The Taking of the King — Nelson Blish

The Soviet Union is no more. Various nation states struggle with each other even as their old enemy, the United States, races ahead in military strength and technology. But there are those within the ranks of the Soviet fleet who seek to regain their former power with one daring strike...

The USS Martin Luther King is the pride of the American Navy. Faster than any submarine ever conceived, it is capable of avoiding all detection when submerged. It is the ultimate weapon in an increasingly unstable world order. And it is about to be stolen.

A Russian operative has been secreted aboard the King. Armed with a powerful nerve agent, he can incapacitate the entire crew and deliver the submarine to his waiting superiors.

Now, the only chance of stopping the enemy rests with two isolated sailors--unarmed and trapped undersea in the own ship--against an enemy trained to kill and win at' all costs...