This story is scientific-fiction. It is April 1952,  Mark T Richards reports to Commander Carruthers who asks him what he knows about project Sailfish.  It was the first navel atomic submarine authorised by the secretary of defence and began May 1949 at a cost of about fifty million dollars. It was scheduled for test next year but Commander Carruthers now informed him that Project Sailfish was one year ahead of schedule. However after a cable broke against all odds, carrying the periscope sabotage of the project was suspected and the submarine now needed to be tested tomorrow.