In article <nifi9k$a82$
2...@dont-email.me>,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ship_(novel)
The Nathan James eventually reaches the remote South Pacific and, with
the ship's nuclear fuel nearly gone, discovers a small, uncontaminated
island in French Polynesia. The ship's crew then establishes a community
on the island and they begin to try to conceive children in order to
start to restart humanity. Their hope is eventually to start humanity
over again in phases, expanding outward as the contamination from
various landmasses goes down, and other ships find the island. They
begin to have everyone with a military occupational specialty write out
all their knowledge for future generations. They work out a system to
allow genetic diversity with anonymous fatherhood, with the women always
in strict control. However, no pregnancies occur. They worry that the
radiation of the nuclear winter may have rendered everyone sterile.
Some time later, the Pushkin appears on the horizon. Its crew on the
verge of starvation but bearing an abundance of nuclear fuel. The Nathan
James is at last free to sail again, keeping the island as its home
base. They even believe the Soviet submariners, who may have been free
of contamination due to being submerged, can take their place in the
genetic pool.
But then a new disaster strikes; a group of the ship's sailors,
abhorring the remaining nuclear missiles aboard the ship, launches them
without Thomas' permission. One of the missiles accidentally detonates
while in flight, triggering a chain reaction among all of the other
missiles, destroying the Nathan James and contaminating the island.
Thomas, his remaining crew, and the Soviet crew immediately embark
aboard the Pushkin to escape, beginning a new search for another
sanctuary, eventually reaching the American research facility at McMurdo
Station in Antarctica, abandoned but containing years' worth of food and
supplies.
The Pushkin is modified during an escape to McMurdo Station by
jettisoning its nuclear missiles into the ocean so they can use the
freed space in the silos for a recreational area and a nursery. The
introduction of the Soviet crew into the American selective breeding
program has resulted in at least three pregnancies. The Pushkin has the
fuel and food from McMurdo to conduct long, thorough explorations of the
world. Now well-provisioned, the survivors prepare to rediscover the
world.