USS Connecticut In Subic Bay
Here's a picture of the crew of my old boat USS Connecticut (SSN 22) doing a stores load in Subic Bay, Philippines:
You can do a lot of things with this picture. You can go to the hi-res version and check out all the ways a Seawolf-class submarine sail is different from the other boats, you can reminisce about your favorite stores loads (including your favorite boxes to "float test", like the rabbit or brussels sprouts), or just share your best stories of liberty in Subic Bay. (For any family members reading this, I'd like to point out in advance that I never visited Subic Bay, so I never participated in any of the described debauchery.)
posted by Bubblehead at 7:41 AM
22 Comments:
I'm just amazed they were able to keep it running long enough to get to the P.I; the Seawolf class is the Amiga of the sub world - ahead of its time, but you can't get parts for it.
10/30/2007 8:09 AM
I thought that the Subic Bay Naval Station was closed. Do they just stop there for food? Do any surface ships go there?
10/30/2007 8:23 AM
So much for all the advances in automation for the Seawolf class. I see it is still all E5 and below for stores load. LOL
10/30/2007 11:00 AM
Stores load - heh. This is why I love T-Hulls, and the rest of you are all jealous.
10/30/2007 1:25 PM
Sonarman,
Why are T hulls better in a stores load?
10/30/2007 1:31 PM
Because the majority of the food gets loaded in to 4 ft x 4 ft x 6 ft tall modules and loaded into the boat by a crane...
This doesn;t ELIMINATE the "all hands stores load", mid you...but it does lower the amount of food being loaded.
10/30/2007 2:09 PM
The Freeport of Subic Bay is a thriving shipping port. Ships still pull in liberty although not as frequently as before and usually without be able to leave the "base".
As for the "debauchery", I did many SSN port calls there and from 86-89, even "suffered" through a 3 year Military Police tour. Heck, I may have invented some "debauchery" of my own. As QM2, first shore duty, just off the boat, coupled with the power of the badge (not that a submariner would abuse that!), there was nothing better.
And in the spirit of the family blog...I will just leave it at that.
Jim C.
10/30/2007 2:28 PM
Actually, Seawolf-class boats also have the Logistics Escape Trunk that allows use of the big pallets; they probably just don't do that for small loads, since you still have all the SubSafe QA associated with it. As far as being able to keep the sub running, I always figured that once the boat got out on deployment it'd be OK, not because stuff wouldn't break with no spares available, but because there's so much redundancy in equipment; the Seawolf-class really is the culmination of Cold War submarine design, with more and better of everything. While a squadron may hesitate to send a sub out to sea with something broken, once they're at sea they'll keep them there.
10/30/2007 2:37 PM
Nope, never did anything. I made five trips to the PI and only went to the Christian Science Reading Room to study and meditate. Trust me.
And San Miguel is a city in Mexico.
That Damn Good Looking Aganger From Iowa
10/30/2007 2:39 PM
MSC ships are regular visitors in subic now days. USNS Kiska T-AE-35 was in Subic for a week in August along with USNS Rainier T-AOE-7. You wouldn't know Olongopo today. It's a real town with paved streets, sidewalks and no bars. "CivMars" get to go outside the free port area to where all the "viking" liberty takes place in Barrio Baretto, Baloy Beach and Subic City. The old Navy SRF has reopened for business and they have a floating drydock. The Koreans are finishing construction on a state of the art Ship yard out past Barrio Baretto on the north side of the bay. The Chinese have a full-up ship yard operation near Subic city. We're hoping that Subic SRF will start bidding for MSC work, VR's, yard periods, and the like and give the Guam "bicycle shop" that calls itself a shipyard serious competition.
I'm the Fire Marshall on the Kiska. There are three of us onboard that were bubbleheads, we qualified on boats named after fish and two of us rode smoke boats. Sailing MSC is a lot like the old smoke boat Navy. Small crews, hard work, very informal, ya gotta know your stuff, not a lot of margin for errors, $$$$.
Keep a zero bubble.......
DBFTMC(SS)RET
10/30/2007 4:04 PM
After going from a T-Hull to the Seawolf class, I realized just how good I had it on the Boomer.
Bubblehead, I was on the 22, too. She was a great boat.
10/30/2007 4:07 PM
(including your favorite boxes to "float test", like the rabbit or brussels sprouts)
When I was on the Oly we determined that boxes of TDU weights didn't float very well. At least, they didn't in Yokosuka harbour.
10/30/2007 4:56 PM
...but Mosley's hat did!
10/30/2007 6:33 PM
Ahh the stores load. Nothing like hearing the words "Beats incoming". Then watching those cans accidentally fly past the weapon-shipping hatch to take a nap with the fishes.
10/30/2007 11:35 PM
Beets, Lima Beans, Rabbit and anything that belonged to a Midi.
The PI from 81-84 was uhm classified. I never went to the Hole in the Wall on the right just over the bridge over S%#t River. I actually spent a Christmas there and some extended drydock time when we FUBAR'd a screw on a floating steel drum while surfaced. My liver was begging for duty after the first few weeks.
I got pictures ;)
10/31/2007 11:43 AM
Oh what a picture, the flood of memories... 18 and single in Subic, I was on the Knox (FF-1052) then , pre-sub time. We had just played games with the Meyerkord (FF-1058), a bunch of Korean ships, and a lone US sub. It kicked all our asses. That was when I decided I wanted to be on a sub if we ever went to war. Less than a year later I was heading for the Nuke pipeline and subs.
The stories of Subic I cannot repeat, many were erased from my memory before returning to the ship, those that remained are in a locked section of my brain never to come out in public, till my wife and kids are long buried :). Marilyn's Super Inn, Smiles, Ship's party at "Castle Beach", oh the stories...
Stores load; even as a Senior Chief I did stores loads, I grew up in the days that an all hands stores load was just that, so those that point out just the blue shirts, sorry but even Khaki's help out (we even had work saving suggestions from when we were blue shirts).
The one I remember most ... On the Dace, Christmas morning, on State Pier. Narrow pier, not more than 4 feet wide, covered with snow and ice. You had to walk down the pier over shorepower cables till we got to the tender, then up and onto the tender cause they would not help. The R-12 plant went down Christmas Eve, so they held us in the morning to move supplies to the Tender. A good friend (ET2 nuke type) was hit in the head by a can and spent most of the day at the Hospital. I remember few stores loads with fond memories, just one of the many jobs that had to be done. Cleaning MG's, standing watch, drills, and field day. I'm so glad it all a distance memory.
11/02/2007 9:00 PM
Heh I can spot my sailor. How funny. I may be blind but I see him. And it's like the little engine that could. It's the better of the 3 ships in my opinion. I'm really proud of the Connecticut. Been apart of it for a couple of years now, and I'm proud of her.
11/06/2007 9:12 PM
On the USTAFISH, everyone but the XO and CO did stores load. Even in Subic.
Subic was interesting, especially if you were single.
11/18/2007 10:46 AM
subic bay? yeah i think i am in that pic. first rule of subic bay... you do not talk about subic bay, 2nd rule... you do not talk about subic bay
5/10/2008 12:08 AM
I'm pretty sure I'm in that photo, but I can't say for sure which one I am. I was definitely on that store load though. If I am on there, I'm one of the skinny white guys in the utilities. =/
3/23/2009 9:53 PM
I did a westpac there in '76 and believe you me it was just like Disneyland for adults. By the way, we walked on our food we didn't like...where are all the rest of you USS Scamp BOHICANs out there?
3/27/2009 11:20 AM
Thanks so much for the article, pretty useful data.
9/27/2011 2:05 AM
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