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 long (50 minute) video from National Geographic on technological advances that have made submarines what they are today. Looks pretty good:
posted by Bubblehead at 9:20 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.)
49 Comments:
Sewer Pipe Sailors????
4/21/2013 9:23 AM
Pardon, your ignorance is showing. Someone who makes their living on the sea is a "mare-in-er", not a "mar-EEN-er", so someone who does so under the sea is a "sub-mare-in-er". That's the proper pronunciation, not just the British one.
4/21/2013 9:53 AM
Pardon, your ignorance is showing. Prefixes and suffixes can change the pronunciation. Mar-EEN becomes mar-in-er, but is also sub-mar-EEN. Also are you suggesting that the author, a former submariner, doesn't know how how it is pronounced?
4/21/2013 10:19 AM
"your ignorance is showing..." people on this blog can't make a simple statement without insulting someone first. I see it over and over and I just don't get it. Can't we all just get along? Okay, time to insult me next.
4/21/2013 10:33 AM
Tut-tut gentlemen. Let us not quibble over such trivia. I have used both versions myself interchangeably, viewing it merely as a matter of personal preference. Not of life and death significance - no disrespect to the grammar Nazis out there. I say if the purpose of communication is served just leave it alone. Anyway you slice it, it all still translates down to one huge can of whoop-ass. If you mess with the best... you WILL pay the price!
Tomato anyone? Toe-MAH-toe? Tah-mAter? F***-it!! Gimmee a beer and pass the pretzels, bud.
4/21/2013 11:08 AM
^^^^^^
Hear here.
4/21/2013 11:27 AM
I've weighed in on my reasons for preferring "Sub-mar-EEN-er" before.
4/21/2013 12:06 PM
Yeah, there is no need to argue about it. Especially since it is, without a doubt, sub-ma-REEN-er.
4/21/2013 12:16 PM
I have always gone with "bubblehead", myslef, or "squid". I haven't been able to mispronounce either of them to the point of causing an argument.
4/21/2013 12:52 PM
You're just not trying hard enough! Like most all things worthwhile in life, it takes proper preparation and focused concentration of diligent application.
Best Marine-er
4/21/2013 1:11 PM
A Submariner by any other name would smell as foul
PW
4/21/2013 1:36 PM
Maybe I prefer to not argue about silly stuff with my fellow bubbleheads...
4/21/2013 3:17 PM
It doesn't really matter as long as we can agree that the only good marine is a submarine!
Ken in Yoko
4/21/2013 5:12 PM
^^^^
Dont't forget, the only real corp is the Rx Core!
4/21/2013 5:28 PM
@PW -(1336):
You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!
Son, we live in a world that has smells. And those smells have to be guarded by submariners with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, PW? (P-Whipped, Perfumed Wuss?)
We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Chili Night and you curse the submariners. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: That Chili Night, while tragic, probably saves lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you WANT me on that boat. You NEED me on that boat! We use words like honor, courage, commitment... we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I'd prefer you just said thank you and went on your way.
Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand to post. Either way, I don't give a d### what you think you’re entitled to get a whiff of.
(With great appreciation to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, sincere apologies to Jack Nicholson, and all due respect for the Marine Corps - for real, got'em in the family – I just couldn’t pass this one up...)
KnotonMYwatch!
4/21/2013 7:23 PM
Did you order the Vulcan Death Watches?
It was Orse Workup and the XO...
DID YOU ORDER THE VULKAN DEATH WATCH!
You're damned right I did!
Captain, I recommend the Chiefs be excused; the Eng has Rights.
4/21/2013 11:20 PM
^^^^^^
Ok, I liked that one. '91, on the Miami doing bullshyt ops, mexican day on the mess decks, and A&IC division is bored. It's time for the weekly atmosphere samples and the AEF draws samples with the draeger and starts logging them in the machinery room. The OOD was the weps who we hated, was a smart @SS and never listened to his watch standers. So, we come up with this idea of rising methane gas in the boat, and pushed it. We had his @ss sweating on the conn until he finally reported it to the CO before it went "out of spec".
After the OOD reported it, the CO walked into control, looked at him, and asked "are you really that focking stoopid?".
Thus, A&IC division had their revenge.
Toober, bubblehead, or a subma-reener.
hagar
4/21/2013 11:26 PM
^^^^
Movie ticket, $8.50. Bowl of chili, $4.25. Submarine humor....priceless! LOL. Cherish these days, gentlemen.
KnotonMYwatch!
4/22/2013 7:43 AM
I was always referred to as "f*cking nuke", usually by the COB, Kenny Two Stars.
ex-EM1(SS)
4/22/2013 9:32 AM
He was just sweet-talkin' you. Nothing to worry about (unless it's the Bull Nuke sayin' it). Tip from a "coner": Wear it with pride!
Sonar Girl/Forward Nuke(SS) - Say what?!
4/22/2013 10:57 AM
I am pretty sure, in my 20 year career, that I didn't ride around in a sub-MARE-in. (phonetic - roll off with the spelling lesson)
I did, however, ride around, as a crew member of a submar-EEN. That would make a person who fits this description as a submar-EEN-er. (again, all phonetic)
4/22/2013 12:32 PM
Have a friend who plays pro piano. He says he is a pian-ist, not a pee-a-nist. The instrument is a piano.
4/22/2013 3:11 PM
I vote for submariner. Not submarine-er.
Using the 'logic' of some of the posters in favor of saying it wring, I guess now that I am retired from the Navy and the only thing I drive I must be a carer (KAHR-ER)?
4/22/2013 8:47 PM
How can the English pronunciation be wrong, we have been speaking the language much longer. Respect your elders ;-)
4/23/2013 1:16 AM
And by your piano logic, we would be called sub-MARE-in-ists. Dumbass.
Truckers aren't true-keers, or truckerists, or any other Brit word. They are truckers.
We fought a fucking revolution so we don't have to pronounce things the way the Brits do.
4/23/2013 4:28 AM
I don't care what you call me as long as it isn't skimmer!
4/23/2013 11:34 AM
English vs english.
England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
4/23/2013 4:59 PM
Reminds me of a good mid watch argument. Or is that mid wa-tach?
4/24/2013 7:42 AM
I remember Wa-tash, he was on the Polk.
4/24/2013 5:07 PM
When I was in Nuke school in 1990, we had a female instructor who pronounced "Pot-a-bul" water as "Po-ta-ble" water. Of course we were none the wiser until one of the other instructors hear us not call it "pot-a-ble" water and freaked out on us and had a 5 minute lecture on what it was called in the fleet.
It's the tiny little things you remember from the pipeline make me chuckle. If only today such trivial concerns were at the top of my priority list :)
Another I will never forget with is the CO comment (I'm sure not intended for me ears as an E-4) about the command master chief who was total fat ass. I'm mean he was huge and CO made the comment, "what the fuck is that"? One of the officers said, "ballast control". This was around March-April of 1991 so you'd have to match up the names during that time.
I always wondered how some guys got away with lard ass status while others got sent to fat reduction school..... topic for another day.
4/24/2013 9:17 PM
^^^ Command I am referencing in my post above was at NPTU Charleston
4/24/2013 9:19 PM
That was a unit of measure on one of my boats. I was just learning to be a diving officer, and the Dive said "Put 2 'docs' from after trim to forward trim". That meant 1000 pounds. The doc was kinda big.
4/25/2013 4:45 AM
An MS on the old NYC was on the fat boy program and later I migrated to that program as well. Yet there was a chief lugging around 200 pounds of beer on his gut and never made it to that program. Clear disconnect.
4/25/2013 7:32 AM
A person who operates a truck is a "trucker".
A person who operates a hotrod is a hotrodder.
A person who operates a boat is a boater.
A person operates a SUBMAREEN is a SUBMAREENer
In all cases the person takes the name and the pronunciation of the vehicle, plus the suffix -r or -er.
The Brits are nuts. They did not invent the word and they routinely mispronounce it. The Brits did not invent the modern submarine -- we did. They did not invent the nuclear submarine either -- we did. Americans are the Brits' elders in all things submarine.
QED
4/25/2013 10:57 AM
I sailed in the Merchant Mareen after graduating from the Merchant Mareen Academy but for god's sake don't call me a Merchant Mareener. I'm a Merchant Mareiner!
4/25/2013 11:31 AM
I thought we called you guys skimmer pukes, too.
4/26/2013 4:37 AM
Yes, I was blind, but now can see. Since my skimmer puke days, I have seen the error of my ways and have dedicated my career to the US submareen fleet and submareiners.
4/26/2013 7:21 AM
The accepted and authoritative pronounciation of "submariner" can be heard clearly at Merriam Webster online. real submariners (qualified U.S. submarine veterans) were correctly taught this in sub school. If the U.S. should ever lose its worldwide leadership in submarines, the current pronunciation could change abruptly.
4/26/2013 12:50 PM
I refuse to let either a tin-foil hat twit or the lifer diggits in Groton to miss-instruct me in the pronunciation of a relatively simple English word. I have found that the vast majority of the many former submariners I work with agree.
4/26/2013 5:20 PM
"mark MM1/ss" impostor:
So Merriam Webster is a "tin-foil hat twit"?
In yourjuvenile, no doubt female, dreams idiot!
Rex
4/26/2013 6:45 PM
@mark MM1/su - (Mischievous Missy 1st class/submarine unqualified)
Lost again I see. Allow me to assist - again. Since you are no doubt a Brit "bird" and I'm a real US submariner, perhaps you'll allow me to instruct you in the proper use of the language we sometimes share.
The word you are struggling with (ie. "miss-instruct") is not a word to be found anywhere in the English language. Look it up.
Perhaps that's to be expected from hanging around all those former "sub-mare'-iners". Accordingly, I don't think I'll be looking to you as an authority for the proper pronunciation of a word we coined for ourselves, thank you very much. Horses for courses, in your vernacular.
Since you have opened your mouth and removed all doubt, as it were - I can only wonder... WHY do you insist on embarrassing yourself this way? (Posing as something you're not). You're certainly not fooling anyone!
I can sort of admire the seemingly limitless capacity for self-abuse you exhibit, but it does beg the question: What is your problem? Are you just a wee bit daft, lassie?
KnotonMYwatch!
4/26/2013 11:01 PM
^^^^^
You have quite an emotional investment in this issue, I see. Odd. Anyway, NPS Orlando class 8302, prototype at A1W in Idaho, three Pacs in four+ years in a split tour on two fast boats in Dago. Yardbird since (got the bird part right at least - congrats, jackass).
4/27/2013 9:22 AM
NUKE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4/27/2013 2:40 PM
^^^^^^
LOL. Nope. It's actually even better than that. I'm definitely not a nuke - smart enough not to jump into THAT grinder. What I did wasn't even work - at least for me. Loved it!
Sonarman. The only known effective antidote for safely and securely moderating/neutralizing the occasional rogue nuke affliction characterized by runaway intellectual arrogance. Usually accompanied by a vastly over-inflated sense of self-worth/self-importance. You know the type. They're the ones that "know" they're the only "really" smart folks on board...(?) Usually habituate and flock together in shipyards, where there are few - if any - sonarmen readily available. Thus, the population infested with an outbreak of nukes of this type finds it virtually impossible to keep their numbers in healthy balance. Oh the humanity!
Our boat was lucky. We had an attitude regulator master safety backup. We had a cook NOBODY could beat at chess. I never saw the man lose one game. Ever. That'd be MS1(SS) Oliver (Ollie). He'd hand everybody (O-types too) their a$$, then smile and shake hands graciously when the inevitable occurred. Then he'd make the best chow I ever had anywhere, anytime in the US of N. Great cook, great shipmate. Any time any of us got too big for their britches, we'd go see Ollie and he'd provide the necessary calibration in short order.
KnotonMYwatch!
4/27/2013 7:46 PM
@mikeMM1/ss
Mikey! Hey everybody, let's hear it for Mike! Congratulations and many thanks for finally posting like you got a pair. A little rusty, but it'll get better with regular practice, I'm sure. That'll probably mean a bit more time in the company of real submareeners you know. Once you sufficiently distance yourself from that tea and crumpet sub-mare'-iners crowd you've fallen in with I'm almost sure you'll find it all coming back to you in good order.
In all due deference to your qualified status, my sincere apologies for mistaking you for a certain troll who's been pestering us of late - you sounded just like her, I swear. In my own defense, I wasn't the one posting ideas formulated in such a way as to be mistaken for a female impostor. That was all you.
Anyway, congratulations on that first good step back towards "home". BZ. No thanks necessary, I was only too glad to help.
KnotonMYwatch!
4/27/2013 7:50 PM
For once, Vaginus posts something useful and nobody thanks him for not linking to his ridiculously stupid blog.
I'm here to change that. Thanks, Vaginus!
- Just another SUB MA REEEEEEEN NERRRRRR
4/29/2013 7:55 AM
Anon ^^^^
The blog you constantly belittle often presents accurate insights well before the mainstream. Take for example, his current post: Boston's terror bombers were definitely supervised.
Care to bet?
4/29/2013 6:37 PM
Is the prononciation very important? For a french guy it sounds the same. Aniway dolphin code 39!!! Thanks for tour blog: it's great!
4/30/2013 3:24 PM
Army's mean,
Marines are meaner,
but nobody fucks
with a SUB-MAREENER!
5/01/2013 5:24 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home