Submarine And Navy Miscellany
A quick link-heavy roundup of items of interest to Submariners I haven't found time to write about more fully:
1) RADM Douglas McAneny, the new COMSUBPAC, announced that the Navy has confirmed that the submarine recently found on the seabed near Kiska is in fact USS Grunion (SS 216).
2) A Russian commentator discussed the future of Russia's submarine fleet. Still no word on when their new boomer, RFS Yuri Dolgorukii, will head out on sea trials.
3) Vigilis at Molten Eagle remembers the book "Spy Sub" and offers a related quiz. Eric at Decks Awash has more related videos.
4) The Navy puts more teeth into the PRP Program, following their rollout of the PTU to help Sailors pass the PFT part of the PFA! Now, if you're a fat boy, you can't get picked for IA duty. (Expect longer lines on the mess decks.) Once again, we learn that the way to beat Al Qaeda isn't to be smarter than they are; it's looking better in uniform than they do that will win us the Global War on Terror.
5) Midshipmen on assignment at the Air Force Academy use stealth to spy on the Falcons.
6) Check out retired Submariner Steve's new blog at Navy Blue Cougar.
7) And finally, from the "D'oh! Why didn't we think of that!" file, we see that the new generation of Submariners are a lot smarter than us old guys. Remember when changing out the anchor light involved a couple of EMs or IC-men in a rickety boat who were in real danger of falling into the harbor? As these Submariners on USS Newport News (SSN 750) show, there's actually an easier way of performing that PM:
Another picture of the evolution can be found here. And if anyone out there knows that we've actually been doing it that way for a long time, I'll feel really bad for the Submariners on my old boats.Update 1258 04 Oct: Oh, I almost forgot...
8) The last DSRV has been replaced; we now have the SRDRS and SRCFS.
posted by Bubblehead at 8:24 AM
18 Comments:
The safety czars might call this a draw. 2 bubbleheads in a basket ain't the safest thing in the world either/
10/04/2008 9:57 AM
"4) The Navy puts more teeth into the PRP Program..."
Joel,
I am sure you meant "PRT" right? PRP is a whole other animal.
10/04/2008 10:50 AM
Nope, he said it right based on the message; Physical Readiness Program. so what's the new name of the "other" PRP?
Keep a zero bubble.........
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET
10/04/2008 12:29 PM
Nope, check out the link I had above for PRP program (here's the link again); they've changed the name of the overall program to "Physical Readiness Program" (PRP); a big part of that is the "Physical Fitness Assessment" (PFA), which consists mostly of the "Physical Readiness Test" (PRT), which is done while wearing the "Physical Training Uniform" (PTU). I'm not sure if they're now calling the old "Personnel Reliability Program" by some other name now.
10/04/2008 12:31 PM
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET -
We were posting at the same time! Now we're commenting buddies!
10/04/2008 12:32 PM
It's still the PRP but I don't think the wearing of the PTU during the PFA disqualifies you from being in the PRP because looking gay is OK. In other words: SNAFU!
10/04/2008 3:33 PM
FINALLY!!!! Every time I had to change out that light bulb we were also pulling a scope and had a crane sitting on the pier. Every time E-Div would ask the command if we could be rigged out there on the crane. Every time we were told it was too dangerous. The little skiff we used to get to the rudder was OK. Painting underway was OK. Cleaning verdegre off of the mechanical seal of a running ASW pump was OK, but a crane basket was too dangerous. But I digress...
Once we were at S12 in PH which is where the Darter nor normally moored and had two shore power cable swing arms; AC for nukes, DC for diesels. The diesel boat's swing arm was further aft so it could supply S11 also, but it lined up with our rudder perfectly. We swung it out, lowered down the cable, and one of our more agile EMs scaled down to the rudder. We got in trouble and they made us go to sea on a fast attack.
E-Div had two of the ship's divers. In doing a pre-underway dive they took a rope and tied off to the towed array housing, got the rope over the rudder and scaled up the rudder to change the bulb.
But none of this was any more dangerous than connecting the forward anchor light while anchored. Neither anchor light was a well thought out design.
PW
10/04/2008 4:09 PM
SRDRS pics are here.
10/04/2008 5:19 PM
Just a correction to the SRDRS comment - SRCFS has been around for quite sometime but no one has ever known about it. It is essentially the same system used to rescue the sailors from the USS SQUALUS in 1939. I was the SRCFS ENG from Feb 06 to Jul 08 and fought hard to keep that system from being a budget cut. SRDRS is great but requires a lot of support - SRCFS is small, lightweight, and self contained. I would put my money on it.
10/05/2008 5:07 PM
I'm pretty lost. Why wouldn't each maintenance activity (IMA) keep one of these man lifts (Genie S-60) around for doing stupid PM's like that? Seems to me like 40K for one entire base, including uses by the surface pukes, would make sense. And I'm pretty sure a man lift is safer than a crane.
More dumb Navy-ness that I'm glad I'm not around.
10/06/2008 3:04 PM
Note the lack of life jackets but at least there is a safety boat standing by...
http://www.designersedgecurb.com/snook/bazaar.htm
Jerry
10/06/2008 4:46 PM
Why wouldn't each maintenance activity (IMA) keep one of these man lifts (Genie S-60) around for doing stupid PM's like that?
I remember seeing something very similar in Charleston in use to paint the side of surface ships. Darn handy too! The Navy probably gave it away with all the rest of the stuff when they closed the base.
10/06/2008 6:15 PM
I guess they sold Squadron on spending money for crane services.
10/07/2008 9:45 PM
At the bottom of the page here I see that there's a much better version of the submarine song. Because of the ship's bell and klaxon, of course.
Sez: "THE KLAXON WAS RECORDED ON THE OLD GRAYBACK AT SUBIC BAY. THE LYRICS ARE PERFORMED BY THE GIRLS AT THE ISLANDER BAR IN BARRIO BARETTO. IN THE OLD DAYS IT WAS A BUBBLE HEAD HANGOUT."
10/08/2008 12:27 AM
McAneny was XO on my boat from ~88-90 and what a weenie! Suffered from a SERIOUS Napoleon complex. If possible, he would've ordered enlisted guys not to be taller than him. Funny thing is, it appeared that his major concern was crew haircuts, and here he is a RADM.
10/08/2008 6:40 PM
PRP is still used the other way too.
We're well past the point of recycling acronyms. For example:
SWO-
Senior Watch Officer
Strategic Weapons Officer
Submarine Watch Officer (the LT on the Subpac watch floor*)
*who in turn reports to the CSP N31 - title? 'Senior Watch Officer'
10/11/2008 11:48 PM
Re: McAneny was notorious at the MTS-635 for insisting that the civilians not wear ties with cartoon characters. He was not well regarded.
10/11/2008 11:51 PM
Depends on location. Out here at "the tip of the spear" our guys still paddle out there in a less than inspiring dinghy and try not to get wet when swapping out the rudder light. Of course we still BSP with nothing more than a boat hook across to the tug too...
10/17/2008 5:35 AM
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