunningham, this is Petty Officer Jimenez,” the Petty Officer said frantically through his headset. “The USS Alaska has been sealed shut and is underway westward along the Delta pier.”
    “ Who’s onboard the ship right now?” Admiral Cunningham asked.
    “ According to my log, we have a small skeleton crew, which isn’t too unusual in the first moments after we arrive home,” replied Petty Officer Jimenez. “We also had a pre-arranged tour of the sub for Admiral Connery and the group of kids whose fathers all died. They came through the missile deck hatch that I’ve been guarding.”
    “ What about the other hatches that you haven’t been guarding?” the Admiral pressed.
    “ There’s been a lot of commotion since we docked at the pier so it’s possible, but not likely, that someone could’ve entered through one of the other hatches,” the Petty Officer replied timidly.
    “ You idiot!” The Admiral screamed into the phone. “For all I know, terrorists or agents of a foreign government could be stealing the