A. P. Kobryn,
Poseidon's Shadow, 1979
United States
USS Adresteia (SSBN-???)
Mjölnir Class Submarine (Fictional)
Crew: 150
Armament: 24 x Trident Missiles, 'Homing Torpedos' (Mk. 48?), UUM-44 SUBROC
Length: 560 ft (170 m)
Weight: 17,000 tons
Equipment: Passive Sonar, Laser communications system
Speed: Unspecified (Surfaced)/40(+) knots (Submerged)
Note: The author spells the class name as Mjollnir, I have employed editorial discretion in this case. The few details he gives of the submarine and it's the armament (Less the SUBROC.) fit the Ohio Class, so most likely this is a fictional version of the Ohio Class, the first of which entered service (In real life) in 1981.
USS Orcus (SSN-???)
Orcus Class Submarine (Fictional)
Armament: 'Homing Torpedos' (Mk. 48?), UUM-44 SUBROC
Equipment: Passive Bow/Lateral/Towed Sonar, Active Sonar, Underwater laser range finder, Laser communications system
Speed: Unspecified (Surfaced)/40(+) knots (Submerged) Author states that full submerged speed is "...
considerably in excess of fourty knots."
Note: Described by the author as "...an attack submarine, latest of the type...". At the time the novel was written/published, (Late 1970s) the newest American SSN class was the Los Angeles Class (First member commissioned in 1976.), so this is most likely a fictional version of the Los Angeles Class. Unless someone can come up with a proposed Los Angeles Class successor that was being discussed in the late 1970s.
And for the Aircraft mavens a non-ship item:
"Stealth, or, more precisely Stealth F, sixth variant of the original project, was painted in shades of grey, an eerily streamlined deltoid aircraft of almost alien aspect. It was most often referred to as "Blackbird" though the nickname was first applied to a distant predecessor. Officially neither nickname nor aircraft existed."
A. P. Kobryn,
Poseidon's Shadow
The above is not an SR-71, the authors described mission profile seems very different from that plane (I cannot see an SR-71 being flown at 50ft altitude, even for a short period to avoid radar...). Crew is two, Pilot/Mission specialist.
Russia
Unnamed
Submarine (SSBN), Class not specified
Armament: 24 Missiles of an unspecified type, torpedoes
Note: As with ships in the novels '
The Hammer of God' and '
White Plague' this submarine remains unnamed despite scenes being set aboard her.
Plot summary: The discovery that the Soviet Union has deployed ground based ASAT particle-beam weapons in Siberia leads to turmoil within the United States government.
Notes: Assigning a precise year for when this story is set is not possible. The story starts on the 21st of December, but the author does not state what day of the week it is, so using a calendar to pin down the year is not possible. The best that can be done is to say that it takes place in the 1979 - 1989 time frame, with a bias towards the 1983 - 1989 end of things, many of the things the author includes, Tomahawk Missiles (Entered service in 1983), USAF operated space shuttles, laser submarine communications systems and the Soviet ground based ASAT system (Which was actually a mis-identification of testing of the RD-0410 nuclear thermal rocket engine.) were all ideas discussed during the late 1970s, that were expected to become operational in that time-frame. As a minor point of trivia the author seems to have bought into the 'Global Cooling' notion that existed around that time, since increased polar ice is a plot element in the story.
Plot wise this is another story involving a ballistic missile submarine going rogue through the actions of it's crew, stories I've covered involving this kind of plot include, '
Two Hours to Darkness' (1963) and '
Warhead' (2011). This novel is closer to '
Warhead' in that it involves a crew going rogue to force a governments hand, what makes this one different from those novels, is that it features the element of 'demanding monies with menaces' that puts this closer to terrorist plot-lines like '
The Triton Ultimatum' (1977) and '
Sons of God' (2008). At least this one avoids the mistake made by the author of '
Warhead' (2011) in that it presents an ending where there is the possibility that the crew of the
USS Adresteia may have to face the consequences of their actions.
No biographical details are provided for the author, but based on the naming scheme they chose for the two American submarines I have the feeling they were British.
