Volunteer for the Soviet Submarine Service!!!

Ok ok, I know Comrades the Soviet Navy is now the Russia Navy but, you can still volunteer to work on a Soviet 1960’s era submarine.

The Juliett 484 (K-77) in Providence, RI is looking for volunteers to help restore and maintain this Cold War relic. Former and current submariners are particularly valuable as volunteers but anyone with an interest in helping is welcome. Maintenance includes tracing out systems, restoring paint to original colors, wiring indicators panels, general cleaning, etc. We’re even looking for knuckle dragging TMs to restore a torpedo in the after torpedo room, I think the warhead was previously removed!?

Ric Hedman who helped restore the Soviet Foxtrot submarine named “Cobra” is currently the manager of the Juliett's restoration. Ric is a fellow submariner (USS Flasher SSN613 Plankowner) and former USSVI Seattle Base commander. The Saratoga Museum Foundation has Ric aboard initially for the three month summer season.

Curious about what a ruskie sub looks like up close and personal here’s a little taste:

Topside View from the pier.
Forward part of the sail you can see the missile telemetry radar. The deck is covered with rubber sound dampening tiles.

Stern View forward standing on the aft escape trunk.
Aft set of two SS-N-3 Shaddock or SS-N-12 Sandbox missile tubs are visable. Another set is foward of the sail.

Looking forward into the Torpedo room from Officer Country.

Part of the Missile Fire Control system (Missile Guidance)

Ships Control Station.

Sonar? (One single ping if you please comrade.)

Radar? (Range and bearing to the P-3 Orion )

So, Comrade Jim (AKA Lubber’s Line) has volunteered to trek to the northern port of Providence, RI each weekend to help restore the Soviet Project 651 vintage 1960’s cruise missile diesel submarine. I have to admit this is going to be a field day from HELL if ever I saw one. The ballast tanks leak, there's paint where there shouldn't be any or it is the wrong color, rust rust and more rust. This is one boat load of work so it 's got to be rewarding. Anyway how many cold war era bubbleheads can say they worked on a Soviet missile boat?

If your interested in volunteering as well then go to this link that has the contact information or you can contact me via email.

Propulsion Systems - Non Submarine Type

On Fathers Day I took my son to the Rhode Island Air National Guard Air Show. With my digital camera I did a short photo essay of propulsion systems, non-submarine types.

C-130J Hercules Allison AE2100D3 turboprop engines with an all composite six-blade Dowty Aerospace R391 propeller system.

C5 Galaxy General Electric TF-39 engine rated at 43,000 pounds of thrust.

Coast Guard Boston Whaler patrol craft with twin Evinrude 175 MX engines.

Shockwave Jet Truck with 3 Pratt & Whitney J34-48 jet engines. The ShockWave Jet Truck with a Peterbuilt body does over 300 mph.

North American F-86 Saber with a single General Electric J-47 jet engine delivering 5,200 lbs of thrust.

The US Navy Blue Angles flying the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet with Two F414-GE-400 turbofan engines delivering 22,000 pounds per engine.

If your looking for a nostalgic submarine propulsion system the upcoming International Submarine Races June 27 - July 1, 2005 may be a place to look.

Safety Concerns Over Two Royal Navy Submarines

According to this TIMESONLINE article two Trafalgar-class British Royal Navy Submarines the HMS Tireless and the HMS Torbay have been banned from operating at sea. Both submarines have had problems with their nuclear reactor’s primary coolant circuit pipes over the last few years with the HMS Tireless having their coolant circuit pipes replaced.

I've crossposted the rest to the "Ultraquiet No More" submarine group blog at this link.

Peek-a-boo

Peek-A-Boo (Source: US Navy)

Ok, I haven't posted anything in a few days. Two things have drawn me away from this blog, first I really don't post but once every two or three days and have been posting to the new submarine group blog Ultraquite No More.

Secondly is my job, or should I say soon to be lack of one! My company is going through a merger and their operations here in Rhode Island are being moved to Minnesota. I was offered a position in MN with some good tentative numbers for a relocation allowance, raise and bonus, but after a couple of weeks of thinking it over I declined the offer. I have too many ties to Rhode Island friends, family and none to Minneapolis, Minnesota except maybe that I have seen an episode of Mary Tyler Moore. Besides RI may be cold and damp in the winter but Minnesota, I don't own a snowmobile. Don't get me wrong Minneapolis is probably a great city but I've always lived within 10 minutes of the ocean and a lake no matter many or how big just aren't going to cut it.

Enough of the rambling, back to the resume. Thought - Maybe I'll see what sandcrab positions are available over at the Sub Base in New London.... Naaa think I'll wait on that one.

See Ya - LL

The New London Commute

By The Race and through The Slot look out Dive Point ready or not.

Submarines and Whales are no strangers as evidenced in this archived image of a 1911 The World Magazine on the subject. So helping the commute for whales in Block Island Sound by closing the New London Submarine Base CT could end up threatening the North Atlantic right whale off Kings Bay GA. Of course whales are intelligent creatures and could avoid the traffic by being prepared with a map of alternate routes.

Unsanitary Ballistics

Another crappy sea story…

With all the sea stories over at “Ultraquite No More” about intentional and unintentional mishaps involving blowing sanitary tanks I thought I would add my own. This one did not happen aboard my boat but I did witness it from a relatively save distance.

I was mustering on the fantail helo deck of the Sub Tender Simon Lake in Kings Bay for a stores loading party. As in the photo below, the Simon Lake had four SSBNs moored along side. My boat was the USS Simon Bolivar and we were on the port side of the tender. On the opposite side outboard was an un-named 640 class SSBN going through refit like us.

Unsanitary Ballistics outboard AS33 Simion Lake
(Source: US Navy Photo via - Lubber's Basement)

While standing on the tender’s fantail I was watching a diver over on the un-named boat preparing to do some hydro testing. He had a bucket of green die and was standing on the turtleback a few feet from the sanitary connection. All of a sudden, the sanitary hose connection to the Sub let go with the sound of a cannon going off. Like following a tennis ball at a match the group assembled for stores loading watched a large brass coupling the size of a coffee mug take a ballistic trajectory over the tender over the pier and land somewhere in the swamp near the pier’s parking lot (under construction in the Photo). All I could say was “Holy sh*t that thing had to have gone 200ft in the air and 200 yards”.

When I looked back the hose that the coupling WAS attached to was wrapped around the tender’s service boom like a pretzel. The diver had done what divers do and dove into the drink bucket and all. So the water aft outboard the sub was a nice florescent green. There was a SH*T geyser topside and people were running around like a Chinese Fire drill. The topside watch was hunkered down behind his meager aluminum watch stand franticly trying to get the sanitary blow secured. He was successful a few seconds later.

The diver was picked up in short order by a security launch and was screaming profanities to anyone topside in earshot. Within minutes the duty officer off the tender was doing an Ensign Pulver run/walk across the inboard boat to the poop deck of the outboard offender. He threatened not to allow them to blow sanitaries to the tender or pier for the rest of their upkeep.

I don't know who that SSBN was but that was one hell of a secondary ballistic missile system they had.

Sestak on the Submarine's Value to the Navy

Yesterdays post to the group Submarine Blog was about Adm. Joseph A. Sestak Jr. views on the Navy's future requirements as they relate to Submarines.

Visit - Ultraquiet No More - or link - Sestak on the Submarine's Value to the Navy

Protesters breach Faslane Trident Base - almost

It looks as though the anti-war and anti-nuke protestors are at it again in Scotland. This excerpt from the Scotsman "MoD denies protesters reached berth of submarine" says:

Thirteen campaigners were arrested, one of whom had climbed 30ft up a tree, after cutting through a perimeter fence and entering HM Naval Base Clyde. One campaigner remained up the tree last night.

The protesters entered the Faslane base, home to the Trident nuclear submarine fleet, at about 11pm on Monday.

The base was closed for several hours while MoD police rounded up the intruders. They were arrested on suspicion of malicious mischief and bailed.

Police then attempted to coax two campaigners down from a tree inside the complex. A spokesman for the MoD police said one man climbed down and was arrested. "The other man still remains up the tree," he added.

(My emphasis above)

Their main protest is against the British Trident submarine fleet based at Faslane.
But not everyone in Great Britain is in agreement with the protesters as witnessed at The Weekly Grip weblog.

I never knew Scotland had nut trees or is that nuts in the trees. Then again nuts are an ingredent of Scottish Fruitcake.

Crossposted to "Ultraquite No More"

Going Vertical on builders trials

I posted a sea story over at "Ultraquite No More" about an impromptu emergency blow during builders trials.

Emergency Blow (Source: US Navy)

It was a wild ride.

Taming the BST

Taming the BST buoy

Rescue buoy painted orange on the USS Skipjack
(Photo source: US Navy and Navsource.org)

The submarine rescue buoy has saved lives in the past. The later BST buoy will probably just mark the location of a tragedy, that is if it not welded to the deck. But I'm afraid there is another beast that lives in the ocean's depths that we should look to tame.

In 1953, unwelded by an atomic blast in the arctic, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" made Manhattan it's own little project.

This other beast from the deep started all those Atomic sized monsters of the 1950's and 60's "B" movies.

Of course what's in a name anyway BST or beast, to me it's no reason to go nuclear.

New Submarine Group Blog -crosslink

Bubblehead has started a new group blog for submarine enthusiasts called "Ultraquite No More"
I've posted about the new Virtual Periscope system in development over at the new site.

USS Chicago at PD (Source: US Navy - PH1 Kevin Tierney)

If you want to read more here's the link to my posting.