The most dangerous part of the Persian Gulf is not the missiles you see on radar; it’s the ones you don’t.

At 1:14 a.m., in the northern Persian Gulf, latitude 29.2 degrees north, longitude 50.3 degrees east, the tension was palpable inside the darkened combat information center of the USS Wasp.

A sensor technician slammed his fist onto a glass console, his voice filled with urgency.

“Vessel identified: Iranian Godclass submarine.”

The submarine was sitting silently on the ocean floor, positioned directly in the path of the U.S. landing craft scheduled to pass in just six minutes.