The Big One by Stuart Slade

Author:Stuart Slade [Slade, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: World War II, World War; 1939-1945, General, Historical, Military, Fiction, History
ISBN: 9781430304951
Publisher: LULU
Published: 2006-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT JUDGEMENT DAY

Third Deck, Starboard Side Amidships, USS Shiloh, CVB-41. Position 46.8 North, 4.6 West.

They were beating the Monster, beating it good. They'd taken back all the compartments they'd lost in the early stages of the fire. The next step would take them through the watertight door that lead the scullery. That's where the Monster had been born. Fathered by a German bomb and mothered by circuit breakers that hadn't worked. Maintenance failure. There would be discussion of that issue in the Goat Locker. Still, long experience told The Senior Chief that the battles against the fires were being won on all fronts now; the temperature was dropping, the smoke and that poisonous haze were fading. More importantly, power was becoming more reliable and water pressure was back up. Not as good as it should be but better than before. In addition, the teams on the fire perimeter were getting regular supplies of water and salt tablets. The only problem was that they had run out of fuel for their Handy Billy pump and had to use avgas instead. That was causing the little pump to overheat and limiting its use to five or ten minutes at a stretch before they had to shut it down and let it cool.

“ Mr Pickering sir, I need you to check on the men, make sure everybody's had enough to drink and nobody's got dehydrated. Can happen too easily; we don't want anybody passing out when we hit the scullery.”

“You've checked them already, Senior Chief, you know that they've had all the water they need.”

The Senior Chief mentally raised his eyes in despair, Lord have mercy, it was a Senior Chiefs job to raise young officers and set them on the right path to being True Sailormen rather than office warriors or Democrats. But sometimes the patience came terribly hard. “Mr Pickering Sir,” dropping his voice “The men need to know you're looking out for them. I know they've had their water and salt tablets, you know they've had their water and salt tablets but they need to know you're making sure you know. So, please sir, I need you to check.”

The Senior Chief watched Ensign Pickering start checking with the firefighting team. Decided he was doing a good job, making sure that the men had drunk their water and swallowed their salt tablets. Also checked their hands for burns and looked at their eyes for dirt and grit. That was a bit much, everybody was covered with soot and dirt from the fires and everybody was a bit singed. But it showed the young Ensign was getting the message. He wasn't a bad officer, the Senior Chief had known many worse who'd come out all right in the end. Just painfully green and still had so much to learn. Still, he'd lead a team fighting the fires on the Shiloh and that was a story he'd be asked to retell in future years. Right, now was the time to get through the next watertight door and into the scullery.

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