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Confronting the imposing past and the high-tech
future of the science of warfare BY POLLY SHULMAN
HAVE YOU EVER LONGED TO stand at the tactical center of a submarine designed to carry nuclear missiles, your hand mere inches from the switch that launches the goods? Unless you're the leader of a world power or a remarkably successful terrorist, your only chance maybe at New York City's Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum. For 6 years, Growler, a navy sub launched in 1958, menaced America's enemies with the threat of an imminent nuclear strike. Now her missile bays hold nothing more terrifying than a baker's dozen tourists, freshened every quarter hour.
Perhaps for security reasons (lest some fiend hijack Growler downstream to city hall and launch the tourists at the mayor), the tour guide doesn't specify which of the abundant controls is The Switch. Still, you know it has to be mere inches from your hand, because everything else is: the navigational equipment, the periscopes, the lamp in the captain's cabin, the game boards painted on the tables in the crews mess hall. For...