In The Navy (On the Boat), Part 13

One of the last things you do before a long deployment (besides banging your wife or girlfriend) is to load all of the supplies you will need for the trip (they are called “Stores”). Ton after ton of food (some fresh stuff too) and other supplies are brought on board, all manually.

All of the canned food comes in cardboard cases of 12 cans, about the size of a large Coffee can each. A case is heavy as hell. These boxes of various things are stored on the floor in the enlisted berthing compartments. It makes sense, but you lose a lot of head room, which there is not a lot of in the first place. The other catch is, as the deployment (Run) goes on, the cooks come and take boxes off the floor, so you never know when there is going be a spot where the floor drops out from under you when you are in berthing (which is kept pitch black when you are under way). Inevitably someone will trip and get a bloody nose or hit their head on a cable run and need a stitch.

The worst of the supplies to load are the Trash Disposal Unit (TDU) weights. Like everything else, you form a line of guys and toss the items from one to another, until everything gets to where it needs to go, below decks. The TDU weights were in much smaller boxes, maybe 8 or 10” square. These boxes weigh about 50 pounds each. The weights are used to ensure the trash cans ejected from the Boat when out to sea, sink all the way to the bottom of the ocean. No traces.

The fresh eggs, milk and vegetables are handled much more gingerly and rarely suffer damage on the way to their storage spots. These are like gold once the hatches are shut and everyone knows it.

Since the boxes are smaller and heavier, they are tough to handle, harder to toss. It’s a lock that one or two will hit the deck and break open, or go over the side and sink to the bottom right next to the pier. Everyone was sore after the job was done. It usually took a few days, depending on how long you were heading out for. Sometimes it just takes an afternoon.

One other thing you stock up on ahead of time is cigarettes. We got them “duty free”, which means we don’t pay taxes on them. Sweet! They all get delivered and you go pick up your requested order right before the Boat gets underway. The only catch with this system is; at least one jackass is going to try to quit smoking on this run and brings/orders none. I will get a little deeper into that situation shortly.

The day came and we headed out to sea, this would be the longest run I ever made and broke a record (for most of the crew) for time submerged, that’s no surfacing…period.

As the Boat heads out, a mission briefing is held on the mess decks. Anyone who can squeezes into the room. The briefing was vague and well…brief. That meant we were probably going to see some action. Soon after we crossed the deep water mark, we submerged. It would be the last time anyone got any fresh air on board for a long time. Where do the farts go anyway? I never thought of that till just now. There are air filters on board, silly thought.

The first thing you do when you are headed out on a long run like this is “Angles and Dangles”. The Dive Officer sends the boat into a steep dive, and everything not solidly secured, goes flying towards the front of the Boat. Then, after a few minutes, the Boat goes into a steep rise and everything that is already loose, shoots across the room towards the aft of the Boat. I was in the Control room and pencils, rulers, erasers, maps, books, and more were flying around from the Quartermaster’s station. I helped secure things as best I could. It’s always strange standing on a normally flat surface, leaning now 35 degrees forward then back. Some storms cause this too, more side to side though.

The angles went on for about 15 minutes. In berthing, the food cases on the floor were quite a hazard! Once the XO was satisfied things had enough time to shake free, he cancelled the maneuvers and we went quiet, just like that. We were in “Patrol” mode. We had to transit to our patrol location and did so VERY quietly.

The problem was; there immediately appeared a very loud sonar contact/target that we figured had to be very very close.