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Thank you. It's the evening of May 17, 1987 in the Persian Gulf, seven years into the Iran-Iraq war.

Aboard the USS Stark, petty officer Timothy Gable lies in his bunk, his eyelids heavy.

The Stark is an American frigate currently patrolling a dangerous waterway.

Iraqi and Iranian forces have turned the Persian Gulf into a battlefield,

attacking oil tankers and threatening international shipping.

But right now, all is quiet.

And as Timothy drifts off to sleep, he's awakened by a

muffled bang, followed by a call to manned battle stations. Timothy bolts upright. As a metallic

shriek echoes through the ship, he realizes that this is no drill. A second explosion shakes the

ship, and everything goes dark. Sea water begins to pour into Timothy's living quarters.

Emergency lights flicker to life, but smoke is already filling the air.

Timothy can hardly see his own hands.

He fumbles for an emergency respirator and straps it on.

Then he dashes toward the main exit ladder and begins to climb.

But he soon finds the upper rungs are missing. There's no way to get above deck.

Timothy stumbles through the smoke, his lungs burning. And as the fire rages around him,

his mask starts to fail. With barely any oxygen left, Timothy starts to accept the unthinkable that he may die here.

But then a sudden burst of cold water hits his body, and Timothy realizes there's a break in the hull-land.

...