AN: Credits to gdstriker and Sunny for the revisions.
Chapter 7 rewrite will come after this chapter. I decided on significantly changing the original chapters' Bharatian War plot.
1954 January 28th, Berun:
I slowly walked down the hallway to my office, dreading what awaited me after a much-needed weeks-long vacation with Visha in Malagasy and then Seychelles Islands. What certainly didn't help was how physically busy we were with our adventures and each other.
In hindsight, I should have scheduled a vacation from my vacation. But time has been short with all the things that Visha and I had to manage. I was also told by Lergen that our nuclear submarines were nearing completion and scheduled for their first sea trials, so I felt obliged to have a look at them myself.
Anna was already waiting for me at my office's door. She could have just left some reports for me to read, but it seems something was serious enough to require her to talk to me in person.
"Something that couldn't be just on paper?" I wearily smiled.
"Multiple things," Anna nodded as I unlocked my office and we both stepped in.
"You probably heard that the political parties had finally agreed on holding the much-delayed elections later this year," Anna waited for a reply from me, as I closed the door.
I blinked in confusion, which Anna picked up on, and sighed. "Anyways, Adenaue has been frustrated by our agent that has been playing 'Marie Kirschmann' on your behalf. He wanted Marie to lead his European Democracy Coalition party, and in two days, he will be throwing down the gauntlet by releasing a press statement declaring his support for Marie's chancellorship, which everyone will interpret as him inviting her to be in charge of the EDC."
"I think I should end this 'Marie' charade," I put my hand to my forehead.
"I'm not sure if that is a safe decision," Anna shook her head. "Chancellor Dertinge has been trying to carefully slow down Prince Karl Ferdinand's aggressive, non-stop campaigning. The prince is simply using more extreme versions of Marie's policies, and has essentially copied your political campaigning playbook from the 1920s. While he has a small number of followers, they are also very energetic. Most alarmingly, he has tapped his family wealth to build new television broadcasting stations."
"I see what he's doing…" I narrowed my eyes. "Controlling the narrative."
"Chancellor Dertinge recently passed a media ownership law that indirectly stopped the prince from buying up existing broadcasting networks, and another passed law blocked him from selling discounted televisions that would only be able to tune to his stations. The chancellor did express concerns about trying to continue to block the prince, as the prince could exploit those attempts to accuse the incumbent government of silencing him."
The realization hit me like a car running into a concrete wall. I have less than a year to get rid of the 'Marie Kirschmann' political figure, which Adenaue is running off with his own political party using Marie Kirschmann's political platform, and defeat Prince Karl Ferdinand.
I seemingly lost track of time when I heard Anna loudly clear her throat. "Is everything okay?"
"Just some deep thought of how to handle this mess."
"Well, I do have a bit of positive news," Anna brightly smiled.
I motioned her to get on with it, to which she nodded. "Elya reported that Calvar successfully met with Pierre Bidault, which the foreign minister passed on information about First Consul Raoul Massu and SCE Director André Vallon arguing over the plan of conscript locals from Algeria to send them to Francois Indochina and do the same with the locals in Francois Indochina to send them to Algeria. The conscripts' families would be held as hostages to discourage desertions or worse, defections."
"Is there anything that Bidault will be doing?" I raised an eyebrow.
Anna continued to smile. "He told Massu and Vallon that you have a vague red line of where economic sanctions or even military intervention would be utilized. That triggered further arguing between Massu and Vallon, with Massu being wary of any actions from Germania, and Vallon believing that their soon-to-be-completed atomic bombs would fully ensure Francois Republic's sovereignty."
"Hmm, it's good that Bidault is already delivering on his promises." I chuckled. "I was worried about him trying to pull another surprise on me."
"Elya said she and Calvar are still busy investigating to fully determine if Bidault can be trusted. Although Elya herself is also keeping an eye on Calvar…"
"Anything else to discuss?"
"No, that's all. I apologize for dumping all of this onto you right after you came back from vacation."
"It's fine. Have a good day." I forced a smile as Anna slightly bowed before exiting my office.
After she closed the door, I stumbled over to my chair and slumped into it, before dozing off.
I was suddenly awakened by knocks on my door, which prompted me to look at my clock and realize that about two hours had passed. That was when I remembered that I was supposed to attend a meeting with Dertinge to discuss matters regarding Magna Rumeli.
I hit the buzzer button that unlocked the door, which Dertinge opened and peeked in.
"Should I reschedule this meeting?"
"No, it's my fault for forgetting about my schedule, and not getting some coffee before this." I sat upright in my chair as he walked towards my desk. "What does Magna Rumeli have to say about their requested OZEV membership?"
"Their prime minister stated that with the Turkmen Empire still maintaining their belligerent attitude to them, they will formally vote on their initial membership request for OZEV membership. They are seeking a fast-track option to obtain a security guarantee and have already made preliminary offers on economic and political integration matters to speed up the process. But regarding their talks with the Balkan states, there are some complications. While the Balkan states are interested in joining OZEV, they demand their former territories back. The ones annexed by Hungary, Dacia, Magna Rumeli, and Croatia in the prior war. Especially Croatia.
I facepalmed. I had completely underestimated just how desperate Magna Rumeli is, and now I can't pull the offer from them without losing face. Them joining OZEV meant the Middle East's mess would now be on our doorstep instead of me treating it as a proxy affair. If the Turkmen Empire stabilizes its situation in Syria and Mesopotamia or cuts its losses, then it could try to call on our security guarantee bluff by nibbling away at Magna Rumeli, one island at a time. While an OZEV military victory over the Turkmen Empire would be quick work, it also meant reconstructing a shattered country in the Middle East with new hostile neighbors.
Then there's the double-edged sword matter with the Balkan states that I had dared Magna Rumeli to negotiate with. Magna Rumeli's diplomacy work took a considerable amount of stress off my shoulders, along with Visha and Dertigne, so I am thankful for that. The Balkans joining us makes it easier for Magna Rumeli's membership as there would be a land connection.
But it also means dealing with their internal squabbles now that the illusion of unity from their days as Yugoslavia had been long since shattered…
Internal squabbles that would now be brought into OZEV meetings…
And now that I think more about this, did I really need the Balkans in OZEV? If they really wanted to join OZEV, they should be the ones stressing out about this, not me.
"I shouldn't have been surprised that they would make such demands. Why did I even bother to even think about interacting with those volatile bunch?" I groaned with annoyance. "The mess in Carinthia from a decade ago prematurely kicked off our war with the Francois Republic, and that's just one small region compared to the rest of the Balkans."
"You're suggesting we back out of this?" Dertinge looked apprehensive.
"It would be much easier for us to simply ignore the Balkans instead of asking OZEV members to give up chunks of their territory," I dismissively waved my hand. "If they truly want to join us, it should be them doing the heavy lifting of proving themselves as useful members. I'm fine with just Magna Rumeli joining us."
"I have been thinking about the issue, and have an idea…" His face looked like someone who was about to enthusiastically suggest a bizarre plan.
"Oh?"
"We could suggest that the first Balkan state that is accepted by OZEV's vote would get their territory back. The later acceptances would have to negotiate a separate territory exchange outside of the OZEV framework. In a bid to be the first accepted one to get their territories back, they would have to make the best sweetheart deals with OZEV members, especially the ones that have to hand over their territory."
Pit them against each other. And knowing how the Balkans are in my current and previous world, there is no way that they would be able to present a unified front when all it takes is one of them making sweetheart backroom door deals to screw over the rest.
"I like your idea," I smiled. "The only risk I can think of is one of them trying to seek communist or Turkmen Empire support, especially if they lose out on the first membership offer."
"Well…" He rolled his eyes. "If they try that, we could threaten to offer a direct Germanian alliance with Montenegro and Kosovo."
"Keep that political nuclear option a secret," I said with a slightly nervous chuckle. "I don't want to blackmail them to join OZEV if they don't want to."
1954 February 5th, Mosul, Mesopotamia:
"What the hell are you doing?" Selim glared at Ali preparing to leave the briefing room.
"To hell with your plans," Ali jabbed his finger at Selim. "Saudistan has made their move. We need to throw them back immediately!"
"No, we're going to limit ourselves to harassing actions to buy time to set up defensive positions on the northern side of the Euphrates River and the western side of the Tigris River, with Ramadi, Fallujah, and Baghdad being the key southern points." Selim got up from his chair. "I'm not wasting our forces when the Quajarians have finished rebuilding their military for another offensive, and they want revenge for their drowned comrades. We can't defeat both of them at the same time."
"We'll just be left with the northwestern rump of Mesopotamia!"
"We'll be left with nothing if we spread ourselves thin! And the Sauds hate the Qajarians, so with any luck, those two would also be fighting each other in Mesopotamia instead of us fighting both parties simultaneously."
"I'll come back with a great victory, you coward." Ali sneered, and after he turned around to keep walking, he suddenly found himself on the floor after Selim body-slammed him.
"We wouldn't be stuck in this meatgrinder if you hadn't blundered into Mesopotamia before we finished fully pacifying Syria and Aegyptus!" Selim screamed as his fists pummeled Ali. "The Frankish government cut off their support to us because of your fuck ups for the past 6 months!"
"Everything I did was right! You withheld forces until after I had no choice but to blow the dam!" Ali screamed back, trying to ward off the punches.
"You entered Mesopotamia without our father's permission and blew the dam, turning this entire region against us!" Selim was finally pried off of Ali by various officers, but continued yelling. "Our armies are constantly being spied on and sabotaged by the locals, and drawing down our garrisons to send more men to the frontlines would embolden the rebels! Then there's the ongoing insurgency in Syria because I had to save you instead of pacifying the country!"
"I'm going to the south with my forces, and seek victory there." Ali spat blood out of his mouth as more people moved in to block Ali and Selim from reaching each other.
"I won't be able to save you this time," Selim glared back, still restrained by others.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Mosul…
Ahad stared at the street vendor selling various snacks, her emaciated stomach rumbling and her dry mouth barely salivating.
But when she saw the kleichas arranged neatly on one of the trays, the memory of her father jumping off the bridge with her flooded in. She broke down and cried.
"Father, mother, brother, I miss all of you."
Suddenly someone stepped in front of her, shoved money into the vendor's face, and grabbed a handful of the snacks into a small bag.
The stranger then walked up to her, offering the bag of snacks while smiling. "May they be in peace in their heaven. But for you, I see a bright future."
Ahad grabbed the bag to begin noisily munching on the food.
"I'll give you more if you do a favor for me," the stranger began to walk in a direction away from the street vendor, which Ahad nodded and followed him down the street and into an alley.
The stranger then removed a basket from a wooden crate and handed it to her. "I need you to go to the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and look for a clothing vendor that has a red tarp and a rack of only blue clothing. Give the basket to him."
Ahad nodded as she finished the last of her snacks, and as she grabbed the basket, she was surprised at how heavy it was.
1954, February 18th, Hambrück shipyards:
As Visha and I walked alongside Admiral Gerhard toward our nuclear submarine visit, I looked over at our new destroyer that was sitting in its drydock and took notice of a crane removing a cannon turret from the hull, and another one removing the main radar set.
While I was briefly told about the destroyer development delays several weeks ago, why would they be removing major systems for a new ship construction?
"Admiral Gerhard, how is our new destroyer development proceeding?" I smiled at him, and his face momentarily expressed fear before he replied.
"We ran into some unexpected difficulties after a preliminary sea trial, in which we now need various modifications for the platform."
"Such as?..." I motioned him to elaborate as I stopped walking.
"The American 37mm rotary cannons that we fitted on the ship for anti-air defense have excessive vibrations at above half of its maximum rate of fire, and its local fire control radar struggled with the radar clutter from rough sea waves. Our new 5-inch cannons also had vibration problems when utilizing its doubled rate of fire over the old cannons, which is greatly worsened when the rotary cannons are also firing. Many other problems didn't become apparent until after the sea trial."
I hummed briefly before looking into his eyes. "I'm not going to micromanage the program, but I do want your realistic expectation of how long it would take for our first fully operational new destroyer to begin its deployment. That way I'm not making geopolitical decisions that could overtask the navy."
"About a year," he said with a pained look..
"Thank you," I nodded as we resumed walking. "Hopefully this submarine demonstration will have more success. Where is Captain Rickover anyways?"
"He said he would meet us in the submarine, as he's busy personally overseeing their technical operations. He had recently put a stop to the demonstration run of the smaller pressurized water reactor submarine, after finding a problem with a few of the steam flow valves during its earlier sea trial."
"Doesn't the molten salt reactor submarine share many common components?" I raised an eyebrow.
"For once, he was overruled by the Admiralty when he also wanted to put a pause on the molten salt reactor submarine out of precaution," Gerhard shook his head.
"Does the Admiralty know about our visit?" Visha trailed off.
"Not yet. Nobody told them. I didn't know about this visit until I got a phone call from Defense Minister Lergen the night before." Gerhard had a look of confusion.
"Oh, it's fine. I previously asked him about when was the best time to visit our new submarines, and told him it would be a surprise visit as well." I smirked while noticing Gerhard appeared to have sweat on his forehead even in this cold weather.
Although Rickover's lack of confidence in his submarines did make me a little worried. I reached into my pocket and brushed my Type 95 orb, hoping that I wouldn't have to use my "get out of a sinking steel coffin" option.
As we approached the submarine, I could tell it was quite large, towering over a nearby diesel submarine that was moored to the next pier.
"I've been told by Captain Rickover that there was no way to further shrink the molten salt reactor to reduce cost and weight without making unacceptable safety compromises." Gerhard seemed to have noticed me looking back and forth to compare the nuclear submarine's size to the diesel one. "We have been running an experiment to determine how much power we can pull from the reactor itself. It seems to easily scale up with minimal design changes other than needing more frequent refueling, making it easier to reuse the same reactor vessel design for aircraft carriers and land-based power plants. Considering that the Ministry of Energy has funded our naval reactor developments with the expectation of also getting a land-based reactor design out of it, this might work out well."
As we walked across the brow, Rickover came up from the submarine's hatch. "Welcome aboard! We are on schedule to go underway."
Visha smiled. "Thank you, it's a pleasure to see our new submarine going out to sea."
"I would have preferred to delay our underway," Rickover gave a blank look.
"What do you mean?" I asked with a tone of worry, as we stepped into the submarine. "Should we even be onboard?"
"There has been much debate over our nuclear submarines, but the Admiralty was confident in them and has overruled Captain Rickover," Admiral Gerhard sighed.
"What were your concerns?" I looked at Rickover, as we followed him.
"I have been told the issues are insignificant or don't exist. Just following orders." Rickover flatly replied.
"Do you know anything about this?" I jabbed a finger at Admiral Gerhard.
"They told me that I didn't have a need to know, and to stay out of their proceedings to begin a formal disciplinary hearing against Captain Rickover."
The rest of the tour of the submarine was a blur, and the only thought in my head was to pay a personal visit to the Admiralty and pry the information out of them.
Immediately after we entered the control room, Rickover looked at an officer in the back. "Engineering officer of the watch, are we ready for the emergency maneuver demonstration?"
"Yes sir. All pre-conditions verified. I am waiting for maneuvering to request the engine speed…" the watch officer replied just as the engine order telegraph spun from "ahead 1/3" to "ahead flank".
"Answering the bell!" One of the watchstanders acknowledged the bell.
"Shifting reactor plant!" The reactor control operator shouted, and upon the watch officer acknowledging him, he proceeded with his work.
"What is that rumbling noise?..." I looked around in confusion.
"Reactor coolant pumps, main seawater pumps, auxiliary seawater pumps, and various other pumps all being set to maximum speed." Rickover stared at the cluttered instrument panels. "Standby pumps are also coming online. Naturally, all of this makes a lot of noise and is not ideal for a submarine, something that I hope to improve on with the follow-on ballistic submarine design."
"Reactor power at 60%, continuing to withdraw control rods." the reactor control operator called out.
"Coolant temperature increase rate is within limit, recommend continuing to raise reactor power at current rate." another operator reported.
"It is hard for a submarine to remain quiet when running at maximum power," Gerhard shrugged his shoulders. "The engineers claimed this can obtain up to about 30 knots underwater, almost the top speed of destroyers."
I could feel the entire submarine intensely shake as the reactor power instrument ticked up.
"Are we stopping at 100% reactor power?" Visha had an edge of nervousness as the instrument shot past 90% at a rapid pace.
"Start the clock," the watch officer set a timer while ignoring Visha.
"Per the specifications, with all pre-conditions met, the reactor can run up to 150% for less than 30 seconds when answering emergency maneuver bells, and then lowered back to 100%," Rickover answered Visha in a strangely calm, monotone voice. "This is one of those tradeoffs between propulsion plant safety, and combat necessities. Some damage and wear is expected from the heavy load on the plant, but if that allows the submarine to avoid being hit by a torpedo, then that is acceptable."
"Reactor power approaching 140%," the reactor control operator reported, to which the watch officer immediately replied, "Lower to 100% power, 15 seconds have elapsed."
"Aye, sir."
"How long are we going to run at full power?" I looked at Rickover.
"One hour as part of the pre-trial full power run test. Let's head to the wardroom for lunch."
"Shouldn't we remain here until the test is done?" Gerhard raised an eyebrow.
"That's redundant, sir," Rickover continued in his calm voice. "The crew has done everything per procedure, and I verified that over the past few weeks."
Visha and I looked at each other. I could see her mouth, "This is insanity."
It's a strange feeling. Knowing that something could easily go wrong, I was stuck in a steel tube, with a captain who seemed nonchalant with how everything was going, and an admiral who wasn't pushing back on it.
As soon as we entered the wardroom and had a glimpse of the food and drinks arranged on the table, there was a loud bang, followed by what sounded like a high-pitched waterfall and a heavy downpour hitting a metal roof, with the noise of electrical arcing barely heard over the noise of the water.
Being X, all this time, and now you found a way to try to kill me?!
The announcing system crackled, "Flooding, flooding! Lower auxiliary engine room! Flooding, flooding!", as the lights cut out and the machines in the submarine all came to a halt, followed by the emergency lighting switching on. Captain Rickover immediately ripped open a floor hatch to the lower compartment and jumped down.
Visha and I briefly looked at each other, before I raced over to the opened hatch with magic illumination and jumped after Rickover.
I cast a shield spell to block the water droplets from hitting Rickover and me, as we advanced towards the source of the flood.
"That's Main Seawater 1, and it's broken between the hull and the isolation valve!" Rickover shouted.
He turned to a sailor before clambering back up the ladders, "Get her a pipe patch!"
The sailor stumbled in with a bag of pipe patches and a spool of rope, with another sailor coming behind him. "I don't know if it's going to work as it's right at the hull."
"We have to try!" I snared, then pointed at Visha. "We will keep the water away, you two will apply the patch!"
As the two sailors struggled to put on the pipe patch, the announcement system blared, "This is Captain Rickover. I am now the engineering watch officer. Belay the order to secure the main steam flow. Answer all ahead flank."
"It's not fitting!" One of the sailors yelled, then he ripped a sleeve off his shirt and tried to put it over the roaring water.
"Visha, keep the shield up. I'm going to help them." I barked at her before powering up my physical reinforcement spell, while Visha lit an illumination spell as the lights went out. My orb became noticeably warm as I ramped up my physical strength spell to stuff the cloth into the rupture, and then press down on the pipe patch.
As soon as they finished screwing in the patch, the sheet metal immediately ripped apart and sent ricocheting off our shields and then the bulkhead, along with the stuffed rag being blown away.
Then the announcement system poured bad news onto an already bad situation as the sailors scrambled for another pipe patch and rag. "Emergency blow inoperable, initiate manual bypass."
"We're still taking on water, what do we do?!" Visha cried out as the water began to go up to our chests.
It's been a long time since I've felt legitimate fear from her. But if it means sacrificing my sanity to save both of us…
I withdrew the Type 95 orb from my pocket and looked at her. "Visha, please look after me. We need to stay out of public sight for a few months. I'm not going to make sense for some time, and don't take my words seriously during that time."
"What are you talking about?" She had an alarmed look on her face as I switched pouring mana into the cursed orb.
"Lord, hear my prayer and grant my desire. Bring me the strength to save the flock."
I felt the overwhelming sense of God's righteous power as I rammed the rags into the rupture, this time the flow of water noticeably slowing down.
"He is almighty, and tramples on the pagan, false god Poseidon."
Visha dropped her shielding to put the pipe patch over the rags before the water pressure could dislodge them. Seeing her strain prompted me to pour more mana into my orb and wrap my arms around the pipe patch to hold it in place.
"At the end of our journey, we shall reach the promised land!"
As the sailors finished wrapping the pipe patch with the rope to secure it, it took what was left of my mental sanity to cut my mana to the orb, and I immediately sank into the water from the fatigue.
1954, February 21st, Allied Kingdom, Londinium:
"Based on my team's analysis of the radio recordings and the passive sonar reports of our two submarines operating in the area, the new Germanian submarine was operating at more than 15 knots underwater, rapidly accelerated to 34 knots in less than a minute, and held it there for several minutes. In the Germanian crew's later distress radio broadcast, they mentioned their depth was over 200 meters." Flemons clicked to the end of the slide projector.
Prime Minister John Macmill had a dismissive look on his face. "Why am I being briefed on this when this should be the Royal Admiralty's concern? It should be them pushing for improved anti-submarine warfare capabilities, not you."
"It's not possible for a regular submarine to obtain those speeds, even at the surface." Flemons held back from showing exasperation. "We're talking about a submerged submarine that can match a torpedo's and a lightly loaded destroyer's speed. Our latest submarine model only has a 16 nautical miles range at 8 knots when submerged, and a test dive depth of 150 meters. Which means the only other way the Germanian submarine could have propelled itself is using nuclear energy."
"Couldn't they have used another energy source?"
"Passive sonar indicated a significant amount of pump noises when the Germanian submarine accelerated. They sound completely different compared to our submarines, and I spoke with our nuclear scientists who agreed that a hypothetical nuclear reactor would need numerous pumps for cooling."
Macmill tapped on his desk with a hint of anger. "Our scientists speak of a hypothetical nuclear reactor, when the Germanians have already built a fleet of actual power generation plants to keep their lights on during the Suez Canal War. I have no illusions about where the Americans obtained their metric tons of plutonium to sell to us at incredibly high prices, as there is no way their single operational nuclear power plant can generate the needed quantities of plutonium. And you're telling me the Germanians have miniaturized their nuclear reactor to fit inside of an underwater steel tube to give it the speed of a torpedo, of all of the naval vessels that they picked!"
Flemons silently nodded, while Macmill let out a sigh.
"This is beyond just a naval disaster for us. Trying to directly counter their nuclear submarine doesn't address the problem of them sprinting past us in nuclear development. Just yesterday I was briefed that our atomic bomb project is starting over with a new design."
"Where the original plan was to use over 450 kilograms of steel balls inside the bomb vessel to prevent the bomb from arming itself? And the air force rejected that bomb design because there was no safe way of loading it into a bomber and flying it to the destination without the risk of the bomb prematurely detonating from the balls being rattled loose? And our boys were unwilling to guarantee that the bomb wouldn't arm itself anyways even with the balls in place?" Flemons tilted his head.
"How did you get that information?!" Macmill sat upright.
"That was the other topic I wanted to discuss with you. There's going to be a mass arrest soon to put a stop to the communists stealing our nuclear information, initially using bogus charges such as parking tickets. I hadn't even told you because of just how high profile some of the informants are."
Sometime later:
Captain Rickover stood at attention in front of a panel of admirals, along with General Ugar sitting at the end of the table and Admiral Gerhard at the other end. In the center was Admiral Karl Beyer.
'A familiar experience, just like when the Unified States Navy threw me out.'
Admiral Beyer cleared his throat. "Captain Rickover, you are being charged with 137 counts of insubordination from flag officers, 46 counts of peer and subordinate mistreatment, 1 count of threatening to murder a group of civilians, 1 count of physically assaulting a civilian, 11 counts of unbecoming of an officer, and other charges that I'm not going to bother to list because they are minor compared to the ones I just discussed. Your latest charge is the responsibility for the almost catastrophic loss of possibly the world's most advanced and expensive submarine, along with our head of state being onboard at the time, who is now hospitalized. How do you plead?"
"I would like to correct that 1 count of threatening murder. I merely told the fellow that his entire brazing crew would be submarine riders for all of the test trials and our first deployment if they kept giving me substandard braze jobs. If they provided quality work, they would have no reason to fear for their lives. I am not happy that I was overruled on that matter, as the brazing crew would have had first hand experience of seeing their failed work." Rickover flatly said. "Although I've never been a fan of the decision to utilize silver brazing for the deep water conditions that the submarines would be operating in. As for the physical assault, a company representative came at me first after I told them I was rejecting their entire batch of valves that were to be used for the ballast tanks. I merely tripped the assaulter and let him fall off the pier and into the harbor water. Again I was overruled on that matter, and now those valves are suspected in the investigation of the ballast tank blowing failure."
"Your antics have only delayed the two submarines by many months, and now one of them is broken." General Ugar leaned forward.
"You're telling me the incident was not caused by a silver braze failure?" Rickover continued to maintain a straight face.
"We had our own independent investigation, and determined you were reckless with the testing of the submarine," Admiral Beyer had a flash of anger in his face.
"I merely tested it to the claimed paper specifications, and uncovered flaws that I had previously warned about. I should also mention that the submarine never reached the 150% power limit in its emergency evasion drill." Rickover briefly showed a flash of annoyance before suppressing it. "I find it disturbing that you overlooked the ballast tank blowing malfunction, something that would have doomed the submarine in the event that President Degurechaff's pipe patching was unsuccessful. And then there's your political interference with the investigation into the root cause of the blowing malfunction."
"If you think malicious, careless compliance is going to get you anywhere, it's not. And it wasn't even in compliance when you gave the order for the steam flow to continue when the standard operating procedure called for isolating the steam system to prevent excessive reactor cooldown."
"Let's end the charade," Rickover waved his hand. "You find me guilty of having zero tolerance for defects and the willingness to see to that at any cost. For not playing along with the office politics and fudging paperwork, no different from the Unified States Navy. And all of you spineless fools don't have the courage to tell the higher-ups about necessary delays and extra spending, and instead want to make yourselves look good by pushing incomplete platforms into sailors' hands. If you want my resignation for that, I will accept it."
"You think you're so brave to imagine yourself saying no to President Degurechaff's demands?" General Ugar scoffed. "You should have been there when she threw down the gauntlet to the General Staff in her early years as Chancellor, with her 'war is a continuation of politics by other means' discussion where she accused the General Staff of being rabid dogs that were let loose from their chains. And that was just her introduction to us as a newly elected politician."
"Very well, we accept your resignation." Beyer gestured at the door. "You may leave now and stop wasting everyone's time."
Gerhard held up a hand. "I recommend granting him an admiral retirement pension, an award for his conduct of saving the submarine, and to be hired as a special nuclear advisor."
Before the other board members could make sense of Gerhard's suggestion, Rickover scoffed. "With all due respect, that's bullshit. I will not be tricked into a golden cage where people can ignore me."
As Gerhard facepalmed while the rest of the board members shouted at Rickover, suddenly someone revealed themselves and came floating down from the ceiling.
"President Degurechaff, I wasn't expecting your health to recover so soon." Beyer stammered while Rickover stayed standing in his place and unflinching.
No point in saying or doing anything, she has made up her mind on this matter.
"I heard enough," Degurechaff had a crooked smile with messy hair as she landed on the floor. "And while all of you may run your mouths, I was there to see what happened, and my trusted agents gave me full details on the competing, politically driven investigations."
There was a long moment of silence before she continued. "Admiral Gerhard, while I appreciate your gesture of seeking a compromise in this situation, I don't think it was the right choice. So I am promoting Captain Rickover to the rank of Rear Admiral, effectively immediately. And he will be in charge of all naval nuclear reactor and submarine safety matters, including systems that are directly impacted by the reactor or impact the reactor."
Rickover still remained locked in position, unflinching at the sudden turn of events.
"This is unaccep-" Beyer was cut off when Degurechaff shot him a glare.
"I am furious at all of you. But I also believe in God's mercy and thus won't punish any of you, other than having to learn to work with Rear Admiral Rickover. Now if you still want to protest my order, you are free to resign. Defense Minister Lergen will process your resignation, as I am going to be taking a long vacation for my own health instead of being cooped up in a hospital."
"I don't understand, you are promoting a man who is willing to question your orders?" General Ugar was struggling to comprehend what was happening.
Degurechaff smiled as she prepared to exit the room. "I needed a military that respected elected civilian command so that it wouldn't inadvertently provoke further conflicts. Rear Admiral Rickover's situation is much different. Here is a man who put himself into a submarine that he knew was unsafe, to demonstrate that it was unsafe and thus unfit for combat usage in its current state. I will never question someone who can explain why something is unsafe and needs further work or a different approach is needed."
1954, March 25th, somewhere in Xinjiang:
Li Lisan whistled as he stepped over a bullet-riddled corpse of a guard, and walked up to a massive steel cylinder. An inscription on it called it "artificial sunlight in a can".
"So our new informant was right about everything. First, he tipped us off of where some of the former prisoner mages were hiding in Xinjiang for us to recruit them. Then the location of this secret research facility and the date range of when the facility and the nearby military base would have minimal manning. The military base is also scheduled for a change of command today, with the disgraced General Shi Yousan being put in charge, which means many of the soldiers would be busy putting up decorations. And now we have this bomb that supposedly has a yield of over 200 kilotons of TNT." Li chuckled. "Looks like Kang Sheng hadn't quite been thorough with his purging."
"We shall bring righteous annihilation to our enemy!" Yao Hongwen shouted with glee.
Shusheng rolled his eyes at the ideologically obnoxious mage, one of the escaped mages from the years earlier prison break, before staring down at schematic drawings looted from a nearby building. "I'm not sure how we're going to transport that thing. I didn't think the bomb would be this massive. Using the single railway track would require shooting our way through a military base that is east of us, and the track ends at this research site so there is no going west."
"Maybe we could drag that cylinder with chains and ropes using all of the trucks around here?" Fire absentmindedly suggested.
"That wouldn't make it through the mountain passes for us to return to Tibet," Li frowned. "We'll just have to disassemble the bomb into pieces to make it easier to transport."
Before Shusheng or Fire could voice their objections, someone came running up to them in panic. "The military base sent out its entire force towards our location!"
Shusheng rubbed his chin. "They might have known something was wrong when we cut the phone lines and destroyed the radio tower at the start of our raid."
"No time to waste, we need to start disassembling the bomb!" Li shouted, gesturing at his men towards the bomb, then turned to Shusheng. "I need your mages to destroy the incoming forces to buy us more time, as the next available military base is more than a day away."
Just as Yao was about to take off into the air, Fire pulled on something and a massive stream of sand came pouring out of the cylinder.
"What the? Is this a fake bomb?..." Li took a step back, while Fire's head rotated back and forth between looking at the cork plug he was holding and the sand that was pouring out.
"No, it looks like the sand is a critical part of the bomb for some reason," Shusheng continued staring at the papers. "1000 kilograms of it."
"We need to leave," Fire immediately chugged his flask of drugs and grabbed Li and someone else to take off into the air. Shusheng and other mages followed suit by grabbing the papers and key figures.
"I'm not leaving my men and our prized possession behind!" Li cried out, which Fire ignored while the mages zoomed across the desert plains and into the mountains, the research site and the rest of Li's forces soon disappeared from view. In the distance, the military base garrison forces were fast approaching the field site.
After a few minutes of zooming through the mountain valleys, one of the carried people asked, "What if there was nothing serious about the sand and we just embarrassed ourselves in front of the men that we abandoned?"
Then the sky suddenly turned bright white for a moment.
"Get down into that cave, and block the cave entrance with our shielding!" Shusheng shouted as he charged toward the cave entrance, followed by the rest of the mages.
As soon as the last mage and their passengers entered the cave to join the collective shielding, a massive shockwave and the carried cloud of debris and dust ripped through the mountains. Loosened rocks and dirt in the cave rained down on the group, while the mages groaned from the strain of maintaining their shield.
1954, March 28th, in Berun at Dertinge's Chancellor office:
I knew it was bad news when Dertinge requested that we immediately meet upon my return from vacation and the recovery of my sanity after using the Type-95. Why am I always left with a pile of mess when I come back after a break?!
"Rickover picked yet another fight?" I sighed as I sat down in the chair.
Dertinge had a slightly bemused face. "Funny that you mentioned that. Admiral Beyer resigned when the Ministry of Energy authorized additional funding for naval reactor development after reviewing the performance of the submarine molten salt reactor and pressurized water reactor, and specifically requested Rear Admiral Rickover to oversee the upscaling of the molten salt reactor technology for land power plant usage and train a civilian staff that would have oversight of said land power plants. This also meant he would be de-facto in charge of developing a reactor for the aircraft carrier, as the Admiralty was forced to accept him instead of spending their own money on duplicative efforts."
I do recall pressurized water reactors were commonly used in my previous world, so the concept itself should still be fine.
"So we have no use for the pressurized water reactor?"
"The Ministry of Energy is only willing to spend a small amount of money for the continued operation of the pressurized water reactor submarine to continue collecting more research data, in the event that the molten salt reactor technology turns out to be a dead end or they find a different use for pressurized water reactors."
I looked over at the world map. "Perhaps we could sell our unwanted pressurized water technology to the Americans. They will pay us a massive sum of money just like when we sold them our graphite-moderated reactor technology and plutonium stockpile. It could be potentially enough to single-handedly fund the construction of one or two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers with some spare change. We could also utilize that sales opportunity to paint President Fitzgerald Kennedy in a positive political image, as he could support us in the future in return for helping him during his troubled times. Even if we ended up making the wrong bet with the molten salt reactor technology, we would still hold a nuclear technological advantage thanks to American funding."
"An interesting idea," Dertinge hummed. "I'll keep our developments vague, but I will gauge their reactions and appetite for new reactor technology."
He paused for a moment. "But in regards to the current drama. It's Formosa. Specifically Zhou Shu, the man who is officially not part of Formosa's government but has essentially been acting as a shadow puppet master with his political intrigues. And now he has aggravated the Akitsushiman government."
Oh, Shu. Him again.
"What did he do this time?" I put my hand to my face.
"Shu demonstrated he has a long reach into the CSR. His agents discovered where the communists' atomic bomb field site was located."
"Wouldn't the Akinese be grateful for that?"
Dertinge let out a sad chuckle. "He sat on that information for months without telling anyone, then gave it to Li Lisan."
Dertinge paused for a moment while my face dropped in horror.
"Recently a nuclear detonation was detected in Xinjiang based on seismograph recordings, and the Akinese are waiting for airborne radioisotopes to be blown over their land to be collected for analysis. Another confirmation was the CSR's state media. Some general named 'Shi Yousan' was charged with cowardliness for hiding in a cellar instead of leading from the front. It was also around the time when the Akinese intelligence investigating information that turned out to be related to Shu's secret assistance to Li Lisan. Also concerning is that our nuclear scientists believe the bomb that the CSR has built has a considerably larger explosive yield compared to our current bomb inventory."
"That two-faced idiot! I shouldn't have trusted a communist." I clenched my teeth.
He held up a hand. "It's a bit more complicated than that. When the Akinese ambassador confronted Shu, Shu stated that he knew Li was at a greatly weakened state, which meant Kang Sheng would be free to focus his attention back east, on Formosa and Akitsushima Dominion. His reasoning was that Li gaining possession of an atomic bomb would ensure that Kang remained distracted, and he doubted Li would use the bomb against anyone other than at Kang's personal residence."
"Is Kang dead?" I raised an eyebrow, holding off from showing a mix of excitement at the communists creatively launching a coup amongst themselves with a nuclear mushroom cloud and horror of an extremist putting himself into power.
"No. Shu claimed Li's forces detonated the bomb at the field site after Kang's forces aggressively moved to recapture it, which wiped out both sides. He stated he still has means of directly influencing both Li and Kang to continue playing the two against each other. He expects Kang to triple his efforts to hunt down Li now that Li demonstrated with the attempted bomb theft that he remains a dangerous foe."
"So what should we do with Shu?" I leaned back in my chair while letting out a sigh of annoyance. "He's a wildcard and could drag us into a shooting conflict with the CSR as part of his own personal schemes. But if I fly over to Formosa to talk to him directly, he'll publicly complain that I'm just holding him back from fighting the communists."
"The Akinese asked us for advice on that man. And I don't know what to say either." Dertinge grimaced.
AN:
wiki/USS_Thresher_(SSN-593)
Deep-sea photography, recovered artifacts, and an evaluation of Thresher's design and operational history permitted a court of inquiry to conclude that the submarine had probably suffered the failure of a salt-water piping system joint that relied heavily on silver brazing instead of welding. Earlier tests using ultrasound equipment found potential problems with about 14% of the tested brazed joints,[23][24] most of which were determined not to pose a risk significant enough to require repair. But on 30 November 1960, nearly three years prior to the accident, USS Barbel suffered such a silver-braze joint failure near test depth while on an exercise, flooding the engine room with an estimated 18 tons of water in the 3 minutes it took to surface under power and with blown tanks.[25] This incident was followed months later by more silver-braze failures aboard the ballistic missile submarine USS Abraham Lincoln during trials.[25] High-pressure water spraying from a broken pipe joint may have shorted out one of the many electrical panels, causing a shutdown ("scram") of the reactor, which in turn caused loss of propulsion.
…
The inability to blow the ballast tanks was later attributed to excessive moisture in the submarine's high-pressure air flasks, moisture that froze and plugged the flasks' flowpaths while passing through the valves. This was later simulated in dockside tests on Thresher's sister sub, Tinosa. During a test to simulate blowing ballast at or near test depth, ice formed on strainers installed in valves; the flow of air lasted only a few seconds.[26] Air dryers were later retrofitted to the high-pressure air compressors, beginning with Tinosa, to permit the emergency blow system to operate properly.[citation needed] Submarines typically rely on speed and deck angle (angle of attack) rather than deballasting to surface; they are propelled at an angle toward the surface. Ballast tanks were almost never blown at depth, as doing so could cause the submarine to rocket to the surface out of control. Normal procedure was to drive the submarine to periscope depth, raise the periscope to verify that the area was clear, and then blow the tanks and surface the submarine.[24]
wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover#Forced_retirement
According to former President Jimmy Carter, several weeks following his retirement, Rickover "was invited to the Oval Office and decided to don his full dress uniform. He told me that he refused to take a seat, listened to the president [Reagan] ask him to be his special nuclear advisor, replied 'Mr. President, that is bullshit,' and then walked out."[98] The Navy's official investigation of General Dynamics' Electric Boat division was ended shortly afterward. According to Theodore Rockwell, Rickover's Technical Director for more than 15 years, more than one source at that time stated that General Dynamics officials were bragging around Washington that they had "gotten Rickover."[99]
As for the messy nature of military procurements, I recommend checking out these two Perun videos on the topic:
"How Procurement Destroys Armies - Requirements, Risks & Development gone wrong": watch?v=bBQVR4epfBQ
"How Incentives & Interests Shape Armies - Competition, Consolidation & Procurement Policy": watch?v=_XxySdqU1Xg
An article from 1962 of Rickover's criticism of military procurements: time/subscriber/article/0,33009,829357,
Friday, Nov. 09, 1962
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, who has long directed his salty criticism at inadequate U.S. schools and at unimaginative military brass, last week zeroed in on U.S. business. Industry has fallen dangerously short of meeting the exacting technological standards of the nuclear age, said the father of the nuclear submarine to a meeting of the American Society for Metals.
"I have found," said Rickover, "that management is reluctant to depart from outdated practices; that it is not informed of what is actually going on in the plant; that it fails to provide the informed and strong leadership necessary to bring about improvements in engineering and production." Not just the complicated gear but also the conventional components of nuclear plants are frequently flawed by faulty welding and casting due to ineffective quality control and failure to follow specifications, Rickover reported. "Delivery and performance of these conventional items have been less reliable than of the nuclear reactors themselves."
In recent years, said Rickover, less than 10% of conventional components, such as steam generators for naval nuclear-propulsion units, have been delivered on time; 30% were six months to a year late. After delivery, over 50% of them had to be further reworked to meet contract specifications. And in the case of steel castings, said Rickover, "we often have to order two to three times as many as we need because we have so much trouble obtaining satisfactory ones."
The submarine makers, who were right in the line of fire, did not dispute Rickover, but privately contended that he expects too much. Said one: "In meeting Rickover's standards, you won't lose any ships—they'll all be perfect—but the larger question is: Will you ever get any ships?" Recognizing that the admiral has obviously got his ships, officials in the Defense Department for once tend to side with its outspoken Rickover, feel that the performance of defense contractors would improve markedly if there were stiffer penalties for shoddy work and higher rewards for jobs well done.
Information on the British submarines of the early 1950's: wiki/Amphion-class_submarine
wiki/Atomic_spies
wiki/Cambridge_Five
wiki/Violet_Club
The ball bearings then had to be re-inserted into the lowered and upturned bomb before transport back to the bomb store. Without the ball bearings installed, these weapons were armed and live, and too dangerous to be allowed to fly on exercises. Bomber Command exercises demonstrated that flight preparation followed by a scramble take-off could not be reduced below thirty minutes,[16] and on exercises in bad weather and at night a ninety-minute scramble was the norm.[17] At least one accident, dated 1960, was reported in the press when the plastic bung was removed and 133,000 steel ball bearings spilled onto the aircraft hangar floor, leaving the bomb armed and vulnerable.[18] The Royal Air Force were so nervous of the outcome of a fire in storage that permission was sought to store the bombs inverted, so that a loss of the plastic bung could not end with the steel balls on the floor, leaving the HEU unprotected against a subsequent explosion.[19] Even without the partial nuclear detonation feared by the RAF, there was "a risk of catastrophe".[20]
AWRE's trickery with the steel balls had other unintended outcomes. Even an event as inconsequential as early morning frost was an issue. Violet Club could be loaded into a bomber for up to thirty days on standby while parked overnight on a remote base where the bomb could get very cold. If the steel balls froze together inside the bomb cavity and could not be removed, the bomb was useless. AWRE's solution was to fit the bomb with an electric blanket. Because the bombs were armed before flight, the take-off was hazardous; the bombs could not be jettisoned, and landing with an armed bomb on return to base was too hazardous to contemplate. As a consequence, Violet Club could not be used on an airborne alert,[21] or even flown to a remote dispersal base.
Other design flaws centred on a requirement for a strip-down and inspection at six-monthly intervals, this took three weeks per weapon using AWRE civilian staff. The unstable nature of the bomb required that the work be done in-situ at RAF facilities, causing considerable disruption to operational duties. There were three main reasons for the strip-down and these were deterioration of the rubber bag, corrosion of the steel balls, and deterioration of the HE, which was prone to cracking. Replacement of a weapon's HE would cost the RAF in excess of £90,000 adjusted to 2006 prices.[22]
A play-on-words that later returned to haunt AWRE when later estimates revised the yield to 400kt. Challens also stated on behalf of AWRE that:
AWRE were almost completely sure that a nuclear explosion would not occur if the balls are in, - but in the absence of trial proof, he could not guarantee it.
The Royal Air Force was not amused, with Bomber Command Staff officers minuting their seniors with remarks like this one.[28]
This [minute] means that Violet Club and Yellow Sun Mk.1 are not "in the megaton range" at all, notwithstanding the extraordinary measures taken, and costs involved for what we had thought to be a megaton capability. This ... lead me to the belief that production of Green Grass be curtailed. I cannot imagine any commercial organisation continuing to buy a device that so patently fails to meet the requirement, or to be misled without protest as the Air Ministry has so consistently been [misled] by AWRE.
Senior levels of the RAF believed they had been sold a lemon. Further, the weapon was of uncertain safety in the hands of the inexperienced RAF.
Aircraft engines must not be run with Violet Club loaded on the aircraft with the safety device [of steel balls] in place. The engines must not be started until the weapon is prepared for an actual operational sortie [to prevent the steel balls vibrating like a bag of jellybeans].[29]
... uncertainty exists about the effects of movement with the balls inserted.[30]
wiki/Yellow_Sun_(nuclear_weapon)#Green_Grass
Green Grass yield was originally stated to the Royal Air Force (RAF) as 500 kilotons of TNT equivalent (2.1 PJ), but the designers estimate was later revised downwards to 400 kt of TNT. The Green Grass warhead was never tested. It used a dangerously large quantity of fissile material – thought to be in excess of 70 kilograms (150 lb), and considerably more than an uncompressed critical mass. It was kept subcritical by being fashioned into a thin-walled spherical shell. To guard against the accidental crushing of the core into a critical condition, the shell was filled with 133,000 steel ball-bearings, weighing 450 kilograms (990 lb). In a conflict, these would have had to be removed before flight. The RAF thought it unsafe.
wiki/Orange_Herald
A video of the British atomic bomb development: r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/15720dc/british_nuclear_weapons_development_was_peak/
Orange Herald looks like a perfectly rational and safe design when compared to the disaster that was the Violet Club.
If you ever want a guide on how to build the most unsafe nuclear bomb ever, look it up. It's like they took a guide on how to build a safe nuke, then just kind of did the opposite. Then also decided to make it the most powerful pure fission bomb ever.
Have no idea how to make an arming mechanism? Just pour 450kg of steel ball bearings into the thing and plug the hole with a plastic plug that absolutely wouldn't fall out if someone messed up ever so slightly, and subsequently arm the fucking bomb. (This happened at least once).
So unsafe they couldn't fly with it because it had to be armed at all times due to said ball bearing mechanism.
Couldn't be stored anywhere because a fire could cause whatever was holding it to break, and the plug could fall out and drop all the ball bearings, then subsequently risk blowing up because it would arm itself.
Couldn't even be stored upside down to you know… Keep the hole pointing up and not constantly have 450kg of steel pressing down on the plug. Why? I don't fucking know…
Also it was the most powerful pure fission bomb ever to be in service. Motherfucker was so unsafe that making it fucking massive to make it even more dangerous was a given.
The Soviet Union's Deadly Abandoned Nuclear Generators: watch?v=NT8-b5YEyjo
The Soviet Nuclear Disaster you've never heard of, Kyshtym Disaster (nuclear explosion in 1953): watch?v=x-8ewQjOROE
wiki/Kyshtym_disaster
Compared to the Green Grass's estimated 400-500 kilotons of TNT yield, the Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, had a yield of about 20 kilotons of TNT: . /Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196220/fat-man-atomic-bomb/
The bomb had an explosive force (yield) of about 20,000 tons of TNT
Your average Chinese political intrigues: wiki/Zhou_Enlai#Political_survival
Zhou gave his backing to the establishment of radical Red Guard organizations in October 1966 and joined Chen Boda and Jiang Qing against what they considered "leftist" and "rightist" Red Guard factions. This opened the way for attacks on Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and Tao Zhu in December 1966 and January 1967.[185] By September 1968, Zhou candidly described his strategy for political survival to Japanese LDP parliamentarians visiting Beijing: "one's personal opinions should advance or beat a retreat according to the direction of the majority."[186] When he was accused of being less than enthusiastic in following Mao's leadership, he accused himself of "poor understanding" of Mao's theories, giving the appearance of compromising with forces that he secretly loathed and referred to in private as his "inferno".[187] Following the logic of political survival, Zhou worked to aid Mao, and restricted his criticisms to private conversations.
Although Zhou escaped direct persecution, he was not able to save many of those closest to him from having their lives destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. Sun Weishi, Zhou's adopted daughter, died in 1968 after seven months of torture, imprisonment, and rape by Maoist Red Guards. In 1968, Jiang also had his adopted son (Sun Yang) tortured and murdered by Red Guards. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Sun's plays were re-staged as a way of criticizing the Gang of Four, whom many thought were responsible for her death.[188]
Throughout the next decade, Mao largely developed policies while Zhou carried them out, attempting to moderate some of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, such as preventing Beijing from being renamed "East Is Red City" (Chinese: 东方红市; pinyin: Dōngfānghóngshì) and the Chinese guardian lions in front of Tienanmen Square from being replaced with statues of Mao.[189] Zhou also ordered a PLA battalion to guard the Forbidden City and protect its traditional artifacts from vandalism and destruction by Red Guards.[190] Despite his best efforts, the inability to prevent many of the events of the Cultural Revolution were a great blow to Zhou. Over the last decade of his life, Zhou's ability to implement Mao's policies and keep the nation afloat during periods of adversity was so great that his practical importance alone was sufficient to save him (with Mao's assistance) whenever Zhou became politically threatened.[191] At the latest stages of the Cultural Revolution, in 1975, Zhou pushed for the "Four Modernizations" in order to undo the damage caused by Mao's policies.
wiki/Sun_Weishi#Political_persecution_and_death
When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Zhou Enlai's power became circumscribed, while Jiang Qing gained power. Although Zhou still held the formal position of premier, he was not able to prevent the arrest of Sun or even his own brother, and personally signed their arrest warrants in fear of angering Mao. After forcing Zhou to sign Sun's warrant, Jiang ordered officers from the Air Force (loyal to Lin Biao, Jiang's ally) to arrest and secretly imprison Sun, so that Zhou could not intervene to protect her.[5]
Sun Weishi and Jin Shan were both imprisoned on 1 March 1968.[15] After Sun's arrest Jiang confiscated and burned many of Sun's personal belongings, and arranged for Sun's name to be officially changed to "孙伪士" ("Sun, the Hypocrite", which sounds like "Sun Weishi"). Jiang gave orders that Sun be sentenced without trial, and directed that Sun be tortured at leisure, but not killed.[16]
After being imprisoned, Sun Weishi was tortured for seven months, and eventually died in prison on 15 October 1968.[15] Her body was found naked with her arms and legs still shackled. There were no female guards in the prison. Interviews with a guard a decade later implied that "higher-ups" had ordered her to be repeatedly raped. Two other prisoners gave an account of seeing the guards handing Sun over to several male convicts in the prison to be raped. These accounts match written or eyewitness accounts of other female prisoners who were tortured to death in the era, notably Zhang Zhixin and Lin Zhao.
After hearing of Sun's death and her condition at the time of her death, Zhou Enlai ordered an autopsy, but Jiang intervened and had Sun's body quickly cremated. After cremating Sun's body, Jiang had her ashes disposed of, in order to prevent Sun's family from taking possession of them.[17]
Also I recently came across the song "Roll Northumbria" from The Dreadnoughts, which references the Suez Canal Crisis and the UK's response by building two monster sized oil tankers to bypass the blocked canal. My interpretation of the song is about a dying empire that made one last attempt to demonstrate its power: watch?v=Fk3Wu5GPSaY
For when the Egyptians they closed the Red Sea
A call came on high from the powers that be
To build a royal monster right down the key
Roll Northumbria roll, me boys
Roll Northumbria, roll
…
And it's one for the hot sun above
Two for the empire we love
And it's three for the fire that burns down below
Roll on Northumbria
Roll Northumbria, roll
So come all you good workman
Beware the command
It comes down on high from the desk of a man
Who's never held steel or torch in his hands
Roll Northumbria, roll
For atop a wild breaker the cracks in her frame
Spilled her black guts all across the wild main
She limped away through an ocean of flame
Roll Northumbria roll, me boys
Roll Northumbria, roll
wiki/Esso_Northumbria
The ship was designed to carry crude oil from the Persian Gulf, and its large design was a result of the Suez Crisis, which had resulted in the closing of the Suez Canal. The ship was single-hulled and was designed with relatively limited knowledge of the behaviours of such large structures at sea, being generally a straightforward scaling-up of a smaller design. It was also built to a fixed-price contract at a time when rampant inflation was occurring in Britain. This led to many attempts to cut costs; Swan Hunter ultimately made a loss on the contract. Final cost of the ship was £6.5 million.
The ship was plagued with problems both with its fittings and more seriously, with cracking of the hull under stress. It needed many repairs in its short working lifetime and this, together with fears of a major spill, prompted its retirement in 1982 after only 12 years in service. The ship was broken up at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A similar fate befell its sister ship, the Esso Hibernia, also built on Tyneside and launched in 1970.
In 2019, The Dreadnoughts, a Canadian folk punk band, released "Roll Northumbria," a song which details an alternate version of the Northumbria's short lifespan, in which the cracks in the hull cause an oil spill.[6]