Arglebargle III posted:

2 le sigh

Veloxyll posted:

Ed: how the heck did he detect us at all stop, even in a surface layer.

One of the disadvantages of nuclear propulsion is that you can't shut off your power plant. Even if you shut down the reactor*, you can't turn off the cooling system ever, for any reason.* The core doesn't just magically cool off when you stop the reaction. Cooling means circulating water, which means pumps, which means moving parts. Naturally the US sub fleet's reactors use extremely quiet cooling systems, but they do make some noise. So... it's incredibly unlikely, but a diesel boat at full stop is actually quieter than we are, and he might have heard our plant noise. Or maybe our diver is a Libyan spy and is banging Morse code on the hull.

*Shutting down the reactor makes no sense anyway, because the reactor itself is silent. It's the cooling system and steam turbines that make noise.

**Unless, I suppose, the galley was down and you wanted to turn the engine room into an impromptu oven.