Paths of Courage by Mike Woodhams Page B

stations report the sale or loss of a nuclear sub by any of the nations you have mentioned,” said Sir Jeffery to both the foreign and defence ministers.
    A brief silence.
    â€œAssuming the sub is now in terrorist hands, would a Russian crew be retained?” the PM asked.
    â€œGood point,” said Trafford. “We have to assume at this stage the crew will remain Russian, maybe assisted by Muslims. It will make it more difficult to hunt down; they know their subs well, but if a Russian crew is short of what it should be, that will test efficiency for sure.”
    â€œAssuming, of course, that they have not been totally replaced by a Korean or Muslim crew,” the PM chimed.
    â€œWe know selected Iranian and North Korean naval personnel have been involved in Chinese and French nuclear sub training programmes. I doubt the Koreans could man a Delta, but it’s possible that fundamentalist Iranians could form a crew,” said the admiral.
    â€œAnything from ROI or SOSUS?” Trafford asked.
    â€œThe last report displayed nothing outside the normal traffic, but I’ll check again and contact the Americans too.”
    â€œROI, SOSUS?” questioned the PM, staring at the admiral.
    â€œRadar Ocean Imaging, sir. Radar on satellites able to detect subs underwater by the subtle changes of the waves over its path. SOSUS is the U.S. underwater global Sound Surveillance System used in antisubmarine warfare.”
    The PM gave Engels a sheepish look. “What about our own Skysight satellites?”
    â€œThe Far East has yet to be covered,” Engels replied.
    Silence descended again. Prime Minister Maxwell leaned forward, placing both his elbows on the table, seemingly deep in thought. Then, after several seconds, he glanced around the seated figures.
    â€œCould she be fully armed?” he asked quietly.
    â€œOur stats tell us she’s capable of carrying a dozen torpedoes, and sixteen
Stingrays
,” Engels replied.
    â€œIf fitted with MIRV warheads, each with three 200 kilotons apiece, only a few would be needed to potentially wipe out our island,” said Regis.
    â€œOnly if she got close enough to release them,” countered Engels.
    â€œHow close is close in your opinion, admiral?” the PM asked.
    â€œAnywhere around one hundred miles. We would need most of the entire navy to patrol our coastline and the approaches. We certainly can’t do that without seriously affecting current commitments.”
    â€œThen we have no choice but to make sure we stop the Delta before it gets here,” said the PM firmly. “In the meantime we’ll put all our land-based anti-missile installations on full alert and put as many ships as we can sensibly muster to patrol the south and west approaches. Are we all agreed?”
    The group nodded.
    The PM turned to the admiral. “This sub may now be carrying missiles with nuclear or bio-warheads. What are your thoughts on how warheads could’ve been obtained and fitted?”
    Engels cleared his throat. “If not supplied with the boat, only two ways really – either at sea or in a Korean naval dockyard. If at sea, she would obviously have to surface to take on board the warheads from a topside vessel and stay there until they were fitted. If this was undertaken anywhere in the western Pacific she would be exposed to the sats. The better way would be to head for a remote part of the Pacific, or even the Atlantic, not covered, and do the transfer there. As for the dockyards, the U.S. has all the North and South Korean naval yards covered. It would be difficult to make the transfer without them knowing.”
    â€œEven under cover of heavy clouds and darkness?” questioned Trafford.
    â€œNot a problem with the latest cloud penetration satellites and infra-reds.”
    â€œDoes anyone disagree or have anything to add to Admiral Engels’s assessment?” the PM asked.
    A shaking of