Ten Minutes Fast, Chapter 7, "It's a Hull of a Ship"
Kahil Shahin sits in his hotel room in San Diego. He's checked in as Mr. John Beston. Actually, John Beston may be his real name with Kahil Shahin as an alias along with his other aliases, Erik Trudeau and Bonnie White. He probably uses other fictitious names as well. His real name and origins are buried deep within his own unconscionable subconscious conscience. He is a tricky one. He has Middle East connections, but also many connections and contacts here in the U.S. and around the world. It's a network of deplorables. He is thinking of the deed he is about to execute. The bombs attached to the hull of that cruise ship are on an active timer that only he can now control. He assumes. Is he having second thoughts ...?
Meanwhile, Jerome Little Wolf is sitting in his office in the State Capital building of Maryland. Baker helped Jerome get his job as special advisor to the governor there. Jerome is a full-blooded Cheyenne River Sioux Indian from South Dakota. Thomas Baker, his uncle, not a biological uncle, but bonded through some long-standing military friends who are now deceased. Baker has known him since he was a child. Jerome is a young man now. He's intelligent, articulate, and decisive with a heightened sense of duty. Baker took Jerome under his wing when his father passed away, promising to see to it that he got a good education and that he grew into an honorable man. Baker kept his promise. He helped Jerome. He molded his character and became his mentor ...
... Jerome almost assassinated the former president, "Goldfinger" (it's Baker's nickname for him) at a rally at Mt. Rushmore in 2020 (refer to 'Sweet Land of Liberty', Chapter 1, "Carved in Stone") ... but Ray Hennessy refers to the former president as "President Poltergeist" ...
(Poltergeist: is a ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects thrown around)
Jerome Little Wolfe is contemplating what his "Uncle Tommy" told him a few years ago, and a few chapter ago (see, 'Ten Minutes Fast', Chapter 2, "It's No Joke", Part I and Chapter 3, "It's No Joke", Part II) ... that he had a "calling" ... a sacred calling, by the "Great Spirit" Wakan Tanka, that he should stick with his career in politics and focus on a goal. To become president someday.
Imagine, a Native American Indian President of the United States. It could happen. It should happen ... poetic justice.
But I'm getting ahead of this story. We'll get back to Jerome later on.
For right now, however, there are 3,000+ passengers and crew on a cruise ship about to depart from San Diego for a week of sun and fun sailing down the coast of Mexico to ports of call ... with enough explosives attached to the hull of that ship to sink it like a rock! Kahil's underwater demolition expert estimates that with the strategic positioning of the explosives on the hull, the ship will sink to the bottom in less than fifteen minutes in over a thousand feet of water. There will be massive casualties. It will be like the Titanic and 9/11 combined. 3,000+ lives in the hands of one Kahlil Shahin, or John Beston ... or whatever his (or her) name is ...
(Author's Note:?This Thomas Baker novel is largely based on true events. Some chapters are preordained with creative license in order to move the story along. This follows Baker's 'Sunset Playland', 'Sweet Land of Liberty', 'Something for Nothing', 'Exodus Afghanistan: A Personal Story', and 'Burnt Bridges and Loose Ends'. All of these can be seen, posted chapter by chapter in their unedited manuscript form in search of a formal publisher, on this LinkedIn web page in the "Featured" and "Activity" sections. Some names, places, and dates have been changed for privacy, personal protection, and national security)
Have you at any point gazed at a huge cruise ship and considered how it was able to remain above water? Many cruise ships constantly travel to?Alaska and Hawaii during the summer. During the winter, many?cruises are available to go to Mexico, the Caribbean, and other locations in?the South Pacific. Considering the continuous growth and development of the cruise industry, the several types of materials and metals required for assembling the ships, is worth taking a look at considering the story at hand ...
The Components used for Construction of Cruise Ships
Every one of the heaviest sections of the ship like the powerplants, engines, ballast, water, and fuel tanks are kept at the lower part, 20% from the?bottom of the ship in order to ensure the ship remains upright. Ideally,?underneath the waterline which is used to make sure the ship remains?steady and reduces the center of gravity. The 80% left over part of a?regular cruise ship is created to be employed by passengers, which is light?and open as it can be.
The protruding bulbous nose on the hull beneath the bow of the ship, normally under the waterline when at sea, is designed to reduce water resistance and improve the efficiency and speed of the ship while saving fuel. Most cruise ships use a special type of diesel fuel called marine diesel oil (MDO) which is made specifically for marine vessels such as cruise ships. While controversial, diesel continues to be used by most cruise ships today.
Looking higher up the cruise ship, you will realize that it gets more open?and lighter in weight which is aimed at limiting the weight. The pool is only?an exception. Apart from being extremely heavy, you can only get the best?view at the top which makes the swimming pool located there.?
The materials are properly chosen and are also based upon your location in the vessel. Close to the upper part of the ship, the prominent material selections are?high durable steel and aluminum. This provides the best available strength-to-weight ratio. Carbon fibers and fiber strengthened plastics are now being tested on more recent vessels as these materials are relatively new and fairly uncommon. Getting a little lower, hotter rolled steels would be found. The crucial features here are heavyweight and durability which allows designers?to employ thicker materials in this section.
The part that requires more strength, usually very complicated and?developed first is the hull. It has the shape of a massive metal tube with?several supports and leak-proof rooms inside it. This is vital because?several stresses are exerted by the ocean on ships. Tubes (and spheres) are among the?shapes that have the most mechanical strength in the world but it gets?weaker when holes are drilled into it like it is required for doors. This makes?the door locations to be planned properly which is then strengthened by the?structural support.
(Note that the 'Titan', the submersible mini-submarine that imploded at a depth of nearly two and a half miles, some 12,500 ft., while exploring the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland in on June 18, 2023, was essentially a "tube" constructed with the new, untested, carbon fiber technology. Operated by the OceanGate company, the vessel imploded while descending to view the ancient wreckage. Essentially, a "fun tour cruise" for the elite, the five aboard passengers, including the president of the company, were killed instantly when the extreme pressures at that depth crushed the carbon fiber vessel like a beer can)
The massive structure is then fitted at the top after the completion of the?hull. But this massive structure space of the entire cabin and activity areas?remains open. The cabin and other components are assembled in?a separate and off-site environment that is not on the ship in it's dry dock construction area ... much like the components of a car. After?the completion of these flat-packed spaces, they are all integrated into the?massive structure on the hull of the ship and installed like the plugging in a huge LEGO.
Several facades are present in many of the rooms looking into the passenger areas of the ship.?Considering those attractive sheets of surfaces of wood and marble, they?are actually artificial wood on light, durable and frames of metal or thin?stony sheets. Stainless steel and ceramics are also very common since?they are very durable, cost-effective and incombustible.
The?monstrosity of the scale makes the construction of a heavy ship a daunting and enormous task. The construction process incorporates many years of active preparation and design procedure along with millions in costs for materials?and workers. Some of the more enormous cruise ships come with a?construction bill of about $1.6 billion. However, in the end, a beautiful transportation masterpiece arises that can be appreciated for years to?come ...
... kind of like Mt. Rushmore but with water. More like the "unsinkable" Titanic.
But right now, more like The World Trade Center's Twin Towers awaiting destiny and an unimaginable fate.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah