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Doggone thing is too smart for me! Can I borrow a large mallet from someone?

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CHAPTER 3 Part 4: England Expects More....

FOUR

Commander Torrance Smythe led the way to the main hall where the big table was being constructed. Lieutenant Commanders Imrie and Barker were with him while Lieutenant Robinson took a short detour to pick up a foolscap pad for his notes. CPO Davies used that time to send their few civilian carpenters for a tea break.

They stood looking at the chaos of construction, with the main outline of the table and its access hatches clear, while on one side the plaster dust showed where a wall had been removed. When Robinson caught up with them, Smithy spoke: “I will leave you to sorting this – but my thought is to keep it simple and adaptable for now. We will know more later – we hope – and adjust from there. Good luck. Davies: it's your show.” With that, he turned and left.

“Thank you, sir.” Davies spoke to the officers with confidence. “Sirs, here is our layout as most of you have seen when you've been peeking in at us, and the sketches we have circulated. The only remaining issue is as I said: what is the point of view and the scale. I will ask PO Cooper to speak about the first of those. Cooper?”

Somewhat less at ease than Davies at speaking up to the officers, Cooper was nevertheless quite ready. “Sirs, I watched many sessions at FACT in Scapa, and 'ave been thinking about this 'ere table. And I think that we are trying too 'ard, if I can put it that way. What we call the scale of the table, like a chart, is just the rule we chalk out along the side. I think that we can vary the scale anytime, once we decide the viewpoint. On a flat open ocean table, we change scale just by drawing a different scale along the side for quick reference – and using a different size circle to show visibility – in fact we are thinking of rings, like wooden 'oops – around a ship.” He paused to concentrate on what he said. “Large scale – small h-oop to show what an individual ship can see. Small scale – large h-oop to show what it can see. Night – smaller circle of visibility, and so on like that. Sirs.”

Heads were nodding as he spoke. Wilson Imrie was first to speak: “Yes. And each type of ship can see differently, or if they have a higher crows nest, or whatever. Very good, Cooper. A range of hoop sizes and we can show what visibility we want.”

Robinson followed with a smile: “Yes. Keeping it simple is what works. Barky?”

Barker was nodding. “Agreed. Thinking too hard about it would bring more problems.”

Davies spoke up: “Very good, sirs. We'll build for the accessories and not the table to adapt to scale. Now about the point of view, CPO Jones has been considering what this means.”

Jones was more confident. “Sirs, like Cooper, I think we want to keep it simple – at least until we know something specific that we want to build. We can't hold up while waiting to figure it out. So that leaves us markers for visibility, like smoke and fog and squalls, and model ships. Nothing really new there except a few sets of ships built as single blocks so as to be easy to show as flotillas or squadrons. The only truly new idea we have is to build a little table in a little room with a hole and a stool in the middle – the captain sitting in there would have his head at table-top level. If you think that might be useful, we can start work on it.”

Imrie, showing clearly that he had been in the anti-submarine contest for a large part of the war, spoke first: “Yes. We have to keep moving. But, that last idea will help us see the submarine side of the games.”

Barker nodded silently as Robinson added: “Yes. Go on, and with that little table with the stool. Time is of the essence. As with all we are doing it is as Voltaire said: The perfect is the enemy of the good.”

Davies was a bit taken aback at this ready agreement to their proposals. “Sirs. Is there.... We can proceed with this as proposed, but, is there anything else?”

The barrister Robinson was quick to continue, as he glanced at the other two officers. “I don't think so. Not if we are to keep moving forward. Just over two months ago we bashed their battle fleet, and about a month ago they launched a whirlwind from beneath the sea that is causing untold damage to our ability to make war. We have to keep moving forward.”

“Very good, sirs. Thank you. And if I follow on from your comments on those points, and what Commander Torrance Smythe said about keeping it simple, we won't worry about the communications and lighting until we need to. We will build in a few small elements to make later fittings easier, but that won't delay having this operational by tomorrow morning. Well, maybe noon if the paint is slow to dry.”

Imrie spoke for the officers: “Thank you all. Now we just have to figure out what it is we need figure out!”

As they walked along the corridor to their collective working office, Robinson paused. Imrie and Barker came to a stop and looked at him questions clear on their faces. “I can't see what we need to do in there that you guys have not already worked out at sea. I'm a lawyer, not a seagoing officer. I don't hold a watch-keeping certificate, What can that give us?”

Barker answered quickly: “I'm not sure what it will be, but it will let us test out a lot of things in short order. Going to sea to test tactical theories is a slow business. I know with submarines we go out for a day and get two trial runs, sometimes only one of them realistic.”

“I think that's it,” added Imrie. “There might be something else, but it will let us think and work quickly, while conferring together, to figure out what works.”

“It damn well better,” Robinson added as he started walking again.