EB Green is found throughout the Navy and rumored to originate from the Electric Boat shipyard, hence the name. If you’re a US Submariner (current or former) you probably heard stories about and experienced the unbelievable strength of “EB Green” duct tape. This stuff is not your Home Depot run of the mill duct tape; I swear when applied properly its just short of epoxy backed Kevlar.
The one famous EB Green story, and possibly a submariner version of an urban legend, is how it survived a trip to test depth. The story goes that an un-named submarine went to sea from the shipyard on builder's trials. During the at sea period the submarine made at least one excursion to test depth. Upon the sub’s return to the shipyard, and a trip into the dry dock, it was discovered that a small area on the pressure hull had some EB Green tape on it. The patch of tape had been over painted and not noticed during construction. The tape was removed so that the hull could be properly painted and a hole was discovered that went “all the way through the pressure hull” to the submarine interior. The EB Green tape had saved the submarine from a certain flooding causality.
I don’t know if this story is true but I've heard it at least a couple of times while on subs and you can find it repeated on the internet here; the 3rd , 10th and 15th entries here and also here.
Like with common duct tape sailors and shipyard workers have found a thousand and one uses for EB Green tape. When I was a shipyard worker I saw it used to repair everything from a leaky air hose in the machine shop to a co-workers noisy car muffler. In the Navy, well let’s just say sailors can get creative while at sea.
Other than EB Greening non-quals to the overhead any other submariners have an EB Green story they’d like to share (anonymous entries welcome) in the comments section?
20 comments:
While, I was never in the navy, I was painting the bottom of a customers yacht, and noticed a symmetrical rectangular raised portion. After sanding something fell out to reveal a hole in the hull. It turned out that while in Florida 3 years prior something was struck and the boat was "Repaired." When I showed the customer what the repair was he nearly fainted. It was 5200 sealant in the hole, EB Green, and bottom paint, that lasted 3 years, and thousands of nautical miles.
I once heard a rumor that a certain boat had a EB Green patch between the battery well and the snake pit. This boat went to sea. Later it pulled in for emergency repairs at the hands of a tiger team.
I was a Hospital Corpsman assigned to Naval Hospital, Groton, CT in the mid 1980's. The most unusual use of EB Green was when someone got hurt.
I would often see a sailor come into my Sick Bay and cradling an injury that required suturing. When I got them back to the exam room, I would be faced with an "WEB Green Field Dressing"- A sanitary napkin wrapped tightly with, you guessed it, EB Green.
It was a pain in the butt removing the stuff, but it makes a hell of a bandage in a pinch!
I was an A-Ganger. We used it extensively. I was even Mummified in it by the Nuke MMs. HAHA! I love the stuff. I wish the stuff at Home Depot was as strong as EB Green. I thought I'd google EB Green and see what came up. I was on the USS Spadefish SSN-668
Larry "The Bull" Dozier
I grew up in Southeastern CT, about twelve miles from Groton, and my dad worked at EB, so we had ready access to the Tape of the Gods. My mom and I used to make a game of looking for cars on the road with the tape patching a window. I once saw a car at full speed (well, this was 395 in the mid-80s, so probably no faster than 50) with EB Green sealing a top-to-bottom crack in the WINDSHIELD.
I Live near Groton Base in CT. I once saw a VW bug, that had EB green keeping the floor pan from falling off.
That stuff was powerful. We used it to tape up Middies who came on board and I remember it removing the hair when we ripped it off them. I had a roll that mysteriously showed up in my seabag. God knows what that is still holding togethor.
I also grew up in Southeastern CT. I moved to indiana in 1990, after using up my supply of EB green. I asked a neighbor if he had any EB green I could borrow. Well he looked at me like I was crazy and ended up giving me some duct tape which I had never even heard of.
If anyone is looking to buy EB Green, we do still have it made. We are now selling it on-line at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KRNCPQC
We bought New London Tape, the co-creator of the product.
Lol awesome!! That was probably my father or his friend. They were the two main VW guys at EB. Toooo funny! Was it red with flames, yellow or blue?
The snap on my old command ball cap is still held together with EB Green tape. I discharged from service in 95.
I worked at Electric Boat long time ago. (1970s) The story about a sub coming back from sea trials and then finding a piece of EB Green had been covering a thru-hull hole is true. It was pretty common knowledge. If you were handy, you had to have some EB Green then. Good stuff.
At prototype training in Idaho. They had to pass the word that they'll be no more repairing of uniforms with EB Green. Some of the guys dungarees were approaching 50% tape, Shoes too.
One of my last memories of EB Green, was of me peering through the fanroom window, aboard the USS Dallas. All I saw in the darkness was a battle lantern light wobbling around. I then realized that it was EB Greened to the head of the mummified nob, who had been saying about 20 minutes earlier,"they ain't enough of all of you all to tape ME up"!Famous last non-qual words! Ahhh,precious memories!
I wondered why the last time I used duct tape on my logging boots,it didn't hold! It wasn't EB Green!!
I inherited my grandfather's Encyclopedia of Knots. It is held together with two different generations of EB Green. Not as exciting as some stories, but my grandfather (Alton aka Curly Beaudoin retired in 1972)
I can't stop laughing at some of the crazy boat sh*t we did. I love reading stuff like this. Brings back the old days (77-97, four boomers)
My Father in Law Phil was an SSOSSCS (did I I miss an S) from 1960 to 1981. Made The Holland Club just about two years ago. He went on eternal patrol this past April and the EB Green post here brought back a lot of sea stories hehe. One was EB Green had been used to patch a feed line to a diesel engine. It held so well that they all forgot about it and it eventually got painted over. It was discovered nearly 18 months later still holding. I miss him.
What years? I served on the ORION AS18 out of LA MADDALENA in 86-87
I got y'all beat. In Niantic, CT, we made motorcycle head gaskets out of the stuff!
Post a Comment