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.)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Israeli Submarine Rescues Swimmer

An unnamed Israeli submarine rescued a swimmer who had been swept out to sea by the tide earlier this week:
The submarine crew spotted the man showing signs of weakness after it came to the surface around five nautical miles (nine kilometers) from Haifa port late Tuesday morning.
The crew raised the man aboard and a medic gave him first aid.
I'm assuming the boat was on the surface when they saw him, although it would have been more dramatic for them to surface near a guy who's thinking he's near the end. Has your boat ever saved anyone in danger of the Perils of the Sea? Or did your boats only use your stealth for Evil (like using the periscope to videotape people engaged in "private" activities on the deck of their boat when they thought no one was around, then showing it to the crew on the mess decks)?

I earlier recounted my best sea story about saving someone at sea here. It involves California jet skiers, so you know it's funny.

20 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wouldn't label it good or evil...just a side benefit of 'clean living' -- but where does videotaping intentionally-flashing Ft. Lauderdale women on port egress fit into things?

My guess is that they thought they were dropping their tops only for the benefit of some squidly dreams while away at sea...but videotape has its purposes in life.

5/28/2009 1:58 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tied up port side of the tender in Holy Loch. Many evenings, looking through either scope in high power towards the houses on the side of the lock opposite Sandbank, we could make out a mole on the butt cheek of a young Scottish babe.

Never was on a boat where we had to save someone, but I did spend many below decks watches watching the goings on in those houses...

5/28/2009 3:56 PM

 
Blogger wtfdnucsailor said...

In 1967 SEADRAGON rescued five Honolulu policemen who had been fishing in the Molokai Channel when their boat sank. The chain of events leading to SEADRAGON to be on the spot were amazing:
1. Delayed predeployment ops to correct a deficiency from an NR exam (The last NR exam of an operating sub in the Pacific that was observed by the new Pacific NPEB)
2. Getting a little salt water in SG and having to return to port early to clean up the Cl.
3. XO decides to surface to dump trash and garbage (It is legal to do that then ) before entering port.
4. Sharp lookout spots one of the cops in the water.

DRAGON entered PHNSY for an extended overhaul after the WESTPAC and, for some reason, never had any problems in downtown Honolulu during the entire period (a sailor in trouble would be escorted back to the ship with no questions asked).

5/28/2009 4:40 PM

 
Blogger HSNormal said...

Check out USS SCAMP's partially successful rescue of a freighter crew in 1987.

http://www.uss-scamp.com/1987%20Rescue%20Story.htm

5/28/2009 5:27 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here is the story of USS Barb rescuing a B-52 crew while inside a typhoon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Barb_(SSN-596)

I recall that it was written up in Fathom magazine back in the day...

5/28/2009 7:22 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's a fuller account of the B52 rescue:

http://barbreunion2007.us/10.html

5/28/2009 7:32 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

{My guess is that they thought they were dropping their tops only for the benefit of some squidly dreams while away at sea...but videotape has its purposes in life.}

Isn't patriotism grand?

5/28/2009 7:41 PM

 
Blogger Don the Baptist said...

As a preacher I have to say I'm shocked and disappointed. As a former snipe I have to say, "Man, I wish we'd had periscopes in the boiler room!"

5/29/2009 9:13 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

God bless tits.

5/29/2009 9:42 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen.

5/29/2009 9:46 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I spent some time with some WWII submarine veterans last week. At their meeting that I attended was a retired pilot named LCDR Emerson (who had a Flying Cross & tons of other chest candy). LCDR Emerson was rescued after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire while on a dive bomb mission.

Four hours after ejecting he was picked up by a submarine rescue crew. Hearing his story gave me goosebumps.

Sadly, the boat that rescued him went down with all hands onboard lost on their very next war patrol...

STSC

5/29/2009 11:48 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never forget President George Bush SR. was rescued by the USS Finback after being shot down in WWll ...

5/30/2009 8:18 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SAN JUAN picked up 4 Morrocans adrift in a raft back in 2007. They left Tangiers, tried to row across to Spain and got caught in the current...they didn't know they were swept into the Med and had been adrift nearly two days. Didn't have to bring them onboard since we called in a Morrocan patrol craft. Great feeling to see their expression of relief to be taken care of and a great sea story!

5/31/2009 11:57 AM

 
Anonymous LT L said...

Never forget President George Bush SR. was rescued by the USS Finback after being shot down in WWll ...

must...not...troll...

5/31/2009 6:08 PM

 
Anonymous SJV said...

Was the 751 rescue a "surface next to the raft and scare the crap out of the guys" before saving them?

Good to see another SJV. Keep her going. It'd be nice to stop by for a visit one day.

5/31/2009 7:11 PM

 
Anonymous PigBoatSailor said...

Good to see another SJV. Keep her going. It'd be nice to stop by for a visit one day.Damn, former SJ sailors all over the place, apparently. Check the CO/XO post to see some other SJ sailor's progress...

6/01/2009 3:39 PM

 
Blogger Srvd_SSN_CO said...

This isn't a rescue story, but you'll see the parallels.

We were conducting some DDS/SDV ops with SEALs off Oahu. While they were operating out there a dinghy was usually near by. Typically these guys had to paddle to get back in position near the scope, which was up ALL the time to help them keep track of us.

This day I watched as the guy in the boat lassoed the scope, then kicked back, pulled his hat over his eyes and let us pull him along.

Naturally, you saw this on Perivis with every rotation. It didn't take long until the XO came out and took the scope, trained it on the guy, then announced, "dipping the scope to clear the optics". He lowered the scope for about 10 seconds, then raised it again.

Just in time to see this guy scrambling to figure out what happened. "That's better," the XO said as he continued to look around.

6/02/2009 5:37 PM

 
Anonymous Filing Bankruptcy said...

Amazing story. Can you imagine how scary it would be if you were floating in the sea and a submarine emerged from the depths!

8/26/2010 11:21 PM

 
Anonymous transex roma said...

There's no doubt, the dude is absolutely just.

10/02/2011 10:07 AM

 
Anonymous Paula said...

Thanks so much for this article, quite useful piece of writing.

9/01/2012 6:06 AM

 

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