SSN is a techno-thriller novel, created by Tom Clancy and Martin H. Greenberg and published on December 1, 1996 as a tie-in to the video game of the same name. It follows the missions of , a United States Navy nuclear attack submarine, during a fictional war between the United States and China over the Spratly Islands. SSN is the second Clancy novel after Red Storm Rising (1986) that is not set in the Ryanverse. The book also features the transcript of a discussion of the game with Clancy and former British Royal Navy submarine commander Doug Littlejohns, which was held in Greek Island, a former government-owned fallout shelter located in West Virginia. The interview was originally released along with the CD-ROM of the game. Plot summaries Preface: "Prelude to War" In 1997, former Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping dies, creating a power struggle within the Chinese government. Premier Li Peng later takes over in a coup d'etat and orders the arrest of his political rivals, particularly Deng's technical successor Jiang Zemin. He then orders an invasion of the Spratly Islands, where a large oil deposit was recently discovered by an American oil company. A Chinese attacks the American aircraft carrier , prompting one of its escort submarines to sink the Chinese sub in retaliation and killing everyone aboard. War between the two countries becomes imminent. "First Blood" , a commanded by Captain Bartholomew Mackey, deploys from San Diego to Pearl Harbor to join the conflict in the South China Sea. Initially ordered to fire on any Chinese submarines only in self defense, Cheyenne encounters and later sinks a when the latter fires first. With the war now underway, Mackey bears witness to the sinking of another enemy sub near Pearl Harbor. "South China Sea Station" Cheyenne is diverted from its initial destination in Pearl Harbor and is ordered to proceed to South China Sea and escort the aircraft carrier . Along the way, it sinks a Chinese Luda-class destroyer and its escort , which are in the area to lay mines and attack Independence. It additionally cripples a Chinese task group as well as another Romeo-class sub before meeting with Independence. "Four if by Sea, Six if by Land" Initially assigned as the advance escort for the Independence carrier group, Cheyenne receives orders to proceed to Spratly Islands and destroy a Chinese submarine base there. Along the way,