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

Alaska right now with all those innocent children onboard. I don’t need this. Phone down to the boat to make sure that this isn’t a big misunderstanding before I call in the cavalry.”
    “ I’ve tried, sir,” responded Jimenez. “The sound-powered phone lines are cut and I get nothing but static when trying to contact the radio room. No one from the Alaska has tried to contact me so I have no idea what’s going on inside.”
    “ I’ve heard enough,” Admiral Cunningham barked through the phone. “I’m going to end this right now.”
    Fewer than thirty seconds passed before a squadron of Marines arrived on the scene in their Humvees and started firing machine guns at the submarine. Hearing the bullets hit the hull, the kids inside started to scream.
    “ They’re going to kill us!” Mike shouted in the control room.
    “ Hold your fire!” One of the Naval Officers on the pier yelled out to the Marines. “There’s still a Petty Officer topside on the missile deck and I don’t think your bullets are going to make a dent in the HY-180 steel submarine hull either.”
    The giant vessel started to pull away from the pier. When the long ropes that kept the sub tied to the cleats became taut, it was unable to move any further. A loud, groaning sound echoed down the pier as the metal cleats began to bend. Onlookers started backing away from over-stretched ropes holding the Alaska in place.
    “ Helm, all-ahead flank,” commanded the Admiral. “We need to break free of the pier.”
    “ All-ahead flank, aye,” Annie repeated.
    Back in Maneuvering, the Eng turned the giant wheel until all the steam the reactor could make was pushing the turbine to spin the propeller faster than ever. The churning water sprayed everyone on the dock with icy-cold salt water.
    After straining to the breaking point, all of the ropes snapped and the submarine broke free. The cleats holding the lines ripped from the pier and smashed into the Humvee, narrowly missing the heads of the Marines. With nothing holding it back now, the sub lunged forward and everyone inside fell over.
    Petty Officer Jimenez found himself thrown from the top of the sub and into the water.
    “ Reduce your speed to ahead 1/3 and come right to heading 000,” ordered the Admiral.
    “ Reducing my speed to ahead 1/3 and coming right to heading 000, aye,” Annie replied nervously to the Admiral.
    Back in the Squadron 17 building on the Delta pier, the Squadron Commander looked out the window at the chaos below and dropped his head into his hands. He watched people running frantically to get away from a sparking power cable that just snapped free from the departing sub.
    “ This can’t be happening!” the Commander yelled out in his empty office. Noticing the phone on his desk, he quickly picked it up to call the tugboat that had previously guided the Alaska to the pier.
    “ This is Admiral Cunningham,” the Squadron Commander announced through the phone. “I want you to tell your tug pilot to block the Alaska’s path so it can’t make it north up the Hood Canal.”
    “ I’m not interested in putting my boat in that kind of danger Commander,” replied the pilot. “I don’t care what you’re interested in!” the Commander shot back. “Block that sub or the only thing you’ll be piloting is a rubber duck in your bathtub!”
    The tugboat gunned its engines and set an intercept course for the Alaska.
    Back on the Alaska, Admiral Connery was looking through the periscope and could see the approaching vessel.
    “ Helm, all-ahead full,” he ordered. “I don’t want that tug to crack our sonar dome.”
    The big ballistic missile sub came to life and raced ahead up the canal. By the time the two vessels intersected, the tug was no longer able to block the Alaska and crashed midway into its starboard hull. The sub shook violently but the tug got the bad end of the deal as it bounced off and started taking on water, its engines quickly flooded, forcing the