In this episode, we called opened our nuclear launch code safes to pull out the DVD box for Crimson Tide (1995) about two leaders on a submarine butting heads about whether to launch nuclear missiles and possibly start and/or stop WWIII. How accurate did the film portray nuclear command and control launch procedures? What role do boomers play in nuclear deterrence? How does Captain Ramsey’s dog have such a keen sense of a person’s character? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guests Geoff Wilson of the Council for Arms Control and Nonproliferation (@NuclearWilson) and nuclear expert Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more.
Before we concur on the latest EAM, we recommend:
- The Man Who Saved the World (2013 documentary)
- Jeffrey G. Lewis and Bruno Tertrais, “The Finger on the Button: The Authority to Use Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear-Armed States,” CNS Occasional Paper #45, February 2019
- Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of Submarine Espionage, 2016
- Project Azorian
- Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, 2021
- Robert Moore, A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, 2016
- Armageddon Letter, http://www.armageddonletters.com
Super Critical Podcast 
Lots of little tidbits. I was a Missile Tech on a Trident in the early 90s.
Number of tubes. All Trident II D5 boats have 24 tubes. In 2017 4 tubes were “deactivated” I. Accordance with one of the nuclear treaties.
Loading missiles. The Explosive Handling Wahrfs at Kings Bay and Bangor each have a covered wharf where missiles are loaded. By treaty, each one has one end open to allow viewing whether there is a sub in the wharf and if missiles are being loaded. This was part of one of the early nuclear treaties in the 80s
COB, Chief of The Boat. The senior enlisted man on the submarine, liason between Officer and Enlisted.
15 minutes to launch. There is a certain component in the launcher system that takes 15 minutes to cycle into position to allow a launch. It’s a security feature to prevent unauthorized launch.
The keys. The Captain and XO each have a key, which must be turned within a certain amount of time of each other. Each missile has a key, (you see Ramsey giving them to the enlisted person, probably a Missile Tech) which enables the gas generator (a small “rocket” on the side of the missile tube) which boils the water that enters the tube when the protective shroud (exposed when the missile hatch is opened) to create a gas bubble to eject the missile. The final “key” is the trigger fired by the Weapons Officer in the missile control center.
EAMs would come in, when underway, via the ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) radio. The cable trailed beind Alabama that is damaged during the Akula attack is the antenna needed to receive ELF messages. There is a secondary antenna with a bouy, which is what they try to deploy, it sound shorts, and gives away their location. Lastly they could go to periscope depth for the third way to receive an EAM.
Back before the mid 90s, a CO, XO and Weapons officer working in collusion with the other two duty officers who would open the EAM safe, could, theoretically, launch their missiles without presidential authorization. In most cases, there would be enough crew members that would stop a rogue launch (the 15 minutes time to ready the missiles is there for just something like this). Also, the sub would need to be brought to launch depth and need to “hover” at that depth. Systems were updated to require the valid EAM before launch, and a match of the codes.
The missiles go through 2 different processes to be made able to be armed. In port, certain components are installed in the guidance system. Once underway, the final component would be installed.
The sets they created for the movie were spot on, with regards to how a Trident Sub looks, except for 1 thing. The decks in the missile compartment weren’t “grates”, they were lineoleum tile. But otherwise perfect, down to how every couple rows, the missile tubes are painted a slightly darker shade of orange to aid in seeing length when on watch, and you see someone in the missile compartment. The darker the tube, the closer to the end it is.
Just some things I thought about when listening to the Crimson Tide episode today.