The Iceman by Deutermann P. T

Author:Deutermann, P. T. [Deutermann, P. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, War, Suspense, thriller
Amazon: B075JK4HG3
Goodreads: 36743759
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2018-08-21T07:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

They had only ten percent fuel left onboard when they pulled into the harbor at Perth. Malachi had timed the arrival for ten in the morning. The voyage back had been uneventful except for one emergency dive when one of the lookouts had spotted what he thought was a periscope just southwest of New Guinea. The line handlers had been out on deck early, fore and aft, as they passed the breakwater and approached the tender. They were dressed out in dungarees, white T-shirts, and clean, white Dixie cup hats. Several members of the crew were also on deck, anxious to see dry land again amid the prospects for some well-earned time ashore with Aussie beer and all those delectable Sheilas. Malachi allowed the exec to make the landing alongside USS Trout, which was the outboard boat on the nest of four boats alongside the tender.

As the exec grappled with the problem of maneuvering a close-coupled, twin-screw submarine alongside another one without colliding, Malachi scanned the decks of the tender. To his surprise, he spotted the admiral up on the bridge wing of the tender, waving at him. He straightened up and saluted. The admiral returned the salute, as did the second older officer standing next to him. Oh, shit, he thought. They’d brought someone in to head up the investigation into the fire and the deaths of three crewmen. Well, he’d been expecting that, but not a flag officer. The two officers disappeared into the tender’s pilothouse door.

He’d sealed the after torpedo room for two reasons: the smell, primarily, and also to preserve any evidence of what had started the disastrous fire in the first place. And then there was the problem of his patrol orders: report, but do not attack. That might be an even harder issue to confront than the fire. He had no idea if he’d hit either of the carriers with that down-the-throat, no-spread salvo of six torpedoes. There’d been sounds of torpedoes going off, but that could mean anything: they’d prematured or even hit an escort ship. Or run out to the extent of their fuel and detonated at end-of-run. His only defense would be that the two Jap carriers had presented him with an unheard-of opportunity. He could not believe that anyone would have approved his not taking that opportunity. Except maybe Rear Admiral Hamner W. Marsten, who had thought that he and Malachi were not going to “get along.”

He’d given the bare minimum of details in the radio message he’d sent in after clearing Truk Lagoon. Fire in the after torpedo room. Attack on a two-carrier formation while fighting that fire. The decision to flood out the after torpedo room to smother the fire. The need to jettison the torpedoes from the after torpedo room in order to recover from an uncontrolled descent past 400 feet. The loss of three crewmen in the fire. His unilateral decision to return to Perth once all torpedoes were gone.

After that, he’d handwritten a lot more details into his captain’s log.

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