Frigate by John Wingate

Author:John Wingate [John Wingate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
ISBN: 9780722191101
Publisher: Sphere Books
Published: 1982-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

15

HMS Icarus, 24 December.

Captain Trevellion, having spent Monday afternoon with the staff of C-in-C, Plymouth, was shifting into his sea-going uniform. It was 1725 when Jewkes tapped on his cabin door:

'Lower deck cleared, sir. All hands on board, except for Able Seaman Foulgis. I'll report him absent on sailing. We've been sent seamen reliefs for our Marines — it seems we won't have 10 put up with the scrum for too long.'

'Thanks, Number One, I'll follow you down. I expect they have ideas for our Royals — and the ship could do without Foulgis.'

The hangar doors were shut and they had switched on the heating, but the draught cut to the marrow: there was barely space for them all, even though the engine room watchkeepers, who had flashed up an hour earlier, were absent. He returned the salutes of his officers (he had not had time to see them ail yet) then went straight to the point:

'Considering the pier-head jump we've all suffered,' he began, ' I'd like to tell you how good it is to have a ship's company that does not let you down. There's only one man adrift.' He glanced round his ship's company, squashed into the hangar and peering through the doors, eager to learn what was happening. The Master-at-Arms stood at the front with the chiefs and petty officers; the leading hands (Osgood amongst them, he noticed) in a group together.

'There are better ways of spending Christmas Eve,' he went on, ' but the sooner we show the Russians that we mean business, the sooner we'll get back to our homes.' He glanced down at his notes:

'First, you all know that our American friends have called on NATO to show its resolve. A Period of Tension has been officially declared. We are ordered to Alert State Two and to rejoin STANAVFORLANT, taking up station on the edge of the Arctic Circle just about now.

'You've been working flat out since rejoining on Sunday night. We're now ammunitioned, fuelled and stored — again, I'd like to thank you for getting down to it. We've been ordered to be as discreet as possible about our recall and the fact that the Fleet's putting to sea, but the dockyard are bound to know about it by tomorrow.' He paused, looked around him: ' I want to put you fully in the picture.

'The Soviet Union have replied this afternoon to the American's firm stand in Iceland. The Soviets have said to the United States and to NATO: "Okay, so you are acting aggressively in Iceland to safeguard your defence. We are entitled to do the same. You have secret installations in northern Norway which are threatening our security and our territory, particularly our Northern Fleet's base at Murmansk. We have friends in Finn-mark who don't like this aggressive posture, comrades who wish us to free them from the oppressive Norwegian government imposing its will on the Finnmark people. We are disturbed by these warlike threats on the part of Norway,

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