Global Gallery

Alone Together

During the Cold War, nuclear submarines of both the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. operated in a similar fashion as did our long-range bomber aircraft. That is to say, they moved in patrol patterns that included a so-called fail-safe point. Once a sub had passed its fail-safe point, all communication with higher authority ceased and the sub's crew continued to operate under rules of engagement that are still classified top secret. The U.S.A. lost at least two subs (Thresher and Scorpion), and the Russians once admitted to the loss of twelve of theirs, many of which may have been beyond the fail-safe point. Thus we have a total of perhaps fourteen fully armed nuclear subs that are assumed to be badly damaged and resting on the ocean bed. The location, depth, and condition of most of these subs is apparently not known, nor does there seem to be any large-scale, organized effort to find them. And even if we could find them, we lack the technology that would be required to clean up the mess. No program aimed at developing such technology exists. The hazards involved are terrifying, to say the least. The amount of plutonium in even ONE of these sunken subs, once the containment is breached, will be more than sufficient to kill every living creature in the world's oceans. This mass extinction will include the phytoplankton that produces about 70% of the oxygen in our atmosphere. Plutonium is one of the most deadly of all known poisons, and it has been stated that one pound of plutonium, if evenly distributed (and it WILL be distributed by the ocean currents), would be enough to kill every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth. When the phytoplankton is extinct and the oceans are dead we humans - those of us who haven't already succumbed from eating contaminated seafood, etc. - will all die of suffocation anyhow. If you haven't heard about this problem before, I'm sorry to have been the messenger. On the other hand, perhaps it isn't too late to clean up the ocean and maybe you, gentle viewer, will contribute some action that could yet save the whole silly, stupid lot of us.