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.)
Here's a COMSUBPAC video of a Distinguished Visitor embark for educators from Hawaii schools on USS Louisville (SSN 724) a couple of weeks ago:
posted by Bubblehead at 7:48 AM
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.)
52 Comments:
Two things:
1. Women in Subs will do fine.
2. I still don't like it when a 'narrator' says, 'sub-mare-in-er' - you know??
1/27/2011 7:57 AM
Female midshipmen. They actually appreciated being there since (at the time) it would be their only time.
1/27/2011 7:58 AM
I hope the sailors don't think every trip with civilian riders is a waste. I got to spend 5 days with my son (sort of) on a Tiger Cruise. Although I didn't actually spend a whole lot of time with him (it's not like the Navy gave him the week off) it was literally the trip of a life time for me.
I want every submariner to know that I remain deeply grateful that they let me walk their decks, eat their food and breathe their air.
The highlight might have been sharing a cigar with my MM3 (nuclear) on the bridge during the chilly Long Island Sound surface transit. We had almost an hour before someone else wanted to come up. The men navigating and the lookouts were unbelievably kind to let us have that time. When I'm very old and can't remember my own name any more, I'll still remember that hour.
Submariners rock!
1/27/2011 8:43 AM
Having COMSUBLANT and the Presidential Science Adviser embark in Autec and while showing him what a 688 could do while evading an exercie 48 exceeding TD.
SUBLANT later held the tradtional wardroom talk and told the CO he should consider that the TYCOM had been informed of exceeding TD and no further action was required.
Also enjoyed Adm McKee on Alpha trials when the MS's couldn't figure out how to even take his order for breakfast. As he stomped out of the wardroom and said "if someone can figure out how to get me some god damn breakfast I'll be up in my stateroom"...there ensued the panicked rush of at least 5 O-5/O-6s to the pantry door including one very large PCO getting sort of stuck in the door.
I was already eating when McKee walked in as the ongoing OOD. During my pre-watch tour I ran into the CO coming out of the XOs stateroom....he asked how things were going. i mentioned that Adm McKee was a little bit agitated about breakfast....ah good times.
1/27/2011 9:03 AM
@Curt
"Women in Subs will do fine."
I take it you were a nuc on a submarine yourself. On what concrete criteria do you venture such a blanket appraisal?
1/27/2011 9:06 AM
Let me answer, Curt. Response: because men can do it. It doesn't take a pecker to crew a T-hull (or a fast boat for that mattter)...
1/27/2011 9:19 AM
1. Crew's mess used to have a ton of baseball memorabilia, wonder what MSC got all that stuff?
2. We did a tiger cruise from San Diego to Victoria, Canada and it was awesome. Had a good time when we did a run to the big island too.
1/27/2011 9:59 AM
Anon @ 9:19 AM
I see, you are using strictly biological criteria.
Biological does not suffice due to the greater medical care required by women than by men.
So let me help you a bit. You have tacitly implied an important adder to the "success of women on subs" criteria. The force is going to overlook the predictable need for women's greater health care on boats. We will call this the PC criterion.
Do the above include all of your assumptions now? Don't you 'feel' much better about their accuracy?
In 10 years, how many female submariners as a percentage of all submariners actually serving at SEA, do you expect there to be?
p.s. We suspect you are a female with a chip on your narrow shoulder. You definitely ain't a nuke.
1/27/2011 10:12 AM
I had my best week at sea with then COMSUBLANT Eugene Wilkinson on board. Only time all of the torpedo exercises started and finished on time and the torpedos were recovered quickly by the retriever. It was great to have a WWII approach officer critique the firing exercises and ADM Wilkinson cleaned out the goat locker in cribbage. He really knew how to 'hall timber.'
My second best time was when we hosted the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs U. Alexis Johnson and the DNI from Norfolk to New London. We showed them what subs could do and got a great upper level briefing on intelligence and international relations from them.
1/27/2011 11:14 AM
PITTSBURGH med run in 1988, we had the 4-Star Air Force General (All FOrces Europe) driving the boat (pics available) while his aide blew lunch (no pics) in the CO's head.
1/27/2011 1:28 PM
USS Skate dependents' cruise from Lahaina, Maui, to Pearl Harbor circa 1980. The definition of "dependent" was slightly extended to include young, good-looking women in swimwear that we met in Maui. Several of them proved to be VIPs for the associated members of the crew, mostly over the short term, but at least one became a crew member's wife.
1/27/2011 1:42 PM
Prepared for three weeks for a SECDEF visit with his counterparts from Great Britain, France and Germany. What a pain in the ass. But, we got new life lines, mooring lines and a paint job. Field days from hell. They were there for an hour.
1/27/2011 1:54 PM
Worst VIP ride in history: USS GREENEVILLE 9 Feb 2001.
1/27/2011 2:03 PM
Amen to that RD...
1/27/2011 3:50 PM
@RD Were you onboard?
1/27/2011 4:52 PM
Super Bowl Sunday off PCAN with VIPs and a storm blows in and it is too rough to drop them off. We have no water so we are doing circles on the surface in SS5 is turns on the scope are a one way ticket to pukeland for a lot of the guys. Did at least get to hear the game, since we didn't get to pull in to see it at the Greenhouse.
1/27/2011 4:52 PM
Never got too bothered about VIP's since we normally got steak and lobster. Always thought we'd have had far fewer of them if the senior officers had to participate in the field days. ENG always used to come back and do his pro watch so the jo's could go clean.
1/27/2011 5:00 PM
i just have to put this out there since this was a couple of weeks ago...
i didn't see the COB. was he drunk in his rack?
just askin'...
1/27/2011 6:07 PM
sjv: NEGATS. Did write a couple articles on it.
In addition to the lives lost and the international incident, we lost the future services of what seems to have been an otherwise good skipper - certainly he proved to be a stand-up guy. We also lost the flag prospects of Bobby Brandhuber, SubPac COS who was in the attack center when the incident happened. I've heard that Bobby may have been an acquired taste in later jobs, but I worked with him closely both when he had SAN JUAN and when he was skipper at nuke school in Orlando. I thought he was a fine officer from what I saw, right tickets, almost certainly a flag had not Al K put him out there to ride herd on a fairly shaky list of DVs.
1/27/2011 6:13 PM
favorite VIP underway?
They ALL sucked! I was a single nuke so always got boned into coming in for the one day trips. If we had riders for a longer period, they were always eating all of the damn food and taking up seats in crews mess.
1/27/2011 6:59 PM
We had some good midshipmen one summer, they were ex-enlisted and actually earned their keep. The other one was a primadonna and thought he was the Captain. The cooks took care of him.
1/27/2011 7:10 PM
We had DEVRON12 ride the Philly overnight in '87 or '88. He came back to the ER to tour around and came down to ERF where a couple of us were hanging out. As he went up by the starboard side RC bulkhead he decided to look in the RC periscope. As he rounded the corner and walked aft to the sample sink we could see the black neolube ring around his eye! We were hysterical! The O6 with him asked what was so funny and all we could squeak out was "his eye". The O6 looked at him and just said, "they got you sir". Lets just say he was none too pleased and we were the proud owners of the biggest catch of the "old neolube on the periscope eyepiece trick"!
1/27/2011 7:17 PM
VIPs? Are you guys kidding? Of the following 3 PRESIDENTS, I can recall the visits of 2:
June 22, 1955 Presient of Italy, Antonio Segni and;
Sept 25 1957, the first U.S. president ever embarked by nuclear propulsion Dwight Eisenhower, and; From 1 March to 8 October 1953, Jimmy Carter was preparing to become the engineering officer for the nuclear power plant to be placed in USS Seawolf (SSN 575) From 1977 to 1981 Carter became the first and only qualified submarine officer to become president of the U.S. As Commander-in-Chief, President Carter commanded ALL nuclear submarines.
1/27/2011 7:22 PM
RD, you have to be kidding me. I'll grant you Brandhuber may have been a fine officer who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Waddle was a primadonna whose walk did not back up his talk. And he was anything but a standup guy - he blamed the accident on his crew in a deceitful way, and then went off to earn $$$ as a motivational speaker talking about the experience! The traditional submarine CO's response to being fired is to SAY NOTHING and just go away. See Mooney, Oxholm, Portland, Bogdan, etc for details. I bet more than half the people reading this can't match even just those four to the boats and incidents - and why? Because they did the mature thing and moved on. Not Waddle.
1/27/2011 7:24 PM
Back on the Philly in '87 or '88, we had DEVRON12 ride the boat for a day.
A couple of us were hanging out by the sample sink in ERF when he came down with an O6 for a tour. We watched him head up the starboard side and after a couple of minutes he rounded the port corner and headed aft to us. We could see that he was now sporting a black circle around his eye. Yup, he looked in the RC bulkhead periscope. We were hysterical and about falling on the floor laughing. The O6 asked us what was so funny? We can only get out, "his eye". The O6 turned and looked at him and said, "they got you sir". He was less than happy. But we certainly had a story about a big fish getting caught by the old "neolube on the eyepiece" gag!
1/27/2011 7:24 PM
Alright Sandy Salt, now I know that I know you - I spent the entire time in the rack for that PCAN VIP cruise with 35-40 degree rolls, and I recall hearing the wardroom glassware crashing to the floor, since the MS's decided that we needed to have out the good China for the VIP's...
1/27/2011 7:30 PM
Florida Gold days... Kirk Douglas and his wife went out with us on Dabob Bay. He watched Spartacus with us on the mess decks.
Before Desert Storm we had Gen's Swartzkopf and Morrow ride the boat for half a day. Gen S got the black eye treatment from the RC periscopes. No one told him for a while and it was hard to keep a straight face.
1/27/2011 9:06 PM
We did a 4-hour cruise out of Lisbon with the NATO Secretary General. We had Hawaiian orchids and bottles of Matteuse flown in.
I was fortunately in the watchsection that was left on the beach. Since they called us the "Shore Party" we felt it was our duty to get as drunk as possible before the boat got back. We started off with a big meal and some really great wine, and things sort of went downhill from there. Ended up sitting on the curb, waiting for the duty van, passing around two-dollar bottles of wine. There was an excusion to a bull-fight that night, but no one from the Shore Party made it.
1/27/2011 11:35 PM
Good VIP tours...
CNO (he got off..TRE team comes on!).
Journey (granted it was in-port, but still awesome!)
Bad tours...
3 groups of midship (2 weeks each back 2 back 2 back). Final group was all female. Wasn't so bad having the females, except the guys before them ate all the damn food!!!
1/28/2011 12:36 AM
1/27/2011 7:24 PM: fair comment. Opinions vary...
1/28/2011 6:08 AM
Shake down after the yards in '76. COMSUBLANT rode us from Norfolk to Charleston. As he prepared to depart the boat, he told us over the 1MC, "You guys are doing a hell of a job." Then pausing with the 1MC still keyed, asked the CO, "What boat is this again?"
ex-EM1(SS)
1/28/2011 9:53 AM
ex-EM1(SS):
Well? What boat was it?
1/28/2011 10:02 AM
We had some admiral, don't remember the star count, onboard overnight, which isn't a big deal because as a nuke I just hid in the engine room. So on the midwatch I'm in maneuvering and of course, the most random stuff is getting thrown out. The ERS, who is black, is in maneuvering and we start asking him about the whole attraction of black men to white women. He goes, "Cause a black woman's snatch is designed for a black dick so it's never tight." The door slides open and we hear, "Your mom's was tight for me." We all turn, and there's the admiral. He requests to enter, then shuts the door and starts telling some of the most filthy jokes I've ever heard. Great times.
1/28/2011 10:38 AM
USS Andrew Jackson SSBN-619 (Blue)
ex-EM1(SS)
1/28/2011 10:48 AM
1972 SS-580 post overhaul shakedown week at sea then weekend in Kona. We had the owner of Inter Island Resorts and his teen age son onboard for a week of "electric rabbit" ops with the P-3's out of Barbers Point. Friday before arrival Kona skipper wants to show off the boats abilities. Ring up standard bell, rig for deep, angles and dangles. I was in torpedo room and helped the room watch check cradle straps on the half dozen torpedos onboard. we mad three trips down and up. Last trip up from 600 feet skipper orders a 40 up. As were passing about 35 degree up hear over 7MC, "Conn-Maneuvering, lost main motor lub oil, all stop." That was the end of angles and dangles. Inter Island Resorts made a suite available for the wardroom and four rooms available for crew for the weekend. Had a blast that weekend!!
Keep a zero bubble......
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET
1/28/2011 12:41 PM
DBFTMC(SS)USNRET,
Were you onboard for Barbel's 55-degree roll?
1/28/2011 2:25 PM
RD--Waddle should still be making gravel in Leavenworth...not selling his self worshipping book that I still refuse to touch out of fear the stink will not come off.
Sandy, glad I was off the ship for that one, the only DV cruise on that ship for me involved the COs dad. Kind of like the 721 club...the normal people cannot get on, but the DVs can.
The 724 video was nice. People other than VIPs get a chance to see a ship operate. In that vein, midn ops are okay, unless you are doing trips in and out of Norfolk every other day for two weeks. Ugh.
1/28/2011 4:40 PM
and yes Bryan, you know Sandy.
1/28/2011 4:43 PM
Bryan,
I spent two tours on the the TN, so I can't remember which Super Bowl, but it was either 1998-2001 or 2002-2004. Do you remember which one it was? I too remember the table dump and it landed on the female VIP.
1/28/2011 4:48 PM
Srvd SSN CO,
How do you know that? Have we also crossed paths as well? Is it TN old home week here? Do we have the WEPS, ENG and XO all reunited?
1/28/2011 4:53 PM
Agree w/ Srvd SSN about Wadle &w/ RD on Gville having the worst DV cruise ever.
My favorite dv cruise was 771's namesake city VIP day & follow-on tiger cruise in 09. Great people & very appreciative.
Dependence cruise with the wife years earlier was also awesome.
Never liked the VIPs who were politicians - Congressman especially. Subpac's ride was ok but everyone was on eggshells - not really a fun time.
1/28/2011 9:23 PM
Best DV visit/embark, Adm. Konetzni while he was SubGru 7 out of Yokosuka.
We pulled in early in the morning, and that evening he came down to the boat after dinner in a poopie suit, sans collar devices (but wearing a khaki belt) and joins the general BS/bitch session going on in the TR. We thought he was one of our new chief coming in early (as a replacement for a chief who left rather abruptly due to psyche reasons). He seemed like a pretty good guy who in his own words, "Like to look after my guys and play shit filter for a the BS that comes down".
We unloaded some of our percevied command shortcomings to him and he genuinely listened. Fast forward to the next day when he shows up at quarters in regular uniform, and there were about 6-8 of us who were white as ghosts with tightly puckered a**holes wondering what kind of trouble we had gotten ourselves into.
Turns out he really did care about morale and the well being of the deckplate sailors, because he had a long discussion with the CO and later the wardroom about how they should do a better job of putting the mission and crew ahead of any personal gains or "rank climbing". Later on Big Al announced to the crew over the 1MC that he had added a stop in Brisbane to our WestPac. That really put the cap on the only good DV embark I've ever experienced.
1/29/2011 12:52 AM
The one and only dependents cruise(s) I ever had to endure--two groups in one day. On the second group (noonish) on the way out, one of the fathers was a former surface sailor telling us how the "real" Navy was. Soon as we hit Papa Hotel, he was running for the head, and there he stayed until we got back. The sounds that came from that stall during angles and dangles was priceless.
1/29/2011 5:28 AM
Anon 2:25PM,
Negative on 55 degree roll. My time was 70-75, last sea tour. We did try to sink the boat off Maui in 72 at end of second week of PCO ops. Goat locker door slams open and off lookout screams, "WAKE UP WE'RE SINKING!!!!"
You may be referring to 580's induction piping collapsing at test depth, EMBT blow with a roll of over 80 degrees. Happened late 70's off Subic Bay. I've seen photos of the collapsed induction piping. I know a guy who was onboard at the time and says scared the shit out of everyone--ya think??
keep a zero bubble.............
DBFTMCSSUSNRET
1/29/2011 1:57 PM
Best DV experience was when SUBLANT (VADM G) rode during an ORSE. I figured it would be very painful, but it was completely painless. A consummate submariner. We took good care of him and he never got in the way--which is really difficult as a three star. And the ORSE went fine as well.
1/30/2011 7:14 AM
@ BDW
"i just have to put this out there since this was a couple of weeks ago...
i didn't see the COB. was he drunk in his rack?
just askin'..."
LMAO!!
This was actually right after that COB's demise. If you watch the video again, in crews mess when the CO is reading, The new COB (and MUCH better IMHO) is standing next to the CO.
1/30/2011 4:48 PM
Lee Greenwood, 734-Gold. Really down to earth guy, just hung out and talked to anyone that wanted to. He seemed really interested in us. Most of our other riders were just catching sea time (Group, Squadron etc.) and doing their jobs, records reviews etc.
1/31/2011 12:28 PM
Sandy Salt
That DV cruise would have been your first tour (1998-2001) since I punched out in Dec 2001
I guess it is TN reunion week - do it here or on Facebook, either way...
2/02/2011 11:33 PM
Would Cat Futch have been considered a VIP on Finback?
2/03/2011 12:03 PM
Rubber Ducky,
Me and your COB are shipmates. I was traveling when I got his call telling me about the event. Amazing how small this world is.
TMCS(SS) Ret.
2/04/2011 9:40 PM
Bryan,
I am not on Facebook, so it is here or over on my blog. Is Srvd our old XO? You didn't miss much after you left that is for sure because upon my return in June 02 thing decidedly went seriously downhill.
2/05/2011 9:10 AM
This can't actually work, I suppose like this.
10/06/2011 11:45 PM
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