USS Seawolf Profile
A reporter for Stars and Stripes was aboard USS Seawolf (SSN 21) for a week and filed some interesting stories. They include a discussion about how pop culture can pass Submariners by during the six month deployments; a feature on NUBs; a story about some interesting personalities you find among Submariners; and two other articles that familiarize non-submariners with submarining here and here. Some good light reading for a Saturday morning.
Update 1535 14 July: Speaking of media availabilities, here's a series of reports from a recent media embark on USS Toledo (SSN 769) I mentioned earlier.
posted by Bubblehead at 8:49 AM
14 Comments:
Nubs and some kind of horseplay in the Goat Locker? Great job SEAWOLF for making a young sailor feel welcome on board, promoting horseplay, and generally making the submarine force look like a bunch a juvenile idiots.
Morons.
7/11/2009 11:13 AM
Nope, that ain't it. S&S wrote up a decent expose of what kind of life nubs endure for the next 9 to 18 months of their existence. Nubs are either learning a specific station or system at any given time, along many many hours in study hall. The only other things we did when I was a nub was stand top-side watch during an occasional swim call and storeloads. Well that, and trash & shitter detail as well.
7/11/2009 1:58 PM
Anon at 11:13 am - you must have had a terrific time riding subs.
7/11/2009 7:33 PM
For some reason I can't get the pictures but are the descriptions really talking about people being on the bridge/topside while the boat is surfacing? That's gotta suck...
7/11/2009 8:19 PM
Horseplay <> hazing. Goofing off takes place. People need to be mature enough to acknowledge that. I remember a couple years ago when a pic showed up on the internet showing people with beards posing near maneuvering. What got the crystal tower pissed was the beards. "A double standard" in port and at sea they said. You know, those diesel guys stand watch underway in shorts and a t-shirt, and they are still professional.
If you think that stuff doesn't happen, you are deluded. So if you approve of letting a reporter ride a ship for a while, not everything that is seen is going to be 'perfect.' Like the nuc talking about how he "doesn't fear" nuclear power. Not the phrasing NR would like, but not everyone is a trained talking head.
BTW, swim call? Do you know how few boats actually do those? I often wondered what my boss thought when he heard about mine.
7/12/2009 4:03 AM
Boats don't do swim call any more? I am sorry to hear that. I still have a cruise book from SEADRAGON in the late sixties showing our swim call in the Gulf of Tonkin. Just had to watch out for Sharks and Sea Snakes. When operating in the Bahamas (Autec in TOTO or in Exuma Sound) my LANT boats always made time for a quick dip (if only for an hour or two). We had a barbeque topside on one extended time on the surface between exercises. Those times helped crew morale and built some fond memories. It was part of what made submarining fun. I hope all of that has not gone by the wayside.
7/12/2009 1:50 PM
Unfortunately, no: swim calls appear to be a thing of the past. From 1998-2006 the only swim calls I heard of were for Middy Ops, and my Middy ops in '98 and '99 were sans-swim call.
/would have loved to have jumped off of the giant fairwater planes on Ustafish.
-LT L
7/12/2009 2:52 PM
Not sure about anyone else, but I had several swim calls on a Pac SSBN from 2004-2007, and only one involved mids. Another involved a repair scenario on the surface, sucked for the division with the work, but was great for the rest of the crew.
As far as the downer at 11:13, really? Horseplay was one of the best ways I knew to build ownership on the boat...within limits. I'll never forget after taking over DCA walking into AMR2 and standing on the A-gang deck symbol, the wrestling match that insued clearly helped bond the division, and gave guys something to laugh about for a while.
BoiseBubba
7/12/2009 3:44 PM
I have great memories of swim calls throughout my career. At anchor off Lahaina, off the leeward coast of Oahu, off Guam and during a crossing the line ceremony on the Equator. I really looked for opportunities while in command and took advanage when the weather (sea state) supported it.
The last swim call I had in command was just north of the equator on what happened to be the halfway day of our deployment. We came to p/d a sunrise and the ocean was as smooth an a pane of glass. We went deep and came back up just before lunch. We were able to get a good couple of hours of swimming in before getting on the way again. I remember mentioning the swim call to several O-6s and one of them asked me if I had asked anyone's permission before having one. This O-6 didn't think that I needed to do so, but evidently another CO had recently requested permission to have a swim call - seemed to me that this guy was looking for someone to share his responsibility...
7/12/2009 4:17 PM
Lt L - maybe for your boat.
I just did a swim call less than a year ago (no middies onboard). We had another one scheduled (but not advertised) two months ago that was called off due to operations.
Might be doing another one this month, we'll just have to see if there is time...
7/12/2009 4:31 PM
Had at several swim calls on every boat I served on, including the 726 class. I'm not sure why folks would think they're a thing of the past, I see/hear of boats doing them all the time.
Just like served_ssn_co says, goofiing off, or "horseplay" if you like, happens. Submariners are professionals, but they're people, first and foremost. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar and they know it.
Nubs. The term exists, it was used long before Anon @11:13 joined, and will be used long after everyone here moves on to another career. It's not derogatory, it is what it is. Until a person qualifies a watchstation and gets his dolphins, he is a nub, get over it.
Nothing I saw in the Stars and Stripes articles brings discredit to the Submarine Force. Besides, who is the primary market for Stars and Stripes? I'm pretty sure they get it.
Anon: Get a life.
7/13/2009 4:56 AM
LT L -
"Sans-swim call"?
I don't want ANY part of that! Diving in SAN1 for a close out was enough for me!
7/13/2009 3:13 PM
I liked how the article used the term "Nub" and Joel correctly used it as an acronym, "NUB". Shame that the article neglected to use proper technical writing style and spell out the acronym the first time it's used.
Wonder if they'll use the term "FLOB" correctly if they discuss riders?
Carl
7/13/2009 5:11 PM
Surely, the guy is totally just.
9/21/2012 11:55 AM
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