As a retired Navy Senior Chief (SS) I am positive that if the rogue SSBN didn’t want to be found, it wouldn’t be. I am also positive that there will NEVER be a US Navy Submarine Crew go rogue. I have complete faith in them.

There are many things going on in the world to be concerned about but a US Navy Sub Crew going rogue is not one of them. I can only speak for American Sub Crews though.

Here’s the thing. In the situation that you describe, the US Navy would not even know that the boat had gone rogue, as you call it. An SSBN on patrol does not transmit at all. The Navy does not expect to hear from them at all, unless there is an extreme emergency.

So there is nothing to distinguish your hypothetical rogue boat from any other SSBN, if all they do is “stay dark.” Darkness is expected of them, and anything else is unusual, indeed virtually unheard of.

Of course, the situation changes after 60 days or so, when the SSBN doesn’t come home on time. But even then, nobody in the Navy is going to think “rogue.” The thought literally will not occur to anyone. The assumption will be that the ship was lost at sea, as the USS Scorpion was, and the search will be for wreckage and not for rogues.