Gratuitous Pic Of My Old Boat
Because it's always nice to see one of my old boats out on the tip of the spear, here's a picture of USS Connecticut (SSN 22) pulling into Yokosuka earlier this week:
posted by Bubblehead at 4:19 PM
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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- Name: Bubblehead
- Location: Meridian, Idaho, United States
I'm Joel Kennedy -- a married, 50-something year old retired submarine officer and esophageal cancer survivor with three kids who has finally made the transition to civilian life. Politically, I'm a Radical Moderate. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me. Don't call me at home.)
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19 Comments:
Gotta sneak down and try to get a tour today!
2/18/2010 6:10 PM
Where's the fairwater planes?
2/18/2010 6:28 PM
Looks like it could go like a rocket.
RM2(SS)
2/18/2010 11:05 PM
Fairwater planes make too much noise. Sound and time is of the essence and I believe it was the "688i" boats which started with this new idea. Plus we can dive much quicker and quieter with bow planes. The reasoning behind that one is, the planes on the bow are already in the water (which is why you cannot see them). Hence, we save a few precious seconds when it's time to maneuver and perform all that other cool shit we get to do occasionally.
MT1(SS) WidgetHead
PS...Gotta admit fairwater planes do make a boat look a bit more sleek and mean like a shark. But waita' minute, we're not supposed to be seen now are we?
2/19/2010 1:31 AM
Good to see the double deuce! I wonder how Fred the Polar Bear is doing.
2/19/2010 5:37 AM
Did they get the name "fairwater planes" because they were only good for anything when the seas were calm? (If you don't count swim call.)
And the next question: Why the heck did they get put up there in the first place?
2/19/2010 7:22 AM
Fairwater planes were used before it was possible to completely baffle bow planes from the passive sonar system. The bow plane hydraulics made too much noise and reduced the capability of the older sonars from detecting other sounds. The fairwater planes solved that problem. In the late eighties the noise solution was resolved and the forward planes moved back to the bow where they are more effective in handling depth control.
2/19/2010 8:55 AM
Look at where the sail was on 637 class boats compared to where the sail is on a 688 boats. The sail used to be in the front of the boat so the fairwater planes worked well. On 688s the sail is much farther aft and I think that is why the fairwater planes didn't work as well.
Not sure what the designers were going after, but I always figured the sail got moved back in a large part to allow the addition of the VLS.
Interesting point on the noise of bow planes interfering with the sphere.
2/19/2010 11:54 AM
Definitely a lot calmer than the last time I pulled in on the Deuce Deuce. Probably was not the smartest thing to send guys topside in gail force winds and waves breaking over topside. I hope all my old shipmates are doing good. Good luck on your next mission and stay out of trouble on "The Haunch" and Roppongi.
FastAttackChief
2/19/2010 3:02 PM
"Not sure what the designers were going after, but I always figured the sail got moved back in a large part to allow the addition of the VLS."
Not true. The first 688 with VLS was the 719 - a lot of boats were built without VLS.
The SSN688 hull design was all about speed.
SSN 688 was initially intended to be a single one off submarine. The plan was to take an existing cruiser reactor design (D1G), install it in to a submarine and see how fast it would go. IIRC, this (and the compromises involved) were discussed in a couple of books (Running Critical and Submarine Admiral).
2/19/2010 5:46 PM
All I know about bow planes is that we spend a lot of money fixing the retraction system. Give me my fairwaters any day (although they did get me in shipyard critique once).
2/19/2010 6:32 PM
Boats without fairwater planes miss out on one of the leading indicators of poor ship control by the Dive, the resounding slap of a FW plane on the surface when he's supposed to be at PD! "Dive, mark your depth!" Never heard that on MY watch. hahaha.
2/19/2010 7:10 PM
Of course, with bow planes you occasionally get "bow plane slap" when you're supposed to be at PD, a much grosser indication of loss of depth control.
2/19/2010 9:14 PM
They're call Fairwater Planes because the sail-like structure on old diesel boats that protected the periscopes was called a fairwater. It protected the scopes from the pressure of moving forward through the water when submerged.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fairwater
2/20/2010 2:00 PM
all my "old boats" are razor blades
lAMB
2/21/2010 6:05 PM
Its good to see the double deuce I miss some of the good times we had on here overseas
2/21/2010 6:07 PM
All the old boomers went to the head of the razor blade line.
2/22/2010 5:17 AM
My old boat went to Peru... probably outlasted a lot of nukes cause it was in service until 1995.
2/22/2010 6:22 PM
Are they using the Wolf as a spare parts depot for the Carter and the 22? The old joke about all three Wolfs going west was for spare parts for the Carter. Not sure if there is much canab going on but it seems reasonable.
2/24/2010 12:28 PM
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