Larry Bond: Shattered Trident

GEnie:General Electric Network for Information Exchange. An online service that ran from 1985 through 1999.

GPS:Global positioning system

Goat Locker:U.S. Navy slang for the living areas of a ship reserved exclusively for chief petty officers. Also used to refer to a ship’s chief petty officers as a collective group.

GRT:Gross registered tons

Helo:U.S. Navy slang for helicopter

HUMINT:Human Intelligence

HUMVEE:Slang for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), a four-wheel drive military automobile

IRBM:Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile

IRGC:Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, aka Pasdaran

ISR:Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

IT:Information technician

JASDF:Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. The name of the Japanese Air Force.

JCS:Joint Chiefs of Staff

Japanese honorifics:In the Japanese language, a suffix is almost always attached to a person’s name, usually indicating their status relative to the speaker. The most common is - san , e.g., Komamura- san , roughly equivalent to “Mr.” or “Ms.” in English. This is even used between married couples. If the speaker then learned that Komamura- san was a college professor, he could then address him as “Komamura- sensei ” which is the title for a teacher or expert. Similar titles exist for shopkeepers, doctors, etc. Use of the suffix with a person’s given name or nickname, e.g., Sajin- sensei, denotes more familiarity. The - chan suffix is a term of endearment, often used for women younger than the speaker (typically used by a parent or older relative), especially for children. It can be used with either the family or given name.

JMSDF:Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. The name of the Japanese Navy.

Kh-31P:Supersonic, radar-homing missile launched by aircraft. Originally built by Russia, China now produces them as the YJ-91.

LPD:Landing platform dock. A type of amphibious assault ship.

LPO:Leading petty officer

Mark 48 ADCAP:U.S. heavyweight, multipurpose torpedo with advanced capability. Launched by submarines.

MCIA:Marine Corps Intelligence Activity

MDM-6:Russian multiple influence (pressure, acoustic, and magnetic) bottom mine

MG-24:Russian submarine-deployed acoustic countermeasure

MG-84:Russian submarine-launched mobile decoy

MG-519:Russian mine-hunting sonar on many of their submarines, also known by the NATO nickname “Mouse Squeak”

MOX:Mixed oxide. A nuclear reactor fuel that uses both enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium.

MPA:Maritime patrol aircraft

NAE:Naval acoustic electromechanical. An older type of torpedo decoy that generates noise mechanically.

NATO:North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NMJIC:National Military Joint Intelligence Center

NORAD:North American Aerospace Defense Command

NSC:National Security Council

OOD:Officer of the deck

OPREP-3:U.S. Navy message format used to inform a senior authority of an incident that is of national-level interest.

ONI:Office of Naval Intelligence

ONR:Office of Naval Research

OPLAN:Operations plan

OPS:Operations officer

PAC-2/PAC-3:Versions of the U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missile. While the PAC-2 has some ballistic missile defense capabilities, the PAC-3 was specifically designed for this role.

PACOM:Pacific Command

PACFLT:Pacific Fleet

PAL:Permissive Action Link

PCO:Prospective commanding officer

PLA:People’s Liberation Army. This can refer to all the Chinese armed forces, or just the ground force component of the armed forces.

PLAAF:People’s Liberation Army Air Force. The air component of the Chinese armed forces.

PLAN:People’s Liberation Army Navy. The naval component of the Chinese armed forces.

PRC:People’s Republic of China

RPM:Rotations per minute

ROE:Rules of engagement

ROK:Republic of Korea. South Korea’s official name.

SATCOM:Satellite communications

SINOPEC:China Petrochemical Corporation

SITREP:Situation report

SEAL:Sea, Air, Land. U.S. Navy Special Forces

Second Artillery Corps:A separate service within the People’s Liberation Army responsible for the ballistic missile forces, both nuclear and conventional

SECDEF:Secretary of defense

SECSTATE:Secretary of state

Sierra:A U.S. Navy designation indicating that a contact was detected and is being tracked by a sonar system

SIGINT:Signals Intelligence

Skat-3:Main sonar suite on Akula classes of SSNs. Also known by the NATO nickname “Shark Gill.”

SM-3:Standard missile 3, part of the U.S. Navy ballistic missile defense system.

SPY-1:This radar is used with the Aegis air-defense system. It uses four non-rotating “phased array” radar antennas, one on each side of the ship’s superstructure.

SSGN:U.S. Navy type designation for cruise missile carrying submarine with nuclear propulsion

SSN:U.S. Navy type designation for an attack submarine with nuclear propulsion.

SUBRON:Submarine squadron

SVP:Sound velocity profile. A graph showing the speed of sound in water as a function of depth. A sharp change indicates the presence of a thermocline.

SWAG:Scientific Wild Ass Guess

TB-33:A fully digital, fiberoptic long towed array.

TB-34:A fully digital, fiberoptic short towed array.

Thermocline:Also called a “layer,” it is a sharp change in water temperature that will reflect sound at certain angles

TSA:Transportation Security Administration

UGST:Universal deep-homing torpedo. A Russian heavyweight, multipurpose torpedo launched from submarines.

UN:United Nations

UAV:Unmanned air vehicle

UCMJ:Uniform Code of Military Justice

UUV:Unmanned underwater vehicle

VLCC:Very large crude carrier. A subset of supertankers.

VLSD:Vertical large screen display

VTC:Video teleconference

WLY-1:U.S. submarine acoustic intercept receiver. It detects and analyzes active sonar emissions.

XO:Executive officer, second in command of a warship

Y-8:Chinese maritime patrol aircraft

Yu-6:Chinese heavyweight, multipurpose torpedo. Launched by submarines, it is a copy of the U.S. Mark 48.

Yu-7:Chinese lightweight, anti-submarine torpedo. Launched from aircraft and surface ships, it is a copy of the U.S. Mark 46 torpedo.

YJ-83:Ying Ji (Eagle Strike) 83, a Chinese anti-ship cruise missile