Pic of USS San Francisco Underway
From the Navy NewsStand, here's a picture of USS San Francisco underway from Guam, heading to Bremerton for repairs. She looks like she's riding a little higher in the bow than normal; I suspect the new bow dome is watertight, and most of the equipment that normally goes in there (sonar sphere) is removed.
Going deep...
Bellringer 0004 21 Aug: Looks like I was wrong:
"They removed the entire sonar sphere and partial trunk, then blanked it off. It almost fell off when they started it so they had to prop it up till they could get the right equipment in to remove it safely. Air bank 2 has been removed, N2 bank #2 is removed, and a bunch of frames and lead ballast. Suprisingly, the bow dome is a free flood area with 2 very small vents on top."
posted by Bubblehead at 8:23 PM
5 Comments:
It's kind of an administrative thing; they have to have an official "change of homeport" in order to allow the crew members to move their families with them. Once they're fixed, they'll head back to a fast attack homeport -- probably back to Guam.
8/20/2005 11:47 PM
They removed the entire sonar sphere and partial trunk, then blanked it off. It almost fell off when they started it so they had to prop it up till they could get the right equipment in to remove it safely. Air bank 2 has been removed, N2 bank #2 is removed, and a bunch of frames and lead ballast. Suprisingly, the bow dome is a free flood area with 2 very small vents on top.
Rumor has it that they are gonna cut the Hono bow off at the CO's stateroom just fwd of the sail..this is far more difficult than even the Parcheesi bow plug install as it affects every system fwd but R-134. Pretty ambitious just to save a new core? I don't know, I still have my doubts....
8/20/2005 11:48 PM
Sonar sphere following them?! They lost most of it when they hit! There was not even a dome to salvage! They are getting a new one. I don't imagine them being in the water for at least a year if they try to splice the fwd part of the hull on.
8/22/2005 3:44 AM
If this project is actually funded, I guess a minimum of two years in the shipyard, and with crazy cost over'runs......The reason for the placement of the cut of the bow is because NavSea will not certify the bow pressure hull or the tubes for submerged operations.
It will be interesting to see what happens once they get there....
8/22/2005 5:05 AM
Since they are going to Puget Sound, they just might be going there for decom. It might be easier to take the fresh reactor core and all of the updated systems and transfer them to another boat that is about to be decommed. In short, decom the San Francisco instead of the next boat on the decom list. Another solution might be to convert the San Francisco into a floating prototype for nuclear power training.
8/28/2005 10:10 PM
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