Yevgeni again paused for a few seconds, to give his words more emphasis.
“In light of this new data, your answer as to the size of the explosive charge and distance must contain another critical piece of information. In order to obtain the same result, which we are calling R, with our Alpha Point being underwater, should the explosion take place above water, or perhaps on the water surface, or even on the sea bed, which is two thousand meters deep at that point?”
Yevgeni stood up and motioned to the group of officers to remain seated, as they were about to rise to their feet in respect.
“Before I move on to the other teams, please tell me if everything is clear. Do you have any questions to ask me?” Yevgeni asked.
“Everything is clear, Colonel”, Dr. Pashutin replied.
“And when do you estimate I will have your answers?” asked Yevgeni.
“We need to collect historical data stored in various seismic stations, and all the rest is already available to us. There is a chance that we can provide you with data before daybreak”, replied Dr. Pashutin.
“Very well”, Yevgeni said. “I’ll be staying here in the room, and if you need clarifications or more data, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Brigadier general Dimitri approached Yevgeni and asked, “Have you made progress with your geniuses?”
“It appears that they really are geniuses, especially the female officer, the Lieutenant Commander Doctor. She has a doctorate in operations research, she is sharp, she understands the mission, and I think their part will be finished before daybreak.”
“Sounds great”, replied Dimitri.
“Now look, we have another issue, of field security, or counter- intelligence, that may belong to our anonymous team member, the KGB man. But I believe it falls under your overall responsibility and authority”, said Yevgeni.
“What is the problem? What field security?”
“I had to tell the mathematics genius team that the center of activity is a submarine, and that they should take that into account. I think it is better that you remind your friend, the Admiral, of the letter from the Minister of Defense, and instruct him that all three team members must immediately be placed in total isolation. In my opinion, this is essential until our operation is concluded. What do you say?”
“I think you are right. By the way, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already received such an order, but I will still tell him. Come, let’s check the other teams. Let’s see how our sensitive fellow the General, Okhramenko, is doing.”
The two joined the General and the local team attached to him. The
General’s face expressed his characteristic smugness now that he had people under his command who were making progress, and Yevgeni decided to check if it was justified.
“General Okhramenko, how are we doing? Are there any problems?”
The General looked at Yevgeni dismissively, as if he were asking how he liked his tea.
“Oh, there is no problem”, the General finally said. “Just as I already told you in Moscow. The officers here have already instructed the technical section in the shipyard to dismantle several instruments and antennas from one of the frigates that are moored here, and tomorrow in daylight they can be installed on the trawler.”
“More power to you, General. Can I move on, then?” Yevgeni asked, somewhat sarcastically.
“You are dismissed”, the General said, and Yevgeni pretended not to hear.
Yevgeni and Dimitri then joined Colonel Nazarbayev’s team. In the past few days, the two had come to like him and to share with him the closeness and fondness that they felt towards each other. They especially liked his sincerity and modesty.
“How goes it in your kingdom, Comrade Colonel?’ Yevgeni asked.
“It isn’t straightforward”, replied Nazarbayev. “We are trying to think of applicable solutions.”
“And where is the main problem?”
“The depth charges have been completely ruled out”, said the explosives expert. “Indeed, I am sitting here with the best experts. The depth charges are built just like ordinary barrels, and at a depth of several hundred meters, they will be crushed. We contacted an aerial ordnance specialist, and we are checking the possibility of dropping an aerial bomb from a jet fighter-bomber. Because of the aerodynamic structure of the aerial bomb, it will enter the water at a very high speed. The problem will be the bomb’s fuse. Delaying the explosion until the bomb reaches the bottom of the sea is no problem, but as it looks now, the challenge that we are facing is that the fuse of the aerial bomb can jam because water will seep into it under extreme atmospheric pressure. The solution will have to come from improvisation.”
Colonel Yevgeni scratched his head and looked with concern at his teammate and buddy Dimitri, who was thinking about Nazarbayev’s problem.
“I would like to tell you, my friend, Colonel Nazarbayev, that you’re absolutely right and we need to think of an improvisation, especially since we only have to meet a one-time need. Our solution does not have to comply with the standards of manufacturing a series of such bombs. I will tell you a story, and maybe your teammates should also hear it.”
Colonel Nazarbayev turned to call his five teammates, but there was no need for that as they had already been following the conversation with interest.
“They are listening. Please go on, Colonel Yevgeni.”
“Well, this is the story. Once upon a time in a war, and I don’t remember exactly which one, maybe the Great Patriotic War. It’s a true story of an extraordinary capacity for improvisation. One of our Air Force planes discovered during the fighting that the bombs they dropped on enemy ships pierced through the ships before exploding. In other words, the bombs went clean through the ships, continued sinking and only then went off, underwater. To solve the problem, they needed another type of fuse with a shorter delay, so that the bombs would only penetrate the upper deck and go off inside the ship. You realize that such an explosion inside a ship is the most effective way to sink it, and that the ship has almost no chance of surviving.
“Of course, the middle of a war is not the best time for developing and manufacturing new fuses, as this can take a year or even more. Everybody tried to come up with a solution, until one junior ordnance officer from one of the bomber squadrons came up and proposed an idea that, superficially, sounded dumb, if not totally weird. But then someone in the system decided to check it out anyway. The outcome was that the enemy ships started sinking one by one.”
Yevgeni felt like a teacher in front of young students, who were all agog and curious to hear the end of the story.
“The junior officer”, Yevgeni continued, “proposed to use standard impact fuses, which go off immediately upon impact, and to put into them one half of a wooden laundry clip. With a wooden clip in the fuse, when the bomb hit the target, it required another fraction of a second for the clip to be crushed and for the fuse to detonate the bomb. This way, the blast happened after the bomb pierced the upper deck and was already inside the ship.”
Yevgeni looked at the smiling faces of the team members. “That’s a good story, right?”
The ordnance team agreed, waiting for more.
“Now, you’re asking yourselves why I told you the story, right? Well, the reason is not what you think, to encourage you to think of an improvisation or something new. I just wanted to gain a few more minutes so I can also come up with an idea.”
The team members smiled. This time, and in light of Colonel Yevgeni’s openness and humor, some of the ordnance team members felt free to laugh openly.
“Which one of you knows best about depth charges?” Yevgeni asked, and one naval officer, a Lieutenant raised his hand and stood up.