“This is where we need to get to, here east of Hokkaido Island at latitude forty-four north. By the book that’s thirty hours away. I did my part by ignoring the regs to come to periscope depth every eight hours, so for the next twenty-six hours I’ll continue deep. I’m only allowed to ignore the PD requirements if I’m under the icecap. But I’m willing to risk the creeping nav errors in the inertial system to get there faster. It might be a stupid decision — it’s deep out here, but I could still hit a submerged peak at the Kuril Island Ridge as we cross the fiftieth parallel. But here’s the situation, Eng, I won’t lie to you. Admiral Pacino’s going into the Oparea with just a couple of submarines and he’s going to try to duke it out with the whole Maritime Self Defense Force’s Destinys.”
“You know that for a fact, sir?”
“We got an intel brief at the last periscope depth. Pacino called for our position and everyone else’s and ordered the initial task force of subs into the Oparea. Only seven ships, not counting the Pasadena in the Sea of Japan. Which means he needs some serious help.”
“Wow.”
“Which means I need to deliver Piranha into the Oparea now, not twenty-six hours from now. So, do you have any. recommendations, Eng?” Hornick had come a long way since Phillips had arrived at Electric Boat. He smiled slightly, his eyes slits against the smoke of his cigar clenched between his teeth. “As a matter of fact I’ve been working up something for you.
Skipper. I think I can do better than the forty-three knots we’re doing now. We’re seeing a lot of drag from the Vortex tubes out there in the potential flow field around the hull. But we have a hell of a lot of unused reactor power. I did some research into the design calculations of the power train, from the propulsor to the thrust bearing through the reduction gears to the main engine rotors and casing, including the journal bearings. I followed the design upstream through the steam headers to the steam generators, and back the other way through the condensate system, looking at pumps and maximum flow rates. The steam generators’ ability to put out dry steam at rates greater than designed was catalogued in the files, and I took it back into the main coolant loop to the core, looked at core metal temperatures and control rod binding at this age in core life.” Phillips hadn’t the slightest idea what Hornick was talking about. He had just asked him what time it was, and Hornick was building him a watch. “And?”
“And, sir, I found out that the power plant is designed for conditions at the end of its life, thirty years from now, when the core is full of fission-product poisons, the metal is neutron embrittled, the steam pipes have some slight stress corrosion cracks, the condensers have tube leaks, the feed pumps have seal leaks, the main coolant piping is slightly clogged with corrosion products, the steam generators have lost 5 percent of their tubes and the generator’s chevron moisture traps are eroded and half gone. So that running the ship at 100 percent reactor power will be safe thirty years from now, the designers limited us up front.”
“So, are you saying you have some kind of, what? Hidden reserves of power?”
“Sir, by my calculations we could take the core to 200 percent power with some modifications authorized by you.”
“Like what?”
“I can run in battle-short mode long enough to reset the trip points for the nuclear instruments. That way the plant won’t trip out until it sees 230 percent power. We’ll be raising average coolant temperatures to get better power from the steam, which isn’t all that safe but it will work. Also, I’ll have to restrict access to the aft compartment, we’ll have much higher radiation readings.”
“Will we have permanent damage to the core?”
“Yes, sir,” Hornick said as if it were obvious. “We’ll have some slight fuel-to-coolant leaks, fuel-element failures, and main coolant radioactivity will escalate by a factor of ten to twenty. You won’t be able to walk through the tunnel without your hair standing on end. And when this mission is over we’ll have to shitcan the reactor and decontaminate the entire reactor compartment and every piping system inside it. Other than that, nothing should break. We’ll be able to double thermal power going to the turbines.”
“How does all that relate to velocity?”
“Well, sir, doubling shaft horsepower won’t double ship speed. With parasitic drag, to double velocity would require you to quadruple your power. So by doubling power we’ll only have 41 percent more speed. That’s about sixty-one knots.”
“You’re kidding me, Eng.”
“We won’t know till I crank it, sir, but hell, I say go for it.”
“Admiral Rickover will spin in his grave.” The father of the nuclear navy, Phillips knew, was such a stickler for reactor safety that he would probably haunt the ship. “Sir, his tomb was empty three days after he died.” Phillips laughed. “Okay, Eng. What the hell order do I give you to make all this happen?”
