My World War 3: The Patrol of the USS Jack

[It was inevitable.  Whenever I write about the glorious decade that was the 1980s, my mind inevitably turns to the culmination of the Cold War that occurred in the final years of that golden age (one I consider to be the last gasp of traditional America).  Fortunately for the world, that culmination was non-violent even if it could have easily been otherwise.  Of course, as an avid Cold War wargamer, it is the now speculative violent end that continues to intrigue me.  Eh, what can I do?  After all, it was the Cold-War-Turned-Hot wargames of the 1980s that formed me into the gamer I am today.

With that in mind, here is an AAR of a patrol by the submarine USS Jack in the opening days of World War 3, circa 1984.  It is based on a session with Killfish Games' Cold Waters, their modern re-imagining of the Microprose sub sim classic, Red Storm Rising.]


Some say World War 3 was inevitable as soon as President Ronald Reagan learned of Soviet meddling in the 1980 US election.  While the Carter campaign was more than eager to sweep the sordid details of attempted Soviet influence peddling and collusion under the carpet as soon as the election was lost, the newly installed Reagan administration was determined to make the Kremlin pay for their breathtaking audacity.  So began the steadying ratcheting up of tensions between the US and the USSR over the next four years, tensions that would ultimately result in full scale war when the Soviet leadership, feeling hopelessly cornered by the rancid fruits of their own ill-conceived adventurism, decided that a good offense was the best defense.

In those early days of World War 3, it was often naval vessels that were first into the fray.  Such was the case for the USS Jack (SSN-605), a Permit-class hunter-killer submarine on routine patrol in the Norwegian Sea.

Actual photo of USS Jack

Soon after receiving its first operational orders for the war, Jack's sonar picked up a contact that would soon be identified as a Soviet Victor I-class attack sub.

The crew of Jack methodically worked the contact until a firm fire control solution was achieved.  Fortunately for the US vessel, the Victor I was an aging sub with second rate sonar gear, something that allowed Jack to quickly close to a killing distance without being detected.

Patience is a virtue, as they say, and it proved so for Jack as the oblivious Victor suddenly began a course change that would put its baffles to the American sub.  The Soviet sub was inviting an attack!

And the American's responded.  In what some scholars contend was the first shot of the war, USS Jack fired two Mk 48 torpedoes at the stern of the Victor I.  It was now officially a "shooting war."

Launch transients were heard from the Soviet sub when the American torpedoes were within a 1.5 nautical miles - even if the attacker's position is not precisely known, it is a common submarine warfare tactic to return fire on a reciprocal heading - but the fate of the Soviet sub was already sealed.

American Mk 48 torpedoes approaching the Victor I sub

At 0143 zulu, the first Soviet submarine was sunk in the world's third global conflict when one of the two American Mk 48 torpedoes struck the Victor in the stern.

Despite deploying two noisemakers, the Soviet sub suffers a fatal hit by a single torpedo and sinks to the seafloor

The cheering on the American sub soon gave way to an icy stillness as the sonar plot soon revealed a well-planned three torpedo spread heading their way, a final gift from the Soviet sub.  The American submarine immediately executed an emergency evasion course.

Despite the skipper and the crew performing admirably, Jack was only able to evade two of the three Type-53 torpedoes.  Damage to the hull was severe, but internal damage was slight with only the submarine's pumps being damaged for a brief spell, along with some moderate flooding that was quickly controlled.

The fracture in Jack's hull from the torpedo impact is clearly visible

It is a testament to the fortitude of Jack's crew that despite suffering heavy hull damage, the submarine did not return to port but continued on its first wartime patrol.  As the American captain was quoted as saying in a post-war interview, "It was the small hours of a big war; there was too much work to be done to return to port so soon!"

Indeed, more work did soon find Jack and its crew when the US submarine, while patrolling the Norwegian coast, soon encountered a small Soviet surface group that appeared to be shadowing a merchantman one bright wartime morning.

Once again, fate had dealt the the American sub a boon: it was well positioned for a quick attack on an aging Riga frigate that had its baffles turned to the American sub.

The Soviet Riga on patrol

But this aging vessel was not alone.  To the north and west were two much more capable Grisha III destroyers.

One of the escorting Grisha IIIs

It was a difficult plot but the American captain decided to fire three Mk 48s: two for the near Riga, and one at the more distant Grisha to the west; the northern Grisha would have to wait its turn until Jack could reload its tubes.

The attack proved more successful that the captain had hoped it would.

A single Mk 48 closes on the Riga despite its best efforts to escape

The Riga was soon struck by a single Mk 48 torpedo, something that resulted in a huge explosion.

The vessel quickly sunk as it burned.

Due to a stroke of luck, one of the two remaining Mk 48 torps - in the ensuring action, the plot became confused, resulting in a question as to which of the remaining torpedoes struck the second target - found the westerly Grisha and sent it to the bottom as well.

The westerly Grisha III suffers a similar fate

It was at this point that Jack's crippled hull complicated matters as the resultant concussive blast waves from the death of the two Soviet vessels triggered massive flooding in one of the American submarine's sections.  The submarine soon found itself being forced to perform an emergency blow to  the surface or risk a catastrophic collision with the sea floor.  Upon surfacing, the crew was relieved to discover that the remaining Grisha had headed at high speed in the opposite direction of the suspected position of the American sub, no doubt to protect itself from becoming its next victim.  This gave the American crew just enough time to control the flooding and dive once again.  Within minutes, the American sub had established another firing solution on the remaining Grisha and launched a salvo of torpedoes that quickly sunk the hapless Soviet vessel.

Unlike the Riga and other Grisha, this vessel didn't die easily.  It remained afloat for quite some time despite being afire and listing severely to port.

Once again, the explosive concussion triggered massive flooding inside of Jack.  Fortunately, being better prepared this time, the crew was able to stop the flooding without needing to surface in a hot combat zone.  But in light of the fragility of the sub's hull, the captain decided that a return to port was now warranted.

The dying Grisha, with a sizable rent in its hull, lingers on the surface as Jack quietly returns to port

If Jack's experience was typical, it was going to be a long war.