Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

R-92:
CHAPTER 11
The signal rocketed through the fiber-optic core of the gray Kevlar
cable and into the torpedo’s dorsal interface module. A portion of R-92’s
digital brain powered itself up and awaited further instructions.
The cable, known as an umbilical in the parlance of technicians and
torpedomen, served as a digital communications conduit between the
weapon and the submarine’s digital fire control computers.
In the seconds preceding a launch, the umbilical would upload
programming commands and updated target information into the weapon’s
on-board computer. When the launch order came, the umbilical would
relay that command to the torpedo and then automatically detach itself
from the weapon at the instant of firing.
But the burst of digital codes coming through the umbilical now was
not a launch order or targeting data. It was a routine maintenance signal.
R-92’s on-board computer responded as ordered—transmitting power
to each of its major systems in turn, running diagnostic routines to test for
faults or errors—and then removing power and letting each subsystem
revert to its normal at-rest condition.
The entire sequence of electronic tests took just under three seconds.
All subsystems reported themselves as fully operational. R-92’s digital
computer relayed the reports back to the fire control computers via the
umbilical.
This done, the torpedo waited another three hundred seconds for
follow-on orders. When none were detected, R-92’s digital brain powered
itself down. Secure in its firing tube, deep in the belly of Gröeler’s U-307,
the predator was dormant.
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