Virginia-Class Sub Pictures
The press availability accompanying the delivery of PCU New Hampshire (SSN 778) to the Navy provides an opportunity for all of us Submariners no longer on active duty to check out all the bells and whistles. This article has a lot of good (albeit small) pictures, and this one has a fairly good picture of the Weapons Launch Console in the Torpedo Room:
The Seawolf-class boats I'm familiar with have something similar; the best part is that you can just push icons on the screens to move weapons around the room and into the tubes without any application of muscle-power at all. What do you old TMs think of this development in submarining?
posted by Bubblehead at 10:44 AM
8 Comments:
Speaking as a former "torpedo pusher" on a fleet snorkel boat, it looks like a pretty good deal!! My next boat was 619 Blue. Torpedo room looked exactly like the ATR on my first boat except we had an electric chain fall rather than hand-operated chain falls to raise the loading skid. My last boat was the 580. My dream torpedo room. Hydraulic hoist for three stow levels and loading-offloading. Power loaders for all six tubes. Damn, thought I'd died and gone to heaven!
That new stuffs great for the MMW's as long as it continues to work. You know how stuff when it gets old it starts to get cranky and it's more difficult to get repair parts when companies that make it go out of business. I think there's something to be said for "simple is better".
Yep, looks like a good deal to me. I'm sure it'll cut down on the torpedo pushers sore backs and hemmorohoids.
Keep a zero bubble.....
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET
8/30/2008 12:46 PM
I've heard the auto-torpedo room is great. It just sucks for the TM's because if you thought hydraulics leaked before, now there's about a thousand valves to deal with.
And it's cool to see John Thompson as the XO.
8/31/2008 9:46 AM
What does it say about me that the first question I ask myself is "what's going to break first?"
8/31/2008 1:43 PM
Torpedomen fixing a hydraulic leak? Shiver me timbers!!!
My first med run back in the mid 80's had the AOW's standing TMOW, AOW, and AEF at the same time because we had two TM's flood down warshots by accident during snapshot drills......you ever see an A'ganger run from shaft alley to the TR during an uncalled for snapshot?
I'd like to see the ratio of casreps due to new technology and the push button thinking versus old Navy tried and true.
MMCS(SS)(Ret) A'gangr
9/01/2008 1:25 AM
"the best part is that you can just push icons on the screens to move weapons around the room and into the tubes without any application of muscle-power at all"
and so technology gives rise to an entirely new catagory of submarine pranks. DINQ hot-rackers beware!
9/01/2008 7:28 AM
I'd love it while it worked and worry like hell about how it can be made to work when it fails, especially when you've got fewer crew on hand in the first place because of all the automation. I would hope that's been as carefully thought through as the rest of it seems to be, but for some reason I have doubts that they even conceived of all the possible failure modes.
Larry
9/01/2008 1:54 PM
I have buddies in design school for the california right now and from what theyre allowed to tell me, the stuff back aft pretty much runs itself (wish my logs would take themselves). but aparently, the designers dont think their stuff will break or fail, Im waiting to see how that mentality works in another ten years.
9/13/2008 1:04 AM
I remember John Thompson from back in the days when he was a Lt. and the WEPS on the Rickover (SSN 709). It is great to see that he is now an XO. He was one of the coolest officers ever, the Navy should have put him in recruiting commercials.
9/24/2008 7:47 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home