Submarine Warriors: The Enemy Beneath

by Rob Tiffany

  “Rodina?” questioned Michelle. “What does a monster from Godzilla movies have to do with anything?”

  “You’re Russian spies.” The NCIS agent snapped back at them, unamused.

  “We’re not Russians,” Ashley protested. “We’re Americans.”

  “Then why did you conspire to help the USS Alaska escape by taking control of the Hood Canal Bridge?” asked the agent.

  “Listen, we’re Navy wives.” Michelle’s voice became louder. “We’re not conspirators and we want to see a lawyer.”

  “I’m afraid this isn’t one of your TV crime dramas,” the agent replied. “You’ve committed treason against the United States by aiding in the theft of one of our most powerful military weapons. No lawyers are coming and no one knows you’re here. Now tell me who you work for and where that submarine is headed or things will become very uncomfortable for you.”

  “Our kids are on the Alaska.” Ashley offered up this information quickly. “They’re trying to rescue their fathers who disappeared in some kind of science and research vessel. We know our husbands are still alive out there. You’re not going to torture us are you?”

  The NCIS agent responded with a quizzical look on his face, “Do I look like Jack Bauer to you? Excuse me for a moment,” he said, leaving the room to make a phone call.

  USS Abraham Lincoln

  The USS Abraham Lincoln and its battle group was returning to Everett, Washington, after spending nine months in the Indian Ocean in support of operations in Afghanistan. This massive aircraft carrier was designed to project power anywhere in the world with its 60 fighter jets and anti-submarine warfare planes and helicopters. The carrier’s twin nuclear reactors reduced power to the turbines and the ship began to slow in response to an important flash traffic radio transmission.

  Moments later, a Yeoman knocked nervously on the ship Captain’s door.

  “Come,” replied the Rear Admiral.

  “Admiral, I have an important message from COMPACFLEET,” the Yeoman announced.

  “What does Pearl want now?” the Rear Admiral uttered under his breath. “Don’t they know we’re almost home?”

  The Yeoman handed the Admiral the message:

  “TOP SECRET |COORDINATE BATTLE

  GROUP AND LEAD EFFORTS TO SINK

  ROGUE OHIO CLASS SUBMARINE | PROCEED

  TO LATITUDE: 47.81 LONGITUDE: -126.71 |

  SEAWOLF CLASS SUBS HEADING TO

  COORDINATES TO ASSIST |

  TARGET IS USS ALASKA AND IS ARMED

  WITH TORPEDOES AND NUKES”

  “Yeoman, I think your generation would say OMG when reading something like this,” the Rear Admiral remarked. “I wonder what the significance of these coordinates is?” He then reached over and un-holstered a microphone from his stateroom wall. “Crew of USS Abraham Lincoln, man battle stations.”

  Battle stations alarms began to sound on every deck of the carrier, as sailors and aviators ran to their posts. Soon, the alarms spread to the Destroyers, Frigates, and Guided Missile Cruisers in the strike group. The curving wake behind all the ships meant that they were all changing course and heading for the mysterious GPS coordinates.

  USS Alaska

  “Annie, please maintain your depth of 800 feet,” Caroline said as she watched the numbers on the depth gauge increase slightly.

  “I don’t know what’s going on,” Annie cried. “I’ve been pulling up on the planes but we’re still losing depth.”

  “Granddad, there’s something strange going on here.” Caroline looked back at the Admiral. “We’re beginning to sink.”

  “Helm, full rise on the fairwater planes,” the Admiral barked.

  “Full rise on the planes, helm, aye,” Annie replied as she pulled all the way back on the yoke.

  “Admiral, we’re less than a mile away from the lat/long coordinates,” Nick commented.

  “We’re driving ahead at flank speed, Annie’s got her planes on full rise but we’re still sinking.” Caroline’s voice took on a sense of panic.

  “Mike, initiate an emergency blow and put us on the roof,” the Admiral commanded sternly.

  “Huh?” responded Mike with a blank look on his face.

  “Reach up to the panel directly above your head and pull those two switches downward,” the Admiral clarified. “Those are the chicken switches that will use high pressure air to blow the water out of the tanks and take us to the surface.”

  Mike reached up and pulled the switches. The sound of hissing echoed throughout the sub as the high pressure air pushed the water from the tanks and the Alaska began to rise.

  “Chrissie, full rise on the stern planes,” Caroline ordered.

  With that, Chrissie pulled the outboard yoke all the way back and everyone could feel the bow of the sub angle upward. “I think this is doing the trick,” said the Chief of the Boat, a grin beginning to appear on his face. “Hang on everyone; it’s time for some serious angles.” The Alaska quickly rose 100 feet. After rising another 50 feet, the sub’s ascent began to slow and the kids started looking at each other with perplexed expressions.

  “Is this normal?” inquired Mike.

  “Not in the least.” Admiral Connery looked worried. “We should be on the surface by now.”

  The Alaska eked out another 25 feet before it began to sink again.

  “Admiral, not only are we sinking, but the ship’s compass is going crazy and the inertial navigation system is behaving strangely.” Nick exclaimed. “You know how you can make your hiking compass needle spin around if you hold a magnet up to it? It looks something like that.”

  At that moment, lights in the control room began to flicker, while the video monitors became distorted. A scared look came across everyone’s faces as the Alaska wobbled and continued to sink with its bow pointed upward.

  “All the extra air in the ballast tanks from the emergency blow is causing the boat to behave erratically as we sink,” the Admiral exclaimed. “Mike, open the vents and refill the tanks with water and get us to zero bubble on the double. Annie and Chrissie, zero your planes and work with Mike to get us level.”

  A chorus of “aye, sirs” came from the kids as they worked to stabilize the Alaska.

  “I don’t suppose there could be some kind of giant, super magnet out there that’s causing our instruments to behave like this.” Caroline thought out loud.

  “Lucky for us, we’re in a giant steel tube.” Annie joked with the last ounce of humor in her body.

  “Thanks for that, Annie,” Mike retorted. “A giant magnet is actually the one thing that could explain both our sinking and why our navigation systems are freaking out. That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all year, Caroline.”

  Caroline glared over at Mike without saying a word.

  “So basically, there’s some kind of magnetic force beneath us that’s trying to pull us down to the bottom of the sea,” Nick noted aloud. “Admiral, how long can we keep sinking before reaching crush depth?”

  Without answering, the Admiral became lost in his thoughts for a moment.

  “Torpedo room, flood torpedo tube two and prepare to fire on my mark,” commanded the Admiral through his sound-powered phone.

  “But, sir, I don’t have a target solution to plug into fire control,” said Nick from the fire control panel.

  “I just want you to shoot the torpedo straight out of the tube at minimum velocity,” the Admiral replied. “Open outer doors on torpedo tube two.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” replied Nick.

  A moment later, the Admiral gave the order to shoot and a Mark 48 torpedo emerged from the open tube with a “whoosh.” Everyone felt their ears pop as the air pressure changed inside the sub.

  “Torpedo room, Conn, cut the wires,” the Admiral ordered.

  “But sir, how will we be able to steer the torpedo?” replied the Torpedoman.

  “I don’t want you to, and don’t question my orders,” the Admiral barked back.

  “Conn, Sona
r, I’m tracking the torpedo and it’s beginning to lose depth control,” the Sonarman announced.

  “Sonar, Conn, aye,” replied the Admiral. “That’s what I was counting on.”

  The torpedo pointed downward and picked up speed as it headed toward the ocean floor.

  “I want whatever magnetic force is out there to pull our metal torpedo right down to it,” the Admiral explained. “I have a little surprise that it won’t be expecting.”

  “Fire Control, arm the torpedo and set it to go active,” commanded the Admiral.

  “Sending HFIP command to arm torpedo and make it go active, aye,” Nick replied.

  The torpedo began pinging and, sure enough, it homed in on something that looked like a giant underwater radar dish pointing up from the ocean floor.

  “I think the torpedo has acquired its target!” Nick yelled.

  A second later the torpedo detonated a foot away from the dish, causing a giant underwater vacuum bubble that sent shockwaves in every direction.

  The Alaska rocked backward and then sideways, knocking everyone off their feet as the shockwave hit. Cries and screams could be heard throughout the sub. A moment later, everything went dark and the propeller stopped spinning.

  “My head is killing me.” Caroline screamed out from the deck of the control room.

  “Tell me about it,” Mike echoed.

  “I’m glad Annie and I were strapped into our seats,” Chrissie exclaimed. “Click-it or ticket.”

  “Chief of Boat, we need emergency lighting,” the Admiral ordered, slowly picking himself up off the deck.

  “I’m on it, sir,” replied the Chief.

  A minute later, backup lighting flickered to life.

  The Admiral picked up his sound-powered phone since it didn’t need electricity to work. “All sections send in casualty and damage reports,” he uttered into the receiver, as he dialed up every compartment on the sub.

  One by one, reports came in from all over the sub. There were a number of bumps and bruises, but no serious damage to the ship. Then the report the Admiral most wanted came over his sound-powered phone.

  “Conn, Maneuvering, the reactor’s fine and I’m bringing propulsion back online,” the Eng reported.

  “That’s music to my ears, Eng,” replied the Admiral.

  After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the welcome hum of the turbines was felt throughout the sub, bringing with it electricity and a spinning propeller to move the Alaska forward. Clapping and a little whistling could be heard by the delighted crew.

  “Granddad, whatever was pulling us down before isn’t doing it anymore.” Caroline looked back at the Admiral.

  “It appears that our torpedo did its job and took out that magnetic tractor beam,” Admiral Connery said with a smile on his face.

  “This is so awesome!” yelled out Mike. “We’re on a real submarine and we just blew something up. This is better than the movies.”

  “No doubt,” Nick echoed. “My friends are going to freak out when they hear we took out a tractor beam without the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

  USS Seawolf

  “Did you hear that?” a Sonarman asked the Chief next to him. “I’ve locked on an underwater explosion whose coordinates match the ones that we’re heading to.”

  The Chief picked up the sound-powered phone.

  “Conn, sonar, reporting an explosion at our target coordinates,” the Chief announced.

  “Sonar, Conn, aye,” replied the Officer of the Deck.

  “Chief of the Watch, float the buoy,” the Officer of the Deck ordered. “We have an important transmission to make.”

  “Float the buoy, aye,” replied the Chief of the Watch.

  “Radio, Conn, when the buoy is at transmit depth, contact the Abraham Lincoln and tell them we have a submerged explosion at the same coordinates as our target destination,” the Officer of the Deck said. “Tell them to have the battle group make their best speed to this location. Something’s going on down there and there’s no time to waste.”

  The White House

  “Mr. President, I just received a message from Pearl saying that SOSUS nets and sonars from multiple Pacific fleet submarines have detected a significant underwater explosion at the same coordinates as the original unidentified heat anomaly,” the NSA announced. “The last known track of the USS Alaska, plus the NCIS confession report from the Hood Canal Bridge co-conspirators, leads us to believe that the sub was headed to the same location. The Abraham Lincoln battle group is en route to the coordinates as we speak.”

  “First a cruise ship, then the Omaha Beach and now the Alaska.” The President sounded exasperated. “I met those so-called co-conspirators at a staged funeral for their husbands in Arlington. Things are starting to unravel around us.”

  Ocean Floor

  The explosion rocked the Underworlder’s crystalline structure. In the containment cell near the tip of the pyramid, the immobilized submarine sailors felt the same underwater shockwave that had tossed their children around in the Alaska.

  “I wonder if someone’s trying to fight for us?” Lieutenant Wyatt thought to himself.

  USS Alaska

  “Sonar, how deep is the ocean here?” asked Admiral Connery.

  “Pretty shallow, just a thousand feet, sir,” the Sonarman replied after taking a sounding.

  “Use the downward scanning sonar to give me a map of the ocean floor and let me know if you detect anything unusual,” Admiral Connery added.

  The Alaska stopped moving and used its hovering computer to stay directly over the scene of the explosion.

  “Admiral, in addition to pieces of wreckage from the explosion, I’m also picking up the cruise ship and a strange shape on the ocean floor,” the Sonarman announced.

  “What is it?” asked the Admiral.

  “It looks like some kind of three-dimensional triangle jutting out from the seabed, sir,” the Sonarman replied.

  “Like a pyramid?” Admiral Connery asked.

  “Yeah, how’d you know?”

  The Admiral reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. The XO had written the word Pyramid on it. “Somebody you know gave me a heads-up,” replied the Admiral.

  “I’m also picking up a small cylindrical shape next to it,” the Sonarman added. “It looks to be the same size as a DSRV.”

  “The Omaha Beach,” the Admiral uttered under his breath. “We need to head down there and take a closer look.”

  “Chief of the Watch, work with sonar and set the hovering computer to take us down to 10 feet above the ocean floor,” ordered the Admiral.

  “Aye aye, sir,” replied Mike.

  “Okay team, here’s the situation,” the Admiral announced to everyone. “We’ve arrived at our destination and have identified the sunken cruise ship, a strange pyramid, and what looks to be the Omaha Beach. We’re here to rescue your fathers and my son and therefore we need to get up close and personal with the DSRV sitting on the ocean floor.”

  “You mean go outside?” Chrissie asked.

  “Exactly,” responded the Admiral. “Chief of the Boat, how many of your crewmembers are qualified scuba divers?”

  “None aboard, sir,” replied the COB. “The two swimmers assigned to this boat went topside on the pier when the Alaska arrived in port.”

  “Well, can you spare any of your other crewmembers?” The Admiral sounded annoyed.

  “Sir, we’re running this sub with less than a skeleton crew. I can’t even safely man each of the watch stations with what I’ve got.”

  “COB, we’ve come a long way and risked everything, not to be able to finish the job,” the Admiral snapped angrily.

  “I can do it,” Caroline spoke up.

  “Granddaughter, I appreciate you bravery, but you don’t know the first thing about deep sea diving.”

  “I’ve got straight A’s in school, so I bet I can figure it out if you’ll show me what to do,” Caroline answered. “You guys have a different
manual to read for everything on this sub. Just give me the book with the procedure inside to perform this task and I’ll make it happen.”

  “I’m sure you could figure it out.” The Admiral nodded his head. “Your mother would kill me if I sent you out alone. It’s just too dangerous to do this by yourself.”

  “She won’t have to.” Nick turned around from the fire control panel. “I’m going with her.”

  The Admiral sat silently for a few moments pondering the situation before him. “Alright, this is going to be the most reckless order I’ve ever given. Caroline and Nick, go get your deep-sea diving gear ready and report to the forward escape trunk. Go help them, COB.”

  “I guess we’re going swimming in the deep end of the pool,” Caroline said with a smile, as she fist-pumped Nick.

  Chapter 7 > The Rescue

  After Nick and Caroline suited up in their deep-sea diving gear, they climbed into the escape trunk. With Mike at his side, the Chief of the Boat closed the hatch behind them and sealed it shut. Flipping a switch enabled him to talk to Caroline and Nick from outside the compartment. “Alright kids, this is going to seem pretty weird.” The Chief quickly spun a wheel allowing water to come flooding into the escape trunk. “I know it seems like I’m trying to drown you, but that’s how this contraption works. I’m going to slowly fill the room you’re in with seawater. Since you’re wearing deep-sea diving suits, you won’t have to worry about the pressure like you would if you were scuba diving. When the trunk is full and the pressure inside matches the pressure outside, the escape hatch will open.”

  “Roger that,” Caroline responded.

  A few minutes later, the escape hatch released, and Nick and Caroline left the sub. The weight of their suits prevented them from doing any actual swimming.