SSN - Tom Clancy [102]
As Cheyenne approached the southern entrance to the Formosa Strait, the communicator came to the control room to deliver a message to Mack.
"Captain, we just received an ELF message from Nimitz asking us to come to communications depth to receive a message from them over SSIXS."
"Very well," Mack said. "Come to periscope depth," he ordered the OOD.
As Cheyenne ascended slowly, Mack hoped that the message would contain some good news.
Mack had decided to come to periscope depth in case the incoming message from Nimitz required an answer. He couldn't use the floating wire to transmit a message back to the fleet. He also wasn't sure if the message was on the VLF broadcast yet.
With Cheyenne at periscope depth, Mack decided to have a quick look around with the Type 2 attack periscope. After raising his periscope, Mack made a quick circular motion in order to get a complete 360-degree picture of the surface, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
As the message was received, it was automatically deciphered by the SSIXS transceiver and brought to Mack. He read it, then handed it to the navigator.
"Take a look at this," Mack said. "Several of Nimitz's aircraft, operating from the Pacific, have been monitoring Chinese naval activities in the Formosa Strait for the past week, and they have determined that we are headed straight for a minefield."
That was good information to have, and Mack appreciated receiving it, but the message didn't end there. Nimitz had located two routes that they believed had been designated safe transit zones for Chinese vessels. According to naval intelligence reports they had just received, no mines had been detected floating on the surface in those areas and no Chinese surface ships had been detected laying mines in those zones.
Mack ordered Cheyenne back to four hundred feet, and then he and the navigator went over to the quartermaster's table where a large chart of the Formosa Strait was lying flat on the table.
The Formosa Strait was shallow, running from north to south, in between China and Taiwan. The suspected mined area took up a large portion of the strait, running completely through its center. The first mine-safe route was on the western side, along the coast of China. The second route was on the eastern side along die coast of Taiwan. Both officers examined the recommended routes, trying to determine which route was better for Cheyenne. The navigator spxike first. "Captain, I recommend taking the eastern route, along the western shore of Taiwan. I'm not that comfortable with running along the coast of China. We would probably be faced with who knows what types of Chinese patrol craft, not to mention all the aircraft that we would come into contact with."
Mack agreed, both with the reasoning and the recommendation. "The second route it is," he said. "Plot a new course just to the starboard side of the Pescadores Islands." The navigator remained at the plotting table while Mack headed to the sonar room to find out if any new, interesting contacts had been detected. Then the navigator had the quartermaster of the watch enter Cheyenne's track onto his chart.
Cheyenne headed through the shallow waters of the For-V^CQ ;trŤir at four knots. With their previous experience in shallow waters, Mack ordered the OOD to run at one hundred feet. The strait itself was roughly 350 nautical miles long. At Cheyenne's current speed, Mack would reach the end of his trip north in about three and a half days. His plan was to quietly sail up near Taiwan and listen for enemy vessels. Mack knew that if he detected any