Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 01 - Honor Bound

Captain Jernigan was -still alive. But Chief Schultz was gone, replaced by Radioman First Class Henry Clatterman, who was younger than Ensign Lacey. Clatterman promptly announced that he really didn't know diddly-shit about the cryptographic machine when he came aboard, and that despite Chief Schultz's on-the-job training on the voyage, he was still baffled by most of what he was supposed to do.

With a little bit of luck, however, Mr. Lacey felt that the professional inadequacies of the communications section might not be brought to Captain Jernigan's attention. Or at least delayed: The first attempt to communicate with the Devil Fish was scheduled for 0615. At this hour, the Captain, following his routine inspection of the ship after rising, normally took his breakfast.

At 0612, Captain Jernigan entered the radio room.

"We all set up, Mr. Lacey?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Clatterman?"

"We're ready, Sir."

Precisely at 0615, Clatterman started pounding his key in an attempt to communicate with the US submarine Devil Fish, which was somewhere on the high seas between the coast of Africa and the coast of South America.

There was no reply after three attempts.

Mr. Lacey was enormously relieved. They would try again, according to the schedule, at six-hour intervals hereafter—at 1215, 1815, 0015, and 0615. Eventually communication would be established. Between each try, there would be an additional six hours for him to learn how to operate the cryptographic machine.

"Clatterman, try to contact the Nantucket," Captain Jernigan ordered. "They should be monitoring the frequency. If you reach them, send Contingency Code Six in the clear, and then stand by for a crypted reply."

"The Nantucket, Sir?"

“The Devil Fish, I hope, has by now made a rendezvous with, and is being accompanied by, a fleet tanker," the Captain explained. "I only know the names of two fleet tankers operating out of Panama, the Nantucket and the Biloxi. We'll try both of them; a fleet tanker will have better communications than a submarine. What have we got to lose?"

"The call sign, Sir?"

"It's in the book," Captain Jernigan said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. "You mean you don't have the book out?"

"No, Sir," Clatterman replied. "Mr. Lacey didn't tell me to, Sir."

"My God, Lacey!" Captain Jernigan said, went to the safe, worked the combination, opened the safe, and removed a notebook.

He looked at Mr. Lacey.

"You did remember to take the contingency codes out of the safe, Mr. Lacey?"

"I thought I would wait until we established contact with the Devil Fish, Sir. I don't like TOP SECRET material lying around the radio room."

"Mr. Lacey, go find the Exec. Tell him I'll be here for a while, and would he please remain on the bridge. And then see if you can make yourself useful to him."

"Aye, aye, Sir. Do you mean you don't want me to return here?"

"That is correct, Mr. Lacey," Captain Jernigan said. He turned to Radioman First Class Clatterman. "GHR, Clatterman. See if you can raise them, please."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

Clatterman put his hand on his key.

GHR, DSI, GHR, DSI.

There was no response from the Fleet Tanker Nantucket, call sign GHR.

"Try HJI," Captain Jernigan ordered. "That's the Biloxi."

Clatterman turned to his key.

This time there was a reply:

GHR, HJI, GA GHR, HJI, GA.

"Send them, in the clear, Contingency Code Six," Captain Jernigan ordered, and headed for the cryptographic machine.

Radioman First Class Clatterman heard the Captain mutter, "Now if I can only remember how to operate this sonofabitch."

Twenty minutes later, Captain Jernigan examined a decrypted message from the Fleet Tanker USS Biloxi, which advised that she and the Devil Fish were proceeding according to orders, and that they expected to reach Point J at 0345 Greenwich time 1 January.

"Send them in the clear: "We will maintain established radio schedule and will monitor frequency,' " Captain Jernigan ordered.

"Aye, aye, Sir," Clatterman responded.

The Captain waited until there was acknowledgment from the Biloxi, then ordered: "Now try HKG. If they respond, send Contingency Code Six, and if they reply, relay the Biloxi's radio to us."

There was no response in four tries from HKG.

"Try HKG at hourly intervals," Captain Jernigan ordered. "If they respond, send them Contingency Code Six, then relay the last radio from the Biloxi. Notify me at any hour when you establish contact."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

Captain Jernigan then left the radio room for the bridge, where he asked Mr. Lacey to join him in the chart room. He delivered there a five-minute lecture to Mr. Lacey, whom he caused to stand to attention. During the lecture Mr. Lacey was advised that his performance of duty in the radio room half an hour before was below his expectations of his communications officer, and that if Mr. Lacey did not wish to spend the balance of the war serving as a permanent ensign and a venereal-disease-control officer aboard a yard tug operating in the Aleutian Islands, it would well behoove him to learn how to do what was expected of him, and then to demonstrate his ability to perform his duties when called upon to do so.

[FIVE]

Radio Room

USS Alfred Thomas. DD-107

100 Nautical Miles Due East of Punta del Este,

Uruguay

2220 30 December 1942

"What have you got, Sparks?" Captain Jernigan inquired as he entered the radio room. He was attired in his underwear, his bathrobe, and the somewhat battered brimmed cap with its somewhat moldy insignia and gold strap he customarily wore at sea.

Radioman First Class Clatterman was at the radio console. Ensign Lacey, in a crisp cotton uniform, showing evidence that he had recently shaved and was in need of sleep, sat before the cryptographic machine.

"HKG, Captain," Ensign Lacey replied. "We have ..."

"I was speaking to Clatterman, Mr. Lacey, if you don't mind. Sparks?"

"HKG, Sir. They're coming in five-by-five. It's Chief Schultz, Captain. I recognize his hand."

"Did you relay the Biloxi' s last radio?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Send, 'Well done,' Sparks," Captain Jernigan ordered. "And then advise HKG that we will be monitoring the frequency."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

"I'll be in my cabin. Call me if we hear from anyone."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

[SIX]

Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo

Near Pila, Buenos Aires Province

0740 1 January 1943

The chief operator of Navy Radio Station HKG tore the sheet of paper from the typewriter on his makeshift desk and turned around, taking off his headset as he did so.

"That has to be the oldest fucking typewriter in the world," he announced.

"Beggars, Chief Schultz," First Lieutenant C. H. Frade, USMCR, replied, somewhat unctuously, "cannot be choosers."

"Up yours, Mr. Frade," Chief Schultz said, adding, "it'll take me fifteen, twenty minutes to decode this; without a machine, it's a pain in the ass. Whatever it is, it's not just one of them 'standing by' messages. It's too long for that, and they said switch to Contingency Code Eleven."

"I don't have anyplace to go, Chief."

"You want to hand me one of them beers? It's hotter than hell in here."

Eighteen minutes later, Chief Schultz handed Lieutenant Frade a sheet of typewriter paper.

"It's two messages, Mr. Frade," he said.

Clete read the messages, then passed the sheet of paper to Second Lieutenant Pelosi, who read it and handed it to Staff Sergeant Ettinger.

TOP SECRET

OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE

FROM: ALFRED THOMAS DD107 0320 GREENWICH

IJAN43

TO: CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS WASH DC

ALL TJSNAVY VESSELS AND SHORE STATIONS RELAY

1. RENDEZVOUS WITH BILOXI AND DEVIL FISH MADE AT POINT J 0310 1JAN43.

2. REFUELING WILL TAKE PLACE AT FIRST LIGHT.