"Doody Head" or "Dooty Head"?

Although some insectoids might think otherwise, the correct spelling is "dooty" when writing the term "dooty head".

Don't read any further!

(For my regular readers who stumble onto this, this post is to settle an argument on "Blame Bush". If you read it on the Internet, it must be true!)

Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) Picture

Here's a permanent link to the Navy website with a story on the Jimmy Carter's Alpha trials, as well as a picture of her getting underway. Since I haven't seen a picture of their return yet, I can't confirm the rumors that she had the damn broom flying from her sail...

Going deep...

Update: Here's an article and picture from The New London Day (registration required) that shows the broom on the sail. Damn...

Jimmy Carter Completes Alpha Trials

PCU Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) completed their Alpha Sea Trials today. Good job, guys! Now I'll have to see the pictures to see if they avoided the pressure to put the damn broom on the sail...

Update: Just heard from a reliable eyewitness source at Ron Martini's submarine BBS that they did have the broom up...

Jimmy Carter Underway

Finally! PCU Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) got underway on Alpha Sea Trials yesterday from Groton. (This link to an article in The Day will require registration to see later this week; I'll try to find a more permanent link later.) I just hope they don't come back into port flying a broom from their sail like Virginia (and, in 1996, Seawolf) did at the conclusion of their Alpha trials (see broom to the right and left, respectively, of the US flags in the linked pictures). Traditionally, a submarine flies a broom from their sail at the conclusion of a wartime mission when they destroyed all targets they engaged; they've "swept the sea clean" of their enemies. Although Alpha Trials can certainly be exciting (I've been on three) they don't even come close to a wartime patrol.

USS New Mexico

This article says that the sixth Virginia class submarine, SSN-779, will be named USS New Mexico. See my earlier post discussing my feelings on the naming of submarines. This one, I figure, makes as much sense as any other name.

Going deep...

Update: The link above isn't working... this link may be more permanent.

NATO Sub Intrudes in Israeli Waters (?)

Lots of sub news on the 'net tonight. Here's an interesting article from the Jerusalem Post about the Israeli Navy detecting and "chasing off" a foreign, probably NATO, submarine from its territorial waters off their northern coastal waters. I'm much more dubious of this claim than I am of the Japanese claim discussed below (which turned out to be correct). If it was a submarine, it was almost certainly a NATO boat, since the Arab countries with submarines (Egypt, Algeria, Libya -- the best source for Third World naval Order of Battle is probably found here) wouldn't dare go near Israel, even it their boats could submerge, especially while Israel was on alert due to Arafat's death. Who, then, might it have been? Germany wouldn't dare go near Israel, and the other northern European diesel boat operators rarely will go into the Med. Turkey, Italy, and Greece probably wouldn't risk their diesel boats on a mission like this; so maybe it was one of the countries operating nuclear boats. That would be France, Great Britain, and the US. France would be unlikely to send a boat in immediately following Arafat's death in Paris. Would the Brits or Americans do such a thing? I have no idea (see my first post for more on why I have no idea). Probably they were tracking a horny whale...

Update: Here's an interesting tidbit that says the intruding sub may not have belonged to a "friendly, Western country". An unfriendly Western country, perhaps?

China "Apologizes" for Sub Intrusion

China has privately "explained" the "regrettable" intrusion of one of their submarines into Japanese territorial waters, according to this article from The Australian. Japan announced the conversation in which the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister discussed the intrusion with the Japanese ambassador in Beijing. It looks like China doesn't have to make an official announcement, while Japan does get to announce it, and everyone comes away as happy as can be expected... with the exception of the CO and most likely the crew of the Chinese submarine in question. He violated the first rule of submariners: Never let the bastards know you're there until the first torpedo explodes.

Japan Determines Intruder Sub is Chinese SSN

This article from CNN is among the many on the wires today announcing Japanese plans to file a protest with China after determining the submarine that had entered Japanese territorial waters near Okinawa was a Chinese nuclear sub. If true, this was almost certainly a Han-class SSN, since I consider it very unlikely that the Chinese Xia-class SSBN would go that close to any other country. The reported presence of the submarine rescue ship and towing ship that the submarine was heading towards supports my earlier contention that the Chinese sub suffered some sort of mechanical breakdown that limited its' ability to evade ASW forces.

Japanese Forces Chase Away "Foreign" Sub

ABC News is reporting that Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces chased away a submarine from the islands near Okinawa today. The article speculates that the submarine may be Chinese, and that the Japanese P-3 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) continued to trail the boat. Of all the countries that this submarine is likely to be from, China definitely would be the best suspect. North Korean submarines are unlikely to go that far south, the Russians would be unlikely to get caught by MPAs, and I assume the Americans and South Koreans keep the Japanese fairly well informed about the operating areas of their boats in waters near Japanese territorial waters, due to Prevention of Mutual Interference (link - 12th paragraph) concerns. My initial thought is that this may be a provocation by the Chinese to gauge any Japanese military reaction; on the other hand, the Chinese skipper may have just made a mistake, or suffered some sort of mechanical breakdown. I'll continue to monitor...
Staying at PD...

Update: This BBC article has a little more information, including Chinese reaction. It says the submarine is staying deep, but the Japanese forces are still able to track it. This makes me think that if it is a Chinese nuke boat, it probably does have some sort of mechanical issue; SSNs can normally run faster than Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) forces can track...

Going deep...

I Saw It On The Internet...

I, Bubblehead, had wild monkey sex with Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova last night.
You don't need to read any more below this...

(Note to my regular readers: If you find this, I put it in a prop for a post at BlameBush! Please ignore it.)