And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you a story of what might have happened to the first atomic-powered
submarine.
We call it Report on the X-915.
We ask you to remember that it is fiction.
So now, starring Stacy Harris, here is tonight's Suspense play, Report on the X-915.
As shown through groupers orders dated April 1st, 1952, I was detached from temporary duty
with Naval Defense Command Washington and reported to Andrews Field for immediate transportation
through New Haven, Connecticut.
From there, I was directed to proceed without delay to Naval Base Charlie, where I was to
report to Admiral R.L.
Carruthers' commandment.
After a routine flight, I landed at New Haven, Connecticut, and at 1815, I reported with
orders to the office of Admiral Carruthers.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Reporting for duty, sir.
Release you down, Commander.
Thank you, sir.
Goodbye.
No, thank you, Admiral.
Commander Richard, what do you know about Project Sailfish?
Atomic pig boat submarine, sir, authorized by the Secretary of Defense, begun May 1949,
designated experimental vessel X-915, cost about $50 million.
What about the timetable?
Oh, I believe the first atomic sub is scheduled for test runs in May of 1953.
You've been reading the newspaper.
And the file in the bureau, sir.
Suppose I told you both, new ships and the daily papers are wrong.
Wrong?
Deliberately wrong.
Oh, I see.
But since this base was activated, Commander, world conditions have changed.
The Navy is no longer satisfied with the eight-hour day to 40-hour week.
For this reason, we've been on a round-the-clock basis for almost six months.
Project Sailfish is one year ahead of schedule, if we could publicly display our accomplishments.
As a fact, it's the case.
Not even to the Bureau of Ship, sir?
Not even to Congress.
I'm beginning to understand why my orders are classified top secret.
Commander, there are 307 men working on this base.
Every single one of these men has been given the most thorough loyalty check possible.
Every single one of them has been working and living behind a barbed wire for the past
six months.
Sir, do you suspect a leak?
We're not sure.
Two days ago, a convoy arrived at the base.
Eight trucks.
And one of those trucks was a Steinblatt periscope.
Yes, sir, I've heard of it.
But not more than a handful have.
Yet, when the periscope was being installed yesterday aboard the X-915, it fell to the
deck, made completely inoperative.
The cable on the crane lifting it into place snapped.
Steel cable.
Had it been cut, sir?
No, it had not.
In fact, the lab technicians assure me it simply broke under the strain.
That cable was designed to support 100 tons.
The Steinberg periscope weighs less than 20.
All right.
Now, there are two possibilities.
One, that the cable was faulty to begin with.
A manufacturer's mistake.
I'm having Washington check that for me now.
That someone on this base somehow weakened that cable.
Sabotage?
Exactly.
Commander, only one thing matters to me right now, that the X-915 completes the first trial
run.
They must proceed according to plan without interruption.
That's why I requested Washington to send me a top man for the UNI.
Yes, sir.
I'll open anyway I can, sir.
When do you plan to test the sub sometime this month?
Not this month, Commander.
Tomorrow.
Twenty-one hundred hours, Tuesday, April 1st, 1952.
I looked up Lieutenant Commander Stanley Lyndon, Chief Engineering Officer, on the base.
In his quarters, I was told Lyndon was at the docks working.
Naval Base Charlie was surrounded by barbed wire, yet within the base itself was still
a smaller area surrounded by more barbed wire, controlled by an armed sailor every 20 yards.
Even with my high priority yellow pass, I was given the same check I've received by
any other visitor to this inner barbed wire area.
For it was here, behind the wire, that the United States ship X-915 was moored, the first
atomic submarine.
All aboard, watch it!
Watch it!
Floodlights covered the area and brought a glaring whiteness over the faces of the men
who were there.
But that wasn't what caught my eye.
It was the thing you see.
The thing you see.
It was the thing that lay alongside the dock, the iron and steel monster that nestled against
the peel of a giant pig.
Here she was, black, hideous and beautiful.
The X-915, 3,000 tons, 50 million dollars, the Navy's first line of defense in any future
war.
The atomic age gone down to the sea in ships.
I found Lieutenant Commander Stanley Lyndon just outside a 6x6 wooden shack near the dock.
He invited me inside.
The old man phoned you were coming down, Commander.
What's the story, Lyndon?
About the Steinberg periscope.
I wish you could tell me.
How do you feel about it?
Personally.
Me?
Yeah, you.
Not the official Navy.
Sabotage?
I see.
And?
And something more than just the periscope?
I think so.
Something else has happened to the men, the crew, the officers.
Could it be the speed up?
It could be.
24 hour days, 7 day weeks, even with three ships you get the feeling of rush.
Get it done right now, get it done yesterday.
Your crane operator.
I think he might have had something to do with it.
Thompson?
Yeah, I said that now.
But then I could say that about almost every man on the base.
They were handpicked, Commander, not just stray working with know-how, but the best.
Nobody applied for a job at this base, not even me.
We were all chosen.
And the loss of your periscope doesn't postpone your trial run set for tomorrow.
Commander, Washington didn't take chances with anything on Project Sailfish.
Two periscopes were made.
The second was installed less than an hour ago.
What's your ETB for tomorrow, Lyndon?
0700.
Good. I'll be aboard.
0700, Wednesday, April 2, 1952.
Captain Zeo Under, U.S. Navy commanding officer, sets special fee detail aboard the USS X915.
On October 10, the X915 left the berth under auxiliary power.
0830, the X915 was in the open sea.
Now hear this. Now hear this.
All ship personnel, X915 is 22 and will proceed under atomic power.
And in the control room.
Engines sound good.
Watch our speed, Lyndon.
30 knots, traveling at two-thirds.
Cruise at 50.
That's what the book says. 50 knots.
30 knots submerged.
You've been reading the same book, Commander.
Today's test is speed and maneuverability. Testable.
Am I right?
Right. Tomorrow we go for depth.
We're successful today.
10 hundred hours.
Captain Under gave the command of standard speed.
The X915 responded quietly and efficiently.
We made 50 knots.
11 hundred hours.
Captain Under gave the command of flank speed.
We made good 60 knots.
Nothing in the United States Navy could catch him.
At 1700 hours, the exercises were secured.
At 1730, the X915 tied up alongside the dock at Naval Base Charlie.
A pig boat of tomorrow was everything the Navy had hoped for and then some.
Lyndon and I went up to the VOQ, changed clothes, and joined Admiral Corrotus for dinner in his office.
Lyndon reported, and I listened.
Yes, there was sabotage aboard the sub. It had kept itself well hidden.
Everyone was pleased.
The Admiral suggested I continue my investigations on shore the next day instead of joining the test on Baker, and I agreed.
Lyndon and I said good night to the Admiral and headed for our quarters.
0700 Thursday, April 3, 1952. USS X915 underway for depth test.
0800 I began an investigation of the dock area.
0930 I was summoned to the office of Admiral Corrotus and the messenger said it was urgent.
Never mind that. You get me the secretary of defense.
Don't worry, it's now you get him.
All right. All right. Call me back.
Hand me those charts, please, Commander.
Hello.
What? Why do I care if he's in the meeting?
No, I don't care if he's with the president. You get him.
I have the charts, Commander.
You know the test area for the 8th ground, which is in circle.
Yes, sir.
I believe this color is the area of store, Commander.
Yes, good.
Hello. Hello.
Yes, this is Corrotus.
Oh, yes, sir.
Yes, that's right.
No, nothing's changed.
No, sir.
I want authority to put Plan Zebra in effect.
Yes, it wants.
Thank you.
Yes, sir, right away.
All right, Commander Richards, here it is.
Sir?
The X915 began depth test at 0800.
She was to remain at various depths until 0900.
It is now 940.
She hasn't said anything.
What about radio contact, sir?
Silence. She hasn't answered a radio message since 0845.
You think they're in trouble?
I don't think so.
Sir?
That sub was equipped with any number of special emergency devices, including an automatic marker which would immediately rise to the surface should any trouble develop at the engines.
No markers have appeared.
Well, I don't know if she is in trouble.
The X915 is deliberately maintaining radio silence and is proceeding under her own orders to some unknown destination.
Have the destroyer escorts lost contact with us, sir?
The accompanying destroyer reports the sub disappeared off their sonar screen at full submerged speed, 30 knots.
Commander, there is only one possible conclusion.
The X915 has fallen into enemy hands.
Ten hundred hours, April 3, 1952.
Admiral Kolevichov.
The admiral explains Plan Zebra.
There are 15 plans covering each phase of the trial run to Project Sailfish.
Each plan covers a particular contingency.
Of all of them, Plan Zebra is to be used only in the case of extreme emergency.
It covers the possibility of capture of the X915 by enemy forces.
Even though it's very unlikely, every possibility has to be provided for.
And the secretary gave you permission to put this plan into effect, sir?
Correct.
Within half an hour, the task force will steam out of three separate bases on the Atlantic coast.
They'll rendezvous at this point here.
That's about 100 miles southeast of this base, correct?
When the task force is rendezvoused, they will begin search Able, which is the second step in Plan Zebra.
And that is to find the X915?
Not to find it, Commander.
The sinker.
$1,100.
The story of the escorting the atomic sub in the second trial run reported they had watched the dive
and never regained either visual radar or sonar contact.
This supported the admiral's theory that the X915 was not on bottom.
Either the crew was composed entirely of traitors, which was unlikely in view of the exhaustive loyalty checks made on them,
or some small portion of that crew, perhaps but a handful of men, had succeeded in taking over Commander DeBessos.
1,130 hours.
Admiral Carruthers established radio contact with the task force, which had now begun to rendezvous at Point Stork.
The task force commander, Captain Elton R. Stevens, was designated by the code name Red Dog One for radio communications.
Admiral Carruthers was using Pier Point Five on a wavelength unavailable to the sub.
This is Red Dog One. This is Red Dog One. Hello, Pier Point Five. Hello, Pier Point Five. This is Red Dog One.
How do you read me? Over.
Hello, Red Dog One. This is Pier Point Five. I read you four by three.
Pier Point Five, this is Red Dog One. Group is headed for Stork.
We are beginning search plan Oval. Over.
Hello, Red Dog One. This is Pier Point Five. How's the weather?
Pier Point Five, wind 20 to 25 knots per hour. We could do a lot better with a calmer sea. Over.
Red Dog One from Pier Point Five, execute search plan A-Boat. Good luck. Over.
Pier Point Five, that's given. Over and out.
Now we wait.
Well, that said, we've got a pretty fair lead at number.
We haven't got any in the fleet that can make good 30 knots of merch.
I don't know who's commanding the X-915 right now, Richards, but if he's smart, he isn't traveling submerged.
I don't understand your point, sir. What about air search? They'd spot him in a minute if he's surface.
The sub is equipped with Mark 10 radar. That means she can pick up a plane 100 miles away.
By traveling on the surface, she can make good 60 knots.
She'll have plenty of time to die before being spotted by the air force.
Yes.
Yes, just a minute.
Commander, it's for you. Take it to the other office, please.
Yes, sir.
Richards speaking.
Commander Richards, sir?
Yes, who is it?
Sir, this is Lieutenant Hammond down at the torpedo shack.
Yes, go on with him.
Well, sir, you remember you were inspecting the torpedoes down here this morning about nine o'clock.
That's right.
Remember you checked the cases containing the atomic warheads?
You told me to report to you if anything funny happened.
All right, Lieutenant, what have you found?
Well, sir, that's just it. We didn't find anything.
We see one of the gates came open a while ago and we could see it was empty.
Somebody had removed the atomic warheads during the night.
What?
We looked down here at the torpedo shack, Commander.
Perhaps you'd like to come down here and have a look for you.
Never mind that, Lieutenant. You get some men, search the entire storeroom, search the base and check back with me.
Oh, we haven't got time for that now.
See why that second fighter group hasn't contacted our task force yet.
Right.
Anything, Commander?
Robert was then in Hammon at the torpedo shack, sir.
He told me he found the atomic warhead crates empty.
Empty?
That's right, sir. They're conducting a thorough search, but I don't imagine they'll find them.
Those crates were marked torpedoes, but you know as well as I do what they actually contain.
Yes, sir, atomic warheads for the guided missiles aboard the X-915.
They were scheduled for use in the final trial run.
Quick, with those warheads, that sub could launch a full-scale atomic attack on any city on the eastern seaboard.
Yes, sir.
Well, that about does it.
Not only has an enemy force succeeded in capturing our first atomic submarine,
but now they've taken along the greatest single weapon the United States Navy owns.
Admiral, Admiral, the captors of the X-915 pulled off one of the greatest coups in military history.
Wouldn't you think they'd be satisfied to let it go at that?
But, but this enemy went to the added risk of stealing a shipment of atomic warheads for guided missiles.
Now why? Why take that extra gamble unless you had plans to use it?
I see your point.
If they wanted the sub and were planning to make a run for it, they've accomplished it.
But they included in their plans atomic warheads.
Admiral, it's my guess they're going to use those rockets in the near future.
Why, well, say today.
I'll go along with that reasoning, Commander. Let's get to work.
Thirteen hundred hours, April 3, 1952.
Admiral Clothers and I studied the charts of the Atlantic coast.
We agreed the nearest major target for atomic attack would be the city of New York.
Figuring the effective range of the sub's missiles at 50 miles within,
sketched in the launching area the sub would have to use.
Once that was established, there remained one simple detail.
Stop those rockets from leaving the sub's deck.
Admiral Clothers had a plan.
All right. Now we settle on the probable side of their attack.
That becomes our bullseye.
Around that bullseye we draw a circle ten miles out.
Like this.
Then another circle.
It's another ten miles.
And still another.
Until the outer circle around the bullseye measures a 100-mile radius.
In other words, sir, our outer circle is out of the atomic sub's radar range, right?
Exactly.
Now, calculating their speed, of course, we should arrive at their ideal launching site, the center of our circle.
Just about the time we're able to complete a ring of ships 100 miles out.
With the X-915 in the center.
Except if we close in, sir, the sub will submerge and escape under us.
We won't close in.
Sir?
We'll send one ship in toward the bullseye, alone.
The sub will pick up contact.
Oh, and they'll figure for a stray vessel, not enough of a threat to fight them,
that it will force them to shift their position before launching their missile.
Correct.
And it also forces them to come and submerge.
And that negates the 100-mile radar.
Now, we send in another ship, the sub's ship's position again, to another segment of our circle.
Then we send in still another ship.
We're constantly narrowing their corridor for attack.
And then when they do break service in the last remaining segment to launch their missiles,
we're surrounding them.
We hope to God we are commanding.
Hello.
Red Dog One.
Hello, Red Dog One, this is Air Point Five.
Over.
Hello, Air Point Five, this is Red Dog One.
Over.
Discontinue search plan Able.
I repeat, discontinue search plan Able.
Over.
Air Point Five, this is Red Dog One.
Would you repeat your last transmission?
Red Dog One, this is Air Point Five.
I repeat, discontinue your present search plan.
The following plan supersedes all previous orders.
It is to be executed immediately following this transmission.
For five minutes, the Admiral gave facts and figures.
And at 1600, the plan was in effect.
The Admiral clicked off his radio transmitter and we stared at each other.
We had to pray for one thing, that whoever had captured the X-915 was now proceeding to the launching area,
and once there would attempt to destroy the city of New York.
1715.
The sun was low outside the Admiral's office.
The sun was low outside the city of New York.
The sundown is made for submarines.
It is their witching hour, their time for attack.
Coffee?
Yes, thank you, sir.
What time is it?
It's exactly 1720, sir.
Beautiful sunset.
Yes, sir.
Used to seem like this off on the way to the Pacific.
That's where you have the sunsets.
Linden was served in the Pacific?
Yes.
What happened to Linden and Captain Unger?
Unger was a classmate of mine at the Academy. He didn't sell out.
None of them sold out, sir. They were shying and I didn't bet on it.
And they're all aboard that sub right now.
Linden and Unger and a lot of good men.
The sub is our job to sink.
5.5, this is Red Dog One.
I should be at the launching point now.
This is Red Dog One.
5.5 to Red Dog One.
Go ahead. Over.
5.5, we have completed the range.
I repeat, we have completed the range. Over.
Red Dog One, 5.5, have you sent in your first messenger?
5.5, Red Dog One.
Roger. Over.
Red Dog One, proceed with plan.
Please advise any contact. Over and out.
The Admiral sat down behind his chart-coded desk.
The wind-stained lines of his face were more noticeable now.
Together we waited.
5.5, and then again, step in messenger.
Rain's closing. No contact yet.
Over and out.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
Thirty minutes.
Ten minutes, sirs.
Closing to hold out.
No contact.
Over and out.
One by one, the single ships were slicing across the big target that we'd drawn on our chart.
Each ship slicing in closer toward the launching area,
forcing the enemy we had never seen to change plans, change positions,
yet not frightening him enough to make him forget his attack.
8.5, Red Dog One, sending in seventh messenger.
No contact yet.
Closing within one day or miles of both eyes.
I repeat, no contact.
Well, one way that's good, Commander.
At least we can feel certain the sub has a surface.
All we're safe from a radar then, our sound range is only 10,000 yards.
I'm going to order the task force to patrol that range.
Red Dog One, take position five miles from both eyes.
I repeat, take position five miles from both eyes.
Over.
10-1, pilot. This is Red Dog One.
Okay, skipper, that's as close as we can get.
Report to me every minute.
Yes, sir.
Red Dog One, good man. Over and out.
He's worried.
Well, I don't blame him, sir.
Well, he's only worried. I'm scared.
I suppose the sub headed for Siberia.
Well, sure then we were out of luck anyway.
Hip-1-5, closing in to 10,000 yards.
No contact.
Destroyer group in.
Hip-1-5, destroyer group off my fourth file has found an enemy.
I repeat, destroyer group has found an enemy.
The sub is servicing.
Hip-1-5, you hear me. Over.
Red Dog One, I hear you. Over.
Enemy has surface. Destroyer group opening fire.
Sky-farmers, one and one.
Cover message is off to 7-0 limit.
Hip-1-5. Hip-1-5.
Red Dog One. Red Dog One, come in.
Red Dog One, this is Hip-1-5. Come in.
Red Dog One, are you receiving me?
Hip-1-5, this is Red Dog One. I am receiving you.
Air Force and destroyer group to the cat.
The X-915 is sinking. I repeat, sir, the X-915 is sinking.
Proceeding to pick up survivors. Over.
Red Dog One, this is Hip-1-5. Well done. Over and out.
Ten hundred hours, April 4, 1952.
Task Force Able reported in to Admiral Corrupted.
Of the crew of 40 men and eight officers, there were 11 survivors.
Captain G. L. Unger and Lieutenant Commander Stanley Lyndon were not among them.
But the 11 survivors told us the story.
The X-915 had been captured during maximum depth tests.
It had taken only eight well-trained enemy agents to do it.
Where did they come from?
For one year they had been trained for this assignment.
All eight were seaman with brilliant naval records.
All eight had been living and working within naval base Charlie for over six months.
And what of the Steinberg Periscope? Why had they sabotaged this?
The answer was they had not.
Just as the lab technicians had told us, the cable had broken from strain.
A manufacturer's mistake.
A mistake that brought about an investigation that saved the city of New York.
End of report.
Suspense, in which Stacy Harris starred with Jack Cushin in tonight's presentation of reports on the X-915.
Tune us in next week to radio's outstanding theater of thrill, Suspense.