Chapter 41
Singapore, Changi Naval Base
Nov 13, 2006, 01:30 local time
Admiral Collins informed Captain Jakob of the USS Lassen and Captain Smith of the USS Fitzgerald, they had an hour to get their ships ready to leave port.
Captain Jakob responded, “I'm sorry sir, that's impossible.”
“Captain Jakob, I don't want to hear 'impossible'. I want to hear 'Yes, Admiral'. If your ship and the Fitzgerald are not out in the Strait in just over an hour, and in a position to stop the hijacked LNG carrier, it will reach the entrance to the Naval Base and bottled up the Seventh Fleet's ships in the harbor. And who knows what will happen then.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
The USS Lassen became a frenzy of activity, as they compressed tasks that took far longer down to the hour the crew had to make the ship ready. Their worst problem was that almost a third of the crew were on shore. When they did leave exactly on the hour, fifty of the crew and several officers were still not on board.
In the middle of their frantic preparations, the Admiral informed Captain Jakob, he was required to participate in a video conference that was about to start. It would include experts who could tell them exactly what threat the LNG carrier and its cargo represented and possible ways to deal with it.
Captain Jakob knew there was no point in telling the Admiral that he was already overwhelmed by the many decisions that still needed to be made, in order to have the ship ready for sea. He would just have to divide his attention between dealing with the issues and the video conference.
The video conference started and the first supposed expert took five minutes to tell them that explosive ignition of liquefied natural was almost impossible. He was immediately followed by another expert, who described incidents where liquefied natural gas explosions had flattened extensive facilities.
Captain Jakob managed to direct enough of his attention to the screen on the bridge to follow the substance of what was said. He had ordered several of his officers, who had capable subordinates, to join him and they stood beside him watching the screen.
A bearded man had just started speaking and was providing a highly technical explanation of something called a deflagration-to-detonation transition. Captain Jakob saw his Gunnery Officer nodding his head indicating he understood what the man on the screen in front of them was saying. He hoped the Gunnery Officer did, because he didn't. Captain Jakob devoted more of his attention to the screen.
The expert said, “An aerosol of liquefied natural gas had similar properties to commercial or military explosives. A large cloud of aerosolized liquid natural gas, mixed with air and natural gas in a gaseous state behaves in a similar manner to a thermobaric or fuel air weapon, such as the Massive Ordinance Air Blast weapon.”
Captain Jakob understood that part of what he said. He glanced at the officers beside him and saw their shocked silence at the revelation the LNG carrier could produce a blast as big as a twenty thousand pound bomb.
Admiral Collins asked, “You mean the LNG carrier could produce an explosion comparable a MOAB?”
The expert replied, “Based on the amount of gas in a single containment vessel. It could be a hundred to two hundred times larger.”
The Captain felt the palpable shock of his officers that they could dealing with something hundreds of times more destructive than the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal, something with the destructive potential of a nuclear weapon.
The expert went on to say. “No one has ever run controlled experiments in which large aerosolized clouds of methane and other components of natural gas are created by explosive events and then ignited. The crucial variable is the ratio of gas to air in the cloud. Too little gas and it won't ignite. Too much gas and the worst that will happen is it burns off at the fringes of the cloud. We call these variables the upper and lower explosive limits.
The Admiral interjected, “We have just heard that it's not possible for a large cloud of natural gas to explosively ignite.”
“I'd agree with that statement in reference to methane and other hydrocarbons like Butane and Propane in a gaseous state. You would have to contain the gas somehow, in order to get an explosion. Otherwise, the gas dissipates too quickly. However, we are not dealing with gaseous methane. We are dealing with an aerosol at minus one hundred and sixty degrees centigrade, which behaves very differently to a gas.
“Methane as a gas is lighter than air and will quickly dissipate upwards. In contrast, in a cold aerosolized state methane is denser than air. It will spread along the surface and dissipate relatively slowly. Exactly how the aerosolized cloud behaves depends on a number of variables, particular the size of the explosion that creates it and the ambient air temperature. Unfortunately, the relationship with the air temperature isn't simple. There are two competing effects at work. The first is, the warmer the air, the faster the aerosol will transition to a gaseous state and hence dissipate. The other effect is that the warmer the air is, especially if it's humid, the less dense it is and the greater the relative density of the aerosol. This will result in the aerosolized cloud spreading further at ground level and make it more likely a gas-air ratio within the explosive limits results.”
Admiral Collins cut him off, before he could descend further into another highly technical explanation. “Thank you, we have heard enough for our purposes.”
The Admiral announced there would be a ten minute break in the video conference, then asked Captain Jakob and Captain Smith if their ships were ready to leave port.
Captain Jakob glanced up at the clock on the bridge. Less than ten minutes of his hour were left.
“Admiral, I'll have to get back to you on that.”
“Make sure you do, in five minutes or less.”
Captain Jakob told his officers to immediately report their status. As he listened to their status reports, he didn't hear anything that would absolutely prevent them leaving. The many problems could be fixed once they were underway, or they could live with them for a few days.
Two minutes before the end of the hour deadline, he told the Admiral, “The USS Lassen is ready to leave port, sir”
“Well done, Captain. You will have to wait another couple of minutes for the Fitzgerald. Leave the dock and be prepared to lead the Fitzgerald out of the Naval Base.
“Admiral, how long before the rest of Fleet will be ready to leave?”
“We have several critical problems we need to deal with before the USS Kitty Hawk can leave. It looks like at least another hour.”
“Admiral, I still need to know how I can stop or delay the LNG Carrier, without risking a catastrophic explosion.”
“We will obtain more information on how we can stop the LNG carrier, when the video conference restarts shortly.”
Captain Jakob was deeply worried man. In less than thirty minutes he would be required to stop the LNG carrier and he had no idea how, or even how he could delay it long enough for the capital and supply ships to leave the Naval Base.
The USS Lassen slowly left the dock and maneuvered under its own power toward the exit from the Naval Base. The ship moved forward at minimum speed, waiting for the USS Fitzgerald to join it.
Chapter 42
Nov 13, 2006, 01:30 local time
Admiral Collins informed Captain Jakob of the USS Lassen and Captain Smith of the USS Fitzgerald, they had an hour to get their ships ready to leave port.
Captain Jakob responded, “I'm sorry sir, that's impossible.”
“Captain Jakob, I don't want to hear 'impossible'. I want to hear 'Yes, Admiral'. If your ship and the Fitzgerald are not out in the Strait in just over an hour, and in a position to stop the hijacked LNG carrier, it will reach the entrance to the Naval Base and bottled up the Seventh Fleet's ships in the harbor. And who knows what will happen then.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
The USS Lassen became a frenzy of activity, as they compressed tasks that took far longer down to the hour the crew had to make the ship ready. Their worst problem was that almost a third of the crew were on shore. When they did leave exactly on the hour, fifty of the crew and several officers were still not on board.
In the middle of their frantic preparations, the Admiral informed Captain Jakob, he was required to participate in a video conference that was about to start. It would include experts who could tell them exactly what threat the LNG carrier and its cargo represented and possible ways to deal with it.
Captain Jakob knew there was no point in telling the Admiral that he was already overwhelmed by the many decisions that still needed to be made, in order to have the ship ready for sea. He would just have to divide his attention between dealing with the issues and the video conference.
The video conference started and the first supposed expert took five minutes to tell them that explosive ignition of liquefied natural was almost impossible. He was immediately followed by another expert, who described incidents where liquefied natural gas explosions had flattened extensive facilities.
Captain Jakob managed to direct enough of his attention to the screen on the bridge to follow the substance of what was said. He had ordered several of his officers, who had capable subordinates, to join him and they stood beside him watching the screen.
A bearded man had just started speaking and was providing a highly technical explanation of something called a deflagration-to-detonation transition. Captain Jakob saw his Gunnery Officer nodding his head indicating he understood what the man on the screen in front of them was saying. He hoped the Gunnery Officer did, because he didn't. Captain Jakob devoted more of his attention to the screen.
The expert said, “An aerosol of liquefied natural gas had similar properties to commercial or military explosives. A large cloud of aerosolized liquid natural gas, mixed with air and natural gas in a gaseous state behaves in a similar manner to a thermobaric or fuel air weapon, such as the Massive Ordinance Air Blast weapon.”
Captain Jakob understood that part of what he said. He glanced at the officers beside him and saw their shocked silence at the revelation the LNG carrier could produce a blast as big as a twenty thousand pound bomb.
Admiral Collins asked, “You mean the LNG carrier could produce an explosion comparable a MOAB?”
The expert replied, “Based on the amount of gas in a single containment vessel. It could be a hundred to two hundred times larger.”
The Captain felt the palpable shock of his officers that they could dealing with something hundreds of times more destructive than the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal, something with the destructive potential of a nuclear weapon.
The expert went on to say. “No one has ever run controlled experiments in which large aerosolized clouds of methane and other components of natural gas are created by explosive events and then ignited. The crucial variable is the ratio of gas to air in the cloud. Too little gas and it won't ignite. Too much gas and the worst that will happen is it burns off at the fringes of the cloud. We call these variables the upper and lower explosive limits.
The Admiral interjected, “We have just heard that it's not possible for a large cloud of natural gas to explosively ignite.”
“I'd agree with that statement in reference to methane and other hydrocarbons like Butane and Propane in a gaseous state. You would have to contain the gas somehow, in order to get an explosion. Otherwise, the gas dissipates too quickly. However, we are not dealing with gaseous methane. We are dealing with an aerosol at minus one hundred and sixty degrees centigrade, which behaves very differently to a gas.
“Methane as a gas is lighter than air and will quickly dissipate upwards. In contrast, in a cold aerosolized state methane is denser than air. It will spread along the surface and dissipate relatively slowly. Exactly how the aerosolized cloud behaves depends on a number of variables, particular the size of the explosion that creates it and the ambient air temperature. Unfortunately, the relationship with the air temperature isn't simple. There are two competing effects at work. The first is, the warmer the air, the faster the aerosol will transition to a gaseous state and hence dissipate. The other effect is that the warmer the air is, especially if it's humid, the less dense it is and the greater the relative density of the aerosol. This will result in the aerosolized cloud spreading further at ground level and make it more likely a gas-air ratio within the explosive limits results.”
Admiral Collins cut him off, before he could descend further into another highly technical explanation. “Thank you, we have heard enough for our purposes.”
The Admiral announced there would be a ten minute break in the video conference, then asked Captain Jakob and Captain Smith if their ships were ready to leave port.
Captain Jakob glanced up at the clock on the bridge. Less than ten minutes of his hour were left.
“Admiral, I'll have to get back to you on that.”
“Make sure you do, in five minutes or less.”
Captain Jakob told his officers to immediately report their status. As he listened to their status reports, he didn't hear anything that would absolutely prevent them leaving. The many problems could be fixed once they were underway, or they could live with them for a few days.
Two minutes before the end of the hour deadline, he told the Admiral, “The USS Lassen is ready to leave port, sir”
“Well done, Captain. You will have to wait another couple of minutes for the Fitzgerald. Leave the dock and be prepared to lead the Fitzgerald out of the Naval Base.
“Admiral, how long before the rest of Fleet will be ready to leave?”
“We have several critical problems we need to deal with before the USS Kitty Hawk can leave. It looks like at least another hour.”
“Admiral, I still need to know how I can stop or delay the LNG Carrier, without risking a catastrophic explosion.”
“We will obtain more information on how we can stop the LNG carrier, when the video conference restarts shortly.”
Captain Jakob was deeply worried man. In less than thirty minutes he would be required to stop the LNG carrier and he had no idea how, or even how he could delay it long enough for the capital and supply ships to leave the Naval Base.
The USS Lassen slowly left the dock and maneuvered under its own power toward the exit from the Naval Base. The ship moved forward at minimum speed, waiting for the USS Fitzgerald to join it.
Chapter 42
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