The crew manned their battle stations. "Commence launch," the commanding officer of the USS Providence ordered.

The Tomahawk cruise missile left the launch tube. The ship shook. The floor dropped.

Breaking through the water's surface, the missile illuminated the night sky. It looked like daylight to the sailor watching from the periscope during the October 2001 strike into Afghanistan.

That was less than a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the Groton-based submarine was firing the opening shots from the Persian Gulf in the war against the Taliban.

Ten days ago, the Providence fired Tomahawks into Libya on the first day of the missile assault on the North African country to support a no-fly zone.

"They've always been where the action is," said retired Capt. Scott B. Bawden, who led the Providence (SSN 719) at the start of the war in Afghanistan.

Bawden described launching missiles into Afghanistan on Monday to give insight into the submarine's recent actions off the coast of Libya. The standards for combat operations in the Submarine Force have stayed fairly similar over time, he said.

Bawden oversaw the launch of 27 missiles into Afghanistan over three weeks in October 2001. His superiors told him it was the "first true combat patrol of the modern age."

The submarine left Groton in April 2001 for what was supposed to be a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. While it was on its way home, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The leaders on the sub marveled at a brief message bearing the news, not quite sure what to make of it since they couldn't see a television or listen to the radio. Then their training kicked in, Bawden said.

"They didn't need me to say, 'Get organized, we need to go to war,'" he said. "Ashore, there was a lot of confusion over who should go where and do what. We were able, within the confines of the ship, to determine where we needed to go and tell the bosses that this is what we propose doing."

The Providence made a U-turn in the Indian Ocean.

At the time, some of the crew did not know the whereabouts of their relatives and friends in New York City and Washington, D.C. But, Bawden said, they couldn't allow that to distract them from the mission at hand.

"This was America's response to that tragic act. The ability to be involved was big in everyone's thinking- the president decided on a military response and he was relying on us to do a good job here," he said, adding that the crew later learned their loved ones were safe.

After the first missile was launched, there were no high-fives, no bravado. Everyone was professional and focused, Bawden said.

Typically, the submarine received information about a target, then there was time to plan where the missiles should fly, and how fast, to hit multiple places at the same time for maximum effect. On one occasion, the missiles had to be launched immediately.

"Everyone said we couldn't do it," Bawden said. "From the time we got the targeting data until the missiles were airborne was less than 10 minutes. We destroyed the targets for the battle-force commander before they could move and we took those guys out of the game. You get good at it after you've done it a few times."

Bawden saw the before-and-after aerial photos of the Afghan targets. He can't discuss what they were aiming at but he did say that the before view showed "something," and after there was "just nothing."

For his role in combat operations, Bawden was awarded the Bronze Star. The Providence received the Meritorious Unit Commendation and the Navy Unit Commendation. Bawden's successor on the Providence oversaw the launch of 23 missiles at the start of the war in Iraq.

American and British ships and submarines began the strikes on Libya after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi continued his attacks on Libyan rebels instead of implementing a cease-fire. As of Monday, the number of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched was close to 200, seven of which were from coalition partners.

Today's Providence, Bawden said, "is doing business exactly the same way we did it then."

Bawden, who retired in 2007, now lives in Washington State and works for a defense contractor. He's proud that the Providence is always there when needed, he said, and "always seems to be called upon when there's hard work to be done."

j.mcdermott@theday.com