CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
2:01 a.m. Indochina Time, August 18 (3:01 p.m. Eastern Time, August 17)
South China Sea
“We’ve got problems.”
The submarine lurked a hundred feet below the surface.
It was the USS Lewiston, a Los Angeles class fast-attack sub, moving alone, deep inside the South China Sea. Its captain, Commander Patrick Vitale, stood in the close confines of the control room. He was listening to his situation deteriorate.
He had been awakened only five minutes before by the Messenger of the Watch, a young kid whose name he hadn’t caught yet. They had been stalking a Chinese destroyer for the better part of a day, cruising silently in its wake. The wake, or baffles, was the area right behind the ship—where the motion of the water confuses the ship’s sonar.
In this case, maybe not
