Aussie Sub CO In Deep Kimchi
The CO of the Collins-class submarine HMAS Farncomb (SSG 74) is in hot water today after some interesting comments in an Australian men's magazine. Excerpts:
A British-born navy submarine commander is in deep water among women's groups after suggesting that female sailors would help recruitment if they posed in bikinis.A preview of the interview in question is here. Dave Barry put out a great book a few years ago talking about the difference between men and guys; it looks to me like this CO definitely falls on the "guy" side of the divide. I've always like the "guy"-type submarine COs better, so I'm hoping that this guy is able to ride the storm out.
Politicians and feminists have joined in condemning 37-year-old Commander Tom Phillips, who joined the Australian navy in 1990 as a Seaman Officer.
Appointed to the 'hunter-killer' submarine HMAS Farncomb last year, Commander Phillips went even further by suggesting that the submariner's equivalent of the notorious 'mile high club' for people having sex on a plane was the 'going down club.'
Commander Phillips made his remarks in an interview in a raunchy men's magazine, Ralph, and navy officials are now scrambling to defend him by insisting his remarks were totally tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriously.
At the risk of having the comment thread get totally out of control, are any of you members of this hypothetical "going down" club, or have you heard stories of someone who is? Let's limit any possible discussion of the best locations for initiation into the club to duty day / dependent cruise types of situations. (Hypothetically, for an officer, I imagine that a Stateroom during a duty day when you're singled up and your wife comes down for dinner would be the most likely place for this to happen.)
posted by Bubblehead at 5:50 AM
12 Comments:
Going down club? being a civvie, that isn't likely to happen for me. This skipper should have remembered the old movie (?) line run silent, run deep.
But he should keep his job, as I do think he was having a bit of fun pulling the interviewer's leg.
1/15/2009 12:02 PM
Way Back in the days of smoke boat "viking liberty" going-down-club happened frequently during port visits in out-of-the-way locations like Keelung Taiwan and Tahiti. Check "Loss Of The Stickleback" oral history @ submarinesailor.com, and refer to comment by goodlooking a-ganger from Iowa on separate thread.
My two cents, and keep a zero bubble.......
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET
1/15/2009 12:21 PM
One of my fellow ET's did, during a dependent's cruise on the Long Beach. Others were in berthing, the curtain was closed, there is very little doubt. I dunno if I'd've really wanted to do that, but maybe for later sea story purposes....
-3383
1/15/2009 4:25 PM
On my first boat, our NAV bragged about borrowing the CO's stateroom when his wife came to visit.
While Jimmy Carter was riding his namesake ship in 2005, he and Mrs. Carter met with crew on Crew's Mess. Long story short, Jimmy reminisced about his days as a JO on a sub in Pearl Harbor and said "last night was not the first time Rosalyn was in a submarine rack."
1/15/2009 5:13 PM
Once during a duty day before a dependents cruise underway the Duty Chief - a QMC when we still had those - told me that he and his wife had joined the "test depth club" in the towed array handling space on Ustafish. I have always thought that was one of the funniest things I've ever heard on the boat. The rest came from Bubblehead.
1/15/2009 5:30 PM
My wife and I had plenty of opportunities but we both agreed the trauma of associating her* smell with that of amine just wasn't worth the risk...
1/15/2009 7:04 PM
I convinced 3 girlfriends (at different times) to have the sex with me in the sonar dome, they all really liked the angle of attack...and the crawl down the tunnel on the mooring lines.
1/16/2009 11:19 AM
Not underway, but in port. Three different classes of ships. Uh, never in a rack, always in a stateroom.
1/16/2009 12:25 PM
Torpedo room bearthing on a 616 class, top rack, in port Holy Loch. A "lonely" tender lady made my day.
1/16/2009 6:43 PM
Tender and tug winches always knew how to take care of a Sailor while he was away from his wife! Thank God for women in the Navy!
1/16/2009 9:50 PM
Derek, your Jimmy Carter story... EWWW!
My wife and I did the nasty in the laundry room on a T-Hull one night when I had duty.
Such fond memories...
1/30/2009 5:01 PM
hi every i really like your comment many knowledgeable information in this site and every articles in this site really very nice thanks for share it.
flights to perth--flights to perth
11/09/2009 10:51 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home