ring into his green screen, frowned.

"Vessel bearing in on us on the port side, sir," he called out Captain Foreman
looked out the port window and saw the huge bulk of the Australian aircraft carrier
Downing, one of the Australian «Majestic» class carriers, twenty thousand tons
loaded. She might be swinging a little wide, he concluded.
"Hold your course," he said to the helmsman, who did so. Then, with the sudden
totality of disasters that happen at sea, the huge bulk of the aircraft carrier
struck the U.S.N. Paycock amidships, moving through her the way a knife moves
through butter. Men screamed, engines exploded, sailors dived into the sea in an
effort to douse the flames that engulfed their bodies. The blow had destroyed the
ship's electrical system, and it was impossible to close all the bulkheads by hand.
The U.S.N. Paycock went down quickly. There were survivors, but not many.
Aboard the Australian carrier the thick bow had taken the brunt of the crash, and
her bulkheads were quickly closed. On the bridge, the radarman leaned his head ag