Coryphaenidae Qualified Kleptomania

Coryphaenidae qualified kleptomania or dolphin fish qualified thievery.

Submarine enlisted crewmembers have been known to from time to time procure a certain luxury item from the Executive Officer without his prior knowledge. Said item affords the XO a level of needed privacy while underway. The selection and gratuitous theft of this item seems to be a bit of a tradition in the Submarine Service.

All you Submariners out there know exactly what I’m writing about it’s……. “Who took the XO’s door!!!!”

Where the F*^*#$% is my door?!!!!!

In the past and present, I've had a number of shipmates and friends relate theirs and others stories of XO stateroom doors that have gone missing. Here’s a few presented purely for their entertainment value (Active duty, please this is not a meant to be a how to guide).

My story:
I was a on my first patrol on the Simon Bolivar SSBN641 and we had been underway for about a month. Off watch and studying my ships Quals I had found the upper level electronic room forward of sonar a quiet place to read ship systems manuals. After about a half hour of study I was suddenly interrupted by a QM2(SS) standing in the passageway with the XO’s door. He proceeded to quickly slide the door behind a large sonar equipment cabinet just inside the electronics room door, put his finger to his lips and went Sssssss and left.

Not 10 to 15 minutes later I’m interrupted a second time, this time it’s the Chief of the Boat COB. He looks at me and says, “The XO’s pissed and wants his door back, I know someone in NAV division took it, do you know who and where it is.” I said “No COB, don’t know a thing, just been sitting here studying my Quals.” If it was a snake it would have bit him, but he didn’t see it and went on with the search.

I little while later I went to the control room and found the watch section discussing the missing door, a busy QM2(SS) was the only one not participating in the conversation. The door was found a few days later just before Halfway Night.

Ric Hedman manager of Juliett 484 had this story for me today:

As Ric tells it on the USS Flasher SSN613 the XO's stateroom door went AWOL during the maneuvering watch while heading out on patrol. The XO stationed a someone outside his stateroom to verify that anyone entering the passageway had to either have the CO or his permission to be there. Ric being a Stewards MateTN(SS) was the only one who had a blanket permission. This went on for the entire patrol and no door. Finally at the end of patrol and, of course during the maneuvering watch, the XO's door was retrieved from the freezer, frozen solid, and returned its proper location. The ice that accumulated in the XO's door promptly melted ruining the fine wool carpets that were donated and installed in the boat during construction. The XO was not pleased.

Stories from others I found searching the internet:

From the USS Memphis guestbook.
"I remember stealing the XO's door and hiding it in ERUL outboard the Port Main Engine. After the Wardroom poker game broke up the XO went up to his state room (sp?) then got on the 1MC and ordred field day until his door was found and returned. That was a great night. Soaking Ens. Grosicki and the Engineer between the MSW Pumps was very satisfying too. Looking back, I can say the time I spent on MEMPHIS was a great time of my life.
Sincerely, "Spit"MM1(SS) Scott Benson"

From the USS Spinax newsletter page. or Submarine Sailor.com humor page
"On board the Robert E. Lee SSBN601B, the crew stole the XO"s door. The next day's POD said there were to be no movies until it was returned. For privacy the XO, E.O. Warren hung a blanket over the opening.
By the 3rd day he had gotten into the habit of walking thru the blanket instead of moving it. On the 5th day we replaced the door. Re-hanging the blanket over it, and then settled back to watch the fun.
Suddenly the XO came running down the passageway enroute to his stateroom and thru the blanket/curtain, coming up very short upon meeting the door. Nose bleeding and demanding an answer, the CO came to his rescue.

After surveying the damage the CO, R.W.Aldinger, marched to control, grasped the 1MC and announced, "This is the Captain. The XO's door has been found. MOVIE CALL!"
W.S. Wantland QMC(SS) USS Hawkbill SSN 666"

Sea stories on spookgroup.tripod.com
"From LCDR(Ret) John Arnold
On Halibut, after our 2nd back-to-back Ivy Bells mission, my 4 Chiefs were bored and up to mischief on our return to CONUS. They stole the CO's stateroom door. The CO had the XO's door transfered to his stateroom & told the XO he didn't care if they ever found the door. Needless to say the XO was ticked. Each watch section had a search/recovery team looking in vain for the elusive door. To add insult to injury, the spook Chiefs re installed the (missing for 10 days) door on the XO's stateroom. All of this accomplished without discovery or even a clue as to who pulled off this great TF. It wasn't until our mission debrief at NSA that we revealed the Mystery to the skipper-Chuck Larsen. I've heard that other ships have tried this but the door has always been found and many times the culprit is caught in the act of removing the door. These guys were a cleaver team aside from providing NSA with hundreds of the finest broadband tapes that they had ever received! "

SSBN622 homestead Sea Stories webpage
"I was stationed on the Monroe from 1979 to 1983. The XO at the time had a thing about DYNO labels being around the boat. The officers aboard got together and put labels all over his stateroom. He didn't know who did it but he blamed the nukes on board and made them do an extra field day. Then a A-Gang member stole his stateroom door and hid it. One thing to remember is that we were underway and we couldn't compact it. The XO went for three days searching for the door and couldn't find it until he made some A-Ganger act as a door until the door showed up. The XO apologized to the nukes and we allowed him to bring us bug juice for a couple of shifts.
Robert Crowe "

A couple of good ones from a Military.com forum

"one halfway night the XO's door showed up, with the ENG taped to it. Carried by 2 MM1's. Now that was a halfway night."

and this

"I got an old door from salvage one time and cut it into a jig saw puzzle. Took the XO's door at halfway night and put the pieces on his rack. He really freeked. We hid his real door under the deck plates in the crew's library, you know how many screws there are in those deck plates? (Lafayette Class 616) Takes hours..."

And finally this about not taking the door

"There was one time the door did not disappear. The XO at the time had a thing about flickering fluorescent light bulbs and was constantly combing the boat for 'em. Pissed E Div off to no end.Anyway, the XO comes back from halfway night festivities to find his door still there, he's shocked and amazed. He opens the door to his stateroom and flicks on the lights. Every bulb had been replaced with the flickering lights he made E div change out."

If anyone has their own story of an UNHINGED XO door or otherwise just add to the Comments section.

BBC writes about blogging - I SPY a Submarine

The BBC has an article today titled "Digital Citizens: Your creativity" with a short run of examples of blogs by English citizens. One caught my eye STEVE GOES TRAVELLING with an entry the BBC decided to show about Steve finding a captured North Korean Submarine.

And I thought that Bubblehead at The Stupid Shall Be Punished and Eric at The Sub Report got all the submarine news scoops! Perhaps going to "Gangneung for what seemed to be a never ending quest for a beer" as Steve did, is the way to go.

Class Struggle

When it comes to funding new classes of ships the US Navy is in a difficult position these days. Greater per unit procurement costs, budget constraints, mission requirements and the need to maintain a shipbuilding industrial base are all factors that must be taken into account when embarking on creating a new class of ship. In many cases the design and development of a new class of ship has a lead time of a decade or more of engineering work before construction starts. During that time technology advances and even operational requirements can change.

Here's a couple of examples of how a ship's design, development and construction process can go poorly or pretty well.

The Navy's newest class of amphibious ships is getting bad reviews by Navy inspectors in recent months. The USS San Antonio is a $1.2 billion helicopter and troop carrier schedule to join the fleet this fall.

USS San Antonio LPD17 (Source: US Navy)

The HamptonRoads.com article titled "Problems on new ship a bad sign, analyst warns" states:

The ''poor construction and craftsmanship'' Navy inspectors say they found last month aboard a new amphibious ship could be an ominous sign for the service and the U.S. shipbuilding industry as they embark on a host of other ship programs, a veteran naval analyst warned Wednesday.

Additionally there's this statement:

Inspectors said they found such deficiencies as hazardous wiring, uninstalled ventilation and a crash-prone engineering control system. Though the Navy expects to take possession of the ship in August, the inspectors said the San Antonio is not ready for its crew to come aboard.

That's troubling, the ship is not ready for the crew to come aboard? I know what they really mean is become operational, she's already manned, but the Navy has a problem here and it sounds like another poorly run program and problems with the Shipbuilder.

Joseph F. Yurso a former commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine is quoted in the above article as saying "A nuclear-powered submarine or aircraft carrier receiving its first exam from the Board of Inspection and Survey generally gets fairly high marks". But then goes on to argue that amphibious ships always seem to be at the end of a food chain. What I can't understand is the price tag, $1.2 Billion for a conventionally powered (diesel) ship that looks like a big sub tender, how is that the end of the food chain?

But Mr. Yurso brings up a good point, at least in recent history, that new class submarine programs seem to have the good record. In contrast take progress of the new Virginia Class SSN as reported in The New London Day back in June:

The Groton-based USS Virginia could deploy later this year, more than a year ahead of what would be a typical schedule, becoming the first nuclear submarine to go on an official mission before a year of testing and a year of repair, top Navy officials said this week.


Virginia Class Submarine (Source: US Navy)

A few of my fellow bubbleheads have commented on the USS Virginia's program success back then, such as here and here as well as comparing the Virginia class to the DDX program here or the LCS program here.

This former EB yardbird and Submariner may be a little bias but I think the submarines are money well spent in comparison to some of the Navy's new surface ship classes.

"I am become death the destroyer of worlds."

60 years ago today J. Robert Oppenheimer recalled a passage from the Bhagavad-Gita: "I am become death the destroyer of worlds".

July 16, 1945 at 5:29:45 am local time saw the first test detonation of an Atom Bomb.

First Atomic Test (Source: DOE)

Today there stands a marker at ground zero of the Trinity Test site.

Trinity Site Marker (Source: White Sands Missile Range- US Army)

If your interested in the history behind the Trinity Site the White Sands Missile Range has an extensive website on the site's past and present history. Here's an excerpt about the current radiation levels at ground zero:

Radiation levels in the fenced, ground zero area are low. On an average the levels are only 10 times greater than the region's natural background radiation. A one-hour visit to the inner fenced area will result in a whole body exposure of one-half to one millirem.

In addition to over 80 photos and eye witness accounts the website provides information on the White Sands Missile Range open house at the Trinity Site. The open house started today on the 60th anniversary.

If your also interested in the history on the Manhattan Project the DOE has an interactive website as well.

The first Soviet atomic bomb test took place in August, 1949 four years after the Trinity Test. The Cold War and Nuclear Arms race had begun and didn't end until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Previous Shuttle Launches – A Submariner’s Perspective

One of the rare treats this former SSBN boomer sailor experienced was to watch a Space Shuttle launch from the pier at PCAN (Port Canaveral). In 1985-86 the USS Alabama SSBN 731 had just finished our post construction and shipyard evolutions. We had done all our workups, shakedowns, DASOs and were ready to go on patrol. During one of our last AUTEC visits we did a port call at PCAN, one of the few places where an 16,764 surface tons 38’ draft Trident submarine can go.

What I got to witness was, what I seem to recall, the last Shuttle launch before the Challenger disaster. STS-61C Shuttle launch #24 occurred at 6:55 am on January 12, 1986. Our Commanding Officer had us all go topside to the pier for our morning muster. After the division heads and COB had reported to the CO that all was present and accounted for (liberty in Cocoa Beach can be a little distracting) the crew waited silently.

Shuttle Launch (Source: NASA)

The calm of that cool January morning changed dramatically when the dim light of dawn became much brighter and the morning quiet was interrupted with the characteristic low frequency rumble of the Shuttle Columbia's engines and boosters lighting off. What an awesome event to experience, you could feel the sound in our bones. But within minutes all was back to normal, the only evidence being a slowly dissipating contrail path of the Shuttle’s trajectory. The Columbia had a successful 6 day mission landing at Edwards Air Force base on January 18 1986.

STS61C Launch (Source: NASA)

About a month later, with the experience of watching a Space Shuttle launch fresh in my mind , I was on the Alabama doing a submerged transit through the Straits of Florida. We were on our way to the west coast and the Bangor Submarine Base WA via a goodwill PR visit to our namesake state and the City of Mobile when we got the news. I had just hit the rack when the CO comes on the 1MC with the news of the Challenger’s explosion. The obligatory moment of silence somehow didn’t seem adequate. Years later the Shuttle Columbia, that I watched liftoff in 1986, was also lost on its 2003 STS-107 mission deorbit.

I may be projecting here but I think submariners feel a distant kinship to astronauts. We both operate some of the most complex machines built by mankind. We work in inhospitable environments where a mistake can cost you and your shipmates their lives. In a recent generation both have lost some of their finest Challenger and Columbia; Thresher and Scorpion.

Throughout these tragedies, our country has risen to the greater challenge. We have found men and women willing to take the risks in the vacuum of space or the pressure of the deep ocean.

Apollo 11 Launch 1969 (Source: NASA)

Today 7/13/05 NASA is ready for the challenge again and return to flight. I would love to be at PCAN again to watch this next Shuttle launch. In any case I'll be watching on TV and wishing the crew of the Shuttle Discovery and mission STS-114 gods speed and a successful mission.

SOSUS vigilance from the Cold War to Terrorism

The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a critical component of the US Navy’s intelligence capabilities during the Cold War. The function of SOSUS during that time was to identify and track the estimated 700 submarines produced by the Soviets. The SOSUS system used the unique propulsion plant acoustic signature produced by a Submarine for its identification and tracking.

First Atlantic SOSUS Stations (Graphic: US Navy Undersea Warfare Magazine)

Since the close of the Cold War the national security role of the SOSUS system has diminished and it has been utilized for more marine environment research applications. But the national security role of SOSUS may be expanded again, this time in response to the terrorist threat and our vulnerability to an attack via a merchant ship. According to this recent Sea Power Magazine article:

The Navy and other U.S. government agencies intend to identify and track the world’s 121,000 merchant vessels with the same persistence and precision that characterized the Navy’s location, identification and tracking of Soviet submarines during the Cold War era.

Container Ship (Source: NOAA)

SOSUS will become part of a larger integrated data collection system to track and provide real time identification of merchant ships. Additional components of this intelligence data collection system would include space-based surveillance, an existing maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) and newly developed Advanced Deployable Systems (ADS).

SOSUS will be expanded and upgraded so that acoustic surveillance of ports and littoral areas can be included. These littoral areas have high ambient noise levels that make it difficult to conduct acoustic surveillance.

A comprehensive system to track merchant shipping is one method that could help prevent a large scale sea-based terrorism event. In this link "Terror at Sea the Maritime Threat" author Ophir Falk documents how terrorist groups such as Al Qalda not only have been a threat to shipping but may turn to using vessels carrying hazardous materials as terrorist weapons. For example from the article:

The recent appointment of Saud Hamid al-Utaibi as new al-Qaida commander in Saudi Arabia-largely thanks to his expertise in marine terror-has caused many security experts to raise the threat level to maritime security. Hamid al-Utaibi's experience includes an active role in blowing up the USS Cole in October 2000 and in attacking the French Limburg tanker two years later-both rammed by exploding speedboats in Yemeni waters. Subsequent to the appointment, the United States warned a number of Mediterranean states that maritime attacks involving chemical agents might be imminent.

Of additional concern is what could be called "the poor man's missile platform". States that sponsor terrorist activities such as Iran have recently experimented with outfitting merchant vessels with Scud missiles. It was also widely reported in 2003 that Al Qaeda may also have a navy of sorts consisting of fishing boats and cargo vessels.

The integration of all this data from so many sources seems like a monumental task, but a task worth doing. I can see additional benefits as well as increasing port security, such as providing information for use in the Proliferation Security Initiative, help in locating lost or missing ships in emergencies as well as knowing where all the good targets are if things ever get hot. But I wonder how a operational conversation would be if SOSUS starts tracking all the merchant ship traffic. Will the sonar operator's report be "Duty Officer I hold Sierra 119,991 leaving Doha, Qatar course 045, speed 12 knots, range... ah hell what do I care we're in Virginia" ?

Moral Equivalence, the Got-ya Media and Guantanamo

The string of hyped Gitmo stories in the media and Senator Richard Durbin’s (D, IL) recent non-apology for his comparing US military personnel in Guantanamo to Nazis and the like has finally got to me. I haven’t been very political in this blog but the outcry against the use of Gitmo as a detention center has me wondering about the critic motivations.

I can understand the opposition some people may have to the prolonged detention of the “detainees”. After all it has been years since 9/11 and I guess time is suppose to heal all wounds. Additionally Americans are a moral and just people and therefore would not violate a person’s basic rights. Why continue to keep the “detainees” locked up seems to be the argument.

Because they are NOT JUST “detainees” they are Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners caught on the battlefield. If they did not directly assist in 9/11 they were a part of a network of hatred that perpetrated a series of terrorist acts against the United States and others in the western world. Left to their own means or worst yet sponsored by rouge states these terrorists would inflict even greater destruction on our citizens, economy and way of life. I am not saying to keep them indefinitely without cause, I’m saying we HAVE CAUSE. The problem as I see it is that as time passes people move on with their lives. The public finds it easier to forget the death and destruction inflected on us and begins to feel concern for “victims of our aggression”. The only exception is those who were directly effected by 9/11, their pain remains real. The press helps in this desensitizing of the public by first turning to neutral language, their no longer terrorists but detainees, and second by turning the terrorists into victims.

So goes the moral equivalence trap. Loud music, lack of sleep and uncomfortable conditions become torture not pressure. Prolonged detention becomes a gulag or death camp. The supplying of materials for worship becomes items of desecration and religious insult. Prompt and full investigations become suspect to a larger cover-up. When our government makes mistakes or things go wrong the mainstream media amplifies it to a point where it’s used against us around the world. Even when media allegations are proved untrue or dubious, no mind, we will have a semi-retraction in section C page 12 a week later. Or a Senator’s remarks that spark a backlash of protest turns to the non-apology apology of I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Sort of like calling someone an SOB and then saying, I’m sorry if you’re offended but I still think you’re an SOB, live with it.

I have yet to see any real evidence of prisoner abuse from Guantanamo, speculation followed by allegation and then media hyperventilation YES, but evidence NO.

I would not write about this unless I had a reason to feel that political gain against the current administration is the reason for the Gitmo hype. This type of misrepresentation of events hurts us all and particularly those who serve our country. For I know one such individual who has been to Guantanamo with the RI National Guard in support of the detention facility. This person is a co-worker who I respect and is now retired from the RI National Guard, let’s call him DB.

DB was deployed with the 43rd Military Police unit of RI National Guard in May of 2002, The first National Guard unit to go to Gitmo post 9/11. DB an Officer was at Gitmo for 6 months and was missed by his civilian co-workers. After DB returned to work I would ask him about his experiences and the type of prisoners at Gitmo. His answers were always straight forward and factual in manner. DB didn’t spin any tails of hardship or bravado like some do. The experiences expressed were always of professional conduct by the men he served with. The only negative he related to me was that many of the prisoners were truly evil people, an opinion I think most would concur with.

So when recent News reports speculated about abuse at Gitmo I would ask if he ever saw anything that could be interpreted that way. His answer was always a head shaking disbelief “No, I can’t believe that crap, I never saw anything even close to that”. DB is pretty soft spoken person who is the first to admit a mistake, so to me he’s 100% believable.

Only once did DB give me any details (I never really pushed anyway) about Gito. He said that the commanding General did a daily walkthrough of the facility, now that’s command oversight. He also said that all interrogations required three witnesses present and were video taped. Detailed Command oversight, taped interrogations and full access to the Red Cross it should be easy to find documented abuse evidence if there was any, but there isn’t.

What was one of DB’s jobs during his tour at Guantanamo in 2002? Ordering religious materials for the “Detainees”.

Quadrennial Defense Review - Key to New London Sub Base Defense

Connecticut officials will meet with the BRAC commission in Boston today on the fate of the New London Submarine Base. Among the chief arguments against its closing will be the still unconfirmed size of the future submarine force. The sub force numbers quoted by various Navy sources have ranged from as low as 30 to as high as the current 54 submarines putting into question what that final number will be. An AP report in Newsday puts it this way:

The Pentagon's four-year review of the nation's military strategy, called the Quadrennial Defense Review, could be the final word on the subject and is expected to be released late this year. By then, however, Groton's fate likely will be sealed.

Simmons, a Republican whose district includes Groton, said closing the facility based on uncertain projections of the fleet's size would amount to the BRAC commission writing military policy.

Part of their argument may well be to wait until the Quadrennial Defense Review provides definitive numbers on submarine force size requirements and settles the differences between the Pentagon planners and the submarine force fleet commanders.

Additional points will be made about the sub base, synergy, and military value with other facilities and contractors. It will be argued that the Navy did not take into context the New London Sub base vicinity to nearby Submarine contractor Electric Boat and Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., which develops submarine technology. Maintaining an industrial base and shipbuilding capacity has been of continuing concern to the Navy.

CT State commissioners will also discuss community, economic, and environmental issues.

Age old question: "what to do with an empty?"

Empty Trident Missile Tube

What to do with the empty? (Click on image to find out)

Is it Miller Time #1
or
Miller Time #2
or
Miller's Time #3
or
Miller Time #4?

My choices are 4 and 1 in that order.

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.