“Firing Point Procedures, Sierra One, ADCAP torpedo, Tube 2,” barks Lieutenant Brian Roth, Officer of the Deck on the USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723). He’s driven the ship to the optimum firing position against a live target on the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) range in the Bahamas.

LTJG Wade Cole, the Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD), directs final adjustments and announces, “Solution Ready.”

“Ship Ready,” Roth confirms, properly continuing the litany prior to torpedo launch.

“Weapon Ready!” returns FT3(SS) Mike Brodbeck.

Satisfied all is well, Roth orders “Shoot on generated bearings.”

“Set…standby…shoot!

This is a familiar scene for many submariners, but today on Oklahoma City, there’s a difference. The submarine is not launching an exercise torpedo, nor is its crew practicing only on the ship’s on-board test equipment. Oklahoma City is plugged into a digital network established by engineers and scientists at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT) that permits real-time connectivity among submerged submarines on the AUTEC range and test facilities on the beach in the Bahamas and Newport, Rhode Island. Oklahoma City, submerged in the Bahamas, has just launched a “virtual torpedo,” which runs inside the “mind” of a computer – and whose guidance hardware is on a test stand – at NUWC’s Weapons Analysis Facility (WAF) in Newport. After launch, the torpedo’s simulated location and corresponding wire-guidance telemetry data are transmitted across the network between the WAF at Newport and the Oklahoma City. The still submerged Oklahoma City “sees” the torpedo in real-time, thus allowing the generation of wire guidance commands on board to compensate for target evasion.