Chapter 45: 040 Tornado (6)

Underwater in the Northeast Pacific, the USS Pennsylvania strategic nuclear submarine.

Captain Thomas Banford held his coffee cup, needing it to revive himself because he was not in good condition. Banford and his crew should have ended their strategic patrol and returned to the Bangor Naval Base in Washington for maintenance three days ago. The typical patrol cycle for an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine is 77 days of patrol and 35 days of rest, with the crew generally rotating in two shifts to maintain high efficiency.