The Scottish deep-sea rescue team which saved seven Russian submariners trapped 650ft down in the Pacific last year were "scrambled" for a top-secret mission off the Florida coast two days ago.
The 12-strong group from Rumic UK, whose operating base is in Renfrew, was put on immediate standby after the USS San Juan, a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine, failed to make a pre-arranged communications' rendezvous on Tuesday night.
A red distress flare presumed to have been released from a buoy launched by the submarine from the depths had also been reported near the boat's last known patrol position in 1300ft of water.
The lack of contact and the flare report triggered an immediate "Sublook" emergency, under which the US Navy tries to re-establish communications by ultra-low frequency radio signals and begins intensive sonar and satellite searches. When these failed, the US announced a "Subsunk" alert and asked for help from the UK.
Rumic's "Thunderbirds" rescue team was assembled and a C-17 Globemaster flew into Prestwick to carry them and their submersible to the US.
The emergency mission was called off when the San Juan re-established its radio link with surface vessels 10 hours later. The stand-down came minutes before White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley was due to break the news of a potential nuclear disaster to President George Bush.
Neither the Royal Navy nor Rumic was prepared to comment yesterday but a US Navy spokesman told The Herald: "The San Juan was operating with USS Enterprise carrier strike group on pre-deployment training for the Persian Gulf.
"The crew was unaware a communications' rendezvous had been missed and this is now under investigation.
"Although the submarine was operating with the surface warship group, no-one up top was aware of exactly where the boat was lurking. That's the way it should be. Submarines are designed to be hard to detect."
It is understood the Royal Navy's submersible rescue team from Whale Island, Ports-mouth was also on standby.
The Renfrew "Thunderbirds" volunteers used a Scorpio robot submersible last August to cut cables which had trapped a Russian Navy mini-sub and its seven-man crew 650ft down off the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The operation allowed the Russian boat to surface with only six hours of air remaining after 72 hours on the seabed.
The Scots were awarded medals by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in a special ceremony last October.
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