While I Was Away...

Lots of submarine news while I was up in Seattle for testing. Here are some links:

1) It looks like the Russian Navy has identified their scapegoat for the recent fire-extinguishing system accident on the RFS Nerpa; it appears they didn't have any foreign nationals onboard to blame, so they're going after a crewman. Apparently the Russian Navy has learned from the U.S. Submarine Force (or maybe it was the other way around) that's it's a lot easier, when something goes wrong on a boat, to publicly blame the crew rather than admit either a) to possible force-wide problems, or b) that the accident was potentially something that could not have reasonably been prevented with the current Force operating procedures and philosophies.

2) An ASDS "mini-submarine" caught fire in Hawaii during "routine maintenance" that included a battery charge. Bull Nav at OPFOR has more on the troubled history of the ASDS batteries.

3) The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy in the active sonar case I wrote about earlier. It looks like at least two Justices bought into the faulty airborne vs. seaborne Sound Pressure Level comparison the environmental groups were disingenuously using in support of their case, proving once again that some of the people can be fooled most of the time.

4) Most ridiculous headline involving submarines: "Terror Jet Was Zapped By A Sub". This one is dumb even by the standards of the British press, since the story never says that a sub is a possible cause of a jet losing altitude quickly; it postulated that powerful VLF transmissions from the Navy Communications Station in Exmouth, Australia, was responsible for interfering with the jet's systems; this is despite the fact that VLF is chosen for submarine communications precisely because it hugs the ground, and that the station has been transmitting for over 40 years without causing other problems with aircraft. It's just important for the British press to try to blame the U.S. military for every problem that happens in the world.

5) The Family Readiness Group of the USS Nebraska (SSBN 739), in conjunction with the "Big Red Sub Club" from Nebraska (home of a football team that's gonna kick KSU's butt today) donated 600 turkeys to the Central Kitsap food bank. Go Big Red!

My test in Seattle went pretty well. They determined that my cancer had penetrated to the "2nd layer" of tissue, but had not spread to the lymph nodes; they say I'll have the best chance of becoming completely cancer-free if I get the radiation/chemo before the surgery. (This was a "borderline" case for whether rad/chemo or surgery was indicated first; had I not been so "young", they said they would have gone with surgery, but figure I can handle the radiation OK and have a better chance of beating it completely thereby.) Hopefully that will be starting this week. I'm just happy to have a way-ahead laid out, and just want to start eliminating this thing -- with extreme prejudice. Radiation is my friend!