Frank Carlson Library

The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships - she changed forever the way submarines stalk...

Far into the East China Sea, Richard and Robin Mariner are testing the Neptune, their company's latest acquisition, an unmanned sub. A distress call comes in from a submarine whose mission is to recover the lost gold of Kublai Khan. It has become trapped on the seabed and the crew is running out of air. But as the Mariners guide Neptune to the rescue, a darker story becomes plain. Was the submarine's voyage a cover for a more sinister mission?