Ghost Sub

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The submarine continued westward at five knots, at a depth of 460 feet. Occasionally, natural forces tried to alter her depth. For three days, a huge tropical rainstorm raged above her, torrents of fresh rainwater diluting the ocean, making it less salty. A seagoing vessel’s buoyancy is determined by the mass of the water she displaces. Salty water is denser than freshwater, which is why it’s easier for a swimmer to float in the ocean than in a lake, and easier still in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. As the rain diluted the sea, the ocean around her became less dense; the boat started to sink.

When the rain ended, the same cold front that had carried the storm cooled the ocean, and cold water is more dense than hot. The boat displaced a higher mass of water, became more buoyant, and wanted to rise.

In both cases, the ship’s autopilot sensed the acceleration and efficiently adjusted the planes of the ship to maintain her programmed depth. Her destination, too, was programmed into the computer, along with an algorithm that randomly inserted maneuvers to make tracking her harder, even as she maintained her overall course.

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