NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is an RP about the loss of a submarine. You are more than welcome to join in, but none of this "we've found it" after my first post. If all of my massive resources aren't able to find it, neither are yours.


IC: 11:00 Zulu, SSN Seadragon

Captain Charles McVey was returning to port after one of his more successful missions in spying off the cost of a not-so-friendly friend of The Captain. He was sure to get a commendation for this, even if it couldn't go on his obvious record of accomplishments. He didn't mind, he had been recognized enough to add 10 pounds of medals to his dress uniform. It was only 2 hours west, where he and his crew could enjoy some much-needed R&R.

"Bridge, torpedo room. We have a hot torpedo!"

McVey's order was the textbook response, but it didn't stop his mind from running. "Right full rudder! All ahead full!" McVey's training taught him that an active torpedo would not detnoate if it were turned 180 degrees from where it was activated. It was a safeguard built into all of the torpedos, and could only be overridden by the captain.

What happened for the next minute or so seemed like they it for hours. McVey was in constant communication with the torpedo room, but nobody could figure out what had caused this. The maneuver wasn't disarming the torpedo, and then... "Explosion?! Surface the boat!"

****************
13:00 Zulu, Omega Naval Station, The Captain

The families anxiously awaited the return of their Navy members. The Seadragon should have sent her first message to the port 20 minuntes ago. Fleet Admiral Richard Kane stood in the radio room and waited for the boat's signals. He waited, and waited. At 14:00, he decided to address the families. He stood at the podium set up to welcome home the sailors and delivered this message:

"We have lost contact with the Seadragon which was supposed to be in port an hour ago. As of right now, we are unsure of her whereabouts, but you can be assured that the Navy will find your husbands, brothers, and fathers." [i]Dead or alive,[i] he didn't add.

"All I can ask of you is to return to your homes and pray for the best. There are many factors that could be involved with the loss of a submarine, and we must retain hope that they are simply off course and without a radio. We must keep our faith in the courage of these men, and in God."

He walked off the stage and into his office. There was a lot of work for him to do.

The Captain Times, June 20

DCS Seadragon Lost!

In an unprecedented move today, The Captain Department of The Navy has admitted to the public that one of our submarines has been lost at sea. The Navy has admitted that a search is underway at the moment, but the details concerning the loss are sketchy, at best. The Seadragon's last remaining moments are unknown, and the last whereabouts are less certain. The Department of The Navy has assured the families that all questions will be answered in due time. More information will be reported when it becomes available.

"Damnit, who let this get into the papers?!" Admiral Kane boomed. "What kind of useless idiots do we have working here? Where is the Department of State Information?! We need to find who is leaking information right away. From now on, this whole search will be compartmentalized, with reports coming in for me and me alone, understand?"

"Aye aye, sir. We've only got a few officers working on this, but we aren't sure where to start searching. There's a massive area where the Seadragon could be, and we don't know where to start looking for her."

****************

Ryan Craven was driving past the Department of Military Operations Office when he heard the news on the radio. It was surprising that The Captain would lose a submarine. This was the first one he'd heard of, and, unlike the other citizens, Craven was part of the inner circle of the Navy-- at least he used to be. Craven now was the head of some admiral's own pet project, and was constantly being admonished by his boss. If The Senate ever found out about how much money was being wasted in this project...

Craven still had his all-access pass to the DMO Office from the days when he tracked submarines all over the ocean. His theories helped him find missing nuclear warheads, sunken enemy submarines, and had revolutionized deep-sea operations. He made a quick U-turn and took the exit to the DMO.

He made it through the security checks-- Craven didn't know what scared him more, The Captain's Office of State Security or The Captain's Marines. Either way, both were there to check his identity at different stages of checkpoints. He finally made it into the theater command room that was working on the Seadragon problem. There were large maps on the screens on the wall, with Seadragon's course and last known position. There were also paper maps on the desks, and computer equipment scattered about the room. Craven walked in.

"What can I do to help?"

Were exactly was the Fleet Lost.
Theres a very good chance a ECF Battleship is in the area as we have them all over the world.
We could help screach.
If we find the attacker we will destoy it.

We will of course do whatever is necessary to assist in finding this vessel. What was her last known position?

Craven was widely ignored in the theater command center. Navy brass was frantically answering calls from other nations that had seen the newspaper report on the Seadragon and were offering to help. They were sending out the same message to any and all nations that wanted to help find the sub:

[code:1:72361535ad]Thank you for offering assistance in the loss of our submarine. It is useless to hide the fact that we have lost one, and any help you can render would be greatly appreciated. However, the sub was returning home and had not contacted us since the departure-- on the other side of the ocean. That leaves millions of cubic miles of water for us to check. We will contact you if any more detailed assistance is needed.[/code:1:72361535ad]

OOC: Where are you two located with regards to The Captain? It'd be good if one of you were northeast and southeast (or northwest and southwest).

Well we are Northeast of your curret postion.
I can have 20 Battleships searching in a matter of days.

North of you. We keep subs on patrol a fair bit, but if she's down then I'd expect her to be as quiet as a particularly quiet mouse. Nevertheless, we'll do what we can. We've sent 6 India-II SSAGs to sea, carrying DSRVs for rescue work.

We will look back on the Sonar records. It's a very sensitive system if your ship say blew up. You could probably hear that.

Would you like help in the search for the [b]Seadragon ?
We can activate sattelite surveillance and submarines to help search for it.

Have you considered the Accord? (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=154695)

As of the moment, we have not acertained where exactly the Seadragon was lost. Our only hope would be the sonar records gathered from different points in the ocean to triangulate the position. Although our best hopes are that the crew somehow survived, as time goes on we grow more and more pessimistic. If you could lend us your on-shore sonar records from a few hours before 13:00 Zulu on the 19th, we would appreciate it.

We would also take the sonar readouts from your submarines in the area, if you would be willing to disclose their locations to us.

OOC: Did the sub break up? If so, perhaps a small destroyer of mine could pick up dead bodies, or survivors.

IC:
The ConfederateStates Navy is prepared, and authorized by the President, to dispatch ships to seas where contact was lost with the Seadragon. Currently, we have the following four vessels available:
CSS Richmond - Destroyer
CSS Forrest - Destroyer
CSS James River - Frigate
CSCGC Wilson - Coast Guard Cutter

Stephen Mallory,
Secretary of the Navy.

OOC: The submarine had a faulty torpedo explode in it before they could disarm it or shoot it off. In actuality, the sub is way off course because it was headed the other direction in an attempt to disarm the torpedo. But nobody knows that IC. And I don't want anybody to just "stumble over it," either. You all are welcome to help though.

IC: Craven started going over the sonar reports from The Captain's other subs in the area. There wasn't a lot to go on, though, because the closest ones were pretty far away anyway. The sub detection net had a few little blips on it, but Craven would need more than one sonar report to determine the exact position of the Seadragon. The other subs were slow getting in their reports though, because there was a non-antenna depth exercise going on at the moment.

The Navy brass was baffled. Nobody had any idea how the Seadragon could have been lost in this day in age. There must have been something afoot going on in the seas, and a theory circulated that perhaps the boat was attacked. But by whom? There were plenty of nations that weren't fans of The Captain, but to sink a nuclear attack submarine? That surely would anger The Senate enough to retaliate against the offender. Things didn't make sense to anybody at the moment, but Craven was the only one who sat down and thought things through rationally.

OOC: Hooray for the search feature being back!

IC: Craven spoke with a few admirals and gathered information about the last known minutes of the Seadragon. There wasn't a lot known, but they already had submarines out plotting the suspected course of the lost boat. There wasn't much of an explanation for this yet, so Craven called up the sonar stations abroad and requested their information. Subs were also sending in their sonar information to the Department of Military Operations. It was a rare moment where all of the theater fleet was at periscope depth transmitting their information, but nobody was expected to notice.

The reports were slowly filtering in. There was a lot of static to go through, but the computers were doing a good job of filtering out the useless noise. Craven got a copy of the tapes and assembled a small team of sonarmen and engineers. There were other groups splitting off, and most of the admirals had taken the best officers. Craven didn't care, he'd found submarines before, and he'd find this one.