I'm Giving Up On The Broom Thing

Almost since I started blogging (and before) I've been a voice crying out in the wilderness against the new "tradition" of submarines coming back from sea trials with a broom flying from their sail. During WWII, a submarine only came into port flying the broom if they'd sunk every enemy they'd encountered -- frequently by means of firing off all their torpedoes over the course of several weeks in the face of determined enemy resistance. Here's an example of a submarine deservedly flying the broom:

PCU North Carolina (SSN 777) returned safely from Alpha Trials yesterday; these trials involve taking a submarine to sea for the first time in local waters. Sure, it's a tough job, but let's be honest -- it's not really on the order of shooting a charging enemy destroyer with a "down the throat" shot. Here's how the bridge of the North Carolina looked yesterday:

(I added the fuchsia arrow pointing out the broom on a chopped-down version of this photo.) Having been on a few Alpha Trials myself, I'm not going to blame the CO and crew for this; I know that the shipyard is usually responsible for wanting the Captain to fly the broom. I'll just have to be happy that my CO on Connecticut told the OOD to refuse permission for the shipyard to send the broom to the bridge when we came in from our very successful Alpha Trials; he had a good understanding of how to honor our predecessors. If we were the last boat to refuse the broom, so be it. I can only hope that the next generation of Captains come up with an unwritten rule that the broom should only be flown if ordnance was used against the enemy. If so, I'll applaud them. Until then, I'll try to keep my trap shut and just honor the men (and sometimes women) who skillfully take untried submarines out to sea.

Update 1030 21 Dec: Here's a short video of the North Carolina on the surface returning from Alpha Trials.

Jimmy Carter Underway

Finally! PCU Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) got underway on Alpha Sea Trials yesterday from Groton. (This link to an article in The Day will require registration to see later this week; I'll try to find a more permanent link later.) I just hope they don't come back into port flying a broom from their sail like Virginia (and, in 1996, Seawolf) did at the conclusion of their Alpha trials (see broom to the right and left, respectively, of the US flags in the linked pictures). Traditionally, a submarine flies a broom from their sail at the conclusion of a wartime mission when they destroyed all targets they engaged; they've "swept the sea clean" of their enemies. Although Alpha Trials can certainly be exciting (I've been on three) they don't even come close to a wartime patrol.

PCU Hawaii Returns From Alpha Trials, Brags About Successful Field Day

I know I'm tilting at windmills here, but I'm getting more and more curmudgeony about submarines flying the "clean sweep" broom after two or three day underways in which they don't sink any enemy vessels. But I digress...

PCU Hawaii (SSN 776) just returned from a successful Alpha Sea Trial yesterday:

The USS Hawaii returned to Electric Boat on Saturday afternoon with a broom on its sail, a sign that the nation's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine successfully underwent the full range of tests planned for its initial sea trials in a “clean sweep.”
The Hawaii, the third Virginia-class submarine, left Thursday for its first voyage in open seas. A U.S. Navy crew of 122 tested the ship's systems and capabilities in a variety of ways during the two-day trials, including submerging it for the first time and conducting high-speed runs both on the surface and submerged.
An additional 75 riders from the U.S. government, Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News participated, said Cmdr. David A. Solms, commanding officer of the Hawaii, when the ship returned Saturday.

These being non-"first of a class" trials, they aren't quite as arduous as what Virginia and Jimmy Carter had to go through. As such, they have even less of a claim on flying the broom than those crews did -- but they did anyway:

Since I knew they didn't do anything as grand as what "Mush" Morton did when he flew the broom on USS Wahoo, I figured they must have been demonstrating how clean their boat was. But, all is not lost. While I was looking at the photo more closely, I found something that brought joy to this old submariner's heart -- evidence that the Sub Force is taking one of our most effective secret weapons more seriously, to the point where they're testing them on Alpha Trials. Look about a third of the way up from the top of the windshield to the CO's hand -- do you see it? I'm pretty sure it's a B1rD! (Probably the CGU-11 mod.) Now our enemies will know for sure we mean business!

Seriously, though, this is a big milestone for the officers and crew of the Hawaii, and it sounds like they did their jobs very well. BZ!

Update 2324 05 Dec: Here's another article about the sea trials. By now, if all went as planned, Hawaii should be back out for Bravo Trials.

SSGN Program Off To Bad Start, Tradition-wise

USS Ohio (SSGN 726) just returned from sea trials after her conversion, and it doesn't look good. I'm sure the ship and crew did fine, but -- I know you won't believe this -- they flew the damn broom from the sail. For completing conversion sea trials!?! Next, I'm sure they'll ask for a MUC for putting up with so much pain and heartache in the shipyard.

I've sub-blogged before about my distaste for this practice. Flying a broom from the sail traditionally means that you've "swept the seas clean" of enemies, i.e. you sank every target you prosecuted. I'm pretty sure Ohio didn't sink any Al Qaeda freighters on her sea trials, so she didn't really earn this particular right, IMHO.

I guess you can take the boat out of the SSBN category, but you can't take the boomer out of the crew...

Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) Picture

Here's a permanent link to the Navy website with a story on the Jimmy Carter's Alpha trials, as well as a picture of her getting underway. Since I haven't seen a picture of their return yet, I can't confirm the rumors that she had the damn broom flying from her sail...

Going deep...

Update: Here's an article and picture from The New London Day (registration required) that shows the broom on the sail. Damn...

Jimmy Carter Completes Alpha Trials

PCU Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) completed their Alpha Sea Trials today. Good job, guys! Now I'll have to see the pictures to see if they avoided the pressure to put the damn broom on the sail...

Update: Just heard from a reliable eyewitness source at Ron Martini's submarine BBS that they did have the broom up...

PCU North Carolina Underway On Alpha Trials

Just a quick post while blogging from the Land of the Dial-up Internet Connection (more on that later). Despite the recent discovery of potential class-wide weld issues, PCU North Carolina (SSN 777) got underway yesterday for Alpha Sea Trials. Since they aren't "first of a class" trials, they should be pulling back in today -- hopefully without the damn broom on the sail.