On the flight deck below, Bush watched the organized chaos as men, guns and equipment of the Commando Artillery Regiment and the Commando engineers cross-decked to the amphibious ship in order to take part in the landing. Brightly colored figures, jackets colored and coded according to their role on the flight deck, controlled and guided Merlin troop carriers as other long lines of commandos in full battle gear, laden with bergens, body armor and all the paraphernalia of war, stood patiently on the elevators, waiting to be called forward to board them. Larger, twin-rotored Chinooks hovered low as they picked up guns and Viking lightly armored tracked vehicles and transported them forward to the beaches. Film crews filmed it all and, to the watching world, this was a magnificent projection of Royal Navy sea power by the pride of its battle fleet.

Clad in white flash hood and gloves, he stepped into the darkened calm of the Ops Room, the nerve center of the ship. It was here that the ship’s radars and the weapons systems that protected the ship were operated from; kept separate from the flight operations, which were conducted from the control tower, as on any airfield. As Bush’s eyes adjusted to the low light, he saw banks of computers manned by masked operators, on whom the blue light from radar screens and other monitors cast an eerie glow.

In the center of the Ops Room stood the tall figure of Commodore Tony Narborough, the ship’s captain, flanked by his Principal Weapons Officer, the conductor of the complex orchestra that defended the ship.

“Hello, Number One. We’ve got a bit of a flap on,” said Narborough, trying to appear calm. “Daring has just signaled that she’s picked up a sonar trace. Possibly a Kilo.”

“Any indication of the direction she’s heading in, Sir?” asked Bush, his voice muffled by the flash hood everyone wore when at “action stations” to reduce the risk of the catastrophic burns that, after drowning, were the greatest risk in warships.

“Looks like she’s heading in the general direction of the Amphib group, to our south,” replied Narborough. “Lancaster and Dauntless are covering the Amphib group with an active sonar search, while Daring is covering us to the north.”

“Shouldn’t we delay the landing until we’ve dealt with the sub threat?” suggested Bush.