In The Navy (On the Boat), Part 3

I had seen pretty much all of the Weapons Division so far (Sonar, Fire Control and Torpedo Room). I didn’t get into Engineering (the aft ½ of the Boat) till much later.

I found a cool picture/cutaway of a 688 Submarine, similar to the one I was on. Please to be noting that the Vertical Launch Tomahawks up front and the Forward (Bow) Planes were not on my Boat. We had planes on the Sail (the thing sticking out of the top) and all of the weapons we shot, went out of the Torpedo Tubes!
http://www.sublant.navy.mil/photos/688_cutaway.jpg My boat was later outfitted for this configuration, a huge waste of money.

I found out early on about a guy that had briefly been my room mate back in Sub School. Apparently he was gay (I figured he was back then, but he never hit on me, so whatever…) and after getting to the Boat, he decided it was not for him. He had a Polaroid taken of him sucking on something (guess what?) and walked up to the Captain, handed him the pic and said he wanted out.

This was fine by the Captain, so off he went to civilian life and later appeared, working at the base Bowling Alley. I never approached him or talked to him, but I knew who he was and so did everyone on base. It was just creepy that he did that to get out of the Navy, but stayed around base. I have no problem with homosexuals, I have had friends who are gay and had no trouble at all, as long as they are not hitting on me. I don’t roll that way.

The Boat was about to deploy on a “Med” run (Mediterranean stint). I was politely told to stay home and was assigned to Squadron HQ for a while. It was pretty laid back there and I got to hear a boat load of fantastic stories about the Chiefs prior experiences on Subs. I also got lectured on how to behave onboard in tough situations, which sank in well and I carried the knowledge forward with me.

I did a 3 week class in a maintenance school for the only real Nuclear weapon my Boat could carry, the UUM-44 Subroc. http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-44.html
The class was interesting, but the 3x2x2 foot simulator for this weapon was a huge challenge to learn. While it was similar to a Mk 75 Attack Director, it was also very different. It was different in both operation and instrumentation. It was a whole system unto itself and was very complicated. Missiles are tough science!

The days at HQ were mostly filled with running mail and running coffee for about everyone, I was still only an E-4. I often wondered what the Boat and Dyke were up to and eventually got a few updates on their progress (classified).

I don’t remember the whole circumstance, but for some reason, my Boat had to head to Faslane Scotland. On the way into port, they hit some terrible seas and had a “malfunction”. I was told the weather there was legendarily bad, I found out later first hand that it is true.

For whatever reason, the outer Weapon’s Shipping Hatch had been lost. It was probably not latched (dogged as we called it) down all the way. These things are really tough steel and can withstand a lot of anything. I heard later from people who were there, that the sound of that lose hatch slamming open and then shut was deafening, until the hinges broke loose and the hatch sank to the bottom.

The Boat was not going to be able to submerge until the hatch was replaced, so they called back to Groton and had the hatch on whatever Boat was being constructed at Electric Boat Shipyard at that time, cut off and flown to Scotland. What a trip! The cost of doing all this was immense. There is a Sub-Tender there in Scotland, so they had most, if not all of the tools ready to make the repair. We always swore that the hatch just wasn’t “right”, because it was from another Boat. It also never seemed to fit right and was hard to get closed. We considered it a bit of a jinx and guys on Subs are VERY superstitious (writings on the wall) http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B00006JSS8001008/0/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_008/104-3258938-8071123 Sorry, couldn’t help myself.