Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Thursday, September 09, 2010

POD Notes

1) For those still on active duty, NAVPERSCOM is worried that some Sailors don't know that up to 75 days of leave can be carried over past the end of the year, rather than the standard 60, for many Sailors. (It has been up to 120 days in the recent past.) This authority, most recently granted in October 2008, has been extended out to 2013 for "service members assigned to hostile fire or imminent danger areas, certain deployable ships, mobile units, or other duty..." If you don't know if these limits apply to your command, ask your YN and he'll give you a stupid look. (Just kidding! Much respect to the admin weenies! Please don't mess up my retirement checks!)

2) A disturbing report came out today about a submarine contractor who falsified QA records. Excerpts:
The metal was intended for use in Virginia-class subs, which are built by Northrop Grumman's Newport News shipyard in partnership with Electric Boat of Groton, Conn...
...Bristol Alloys, a metal broker, was a third-tier subcontractor in a chain of companies contracted to build 14 subs for $22.7 billion. Bristol Alloys sold metals to Garvey Precision Machine of Willingboro, N.J., a subcontractor that manufactured parts for Northrop Grumman.
The fraud allegations involve such parts as snorkel hoist pipes, piston tailrods and tailrod bushings shipped between 2004 and 2008. Bristol Alloys is accused of submitting fraudulent heating test certifications indicating that the metals had been heat-treated when they had not been.
(The story also says the company is no longer in business.) A major assumption of the QA program is that the material being used meets required specifications. If the base material is not up to spec, there's a chance it might be caught during initial retests, but issues that would only show up under cyclic stress wouldn't. As one QA instructor said, "We have an extensive material control topic. One of the things we cover is verifying that the material is good. With manufacturing fraud like this, even the best boat QA can't prevent installing bad parts and putting our boats at risk." Just another example of why Submariners deserve extra pay.

3) USS Hawaii (SSN 776) arrived in Japan last week for the first deployment of a Virginia-class boat to the Western Pacific. Here's a picture of her sailing in Tokyo Wan:


4) Finally, and completely off topic, I've always wondered why there are TV shows celebrating "bounty hunters". They generally seem like a bunch of not-very-smart no-neck bullies to me, as illustrated by this story from Tennessee.

22 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Makes one wonder why the three men were not immediately arrested when they arrived at the jail. I would have been raising holy hell about being kidnapped! And btw, there is now way I would have accepted a rife back home with these three idiots.

9/10/2010 5:41 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

as far as Bristol Alloys, the person responsible for those tests should go to jail. being a convicted felon does wonders for a person's resume.

9/10/2010 8:00 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

look at the high-rez photo of the Hawaii. looking to the diver's right side, is there a chunk of the hull is missing?

9/10/2010 8:04 AM

 
Blogger Vigilis said...

"...why there are TV shows celebrating "bounty hunters".

Express the ratio of all TV shows celebrating bounty hunters to all of the TV shows celebrating lawyers. Do you get about 1/16?

Now, ask yourself why there are TV shows celebrating lawyers.

Hollywood TV/movie script writers (some of whom may have been police or lawyers) can play a major role in imaginative theories for high-stakes acquittals, such as O.J.'s.

What about the "bounty hunters"?
In the revenue cycle of lawyers, bounty hunters assure trials proceed as planned and the judge, DA and defendant's attorneys are kept full.

If bounty hunters ever become defendants, so much the better for the attorney revenue cycle. Another set of judges, DAs and defense attorneys are billed to society.

Proof:
Thejob news for lawyers out today
was largely good: the legal industry gained 1000 jobs in August. It was the second straight month of positive job growth.

9/10/2010 9:14 AM

 
Anonymous Just sayin' said...

Name one, single 'good' TV show. I honestly can't.

9/10/2010 9:46 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Back on the boat: what is the most-aft mast that's extended? It almost looks like a slimmer, trimmer version of the photonics mast...which has always been a butt-ugly fat telephone pole to my way of thinking

9/10/2010 9:53 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

@ Just sayin' 9/10/2010 9:46 AM


what about the Johnny Carson show?

9/10/2010 11:10 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes part of the Boat is missing. Being a former Hawaii crew member that sight was not uncommon. It actually plagues all Virginia class boats. The new style Hull treatment (MIP-SHT) doesn't hold up well. I remember going topside to do hull surveys and a whole 20ft section was missing. So much for sound silencing!

The aft most mast is either a muti-function mast, or a mission configurable mast depending on port or stbd.
Former Hawaii Smag

9/10/2010 12:09 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Coincidentally, a photo showing USS Norfolk's port bow as she return to PNSY showed similar, severe gouging.

Since Norfolk ain't a Virginia class boat, and since the h--res photo was removed when I went back to look for it today, the explanation might not be all that boring.

For instance, was the Non-Skid Over Special Hull Treatment (SHT) or Mold in Place Special Hull Treatment (MIP-SHT) applied to both boats by the same Northrup Grumman sub-contractor?

Sally

9/10/2010 12:56 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What I was told was they changed the glue.

Old glue worked great, lasted a long time, but was seriously nasty HAZMAT & extremely caustic / carcinogenic / insert other bad for the environment 5 syllable word here.

The new glue is much less so, and also happesn to suck at keeping tiles adhered when boats run at high speeds, regardless of class.

This is plaguing ALL our boats.

9/10/2010 1:43 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sally,
The Virginia's use a new design that creats a solid one piece with very few seams. Where the older 688's use tiles to achieve the same effect. We replaced the whole thin back in 2008 during PSA. And a large portion during POM at PHNSY.
Former Hawaii Smag

9/10/2010 1:44 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the aft most mast is a new photonics mast that is being tested because the company that currently makes them sucks balls. not to go into too much detail, but the new one no longer has all of the problems that plagued the old style, oh and it doesn't look like a giant trashcan. a little bit more testing and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the norm.

9/10/2010 1:59 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

funny that the mip is ripping off again. she was just re mipped a couple months ago. I wonder if there are any photos of the Texas returning from their little deployment. They have mip ripped off every which way.

9/10/2010 2:03 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

speak of the devil. http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=55529

9/10/2010 2:07 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

According to Navy times, it looks like we're going to have a living MOH recipient pretty soon. How cool is that?

9/10/2010 2:45 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was in the room when the company that currently makes the photonics mast was making its initial design presentation. My strongest reaction was to the size of the damn thing...it was just stupid big.

Their reaction to my reaction was along the lines of "funny...that's pretty much what we hear from the fleet guys, too."

What-ever...the company that starts with a "K" was decidedly not a technology company back then.

Glad in any case that the new-and-improved version gets it when it comes to having the right size and shape, though in all fairness they have 15 years of technology evolution going for them that the Circle K did not.

9/10/2010 4:29 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was actually surprised that so much of the SHT was still on...

9/10/2010 6:15 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the Batfish was the first boat to get SHT back in the day (i was a crewmember). it was always tearing off. we had to send divers out to cut it away sometimes to keep it from flapping around. looks like they went back to the old glue or something.

9/10/2010 9:27 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why did they put the FWD LOC??
hatch to the port side when opening?
Damn good way to lose a hatch like
the Groton did back in the 80's.
That'll act like a wedge for waves
while on the surface.
A '594 buddy up in yoko
toured her. He said she's every bit
as tight as a '594. That would suck.

9/10/2010 10:43 PM

 
Blogger John Byron said...

"the Batfish was the first boat to get SHT back in the day."

BATFISH and GUDGEON (aka Rubber Ducky). CNO Project 699. GUDGEON tiles were window-paned with harder rubber framing and stayed on well. Also helped by a submerged speed slightly faster than kelp.

9/11/2010 5:00 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Words-of-the-day for the MIP-ites: "shrink wrap."

9/11/2010 10:34 AM

 
Blogger Ken in Yoko said...

I went down and got a tour a week ago Saturday. Pretty impressive.
I couldn't believe how tight the passageways were.
The biggest shocker...
SONAR IS IN CONTROL!!!
How in hell am I gonna read the dictionary on the midwatch if I'm in control?

9/12/2010 3:43 AM

 

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