Black Flagged Redux

Chapter 46





11:10 PM

USS DECATUR (DDG-73)

Pacific Ocean off Chilean coast





EW1 (SW) Robert Wegner studied the AN/SLQ-32(V)2 display screen again and checked the entire console. He'd done this several times over the past fifteen minutes and nothing had changed, except for the number of personnel lurking over his shoulder. It had started out with his chief, division officer and department head, which was bad enough, and had quickly expanded to every officer standing watch in the Combat Information Center. The crowd's seniority culminated with the presence of the ship's executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Shelly Davis, who would report Wegner's assessment to DECATUR's commanding officer and await permission to transmit the report to mission planners onboard the USS BOXER. At least Captain Higgins had stayed on the bridge. The last thing he needed was DECATUR's commanding officer breathing down his neck too.

"Everything still looks clear, Petty Officer Wegner?" Davis said.

"The scope is clear, ma'am. I have a few commercial maritime radars, but these are typical for the fishing vessels in these waters. Nothing land based or airborne," Wegner said.

"What are the effective ranges for the radars you've detected?"

"24 to 48 nautical miles…best case scenario. In this visibility, they'll probably have the radar picture set to a modest range…maybe 12 nautical miles. Signal strength confirms low output associated with reduced power transmission settings. They won't be able to detect DECATUR at any range with those radars. BOXER is a different story. Nothing stealthy about that ship, ma'am."

"That's why we're here first. I'll let the captain know the area is clear of any contacts of interest," she said.

DECATUR would loiter in the area, scanning for radar signals with its AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare Suite, while at the same time employing a time tested, low budget method of surveillance. Lookouts. On this particular night, DECATUR employed three times the normal number of lookouts, all equipped with powerful night vision optics to spot vessels far out on the horizon. Just thirty nautical miles from the Chilean coast, this section of ocean needed to be clear of maritime traffic at 0200, when BOXER arrived to launch the strike force. The radar invisible destroyer had a few more hours to ensure that the BOXER would arrive undetected.