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<p>Nah. I’m not buying that, either. The idea of losing a sub is a BIG DEAL, but it wouldn’t trigger a reaction unless there was a lot more than just a “loss of communication for a few hours” with a boat.</p>
<p>I wish I could lay out my case because I have an idea of what could have happened to scramble a SAR mission so quickly, but I am not sure as to what level of confidentiality is still attributable what little I remember, so I’m going to keep quiet. </p>
<p>I will say this, however: What I have in mind happened at least once before, the crew was never in ANY real danger, and more than one person got their wee-wee smacked over it. The flip side is, if what I suspect may have happened DID happen, it most likely would not have resulted in “hours” of lost comms, but less than one (at worst).</p>
<p>Reckon we’ll find out soon enough.</p>
<p>ETA:</p>
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<p>It’s been a long time, but I don’t remember the flare color being specific to submarines.</p>
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<p>As you might expect IF the sub suspected it was a ruse to draw them out. Flimsy, but a possibility. Were either of the other two playing the same role?</p>
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<p>At which point the sound of testicals bouncing off the inside of skulls must have reached a cacophonous din in halls of the Pentagon. Yikes. Talk about a FLASH OPREP-3 NAVY BLUE! I doubt it, but I wonder if it reached PINNACLE? :eek:</p>
<p>Way too many variables. What was the depth of the water? Were the subs comm systems up? Was the crypto properly loaded? Was the duty radioman asleep at the switch or overworked? Was the message misconstrued? Did the original message include SAN JUAN? Was it sent correctly? How many lookouts in an entire battle group saw a red flare? Etc., etc…</p>
<p>I’m just glad the boat and crew are fine. This is going to have people seriously tap-dancing for a while, though.</p>