News And Notes, And A Bleg
Some items of interest around the submarine world:
1) The lost bell of USS Triton (SS 201) has been found, and will be put in the Triton Barracks at Great Lakes.
2) USS La Jolla (SSN 701) is making the first ever visit of a U.S. nuclear submarine to Goa, India. Here's a picture:
3) I'm hearing that Submarine Department Head screening for YG05 will actually be putting a fairly large number of officers in the "not cleared" category. Has JO retention been up because of the recession? According to this description of the new "two-look" screening process, that's the case. What I'm hearing is that something like 80 officers might not screen.
4) Remember to vote for The Stupid Shall Be Punished for Best U.S. Military Veteran Blog at the 5th Annual MilBloggies. Don't let the Skimmer-Friend win!
posted by Bubblehead at 8:38 PM
23 Comments:
Not only are they moving to a 2-look DH screening process, but JOs are actually being allowed to lat. xfer out of the submarine community for the first time in what is apparently a very long time.
Of course, it's not necessarily easy to find communities needing more officers for the same high retention reasons...
4/26/2011 9:26 PM
Now, that blows my mind. Certainly not the case when my husband was a JO. Good for the sub community, though. BTW, just voted and gave you shout out on my facebook page. Good luck!!
4/26/2011 11:23 PM
For YG 2001, the selection rate was something like 74%. That was the first time in years it had been less than 90-95% and a lot of guys were caught off guard... and now YG 01 is pretty thin, as I understand it.
4/27/2011 2:56 AM
Joel, it's not the first visit to Goa - it's the first "docking" (moored alongside the tender). We've previously had boats visit Goa by anchoring - for instance, USS ALEXANDRIA in 2004.
4/27/2011 5:22 AM
That does it, these old eyes need a checkup. At first glance I thought the brow was being secured on the top of the sail. Now that would be an interesting topside watch.
4/27/2011 5:39 AM
In 2005 The USS Santa Fe(SSN-763) moored outboard the USS Higgins(DDG-76) in Goa, India. It was awesome. I won 30,000 Rupees playing blackjack at an Indian casino. It was really like $700 US but considering minimum wage there is 75 rupees a day, I did allright by their standards. Also hands down the most fucking terrifying bus ride I have ever taken in my life from the port of Goa to the resort where the boat was putting us up. 90 minutes of complete disregard for any semblance of traffic laws or courtesy.
4/27/2011 6:53 AM
Never did a Victory Liner in the PI back in the day, did ya anon? Really interesting when you get 8-10 drunk guys in a Jeepney in Olongapo and tell them, "Special! 50 pesos for every Jeepney you pass between here and Island Girls!"
Ah, good times.
4/27/2011 7:23 AM
Is this Triton news?
http://news.discovery.com/tech/submarine-technology-deepest-ocean-110426.html
4/27/2011 10:31 AM
1. The actual numbers that were briefed to YG05 are that of the 25 remaining slots for DH billets there are about 40-45 LTs who actually still want to be DHs. There are actually 100 YG05 folks who have yet to be selected but only about 50% of them actually desire a DH billet.
4/27/2011 11:44 AM
Hope that they got shore power. Not much worse than being P/S stuck in maneuvering while in a new port for a couple of days. CSP sent a tug with generators on board for the La Jolla to moor alongside of in Hong Kong harbor while I was on her. I hope the CO bought him a beer when we got back from that westpac.
4/27/2011 11:46 AM
USS SPRINGFIELD pulled into Goa in 2008. We moored at the pier. Nice port visit!
4/27/2011 12:06 PM
The article I read yesterday indicated USS La Jolla would be geting "maintenance services" at GOA. Really hard to imagine our SSN receiving much more than supplies and shore power, but was never there.
Regarding officer succession, the latest firing of a Ball State grad (now 17 since 2010) certainly marks a new era for submarines.
There can no longer be any doubt, the submarine navy has now become as much a part of the surface navy under SecNav Mabus as navy fliers have been since Tailhook.
What rolls down hill from examples of recent CO firings? Zero Tolerance!
4/27/2011 3:43 PM
Notice The higher rate of DH Screening for Academy grads?
Curiouser and curiouser!
4/27/2011 4:05 PM
Ah I remember the port visit on the Santa Fe back in 05. That bus ride was a trip. I thought we were going to have to get out and push the damn bus up the hil!
4/27/2011 4:33 PM
I think the screening thing is short-sighted... times will not always be so good, I guarantee that the Navy will end up with a couple of bust years at some point in the near future when the hiring picture switches up.
I would argue that it is probably going that way now. Guys are lining up jobs many months in advance, I personally know guys who've had offers up to 6 months out. I had one 4 or 5 months out. There were a couple of bad years when it was harder to look for a position even with nuke experience, but that time is quickly passing.
4/27/2011 5:40 PM
@Vigilis: I screened for DH just fine. Navy OCS '05. The only LT of any repute at my command who *didn't* screen is USNA, and is also the only one I would personally recommend against.
Sometimes the system does work...
4/27/2011 8:52 PM
Just don't expect to screen for command shipmate.
4/27/2011 10:03 PM
whoa! I love submarine. never seen submarine in ports ever since.
wfs
4/28/2011 2:57 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
4/28/2011 5:07 AM
Wow - where's the anti-USNA conspiracy theory coming from?
Since you mentioned it, what IS the screening rate USNA vs. non-USNA?
67% of the COs I've worked for have been non-USNA.
4/29/2011 8:09 PM
Wow... so I just looked at your website. Don't worry about explaining your conspiracy theories.
Yikes.
4/29/2011 8:13 PM
USS Alexandria pulled into Goa in 2004 during the around the world trip via the Arctic, not sure why the news story is saying that La Jolla was the first to do it.
5/02/2011 5:26 AM
I remember pulling into Goa on the Santa Fe back in 05, what a trip! We got our shore power from the Higgins. As the EMC that was the first time I had ever done that, learned alot and marked it off the list.
5/06/2011 5:12 PM
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