Shrugging, Sam said, “If you guess along, you’re less likely to get caught with your skivvies down. Oh, you will some of the time-it comes with the territory-but you’re less likely to. The more you know, the better off you are.”

“Uh-huh,” Cooley said. It wasn’t disagreement. It was more on the order of, Well, you’re not what I thought you were going to be.

The first Mexican town below the border had a name that translated as Aunt Jane. In peacetime, it was a popular liberty port. The handful of Mexican police didn’t give a damn what American sailors did-this side of arson or gunplay, anyhow. If you couldn’t come back to your ship with a hangover and a dose of the clap, you weren’t half trying.

But it wasn’t peacetime now. The Mexicans hadn’t built a proper coast-defense battery to try to protect poor old Aunt Jane’s honor. What point, when overwhelming U.S. firepower from across the border could smash up almost any prepared position? The greasers had brought in a few three-inch pieces to tell the U.S. Navy to keep its distance. Some of them opened up on the flotilla.

Sam called the Josephus Daniels to general quarters. He laughed to himself as the klaxons hooted. This was the first time he hadn’t had to run like hell to take his battle station. Here he was on the bridge, right where he belonged.

The Mexicans’ fire fell at least half a mile short. Columns of water leaped into the air as shells splashed into the Pacific. Sailors seeing their first action exclaimed at how big those columns were. That made Sam want to laugh again. He’d seen the great gouts of water near misses from fourteen-inch shells kicked up. Next to those, these might have been mice pissing beside elephants.

“Let’s return fire, Mr. Cooley,” Sam said.

“Aye aye, sir.” The exec relayed the order to the gun turrets. Both four-inchers-nothing even slightly fancy themselves: not even secondary armament on a capital ship-swung toward the shore. They fired almost together. At the recoil, the Josephus Daniels heeled slightly to starboard. She recovered almost at once. The guns roared again and again.