To Kill the Potemkin

"To Kill the Potemkin" is a novel by Mark Joseph published in 1987.

ummary

In the height of the Cold War, U.S. and Soviet submarines play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game under the seas. A hotshot sonar operator believes that the Soviets have come up with a new, dangerous sub, and convinces his captain to chase the mystery sub across the Atlantic Ocean.

Jack Sorensen is the Navy's best sonar operator, and is sonar chief of the "USS Baracuda", the Navy's best fast-attack nuclear submarine. Sorenson thinks of submarine ops as a game ("Cowboys and Cossacks"), and he's always on the winning side.

The "Barracuda" has a run-in with a mystery sub, the likes of which Sorensen has never seen. While stalking each other, the two subs collide; the Barracuda is damaged, but survives, while the mystery sub is believed to have sank. Sorensen keeps replaying the events over in his head, with the help of a tape recorder he secretly installed in the sonar room to play back the sounds of the mystery sub's demise. Sorensen is convinced that the sub didn't sink, but instead dove to an unbelievable depth to make its escape. Now repaired, the "Barracuda" heads for the Atlantic, determined to document the new mystery sub, while the mystery sub and her captain will do everything they can to slip home undetected.

Inspiration

In May 1968, the USS Scorpion (SSN-589), a Skipjack-class nuclear fast-attack submarine, was mysteriously lost with all hands on board. Several other submarines were lost prior to the disappearance of the "Scorpion", leading many to wonder if there was a secret "sub war" going on in the late 1960's. Joseph's yarn is a fictionalization of what might have happened to the Scorpion during her final cruise.

Reviews

*Krystal, Arthur. "The Cold War Takes a Dive; To Kill the Potemkin", Washington Post, Page C3, 1 September 1986.
*Clark, G. "Silent war beneath the waves," The Courier-Mail, 19 September 1987.
*van Rjndt, Phillip. "Shattering myths of US might," Toronto Star, Page M7, 27 September 1986.