“I like it,” the president said. “Proceed with the preparations and brief me when we’re ready.”
92
USS MARYLAND SIBERIA, RUSSIA
Commander Britt Skogstad stood on the submarine’s Conn beside the Group Ten admiral, waiting for the expected message. USS Maryland was at its normal patrol depth with one of its communication buoys deployed a few feet below the surface, keeping Maryland in continuous receipt of the Very Low Frequency broadcast. Skogstad checked the clock in Control. If satellite surveillance confirmed the target was at the specified location, Maryland would receive the Emergency Action Message, although this one would be a conventional version.
He’d been informed of the plan two days ago, directed to pull Maryland into one of the explosive handling buildings for yet another on-load, this time for a Trident missile carrying conventional warheads. There were two variations of conventional Trident warheads, which provided long-range strike capability quickly without having to wait for ships or aircraft to transit within range. The missile loaded aboard Maryland carried tungsten rod flechettes, which would rain down on the target, destroying everything within a three-thousand-square-foot area. The other conventional warhead type could destroy hardened bunkers deep underground.
Although the missile being launched today carried conventional and not nuclear warheads, the launch procedure would be similar due to needing access to one of the launch keys, which was contained in a safe the crew didn’t have the combination to. In the Cold War days, the crew possessed every key required to launch its nuclear missiles, but someone must have woken up at night in a cold sweat, realizing there were a dozen American submarine crews at sea that could initiate a nuclear war if they chose to, with no safeguards in place other than training and procedures that said they couldn’t. One of the keys was now kept locked in a safe in Missile Control Center, with the combination provided in the launch message.
The message Skogstad was waiting for finally arrived.
Alert One! Alert One!
Radio’s 1-MC announcement reverberated throughout the submarine, reporting they’d received an Emergency Action Message. Junior officers streamed into Control as they were trained, not yet knowing what type of EAM had been received.
Unlike nuclear EAMs, the message was transmitted in plain text, so the extra steps of decoding the message, validating it against the authorized message formats, and verifying the nuclear release codes wouldn’t be required. However, the message would contain the pertinent launch details and the combination to the launch key safe.
Two junior officers, each holding the message, approached Skogstad. Since the message contained the combination to the launch key, two-man control was required.
The senior of the two officers reported, “Sir, we are in receipt of a conventional strike message. No authentication is required.”
Skogstad replied, “What are the launch instructions?”
“Missile tube Two-one, carrying conventional warheads, has been released.”
The two officers placed the message where Skogstad and his XO, standing beside him, could read it, and both men verified the message released the missile in tube Twenty-one.
“I concur,” his Executive Officer said.
Skogstad picked up the 1-MC microphone. “Man Battle Stations Missile for strategic launch. Spin up missile Two-one.”
The two junior officers departed with the message, headed to Missile Control Center to retrieve the launch key as the crew manned battle stations. Meanwhile, the section on watch made the initial preparations for missile launch.
“Helm, all stop,” the Officer of the Deck ordered. “Dive, bring the ship to launch depth. Prepare to hover.”
The Helm and Diving Officer acknowledged, and the main engines went quiet as Maryland took a ten-degree up-angle, coming shallow and slowing in preparation for launch.
Maryland’s angle leveled off as the submarine coasted to a halt. After the Chief of the Watch engaged the hovering computers, the Diving Officer announced, “The ship is hovering at launch depth.”
The Chief of the Watch reported, “Battle Stations Missile is manned.”
Skogstad picked up the 1-MC again. “Set condition 1-SQ for strategic launch. This is the Commanding Officer. The release of conventional weapons has been directed.”
Skogstad left Control and opened the safe in his stateroom, then returned with one of the twenty-four keys in his safe. He handed it to a missile technician waiting to arm missile tube Twenty-one’s gas generator, which would launch the missile above the ocean’s surface, where the missile’s first-stage engine would ignite.
The two junior officers with the message returned to Control with the CIP launch key, which they handed to Skogstad, who inserted it into the Captain’s Indicator Panel. He turned the key ninety degrees, then flipped up the Permission to Fire toggle switch. The panel activated, illuminating the status lights for all twenty-four missiles.
Only missile Twenty-one was brought on line, spinning up its inertial navigation system. Skogstad monitored the progress as the indicating light for missile Twenty-one illuminated, indicating it had successfully communicated with the submarine’s navigation system. It now knew its starting location. The next indicator toggled from black to red as the missile accepted its target package, carrying the impact coordinates for its warheads.
The light in the third column of the Captain’s Indicating panel turned red as the missile techs in Missile Compartment Lower Level armed the explosives in the gas generator.
USS Maryland was ready to launch.
Skogstad turned to the watchstander beside him. “Phone-talker to Weapons. You have permission to fire.” The phone-talker passed the order to Missile Control Center over the sound-powered phone circuit.
Skogstad listened to the orders going out over the MCC communication circuit.
“Prepare Two-one.”
The light for Missile Tube Twenty-one’s muzzle hatch turned red, indicating the hatch was open and locked in place. The starboard missile team relayed its report back to MCC.
“Two-one, ready.”
Seconds later, Skogstad felt Maryland’s deck flex when the Weapons Officer squeezed the trigger, ejecting the sixty-five-ton missile from the tube. Missile Techs checked the panel indications and the small glass portal in the side of the tube, then reported to MCC.
“Two-one, away.”
General Andropov turned off the television, then placed the remote control on the couch beside him. A few days ago, upon learning of the pending American assault on the main Ministry of Defense building, he’d considered being in the National Defense Control Center in the middle of the night, if nothing more than to greet the crestfallen former president of the Russian Federation. However, Andropov was a cautious man and he’d hedged his bets, choosing to visit a Moscow suburb for the evening. Based on how things unfolded, he wondered if he would’ve been better off if he’d faced Kalinin in Moscow. Perhaps he could have put a bullet in him.
The whole thing was infuriating. He shouldn’t have been forced to take matters into his own hands in the first place. Had Putin still been president, he would have realized the wisdom of Andropov’s plan. Russian forces would still be in possession of half of Poland, the Baltic States, and a portion of Romania. In the coming weeks, Putin would have negotiated a compromise, ceding Poland and Romania back to NATO in exchange for friendly Russian governments in the Baltic States and Ukraine. A simple plan, lacking only a Russian president with the guts to see it through.