Dimitri leaned towards Yevgeni and they exchanged a few whispers before he continued.
“I suggest that we adjourn now for half an hour, no more. Colonel Yevgeni will try to catch the Minister of Defense; Colonel Nazarbayev will assign tasks to his team, and when we return, we will study the Americans’ training program and come out of here with the final detailed schedule for executing the mission. We’ll reconvene here in half an hour. Let’s go.”
The team members hurried to take their seats around the table where Colonel Yevgeni was already seated. Brigadier Dimitri sat in a corner of the room with a young officer in a naval uniform. A large map was spread over the table and Dimitri held a slide rule and was taking notes in his notebook.
“He’ll join us presently”, Yevgeni told the team. “We have approval and confirmation from Marshal Budarenko. Two shells will be delivered to us by dawn tomorrow.”
Yevgeni turned to Colonel Nazarbayev.
“What have you managed to arrange for us, Colonel?”
“The Akatsiya will be sent to us from an artillery battalion not far from here. They estimate that it will take three or four hours from now, and they are also sending a crew with the gun. The structural engineer is conducting a preliminary investigation at this very minute. He reckons that it won’t be a problem to lower the gun onto the amidships deck and not onto the bow; this is preferable not just regarding loads, but also better for the ship’s balance. There will also be less sea motion.”
Dimitri seemed deep in thought, habitually scratching his head.
“Please tell me”, Yevgeni said, turning to him. “Is the bow area of the boat completely clear of antennas or other protruding elements that may be in the shell’s trajectory? If the gun is located amidships, will there be any problem?”
“We’ve checked the issue. The command bridge with the radar, which is the tallest element on the boat, is at the stern. Therefore, when the gun is located in the middle of the boat, there should be no impediment, especially since the firing will be at an elevation of forty-five degrees. In short, we’ve checked the issue and there is no obstacle.”
In the corner of the room, Dimitri thanked the junior officer for his assistance, dismissed him and then hurried to join his teammates. Yevgeni waited until Dimitri took his seat at the table, and only then continued.
“General Okhramenko, I want to say a few words to you. The role of the radio operator from Intelligence is critical. Only he can change the time of firing, based on the reports that he retrieves from the submarine along its reporting points. It is important to understand that the purpose of all the communication-blocking equipment has not been canceled. The nuclear blast will indeed cause a communication block, but no one can say for certain how long it will last and at what radius from the epicenter of the blast it will be. Therefore, your people should be responsible for all the communication blocks from the time of the firing. From my point of view, it will be compounded security. There is another critical subject, and that is: who will take overall command of the activities, especially of coordinating the timing for firing on the ship? This cannot be done remotely, but from the boat itself, which is under the command of Commander Vitaly, who in effect is nothing but our driver.”
Colonel Nazarbayev raised his hand.
“There’s no such question here at all, Colonel Yevgeni. This is my responsibility and I have to be aboard the trawler. Everything starts and ends with the firing of this shell, and that is now my baby. I request that you not even think of stationing anyone else aboard that boat.”
Yevgeni glanced quickly at Dimitri, whose face was expressionless, yet Yevgeni could see that he was giving him a slight vertical nod of his head as a sign of consent.
“Colonel Nazarbayev, I respect your wish. I could not ask for anyone more responsible and more reliable than yourself for such a supreme and critical mission,”
Colonel Nazarbayev nodded his head in gratitude and smiled with satisfaction. Now, everyone at the table waited for Brigadier General Dimitri to speak. He stood by the table with the paper map rolled in his hand.
“Are you ready?” Yevgeni asked.
Dimitri spread the map out on the table. It was a nautical chart of the Atlantic Ocean with blue and red lines stretched its length and width. A photograph of a submarine was placed on it. Dimitri took the picture and held it up for everyone to see, and began speaking animatedly.
“Comrades, this is our engagement. Please meet the bride, USS 726, the Ohio. She is the creation of an aviation giant, the General Dynamics Corporation. Here is some general data on this vessel. It is a new submarine, having only been in service for two and a half years, since April 1979. It is one hundred and seventeen meters long and thirteen meters wide. Its crew is made up of fifteen officers and one hundred and forty seamen. The submarine is equipped with twenty-four Trident missiles, and its home port is Bangor in the state of Washington.”
Yevgeni interrupted.
“Up till now, you’re presenting this submarine as if we want to buy her. Dimitri, we’re short of time. Please get to the point, to the operational details.”
Dimitri smiled. It seemed that he was not about to take Yevgeni’s advice.
“Now, having met the bride-to-be, I will tell you when we are set to meet. USS 726 Ohio set sail for navigation exercises nine days ago from Norfolk. Within three days, it will arrive at our rendezvous point here, northwest of Norway, about four hundred kilometers southeast of the island of Svalbard. Here, right here. This is exactly the place.”
Dimitri pointed to a red circle on the map, and everybody looked at it.
“If the weather doesn’t change drastically, the trawler will require forty hours to reach the rendezvous point, and it must be there on location five to six hours before the American submarine is due. If you work it out for yourselves, you’ll see that the trawler must sail tomorrow at noon at the latest.”
Brigadier General Dimitri motioned to Colonel Nazarbayev, who came up to him, and the two exchanged whispers in a huddle.
“Do you see this reporting point? The submarine should arrive here in three days’ time, at 1012 hours in the morning. You should be at this point exactly. You will wait here another twenty-nine minutes for the submarine to sail away from you eastward, for about eighteen kilometers, and then you will fire your nuclear shell to the west, at exactly 1041 hours. Your firing to the west, and the submarine’s movement to the east, will create a distance of forty-two kilometers between the blast epicenter and the submarine. This timetable is sacrosanct. Only you, Colonel Nazarbayev, as the commander in the field, may change it, and only on one condition: only if the Intelligence radio operator, who will be aboard the boat with you, hears with his own ears that the submarine reports from the location points at times that are different to the times on the navigation chart. This is very rare, and it is reasonable to assume that it will not happen this time. Colonel Nazarbayev, you don’t have to memorize anything — I’ve written down everything for you on the chart on this table.”
Colonel Yevgeni waited patiently until Dimitri and the Kazakh Colonel looked up from the chart.
“I am asking every one of you again. We have exactly eighteen hours. Each of you should go over his tasks and notes, nudge anyone who needs nudging, and cover all possible corners. We’ll meet later next to the trawler. Good luck to everyone and especially to you, my friend Nazarbayev.”
The team members began leaving the conference room. Then Colonel Nazarbayev noticed that Yevgeni and Dimitri were still in the room, and he joined them.