PCU Missouri Finishes Alpha Trials
PCU Missouri (SSN 780) just finished Alpha Trials out of Electric Boat in Groton on the Fourth. Here's a picture of her heading out to sea:
More pictures can be found here. Just for the record, I wanted to point out -- not for purposes of argument, just stating a fact -- that I was the fastest American submarine Engineer ever on Alpha Trials when I went out on Connecticut in 1998. And, depending on whether or not the Russian Alfa-class boats did full power runs on their Alpha Trials, I might be the fastest ever worldwide. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
posted by Bubblehead at 11:54 PM
54 Comments:
SSFTSFO?
No, wait, that was USS Seawolf.
7/08/2010 6:58 AM
SSFTSFO - submarine so fast that shit falls off?
7/08/2010 7:11 AM
"...that I was the fastest American submarine Engineer ever on Alpha Trials when I went out on Connecticut in 1998."
And she has been broke ever since!
7/08/2010 7:39 AM
bh
how could you be the fastest? I remember when Hyman and I used to talk, he told me quzck quack that I was the Fastest.
John
I called him Hyman because he called me John
7/08/2010 8:08 AM
Joel - I don't know if Connecticut was faster than the old Albacore or not. I know that Albacore was faster than the Skipjack class albeit for a short period of time. I know when I saw the video of Missouri leaving on Sea Trials, I was thinking, "Sea Trials over Fourth of July, Yuuch!" I suspect that EB had to pay all of their employees a lot of OT for those trials.
7/08/2010 9:02 AM
It is a tradition to do fast cruise or sea trials on a holiday.
On PCU Hawaii, we started our 96 hour fast cruise on Thanksgiving. Worked out well for EB, since they only had to have 1-2 shipyard workers on-hand during our fast cruise. If we hadn't been fast-cruising, they would have been paying OT to a significant numebr of workers to get us ready for seatrials.
7/08/2010 9:50 AM
Ah, holiday routine...holiday up forward, routine aft. Keep reminding me while they back up the Brinks truck to my house everytime I work a holiday now that I'm a civilian.
7/08/2010 10:26 AM
What, no pics with the infamous broom that bh likes so much, I'm shocked
7/08/2010 11:29 AM
I decided to give up a while back on tilting at broomsticks. I still think it's idiotic and disrespectful to tradition, but at least they seem to have not posted pictures of it for the last few boats.
Re: Seawolf vs. Connecticut on Alpha Trials, I was on both, and Seawolf was slowed down by having strain gages installed (a first of class requirement). As far as the Albacore, I would be hard pressed to believe that those boats were faster than a Seawolf.
7/08/2010 12:31 PM
Seawolf class is really fast and already deemed obsolete by the money tree shakers. Lucky that 3 were built in the first place. Fast in the water but fast to nowhere. The 637s were around for a long time while the faster 688s transitionaed in and now the VA class is coming online to replace the 688s.
The Wolfs are hard core platforms but just a blip on a page of a class that was cancelled in history before it ever really materialized.
I am sure that Trojan Duck will have some insightful BS about the threat disappearing. Funny thing, the Red Chinese Communists and Commie Russians are still a huge threat. So the threat excuse lacks merit and substance.
Spin, spin, spin the story.
Lil AC Jr.
7/08/2010 12:51 PM
Threat...what threat?
~"Mad Jack"
7/08/2010 1:47 PM
I heard they took the strain gauges off the 21 and put hydrofoils on the 22.
Any truth to that ENG?
7/08/2010 3:10 PM
Trojan Duck,
It is apparent that you might have been overcome by democratitis which is characterized by mental illness and a disdain for reality.
The threats are the Red Commie Chinese and the Red Russian Commies.
I will type real slow so that you can take it all in. These red commie countries have enough hardware to pound big dogs into little puppies. Ok, let's review, threats are enemies who will kick your ass if given the opportunity.
We have other threats but this lesson must stay simple so that even progressive libs can take it all in.
Lil AC Jr.
7/08/2010 5:58 PM
The "Deuce Deuce" was without a doubt the fastest and most memorable submarine I have ever served on. OK, memory wise it maybe a tie with USS Cavalla only because that was my first boat and I got to meet her in Hong Kong for half of a WESTPAC. I can confirm that Connecticut went #%.# knots during sea trials making her the fastest US Submarine. If you have a good head on your shoulders and don't mind working your ass off, I highly encourage you to try life on a Seawolf Class boat.
HOO-YAH "ARSENAL OF THE FUCKING NATION"
7/08/2010 6:43 PM
Note: The Russians are not commies. Stop living in the past.
7/08/2010 7:23 PM
Regarding threats:
Each morning I will have read 4 'paper' newspapers that land in my driveway and 5 online 'newspapers,' from which I start to get an image of the general shape of the day's news. The 6 newsweekly magazines I read each week add to that understanding, as do the myriad monthlies and semi-monthlies. Then books and lectures. Then maybe something sorta like the truth takes shape in my mind ... or at least my idea of what the truth may be.
YMMV.
Uh. What was the question...?
~"Mad Jack"
7/08/2010 8:08 PM
I did BRAVO Trials on CONNECTICUT as an O2 load. It was fast.
7/08/2010 9:53 PM
Regarding the threat question again:
"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil....and evil."
~"Mad Jack"
7/08/2010 10:42 PM
Note: The Russians are not commies. Stop living in the past.
Oh yeah, now they're crony capitalists -same result, different name. Still selling shit to the ragheads of the world.
7/08/2010 11:45 PM
For the uneducated individual who thinks that the Russians are not commies, you need to stop listening to the propaganda BS on state run media. The Russians have NEVER renounced communism. They got into some money troubles and it became an economic ploy to stop using the term communists but Russia is still fully a communist nation. North Korea has a cool sounding name, Peoples Republic.... lol, yeah, still red commies there also. Just changing a name does not change the nation. Red pinko commies (China, Russia, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba ....) can change their names all they want but the facts remain the same.
Lil AC Jr.
7/09/2010 2:26 AM
The wife and I are attending the Commissioning Ceremony of the Missouri on the 31st. We're both pretty excited to be able to go!
7/09/2010 5:49 AM
Note: The Russians are not commies. Stop living in the past.
The person making the above statement that the Russians are not commies needs to stop doing drugs or whatever has robbed the brain of the necessary oxygen level to have at least two functioning brain cells. The Russians are commies to the core.
The only difference in the modern commies is that they figured out that they can make money selling crap to anyone.
The Berlin Wall coming down changed nothing except a reorganization of their satellites and some new buzz words to sound less commie. They branched out in how to make money because communism is a failure economically. The Red Chinese have also figured out how to make money but then again, still Red Commies.
Russians are full blooded red commies.
Jasper
7/09/2010 8:06 AM
Lil AC Jr.,
Dude, you are about to get your professional assclown license pulled if you can't STAY ON PC ASSCLOWN TOPIC and either (1) sing the praises of putting women, gays, bisexual, transexual, NAMBLA, metrosexual, bestial-sexual, K thru 8th-grade sexual, onan-sexual, omni-sexual and, yes, RED-HEADED TWINK MIDGETS on the boats, or (2) CONFESS that the modern submarine Navy has no mission and no threats to be dealing with.
My buddies Ray, Mike and Gary - not to mention many other SKIMMER WINNERS and DEMOCRAT WINNERS - are getting very upset with your non PC Assclown style of speach.
And straighten - er, gay - up. Haven't you heard? Society is changing...dammit.
~"Mad Jack"
7/09/2010 8:39 AM
Trojan Duck,
I refuse to ascribe to your roving diversity hit-parade freak show. Next month will be the gay bi curious and left-handed gerbil dunking contest on the marquee. Your mindset has degraded what used to be a great team into a third rate freak show. Your crap is dysfunctional, your lackies are brainwashed by social dribble and your bearings are swinging hard. You might want to stay close to land because your offspring are not able to swim with the big fish.
Oh yeah, society is changing, right into the san tanks with little hope of making it to the vents.
Lil AC Jr.
7/09/2010 8:53 AM
"The Berlin Wall coming down changed nothing except a reorganization of their satellites..."
Wow! Germany is Communist! I failed to realize that!
7/09/2010 9:04 AM
Germany is reunited, well, ok the Red Commies let the Germans go. Nevertheless, Germany has no bearing on the fact that the Russians are still Red Pinko Commies to the core.
Nice catch on Germany, you are truly a rocket scientist who is a master of the obvious.
7/09/2010 9:12 AM
Germany anon,
If you read something with a little more attention to detail you would note that "satelite reorganiztion" includes East Germany and the rest of the former Soviet Eastern Bloc slave states.
Russia invaded their former baby in Georgia just to flex some military muscle and to let the other Russian orphan states know that anytime Russia wants its kid states back they can just take them.
7/09/2010 9:22 AM
Lil AC Jr.,
I'm sorry, son...but you just lost your PC Assclown card-carrying privileges.
You simply CANNOT SPEAK THE TRUTH and expect otherwise. Do you just not get assclown-ity?
Next thing you know, you'll be VOTING AGAINST DEMOCRATS in the coming elections. If they LOSE BIGTIME, then who will fix the gerbil shortage in Cocoa Beach with taxpayer money???
~"Mad Jack"
7/09/2010 9:32 AM
Trojan Duck,
Pulling my AC card will not abate my relentless pursuit of exposing the insanity that is the progressive liberal democraps.
The gerbil shortage in your neck of the woods appears to be causing you a pain in the rear. Maybe you should contact some of the NE states or Californsodomy on the west coast, their politicians might have cornered the gerbil market right in their posteriors.
Lil AC Jr, (Ex AC as membership is pulled by Fowl Condom)
7/09/2010 10:06 AM
I'm so glad that no one uses this blog as a place to air stupid political stuff. That would be such a shame. Then we couldn't talk about all the neat stuff like the Missouri Commissioning or the Alpha Trials of the Connecticut or Seawolf.
We'd have to talk about nonsense, and toss insults at people we don't know just so we can feel all important and stuff, while hiding behind anonymous names.
I'm so glad that doesn't happen here.
7/09/2010 11:12 AM
Lil AC Jr,
It was I who qualified you, and it is only I who can DQ you. The waterfowl who wears a prophylactic on his head is out of bounds and needs a stern reprimand. I see no evidence to support a disqualification.
You rank toward the top in PC Ass Clownery. Your ability spew cynicism at the true PC brain dead idiots while, at the same time appearing to be one yourself is masterful.
And it hasn't hurt that you married the left handed midget queer drag queen brother of Barney Frank. So keep up the appearance brother.
7/09/2010 11:51 AM
Jim Armstrong,
I know serious PC Assclown talent when I see it, and your obviously tongue-in-cheek comments about "unimportant" PC Assclown commentary in the era of a 4-star general getting fired for one of his staff member's calling the Vice President a "pee-pee head" after a few stiff drinks is truly standing ovation-category cynicism.
Well done, sir...madam...twink as you may be. You are welcome to apply for PC Assclown status any time you like.
~"Mad Jack"
P.S. @PC Assclown: you're just going to spoil the Lil AC Jr boy. Where's the discipline???
7/09/2010 1:16 PM
But did they include a lockin/lockout as part of trials...
Click here to learn how
7/09/2010 1:33 PM
Jim,
I agree. It would be a real shame if this site devolved into the idiocy so common on most sites. Although we often disagree, it's refreshing to have a place where we can intelligently discuss our differences while remaining united in our common background in submarines.
Eric
7/09/2010 1:36 PM
Jim,
I can see why you are excited at the prospect of seeing the commissioning. If the dems get their way the building schedule will be cut in half and submarine commissionings will become a very infrequent happenstance. Decommissionings will be increased. The SSGNs are slated to be scrapped. That is a shame to spend all that money on them just to be traded for "vote buying" programs.
I attended the Alabama's ceremony way back in the day. Some boat sponsors put on a very nice party for the crew and attendees. Other sponsors, well, their name is in the commissioning booklet but that is as far as their involvement goes.
Roger
7/09/2010 1:54 PM
There are amoung us a few who seem to dislike the communication style that others among us choose to use. Are these dislikers the same who, given the chance, would thrust their own brand of allowable behavior down our throats (or up our arses)? I believe they are.
They would have us sit in the parlor with tea cups on our knees, discussing the topic at hand within the primm and proper rules of the Marquis of Queensbury. Well, you who must conform to the correct can kiss my ass.
Cynicism is the bane of the politically correct. Those who detest the truly politically correct assclowns enjoy using cynicism as a method of highlighting how idiotic, inefficient, and costly the pc crowd makes life for the rest of us.
Although most of us are fully capable of discussing (arguing) any side of a point in full elloquence mode, many of us choose to use the style of the Great One (EM Log), by finding fault where we can.
So for those who think some of us are running Joel's blog into the ground with our cynical commentary, we're sorry and we'll try to behave better. Ha....
7/09/2010 3:26 PM
Well-said, well-spoken, PC Assclown.
While we're on the subject of why cynicism is ruling the day:
"As United States Collapses, Media Worships LeBron James"
Sad times, gents, when the Democrat governor of Ohio - which IS going bankrupt - spends his day serenading a fucking basketball player. It is indeed the year 410.
We now return you to our regular cynicism.
~"Mad Jack"
7/09/2010 3:43 PM
The neuterization and pussification of American society through PC diversity dumbing down is well underway as evidenced by the mamby pamby arrogant dipsticks roaming the cyber hallways. The military is infected with this PC diversity crap that is nothing more than discrimination with buzzwords and cool sounding "Nice programs." PC diversity means never having to apologize for incompetence and leadership failure.
Lil AC Jr. (Down but never out)
7/09/2010 3:49 PM
"Decommissionings will be increased. The SSGNs are slated to be scrapped."
And you're basing that thought on what exactly? How much money and time have we spent on AWS over the years? Umm...No the GNs aren't going away anytime soon. If anything, we're gonna need more of them in the not too distant future.
7/09/2010 4:16 PM
@MT1(ss):
I assume you're aware that the converted SSGNs are the four lead boats of the class. The conversions were down concurrent with their first refuelings. I'm not going to be specific about expected core life, but you can do the math by checking it out yourself. When the second core is done, the boat is done; that also happens to be the approximate design life for the hull. The existing GNs will expire over a 6-8 year period; then there will be no more, unless they do the expensive conversion on the final boats of the class, or start building a new class of them. I don't think the first is likely; there was a fair amount of resistance to the conversions the first time around. There are no doubt a few on the blog who may have better info - those are my thoughts as a current SY worker and past submariner.
7/09/2010 5:01 PM
MT1,
If you get the chance to read news sources from cool places liek the legislature you will see that the SSGNs are on the scrap list. They will not serve as per their core life. The dems are cut happy and they are on the targeted list for cancellation. Also, something like 4 carriers are on the scrap list. Please remember that the money people are driven by their own political agendas and please do not be so naive as to think that just because they are refueled and reconfigured that they will escape the budget monster cuts. The boomer force is slated to go down to 6 total and 40 fast boats based on the dream team's wish list. A lot of wrangling will occur but the dems have to fund their "feel good vote buying schemes" and the DOD is downsizing. The USMC is looking at a 30% decrease on the money tree's wish list. Yes, we are still in a few wars but the social freaks need the money to fund their important agendas. This is no joke and it most certainly will come to pass.
Jasper
7/09/2010 5:26 PM
I don't think the second outcome is very likely either. There's a lot of resistance, if you read the papers, to spending $6-8 billion per unit on the SSBN replacement. Let's assume, for cost cutting, that you'd building SSGN replacement as some kind of bastardized version of the SSBN replacement, with altered tube design to try to save on costs by using an already established design.
1) Unless the world stage is much more hostile, it's unlikely the Navy will want to continue eating up half its shipbuilding budget on submarines after SSBN replacement.
2) To avoid a gap, you basically need SSGN and SSBN replacements to come online at around the same time or even earlier, due to the SSGN optempo. Does anybody really think we're going to build 2 $8 billion dollar submarines per year? That's the entire navy shipbuilding budget + some!
I think it's pretty likely that we will not be building an SSGN replacement, and if we do, it's pretty much a certainty that there will be a fairly large gap between the current SSGN's and their replacement.
7/09/2010 7:02 PM
6 SSBN's?! I call bullshit. I'd like to see a "source" for that...
Even if they'd want to, we couldn't even come close to meeting strategic commitments with six SSBN's, that is one thing I do not think will come to pass.
7/09/2010 7:06 PM
I suspect "Jasper" is getting is information from the proposal published by Congressman Barney Frank regarding $1 Billion in spending cuts including the Defense Department. That proposal has a long way to go before it becomes the law of the land. I am sure that the submarine programs have sufficient support in Congress to weather the upcoming storm.
7/09/2010 7:54 PM
1 billion? Those level of cuts sound more like 100 billion... or more.
I think that anticipating some reasonable cuts are prudent, such as, we will end up with 10 SSBN replacements instead of the 14 we have now or we only build 20 VA class rather than 25. Those are cuts I can forsee, and probably are actually kind of prudent.
7/09/2010 9:55 PM
The boomer number is actually seven by the Barney Frank plan. The thing that will stop it is if the GOP can win the House in November. Otherwise, yeah - the plan is likely to be put in place, then the GOP has to take the White House in '12. You wanna think scary thoughts, think about what the boy king will try to do when he's a lame duck.
7/09/2010 10:50 PM
"unless they do the expensive conversion on the final boats of the class."
Sir, just exactly where are you getting this shit? You make it appear as though we're a species whose about to go extinct. Far from it.
BNs/GNs on both coasts are going to be maintained for atleast another 16 to 20 years. It's also alot more cost effective both in money and time for the tube conversion and missile loads to continue while we change over to GNs over time.
7/10/2010 12:30 AM
MT1:
I don't think anybody refutes that we will have SSGN's for the next 20 years or so. Only that once that 20 years are up, there are currently no plans to actually make any more SSGN's. Even if you convert the last few of the class, that only buys you a few more years, after which it will be time to build more SSN's.... So, it really does appear that GN's are going to expire at some point, or some portion of their capability will be rolled into another class of ship.
I just looked at that report... it's, interesting. 7 SSBN's armed with missiles is really closer to 10 SSBN's total however, when you take into account ERP's and Refueling...
7/10/2010 1:17 AM
MT1,
NASA is becoming the Muslim outreach program. Do you really think that GNs and BNs are any priority in the big scheme of things? After all, certain people want to disarm anyway.
Gary
7/10/2010 5:36 AM
SSGNs will not be around for 20 more years unless there is another hull life extension. Right now, the hull life for a 726 class is 45 years. Ohio was launched in '79, so around 2024 is the end of hull life. This gives us 14 more years of ops if navy is both willing to take her to the ragged edge and her reactor lasts that long.
There are no official plans at this moment to convert any other boomers to GNs, and I anticipate we'll start decomming the four we have in about 10 years or so (+3/-1), just based on the info I put out.
7/10/2010 5:58 AM
Having been in the yards on a newcon SSN at the same time Ohio was under construction, I can confidently say that you can at least add a few years to her hull lifespan from the 1979 date.
Ohio was in newcon status for 5+ years, and a great deal of that time she sat on the blocks rather than in the water. In fact, there was serious concern about "plastic deformation" of the hull due to her incredible amount of time on the blocks.
It's just a few years' difference...but that was Ohio's reality.
Off-topic, short story: one day my SSN's new COB and I were walking to our boat, and Ohio happened at that time to be in drydock between our barge and our boat. Rather than take the more-direct path of walking across Ohio, I started to take the longer path of walking back to the yard and then around Ohio's berth.
The COB was pretty surprised and asked why don't we just walk over Ohio to take the shorter path. My response: "COB, I've never set foot on a boomer, and I never intend to."
With a broad smile and deep barrel laughter, the COB said, "Mr. Xyyzzz...you and I are going to be great friends." And off a-walkin' we went.
BTW, COB, if you're still out there: I'm happy to report that I never set foot on an SSBN...neither in newcon, nor in many years of active duty.
7/10/2010 8:32 AM
IIRC, they already added years to Ohio class hull life to get the other SSBN's out to where they need to be to meet their replacements. At least, I remember hearing that when I was on the boat.
7/10/2010 11:26 AM
Yeah, they added 15 years.
7/10/2010 3:45 PM
I saw a lot of helpful data above!
7/26/2012 1:53 PM
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