sharing my love of books with you
Phlegmatic – unemotional or unenthusiastic
“There was nothing, nothing at all funny about a reactor leak. But Melekhin was known for his heavy sense of humor, and the doctor imagined that twenty years of working on reactors allowed him and the captain to view the potential dangers phlegmatically. Then, there was the implicit lesson in the story: never let someone who does not belong into the reactor spaces.”
thoughts of the soviet doctor, petrov, The hunt for red october, Tom Clancy
I have to tell you about the part I just read in The Hunt for Red October. Remember I mentioned earlier that the book has some technical parts, but even those serve to boost the momentum of the story? The chapter on the Eighth Day has just such a moment.
For eight pages (I had to count, because I’m odd like that), Clancy describes the Soviet submarine E. S. Politovskiy. She was named for a man with back luck, and it seemed his luck overshadowed the sub. However, it had good officers on this mission, and luck seemed to have turned. Until new orders were given.
The order was to get to the next station as quickly as possible, so the political officer on board intervened when Chief Engineer Vladimir Petchukocov wanted to stop the sub for repairs. The political officer stated to stop would be “politically unsound”. And so, at top speed, the E. S. Politovskiy raced across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping for even the minutest of repairs.
At this point, Clancy begins to describe the inner workings of the cooling system on a Soviet nuclear submarine. It took about two pages before I realized that tensions were mounting again. If something goes wrong, the cooling system would stop working which could cause the submarine to over-heat or over-pressurize. What would that mean miles below the surface of the ocean?
As the sub races under the waves, a small metal valve in the cooling system breaks. It’s made of titanium, so it floats with the water through the pipes until it jams. This jam only lasts a few seconds, but it is enough to send a back wave of pressure through the cooling system, causing it to malfunction. When Petchukocov discovers the malfunction he notifies the captain, who immediately orders the submarine to the surface. It shoots upward vertically, like a bullet. But it is too late.
Not far away, the USS Pogy detects the E. S. Politovskiy on sonar.
“[The captain] was now listening to direct sonar input. There was no mistaking it. The submarine was flooding. They had heard the ballast tanks refill; this could only mean the interior compartments were filling with water. If they had been closer, they might have heard the screams of men in that doomed hull. Wood was just as happy he couldn’t. The continuing rush of water was dreadful enough. Men were dying. Russians, his enemy, but men not unlike himself, and there was not a thing that could be done about it.”
The hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy, 1984
“It took nine minutes for the Politovskiy to fall the two thousand feet to the ocean floor,”
I really like it when I can tell the meaning of a word from the context in which it is found. But I was really in luck when this passage from The Hunt for Red October not only gave me two words, but also defined them for me too. Mutiny and Barratry.
“Judge, we are not dealing with mutiny or piracy,” Foster noted. “The correct term is barratry, I believe. Mutiny is when the crew rebels against lawful authority. Gross misconduct of the officers is called barratry.”
Admiral Daniel Foster, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy, 1984
I am really enjoying this book! It can be technical and at times a little hard to understand, but I can feel the tension mounting. One moment, I’m trying to follow the Navy or CIA jargon, and the next, I’m caught up in the suspense. It’s so neat to read a book and watch my progress through the pages. At times, I feel so close to the end, then I check my bookmark and realize I’m not even halfway through yet. It’s really a genius of a story!
Here is a conversation between Sonarman Second Class Ronald Jones and Lieutenant Thompson aboard the submarine USS Dallas that struck me as funny. Just like Sonarman Jones, I usually prefer classical music over modern, popular music.
“Got something, Mr Thompson.”
“What is it?” Thompson leaned against the bulkhead.
“I don’t know.” Jones picked up a spare set of phones and handed them to his officer. “Listen up, sir.”
[after listening and discussing what the sound could be, the conversation continues]
“Irregular,” Thompson said.
“Yeah, it’s funny. It sounds regular, but it doesn’t look regular. Know what I mean, Mr Thompson?”
“No, you’ve got better ears.”
“That’s cause I listen to better music, sir. That rock stuff’ll kill your ears.”
The Hunt for red october, Tom Clancy, 1984
This made me laugh when I read it. It’s just a quick exchange, but as the book progresses, Jones will break the sound down, slowing it to try to figure out what he heard. His discovery will result in a promotion. Never underestimate the guy who “categorized his [Bach] tapes by their flaws, a ragged piano temp, a botched flute, a wavering French horn”. He definitely had “better ears”.
I started a new book while I was on vacation last week: The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy. I absolutely love the movie with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, so when I found this book for sale, I snatched it up quickly. The poor book has been on my shelf for a few years, so I think it’s about time I actually read it.
Here is the story briefly – I’ll write a summary when I finish. The Red October is a Soviet nuclear submarine with many secrets. When it suddenly drops off of all radar, the Americans and the Soviets must race to find both submarine and crew. Who will find it first? How and why did the sub go dark? The movie is exciting; I expect the book to be even more thrilling. I’ll let you know when I finish it. Now, back to reading!
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