Off Norfolk

Captain Eli Binger, or "Old Elusive" as they called him back at the base, was standing on the control deck of SSN 700, the Brington as she had been named when she was launched in 1986. This was to be "Old Elusives" last cruise. From here he was to spend a three month stint lecturing in the Navy's underwater college, and then he and his wife of 30 years, Elizabeth, were retiring to Key Largo. Planning for retirement, they had purchased a small house on a deep water canal. Their 28 foot sailboat was already being shipped south and Eli was looking forward to the day when they could cruise the Keys and who knows, maybe even the waters a little further away.

SSN 700 had been a superb ship, a great final command, he thought to himself. A Los Angeles Class attack submarine, she was 360 feet long, weighed in at a little over 6000 tons and was powered by a General Electric S6G water cooled reactor capable of producing 35,000 shaft horsepower. The Brington had been clocked at over 35 knots submerged. And could she submerge. Under his command they had been down to almost 800 feet.

Besides all the other good things about the command of the Brington, this had been an especially great cruise. Sailing from Norfolk 66 days ago, they had participated in a joint NATO underwater exercise in the North Sea just off the coast of Scotland. Captain Binger's orders had instructed him to rendezvous with the Ballistic Missile Class Sub SSBN 736. Together they sailed to the North Sea where they participated in the submariner's equivalent of the pilot's Top Gun. Only in this exercise the submarine that could reach a prescribed target (location), undetected was the winner. In submarine warfare, sound was the enemy. They had a term for it in the submarine school; "A noisy submarine will soon be silenced."

Captain Binger's prowess at going almost anywhere undetected, earned him the name "Old Elusive". His actions during the cold war were legendary. On two occasions during previous commands, he had quietly maneuvered his submarine behind Russian subs and followed as they prowled the ocean depths for as much as three weeks, totally undetected. On one of those occasions he even stayed with one submarine while it rendezvoused with a small surface fleet. Satisfied that he had proved his point he ordered the radio operator to transmit the Star Spangled Banner. The sudden sound so startled the Russian skippers that the fleet quickly dispersed in total confusion. Turning off his transmitter, "Old Elusive" silently slipped away undetected hidden beneath a thermal layer, or thermo-cline as they are called.

When word of the incident leaked out back in the states, the headlines read "U.S. Submarine Holds Unannounced Concert For Russian Fleet." Captain Binger and his crew came home to a hero's welcome, while a sizable number of their Russian counterparts took long vacations to Siberia.

This cruise had been almost as good. The Brington was the only submarine in the two week exercise that had reached its target every time, totally undetected. Eli had again proven he was a master at hiding 6000 tons of metal, machinery, missiles, and men.

Last night the crew had thrown a party for the Captain. The cook surprised him by preparing his favorite meal, roast pork. After dinner the crew had gotten a big kick out of Cookie's act when he pretended to carry out a very heavy cake on an empty tray. Straining to carry the 'invisible cake', when he placed the tray in front of the Captain he let out a massive sigh of relief and wiped his sweating brow. Looking at the empty tray, Captain Binger realized he was to be the target of a joke. He managed to look surprised and asked, "What is this?"

Cookie responded, "It’s your retirement cake."

"But I don't see it," he replied.

"Oh it is there, it's just a little elusive, sir!" The whole crew laughed. They pretended to light the invisible candles on the elusive cake, and the whole crew sang "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow," followed by the submariner's hymn. Captain Binger then pretended to blow out the candles. The entire crew had a great laugh.

Captain Binger stood and thanked all the men. He took a few minutes to tell them that he believed the submarine service had played a major role in helping to end the cold war. It was men like those aboard the Brington and all of our sister ships that would help maintain peace throughout the world. As the Captain finished, Cookie began serving the real cake. After cake and coffee, the Captain took the time to tour the entire vessel, making sure he said a few words to everyone.

Later that night Captain Binger called his Executive Officer, George Masefield, to his cabin. When he entered, the Captain told him to have a seat and offered him coffee from the always full decanter in his cabin. When they were both settled, he said, "George, I have enjoyed working with you, you have been a great Executive Officer and you are a superb submariner."

"Thank you, Captain, I have had a great teacher these last 18 months," he replied.

"I asked you here George to tell you that I have recommended that you take command of the Brington." George began to answer when the Captain signaled to hold off and continued. "I tell you this not to elicit your thanks because my recommendation is based on your performance, not our friendship. I don't know what they will do in Washington, but believe me, I will do my best to see that you get the command."

George looked at the Captain and responded, "I know you don't want to hear it Captain, but thank you anyway. Even if I don't get the command, just knowing you supported me is well appreciated." There were no other words to add.

The Captain and George shook hands, had a brief discussion of the coming days activities and they said good night.

Captain Binger had some trouble falling to sleep that night. Lying there, looking at the ceiling, he realized it was time to turn his ship over; time to leave the Navy to the younger officers, time to go spend more time with Elizabeth. It would be a change, a big change. But then with the cold war over, there were no more Russians to tailgate. He smiled, closed his eyes and succumbed to sleep.

The alarm woke him at 0600. He quickly showered and dressed. Grabbing a cup of coffee from the decanter, which had obviously been filled while he was showering, he made his way to the control room. His entrance was met with a “Good Morning” from the crew on watch. Returning their greeting, he went immediately to the position board to check on their location. Perfect, he thought.

Today as he headed the ship to port, his last official assignment was to attempt to skirt the incoming shipping lanes west of Bermuda without detection. Waiting for him were a number of squadrons of helicopter crews who were testing upgraded sonar buoy systems. He was sure that the helicopters would contain highly trained manufacturer's representatives to assure that their equipment performed flawlessly on these trials. He imagined millions of dollars of contract awards were pending on the outcome of these tests. He smiled; he liked a challenge.

Knowing that they were expected to skirt Bermuda from the North, they had run a course all night that would put them south of Bermuda. Deducing the helicopters would start to look for them just north of the island, he chose to enter the Gulf Stream well south and go deep. Having played cat and mouse in the Gulf Stream before, his secret was to find a temperature inversion, get under it and turning off all transmitting systems, travel slowly north. When the receivers on the ship detected searching signals, he would shut down the propellers, thus reducing the only cause of mechanical noise, and drift silently northward in the Gulf Stream's natural 2 to 4 knot flow. When he had safely eluded the hunters he would again initiate the propulsion and slowly head north at a crawl, still taking advantage of the Gulf Stream flow.

His on-board navigation system computers would plot & record the ship's time and course as evidence of his position. He was sure that if he was successful in avoiding detection, there were sure to be a number of contractor protests, and proof that he did in fact pass through the target area at the prescribed times would be necessary. The very thought of the contractors' yelling foul, made him grin.

It was now 0730. The operation was to start at 0800. He ordered the ship into the Gulf Stream and started to take her down from 300 feet, the depth at which they had been cruising. Approaching 500 feet, they found a massive temperature layer. The water temperature suddenly fell 10°F. He ordered the sub to remain there and they moved north at 10 knots propelled speed plus 2 knots of current flow, making a total of 12 knots over ground. While they moved north they continued to search for other temperature layers/inversions to hide under by sending out very weak sonar signals. If an inversion was detected they would receive a feedback signal bounced off the differing density of water. If there was no inversion the weak signal would continue to travel into the depths of the ocean until its energy was dissipated.

At 0857 they received the first indication that there was a sonar buoy working in the area. With all the electronics aboard Brington silenced, he ordered the propellers stopped and they began free drifting. Brington began to slow; 8..... 5..... 4........ 3......soon she was at 2+ knots. She was now free drifting hiding under the inversion layer. It took them almost 90 minutes to pass the area of the first set of helicopters and their sonar systems.

Clear of the first obstacles, Captain Binger ordered ahead slow. The propellers began to turn and Brington again accelerated to 12 knots.

As he was having his fourth cup of coffee with a sandwich sent up by Cookie, again they heard the sound of sonar buoys. It was now 1217. Having found a new inversion layer just below 800 feet they slipped under it. The procedure from earlier that day was repeated. Propellers stopped and they free drifted. When they were almost directly under the detection system, they heard a new sound. The on board system identified it as whales. The Captain smiled. Turning to George he said, "This is our lucky day. Nothing else screws-up a sonar man like a bunch of whales. I sure hope they're big." George and the rest of the crew in the control room smiled.

Seventy-five feet above the surface hovered a specially equipped Sikorsky Sea Stallion helicopter, tethered to a sonar buoy. Sitting behind a control console were sonar operator 1st Class Billy Majorski and Bob Brown from the EDO Corporation, manufacturer of the new sonar buoy. Eyes glued to the computer displays and ears intent on the sounds coming through their earphones, they carefully scanned the depths for the submarine they knew was there. Their screen showed the inversion layer which they were carefully probing electronically for signs of a hiding submarine when they first heard the whales approaching.

Bob looked at Majorski and mouthed the words, "Shit Whales!" Billy nodded in agreement. He waited for a few moments and then depressed his microphone switch on his intercom and said, "Captain, we are over a pod of whales." The pilot looked at the co-pilot, shrugged his shoulders, and responded, "Do you want to move Billy?"

Billy turned to Bob who responded, "Captain, let's give it a little more time here. There's a massive inversion layer under us and if I were a submarine Captain I'd be under it. Give us a little more time."

"OK," replied the Captain, "This taxi is at your disposal."

They continued to electronically search the inversion layer.

Looking out from the cockpit of the Sea Stallion, the pilot saw the whales surface off to the right of the helicopter about a mile away. Pointing them out to the co-pilot, they estimated there were six or seven of them. They appeared to porpoise two or three times exchanging the depleted air for fresh oxygen-enriched air, then the dove into the sea. The cockpit crew lost sight of them as they sounded.

On board Brington, Captain Binger and the control room crew checked the progress of the whales. They were slowly approaching the sub. Unconcerned, the Captain relished the idea that these animals were probably really screwing up the sonar operators above them.

The whales continued to approach. The seven whales were soon all around the boat. Inside the Captain and crew would have known of their presence even without the sophisticated electronics aboard Brington, because they could hear the whales' communication sounds through the hull. George turned to the Captain and asked, "What do you make of that?"

The Captain's brow furrowed and he shrugged his shoulders. Shaking his head he answered, "I'm not sure, let's wait and see." That was to be the Captain's first serious command error. It was to be his next to last.

Suddenly the submarine shook and the bow began to nose down. There was another shock to the hull and the submarine began to descend. The Captain looked at George. There were several more thuds to the hull and the submarine leveled off a little, but then its descent accelerated. The helmsman shouted, "900, 925, 975.. We're descending, Captain."

"Blow all ballast, take her up," he yelled. There were two more thuds on the hull.

Air rushed into the ballast tanks displacing the water ballast. "1125, 1175, 1250," shouted the helmsman. Brington was now at a 45° angle bow down, but was descending straight to the bottom. The Captain looked at the crew. What the hell was going on, he thought.

“Full reverse," he commanded.

Unfortunately this was the wrong command, not that there was any right command in this situation. Nowhere in the annals of submarine training was there any exercise for this situation. Even if Captain Binger could have seen what was going on outside the hull, there was nothing he could have done. The Brington continued to descend ......1290.....1350.

The propeller started to turn in reverse. As power increased the submarine leveled, but then even with full reverse power, she again began her downward spiral.

"1400," shouted the helmsman.

"Send distress signal immediately," yelled the Captain, "include we're being attacked by whales." The radio man hit the automatic distress signal button, the transmitter came on line and signaled in code the sub's number, location, and code for sinking.

With full reverse power applied the submarine now began to point stern down. Instead of aiding the situation, the ships own propulsion system now began to pull it down. Realizing his mistake, the Captain shouted, "Full ahead." It was his last order. They were at 1500 feet.

Outside the ship five 35 to 50 ton whales were simply lying across the 350-foot hull of the submarine, driving it deeper and deeper underwater. At 1550 feet they passed the design depth of the Brington. Miraculously she was still in one piece. But at 1625, the hull began to creek and at 1675 she imploded.

At 12:52 PM, the Brington ceased to exist and the 12 officers and 115 enlisted men aboard her sank into the depth of the ocean. Captain Binger would never get to enjoy his retirement.

Aboard the Sea Stallion, Majorski and Brown looked at each other in shock. They had just heard the death of one of the U.S. Navy's most modern submarines. But what was more incredible was the single word transmission, "Whales."

An emergency position locating buoy floated to the surface and began transmitting its emergency signal.

A mile behind the Sea Stallion, seven whales surfaced and expelled the depleted air and again began drawing in fresh, oxygen-rich air.

Unseen by the helicopter crew, they continued south as if nothing had happened.