Ice Station Nautilus by Rick Campbell
Authors: Rick Campbell
Tags: United States, Literature & Fiction, Thrillers, Espionage, Sea stories, Military, Genre Fiction, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Thrillers & Suspense, Spies & Politics, Technothrillers
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something happened to North Dakota .”
“Are we certain North Dakota sank?” the president asked.
“No, sir,” Riley replied. “That’s why we’ve issued a SUBMISS instead of a SUBSUNK. There are three submarine rescue alert levels,” he explained. “A SUBLOOK message gets issued when a submarine fails to report in on time. Once there’s reason to believe a submarine has sunk or is in distress, a SUBMISS goes out and we begin mobilizing rescue resources. Once we’ve confirmed a submarine has sunk, we issue a SUBSUNK.”
Riley continued, “It’s possible North Dakota ’s crew is okay and unable to report in for some reason, but the likelihood they have suffered a serious casualty increases with each hour.”
Captain Brackman asked, “Have we detected any explosions or other acoustic events that might provide a clue as to what happened?”
“We’ve heard nothing so far,” Riley replied. “Which at least means no torpedoes have exploded, either deliberately or by accident.”
“How long can the crew survive?” the president asked.
“They have enough emergency supplies to keep the air viable for seven days. In the worst case, if North Dakota went down shortly after her last transmission, the crew has three days left. In the best case, if something happened just before she was due to report in, they have six days left. However, if they have electrical power and can run their atmosphere control equipment, they’d be okay for several months, until they run out of food. For now, we’re assuming they have no power and time is critical.”
Riley flipped to the next page of his brief, which showed a map of the Barents Sea and the pie-shaped area drawn by Paul Leone, the ice pilot from the Arctic Submarine Lab.
“This is where we think North Dakota sank. We’ll focus our search over the Barents Shelf, where the water is shallow. If North Dakota went down in the north, in the Nansen Basin, the crew is lost. Water depth in the basin is over twelve thousand feet, and the pressure hull would have imploded. We haven’t detected any implosions, so that means if she’s on the bottom, she’s on the Barents Shelf.
“Which gets me to the next issue. Our rescue plans.” Riley flipped the page.
He began with the resources most people were familiar with. “We used to have two Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles, or DSRVs— Avalon and Mystic, which attached to a mother submarine for transit to the rescue location. However, Avalon was decommissioned in 2001 and Mystic was retired in 2008. Their replacement is the Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System, located at the Undersea Rescue Command in San Diego.
“Our Arctic Submarine Lab will establish a base camp on the ice cap, where we’ll begin our search efforts. Once we locate North Dakota, we’ll transport the rescue equipment onto the ice.” Riley continued, “There are a lot of details still to be worked out, but we have a plan.
“Additionally, we have a Plan B,” he added. “Our rescue equipment wasn’t designed to operate in the Arctic environment and was also built to deploy from the deck of a support ship, not atop the ice. Even if we find North Dakota and the rescue equipment arrives in time, there’s the possibility it won’t function properly or be too heavy for the ice. Our backup plan is to send one of our guided missile submarines under the polar ice cap. Deployed SSGNs carry two platoons of SEALs and an equal number of Navy divers. If necessary, they may be able to ferry emergency supplies to North Dakota and escort personnel off in small groups. The nearest SSGN will be receiving orders on her next trip to periscope depth.”
“What do we tell the public?” Press Secretary Sikes asked. He looked to the president, who referred the question to Riley.
“For now,” Riley answered, “I recommend we say nothing. It’s not uncommon to issue a SUBLOOK, and on rare occasions we issue a SUBMISS and begin mobilizing rescue
“Are we certain North Dakota sank?” the president asked.
“No, sir,” Riley replied. “That’s why we’ve issued a SUBMISS instead of a SUBSUNK. There are three submarine rescue alert levels,” he explained. “A SUBLOOK message gets issued when a submarine fails to report in on time. Once there’s reason to believe a submarine has sunk or is in distress, a SUBMISS goes out and we begin mobilizing rescue resources. Once we’ve confirmed a submarine has sunk, we issue a SUBSUNK.”
Riley continued, “It’s possible North Dakota ’s crew is okay and unable to report in for some reason, but the likelihood they have suffered a serious casualty increases with each hour.”
Captain Brackman asked, “Have we detected any explosions or other acoustic events that might provide a clue as to what happened?”
“We’ve heard nothing so far,” Riley replied. “Which at least means no torpedoes have exploded, either deliberately or by accident.”
“How long can the crew survive?” the president asked.
“They have enough emergency supplies to keep the air viable for seven days. In the worst case, if North Dakota went down shortly after her last transmission, the crew has three days left. In the best case, if something happened just before she was due to report in, they have six days left. However, if they have electrical power and can run their atmosphere control equipment, they’d be okay for several months, until they run out of food. For now, we’re assuming they have no power and time is critical.”
Riley flipped to the next page of his brief, which showed a map of the Barents Sea and the pie-shaped area drawn by Paul Leone, the ice pilot from the Arctic Submarine Lab.
“This is where we think North Dakota sank. We’ll focus our search over the Barents Shelf, where the water is shallow. If North Dakota went down in the north, in the Nansen Basin, the crew is lost. Water depth in the basin is over twelve thousand feet, and the pressure hull would have imploded. We haven’t detected any implosions, so that means if she’s on the bottom, she’s on the Barents Shelf.
“Which gets me to the next issue. Our rescue plans.” Riley flipped the page.
He began with the resources most people were familiar with. “We used to have two Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles, or DSRVs— Avalon and Mystic, which attached to a mother submarine for transit to the rescue location. However, Avalon was decommissioned in 2001 and Mystic was retired in 2008. Their replacement is the Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System, located at the Undersea Rescue Command in San Diego.
“Our Arctic Submarine Lab will establish a base camp on the ice cap, where we’ll begin our search efforts. Once we locate North Dakota, we’ll transport the rescue equipment onto the ice.” Riley continued, “There are a lot of details still to be worked out, but we have a plan.
“Additionally, we have a Plan B,” he added. “Our rescue equipment wasn’t designed to operate in the Arctic environment and was also built to deploy from the deck of a support ship, not atop the ice. Even if we find North Dakota and the rescue equipment arrives in time, there’s the possibility it won’t function properly or be too heavy for the ice. Our backup plan is to send one of our guided missile submarines under the polar ice cap. Deployed SSGNs carry two platoons of SEALs and an equal number of Navy divers. If necessary, they may be able to ferry emergency supplies to North Dakota and escort personnel off in small groups. The nearest SSGN will be receiving orders on her next trip to periscope depth.”
“What do we tell the public?” Press Secretary Sikes asked. He looked to the president, who referred the question to Riley.
“For now,” Riley answered, “I recommend we say nothing. It’s not uncommon to issue a SUBLOOK, and on rare occasions we issue a SUBMISS and begin mobilizing rescue
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