Leo Uncovers the U.S.S. Portland's Deliberate Silence Off North Korea
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo enters the Situation Room with forced humor masking dread, immediately pressing Nancy for answers about why he's been summoned.
Nancy delivers the gut-punch: the U.S.S. Portland, a Sea Wolf-class submarine, has broken protocol by going silent without warning in the Yellow Sea.
Leo drills into the dangers—loss of power in hostile waters—as they move to a Korea map, revealing the submarine's proximity to North Korea (60 miles west of Seoul).
Nancy details rescue assets—DSRVs, Starlifters, and Tomahawk-armed Sea Wolfs—while arguing against immediate deployment, suspecting intentional silence.
Leo overrides Nancy's caution, declaring he must inform the President despite fears of overreaction, and exits to confront Bartlet.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professionally alarmed
Invoked by Nancy as source of initial alarm, having relayed lost contact with Portland, priming naval response chain in background coordination.
- • Report submarine blackout
- • Mobilize rescue readiness
- • Immediate hierarchy notification essential
- • Pacific assets hold extraction edge
Steady caution tempering underlying gravity
Awaits Leo calmly amid screens, delivers crisp intel on Portland's location, scenarios, and primed rescue chain—from DSRVs to Tomahawks—while firmly urging restraint, believing intentional quiet amid threats.
- • Brief Leo comprehensively on assets and risks
- • Deter premature rescue to avoid escalation
- • Crew's expertise warrants assuming tactical silence over failure
- • Rash action risks geopolitical war trigger
Sardonic gallows humor thinly masking urgent apprehension and resolve
Bursts in mid-sentence with sardonic banter, sharply questions Nancy on sub silence causes and rescue readiness while pacing to maps, dismisses caution, and exits determined to brief President amid room's humming tension.
- • Extract precise crisis details from Nancy
- • Commit to immediate Presidential briefing despite risks
- • Submarine blackout demands top-level alert regardless of crew competence
- • White House command cannot delay on potential catastrophe
referenced by Leo as the next person to be briefed on the crisis, expected to react strongly
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
USS Portland dominates dialogue as crisis epicenter—its unheralded silence post periscope-depth check dissected as power loss or evasion tactic; narrative pivot hurling Situation Room into high-stakes calculus of rescue vs. restraint.
Nancy spotlights two DSRVs on Ballast Point alert as rescue vanguard, mating trunks primed for sub hookup; embodies high-risk extraction precision, fueling Leo's probe into full apparatus amid geopolitical razor-wire.
Two C-141 Starlifters queued at NAS North Island to ferry crews and fittings; Nancy integrates them into relay chain, underscoring practiced but perilous readiness that tempts action against her caution.
Two Fast Attack Sea Wolfs off Japan, Tomahawk-armed, positioned as escort muscle; Nancy's rundown casts them as bristling safeguard in rescue surge, amplifying war brink subtext in room's charged debate.
50 Tomahawks per Sea Wolf invoked by Nancy as lethal backstop in rescue blueprint; their primed warheads underscore escalation peril, transforming dialogue from query to hair-trigger command threshold.
Life-size monitors and screens blaze with data as staff hustle; Leo and Nancy circle them en route to maps, their glow etching crisis pulse—visual heartbeat amplifying verbal dread and operational frenzy.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Yellow Sea pinned as Portland's hostile operational theater, its swells conjured in Nancy's briefing as drift-risk zone kissing North Korean threat; infuses debate with immediate geopolitical peril and rescue urgency.
NAS North Island flagged for Starlifter standby, yawning holds for crews; amplifies Nancy's practiced drill narrative, runway thrum echoing in verbal blueprint of salvation surge.
Map-highlighted as Portland's final ping—60 miles west of Seoul—hammering home vulnerability near enemy lines; Leo's shock pivots room focus, mapping dread into tangible extraction coordinates.
Ballast Point invoked as DSRV launch cradle in San Diego; Nancy's chain starts here, projecting West Coast steel into Pacific peril, concretizing rescue feasibility amid restraint pleas.
Waters off Japan house Sea Wolfs as missile escort; Nancy closes rescue loop here, shadowed depths veiling Tomahawk fangs that spike escalation stakes in Leo's unyielding push.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Pac Fleet's commander triggers alarm via Nancy, detailing Portland blackout and unleashing asset cascade—DSRVs, Starlifters, Sea Wolfs—to forge disciplined response; embodies naval hierarchy funneling grit into White House brink.
North Korean Navy looms as spectral stalker via 'hostile waters' and 'somebody sitting on top'; inferred destroyer pursuit forces quiet, spiking Nancy's restraint pitch and Leo's urgency in shadow-play brinkmanship.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The initial silence of the submarine is resolved when contact is re-established."
"The initial silence of the submarine is resolved when contact is re-established."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "One day, I'm gonna get called to the Situation Room, and it's gonna be good news. We'll have discovered buried treasure, or it turns out there's life on Andromeda, and they think we're doing a good job. When's that day gonna come, Nancy? When's that gonna happen?""
"NANCY: "The Commander of the Pac Fleet has informed us he's lost contact with the U.S.S. Portland, which is a Sea Wolf class sub.""
"NANCY: "Cause I think they've gone quiet." LEO: "You said they usually call." NANCY: "They usually do." LEO: "I've gotta tell the President.""