America's Strike Group 9 is a task force headed by the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. On this voyage it is comprised of the cruisers Monterey and Lake Erie, the destroyer Chafee, the submarines Seawolf and Virginia, and the oiler Henry J. Kaiser. On this deployment they are sent to guard American interests in the middle-east, primarily Israel, against impending enemy attack. Together, in the midst of an escalating conflict, they face the challenges of nuclear warfare when Russia joins the fray. If the surface ships survive the holocaust that eventually destroys life on the northern hemisphere, they and the submariners will be faced with survival in a post-nuclear world where dollars, pounds, rubles and yen are worthless and submariners have survived from every combating nation.