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.)

Friday, March 29, 2013

Back On Line

Sorry that it's been such a long break since my last post, but I'm pretty much worthless as long as Kansas is still alive in the tournament (which we don't have to worry about any more this year). I think my beloved Jayhawks used up too much good karma in their run to the National Final last year.

In any event, here are some things that have been going on in the submarine world since I last posted:

1) The arsonist who started the fire on USS Miami (SSN 755) was sentenced to 17 years in prison. I think it should have been more, but I do like the $400 million restitution order.

2) The O-7 list came out. I recognize Captains Caudle, Crites, Kearney, and Merz.

3) Here's a decently cool video that makes it look like modern nuclear submarines can submerge quickly.


4) For any readers in Idaho's Treasure Valley, if you've ever wanted to appear in a film, here's your chance:
OPEN CALL FOR WWII SUBMARINE FILM
Students and faculty of the Film School at NNU are in the process of building a full-size mockup of the control room of a WWII submarine for an upcoming film.
The story revolves around real events that led to a serious moral dilemma on submarines on and after December 7th, 1941. The set is constructed so that it can tilt to dive and surface, raise a periscope, etc.
Former submariners are acting as technical advisers to make both the set and the script as realistic and accurate as possible.
Filming will be the weekend of April 19-21.
Unfortunately, given the historical era we’re shooting, all roles are for Caucasian males.
LEADING ROLES:
Captain Donnigan – 30 to 45 years old, skipper of the boat, an “old man” in sub service terms, intelligent, compassionate, but very much in charge
XO Spencer – 28 to 40 years old, capable, dedicated to the mission, one of the “new breed” of submariners at the beginning of WWII
Seaman Robbie Patterson – 20 to 25 years old, radio and hydrophone operator, intelligent, inquisitive, capable.
Lt. Watkins – 22 to 30 years old, Officer of the Deck (Diving Officer), in command of the crew
SUPPORTING ROLES (all are speaking roles):
Chief Grigg – 30 to 40, Chief of the Boat (COB)
Seaman Quinn – 18 to 24, helmsman and Robbie’s best friend
Seaman Mirk – 18 to 24, but looks 16, Stern Planes operator
Seaman Landon – 18 to 24, Bow Planes operator
Ensign Gates – 20 to 26, Navigator
Lookout 1 – 18 to 24
Lookout 2 – 18 to 24
Engineer – 18 to 24
The completed film will include screen credits, and will be posted on YouTube and Vimeo, along with the full screenplay from which these scenes are taken.
AUDITIONS will be held the week of April 1st in Nampa, Idaho.
TO AUDITION, send an email to alytreeide@nnu.edu with AUDITION in the subject line.
It looks like it would be a lot of fun!

42 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

So should we see a lot more posts now that Kansas just choked?

3/29/2013 9:16 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The arsonist who started the fire on USS Miami (SSN 755) was sentenced to 17 years in prison"

It should have been life without the possibility of parole.

Not least because the watchstanders and the fire responders could easily have lost their lives.

It's also not really all that funny to think about this loser being ordered by the judge to make four hundred million dollars in restitution. Because in actual reality, of course, he will not be able to pay even so much as one million. Not even close.

The rest of us will have to make good on that amount. And even in the context of the defense budget, $400M is a hell of a lot of money.

Time to close down Portsmouth. Put the funding in yards which take the mission seriously.

3/29/2013 10:24 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Moron on the Miami? LIFE, I'll still offer the plane tickets and 1.80 black talon for the back of his head.
As for the dive video. If you look at the cavitation aft, it looks like a boat doing a "Quick Dive" procedure. We helped develop that on the Miami in '91 for Devron 12. I thought they canned it as too many morons were losing #2 scopes because of slow OODs.
Anybody wanna know the procedure, email me. Painfully easy. But not for the stoopid, and they shall be punished.



hagar

3/29/2013 11:01 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't think the actions of one loser speak for the entire shipyard. He did have a mental illness, which makes me wonder about the hiring process. However, there are plenty of people with the same mental illness who do not pose a risk for the rest of society. It's kind of like the whole gun control/mass shooting thing. While I'm not advocating any sort of early release for this guy, what good will the prison system do? Will it help him with his mental illness and rehabilitate him? Probably not. He will now be a burden on society until the day he dies.

As far as that submarine movie goes, unnecessarily intense music. Unfortunately, all of the cool stuff happens beneath the waves where it is hard to get good camera shots!

3/29/2013 11:06 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^^^^^^
WHO GIVEs A RATS ASS about his mental illness? WHY WAS HE WORKING THERE? If that's not the yard's fault, then pray tell me who was it, gramma? Focker had a security clearance, somebody bought off on it. Start shyt canning the turds, NOW. No excuse, period.
This is not the "rest of society". This is high tech death if you fock up moron. Go back and pick your ass or play with crayons so you don't hurt yourself.




hagar

3/30/2013 2:15 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read a report somewhere that they are now considering scrapping the Miami due to sequestration.

3/30/2013 6:51 AM

 
Blogger Chap said...

"caucasian male": Do they not know about the submariners who didn't fit that description on the boats? Specifically, the stewards with dolphins? Geez, I'd think they would have jumped on that one.

3/30/2013 7:37 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You don't always see us but ... But we're there ..."

When was this video made? After a more recent date every sipboard Navy film/photo for public view must include a woman!

3/30/2013 10:03 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...


scrap MIAMI, her worthless crew, and the Shipyard EDOs who hired the arsonist!

3/30/2013 7:46 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bubblehead - missing from the list was capt clark and his wife.......


Oh, never mind - didn't read the news release close enough!!

Rock of Ages, Detroit Rock City, etc (only one is a kiss hit) ...

"Deuce" morphed into double deuce? Says it all! No original thought.

Visili - one ping, one ping only.

3/30/2013 7:56 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Remember doing "quick dive" drills on the Plunger in the early 80's.

Quick is a relative term.

3/30/2013 8:36 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No role for Seaman Guzzler?

3/31/2013 8:25 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: the O7 list:

Is that the Kearney who was ENG/XO on the MTS-635 in the late 90s?

Re: Scrapping MIAMI:

Perhaps a new life as an MTS?

3/31/2013 10:20 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon ^^^^

We can forget Miami MTS. Why? It would enshrine a very bad experience, keep unwelcomed questions in the forefront and invite copycats.

Navy policy had always been to avoid compounding of mistakes. In the current era, however, Mabus is empowered to deimate naval strength at any cost defensible by mere political correctness. So, can he make your argument to congress? Yes, but will he take the chance? No.

3/31/2013 9:15 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The 50th anniversary of the loss of USS Thresher is coming up on April 10th. Here's an article from today's news about the stories of some of the men lost.

3/31/2013 9:59 PM

 
Blogger Amanda said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4/01/2013 4:09 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish I could've listened to music half that cool while scrubbing verdigris from funnels that no one ever peed into.

4/01/2013 5:06 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clark was one of the most down to earth birds around.. Shame about not getting a star.. Does he get another look? or is this it for him?

4/01/2013 10:33 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It would be very unusual for Clark to pick it up next year. These two years were his prime shot. He's YG84 and they picked at least one YG86 submariner this year (Merz is USNA 86, and Caudle might be YG86 from OCS)

4/01/2013 5:59 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Plus High Year Tenure for a non prior service O6 is 30 years, which as a USNA '84 grad is June 1 2014.

If he's going to make it on the next RDML board, he better try a different tactic. It'll be interesting to see where he transfers to for his last year of service - that will give a bit of a hint of his chances of a star.

4/01/2013 6:05 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I do find it comical that people make angry posts for people's opinions about another man. They're not posting opinions about you, so why the emotional outrage? Clearly he affected some in a positive way and others in a negative way. Both of their experiences are valid.

4/01/2013 6:55 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very early reporting from Seoul suggests loss of a South Korean sub.

Can Kim Jong-un be so stupid, or was this some April Fool hoax?

4/01/2013 8:43 PM

 
Blogger Amanda said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4/02/2013 5:53 AM

 
Anonymous NHSparky said...

Even as someone locally supporting the shipyard and their impact on the economy, I think it's ballsy for the union local president to claim that even ONE furlough day is too many when it's one of his own union hacks who cost that yard (and us) over half a billion. YMMV.

4/03/2013 6:02 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One furlough day IS too many.

The reality is that federal government workers are people trying to make a living like anyone else. They aren't the lazy leeches on society trying to live off of cushy tax benefits that the Republicans/Tea Party supporters would have you believe.

When you decide to take away 15-25% of someone's paycheck, that hurts. It particularly hurts if his/her salary is sub $50,000, as many of them are. Telling someone that you might take away this money and then delaying the decision 2-3x causes undue stress on him and his family.

It would honestly be better to lay off workers with 30 days notice and give them a severance package than to institute a furlough. At least then they know that they have to seek employment elsewhere and can plan for it; under the current system, where is one going to work for 1 day a week every other week to make up that lost salary?

But the real evil is that a whopping 2% cut to government growth makes Congress strike people where it hurts most -- their livelihood -- rather than cut the real fat out of its spending. That should make everyone angry.

4/03/2013 6:16 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^^^
They aren't the lazy leeches on society trying to live off of cushy tax benefits that the Republicans/Tea Party supporters would have you believe.

Actually that's EXACTLY what the majority of you do. They should dismantle and fire entire departments: Education, Energy, HHS, HUD . . .

Oh, and many of the union bubba shipyard leeches need to go as well. Lazy and stupid.

4/03/2013 9:01 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Actually that's EXACTLY what the majority of you do. They should dismantle and fire entire departments: Education, Energy, HHS, HUD . . ."

I wrote the post before yours and I am not a federal government worker, I just work with some.

The guy making 40k/year to do a federal gov't admin job didn't create the wasteful organization, so don't hate him just for trying to make a living. The officials elected by the majority of voters, which includes you, decided that the organization was necessary. Unemployment is around 8% so cut him some slack for trying to feed his family. If his organization gets shut down, he can attempt get a job elsewhere just like if a company were to go out of business.

You want to close down an organization? Great, then the organization and its employees can plan for that. A big announcement will come out saying XXX is closing in FY14...that gives 6 months to find a new job. But that's not what they're doing. They're sending notices that maybe in a couple of weeks you might not get paid for every other Friday...oh, Congress delayed that so stay tuned. Both cases are stressful, but the latter leaves the employees in a constant flux of uncertainty.

4/03/2013 10:40 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Government workers are finally dealing with the outcome of the 2008 fiscal crisis. They got out of it with no pay cuts, no reduced hours, no mass layoffs, nothing.

I work in private industry and my company had all of the above, as well as suspending of 401k match for about 10 months. Can you imagine if *gasp* you told a guvmint worker his pension was going to be reduced as a result of the economy?

Our military is too big. Time to reduce the spending on our military. You can cut 10% of the defense budget and you wouldn't notice one bit of difference. Some belt tightening might actually make them work harder to save money......

4/04/2013 8:19 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/two-north-korean-submarines-disappeared

Now there's a story about 2 Nork boats lost.
Defected?
Sank?
Sunk?
Interesting times we live in.

4/04/2013 4:57 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With adequate thought and personal reflection some of you may guess the missing motive.

4/04/2013 6:40 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Quite an article about Thresher at Navy Times...includes both conjecture and details I've certainly never seen before.

Details: The water ram upon collapse likely occurred at 2,600 mph...and took only 1/10th of a second.

Conjecture: "...the available evidence defines the initial Thresher casualty as an electrical bus failure."

Link: 50 years later, a look at what really sank the Thresher

We should avoid going into NNPI here, needless to say, but the scenario that is portrayed by the authors (a SOSUS expert and Norman Polmar) has an arguably questionable reason for the scram (loss of a non-vital bus).

4/04/2013 8:26 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The article above asserts that the boat collapsed at 2,400 feet.

Pressure at that depth: 1,200 psi

Average surface area of human skin: 25 ft2

Total pressure:

25 ft2 x 144 in2/ft2 x 1,200 psi = 4,320,000 pounds


God rest their souls...patriots every one.

4/04/2013 8:52 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Peak pressure in a diesel engine circa 1970:

90 bar = 1,305 psi

4/04/2013 9:01 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vaginus ALERT!

4/04/2013 9:41 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, and yet, they do not mention just prior to her overhaul, she went through depth charge shock experiments. The seawater systems weren't completely re-inspected, and pushed out of the yard to save money.
Those of us that remember Damage Control Book Volume 9, which detailed EVERY failure on the Thresher during her shock testing KNOW. Why do they not discuss this?
God bless to her crew and family in their loss.



hagar

4/05/2013 2:14 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 4/04/2013 6:40 PM

Actually, I believe only officers and non nucs are likely to unravel the motive - I think I did, band I can understand why Molten Eagle will not state it.

4/05/2013 7:28 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

President Obama's dropping of President Clinton's DADT policy soon to be followed by forcing military chaplains to perform same-sex marriages?

Link and short video.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

4/08/2013 10:20 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Obama's dropping"....keep trying to blame everything that is wrong on the president. What about the part where the elected representatives of the American people voted for it (house and senate)? Is it hard to live with that much vitriolic ignorance in your heart?

4/08/2013 8:36 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vote with your feet.

4/09/2013 6:10 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ever notice that people who stoop to name calling...are often exactly what they accuse others of being?

Just sayin'.

4/09/2013 8:07 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Obama's dropping"....keep trying to blame everything that is wrong on the president. What about the part where the elected representatives of the American people voted for it (house and senate)? Is it hard to live with that much vitriolic ignorance in your heart?"

Wow...agree 100%...could of used you on the team during the President Bush years.

4/10/2013 6:14 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^^
I was on the team during the Bush years, moderate realist no more no less. The president receives more credit and blame then he deserves, no matter what party he is from.

4/11/2013 8:46 PM

 

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