Woman On A Submarine!
No, it's not time to perform the quarterly PM of having a discussion on whether or not women should be assigned to submarines -- it's time to look at newly-released pictures of PCU Texas (SSN 775) as she makes her way to Galveston for her commissioning next month. Here's a picture of the Texas' bridge cockpit, which features an example of the title of this post:
If you go here and download the hi-res version, you can get a good look at some of the 21st century stuff the Virginia class boats have on the bridge. (Actually, it looks pretty much like what the 20th century Seawolf-class boats have, except their bridges are bigger. And faster.)They put out quite a few more pictures from the boat's media availability: here's one of the control room, here's one of the torpedo room, and they have lots of pictures of the outside of the boat: here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Oh, and if you do find yourself being a woman on a submarine, and you have to go to the bridge like the young lady in the picture, remember that you'll be climbing a vertical ladder, with lots of Sailors potentially looking up the ladder from the bottom -- so don't wear a skirt.
posted by Bubblehead at 12:01 AM
13 Comments:
Unless there's a Navy uniform that allows 3/4 sleeves and dangling pendant necklaces I think she's a civilian.
8/29/2006 5:01 AM
Yes, I'm pretty sure she was one of the reporters aboard for the media availability.
8/29/2006 6:44 AM
Dude, dirty pool, don't warn them against skirts!
Sailors at sea need cheering up, don'tchaknow.
8/29/2006 7:46 AM
All the equipment on the stbd side (radar, GPS) looks like regular commercial electronics that you can buy at any marine electronics store. The only militay looking box is the flat panel display in the center and on the port side. Do they use commercial electronics in some applications?
I like the high-tech tie-wraps holding on the port side gear.
8/29/2006 8:31 AM
We tie-wrap EVERYTHING, haha. It can't stay up in the bridge forever, and velcro isn't strong enough for everything... enter the tie-wrap. Simple, effective, and saves the taxpayers money. *grins*
We utilize alot more COTS items than many people realize these days. It's part blessing and part curse, unfortunately. With some of the stuff I do, one of the manufacturers is under investigation by the IRS for something-or-other, which has of course impacted our rather, uhm, mission essential workload.
8/29/2006 12:19 PM
I am a retired engineer from the missile and aircraft business, and obviously from my next question don't know much about submarines.
Can someone explain the appearance of the sail skin? It appears very rough and to mainly be a series of patches. Not what I would expect from construction. What's going on here?
Thanks.
8/29/2006 2:22 PM
Harry: Those are access panels for all the stuff in the sail, periscopes and such...
8/29/2006 3:53 PM
Just to clarify... access panels for maintenance, not access to the periscopes. I hope no-one thought that, but you never know. ;)
8/29/2006 3:56 PM
Gotta admit, the Control Room looks a *lot* cleaner without the 'scopes hanging down & getting in everyone's way. Nice!
8/29/2006 8:18 PM
just look at those chairs. No bench lockers for the 21st century fast-boat sailor...
8/30/2006 5:03 PM
dale_b, the commercial stuff you see is in addition/backup to the military stuff. The added benefit is you can shut down the military stuff and appear "commercial" to anyone conducting Electronic Surveillance Measures (ESM). Not much need for that these days, but back when those pesky AGIs were hanging around...
9/01/2006 7:04 PM
Actually, everything in the bridge pic is on all subs currently in operation. The only difference is how the subs are mounting things. And yes most of it is directly off the shelf somewhere.
9/05/2006 2:09 AM
it's pretty obvious from the caption she's a rider, media type
4/18/2007 1:36 PM
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