Bruinsrme
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Hi,
this letter was forwarded to me from a shipmate. The inner circle where this came from is very small
Some abbreviations
ORSE - Operation reactor Safe Guard Exam - external testing group that measures the crews abaility to operate that reactor, respond to fires, flood and other casualtiesin the engine room (everyone hates life when this team comes on board)
TRE - Tactical Readiness Exam - similar to ORSE but the torture the crew with casualties in the forward part of the boat, break things and take away the comforts of life for a period of 3 days (hated worse than the ORSE team) But at least the boat shoots torpedeos
WOG - sailor that has not below below the equator short for polliwog
RLGN - Ring Laser Gyo Navigator - an intertially spaced reference navigation system the used is used as a navigation source while surfaced and submerged which is based on the successive approximationin its calculation of position, vertical velocity, velocity north, velocity east and angular displacement of the gimbal system and stable platform. that was my baby and helped debug the system....
SOE - Standard Operating Envelope - a reference used to ensure the safe operation of the ship. Based on speed and depth and provides a reference that ensures the ship operates within the limits so that in the event of an emergency the ship can blow to the surface.
COW - Chief of the watch - is the watch coordinator fo rthe peole on watch. while at the BCP he is responsible for maintaining the ship at an even ballast and cooridinating watch stations throughout the boat.
EMBT - Emergency Main Ballast Tanks - High pressure air banks used to rapidly evacutate air from the fwd and aft ballast tanks. There are two switches above the BCP called chicken switches. They are more like levers when operated send aire from an internal airbank to operate air actuated valves which in turn allow the air from the EMBT airbanks (main ballast tank air banks) to flow into the Main Ballast tanks pushing the water out of the main ballast tanks.
BCP - Ballast Control panel - a panel loaded with pump and valve controls to move water forward to aft and vice versa or take on or pump off to maintain ballast.
DOOW - diving officer of the watch - maintains speed, depth, and course of the ship, resposinsible for maintaining the SOE
To say that I've had a bad year so far would be a little short on the
tooth I think. Last year was a good one for the boat. After spending 5
months away from home in drydock (Sandy Eggo) we got our second BA on
ORSE (bad juju), received the highest score in PacFlt for a submarine
TRE inspection, aced our mine readiness inspection with 4 out of 4 hits,
completed 2 outstanding missions (will have to shoot you), and completed
a early ORSE just before Christmas with an EXCELLENT. It was also the
first year that Auxiliary Division had a Christmas standown since coming
out of the yards in 2002. A-division also took the CSS-15 <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />RedDC award
for the second year in a row. My retention has been 100% since I checked
onboard in Oct 2002 amongst 1st/2nd and turd termers.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
We were going to our first true liberty port 2 weeks ago, heading for
Brisbane and fun in the sun. As this WOG knows, we were getting ready
for our crossing the line ceremony and the crew was really upbeat, and
hard charging, we had just completed a great year for the San Fran.
To say the world went to shyte in a hand basket would be an
understatement. I would put it closer to a nightmare that becomes reality.
The seamount that is a large part of the discussion the last 2 weeks is
un-named. The charts we carried onboard were up to date as far as we can
tell. No modern geographic data for this area was available to us
onboard as it is a remote area not often travelled by the Navy. We have
one of the BEST ANav's in the fleet onboard, a true quartergasket that
takes pride in his job. We have RLGN's onboard, when they are running,
they are accurate as hell for our position, they also drive Tomahawks.
We knew where we were. All of my depth gauges and digital read the same
depths as we changed depth to our SOE depth for flank. I can't discuss alot,
because I'm still a participent of at least 2 investigations....LOL.
I was the Diving Officer of the Watch when we grounded. If you read the
emails from ComSubPac, you will get some of the details, from flank
speed to less than 4 knots in less than 4 seconds. We have it recorded
on the RLGN's-those cranky bastages actually stayed up and recorded
everything. For you guys that don't understand that, take a Winnebego
full of people milling around and eating, slam it into a concrete wall
at about 40mph, and then try to drive the damn thing home and pick up
the pieces of the passengers.
As for the actual grounding, I can tell you that it was fortunate that
myself and the Chief of the Watch were blessed by somebody. I was
standing up, changing the expected soundings for a new depth on the
chart (yes, we had just moved into deeper water) leaning against the
ship's control panel with a hand grip, and the COW was leaning down to
call the COB on the MJ.
The next thing to cross my mind was why am I pushing myself off of the
SCP and where the hell the air rupture in the control room come from? I
didn't know it, but I did a greater than 3g spiderman against the panel,
punched a palm through the only plexiglass guage on the SCP and had my
leg crushed by the DOOW chair that I had just unbuckled from. The DOOW
chair was broken loose by the QMOW flying more than 15 feet into it and
smashing my leg against a hydraulic valve and the SCP. I don't remember
freeing myself from it. If I had been buckled in, I don't think I would
be writing this. The COW was slammed against the base of the Ballast
Control Panel, and only injured his right arm. He could of destroyed the
BCP, he was a big boy. Everybody else in control, with the exception of
the helm, was severely thrown to the deck or other items that were in
their way, and at least partially dazed. Within about 5 seconds of the
deceleration, we blew to the surface, it took that 5 seconds for the COW
to climb up the BCP and actuate the EMBT blow. We prepared to surface
right away and got the blower running asap, I didn't know how much
damage we had forward but knew it was not good, I wanted that blower
running.
I would say that about 80% of the crew was injured in some way, but do
not know the number. We grounded in the middle of a meal hour, just
after field day, so most of the crew was up. Once we got the boat on the
surface and semi-stable with the blower running the rest of the ship
conditions started sinking in to our minds. We were receiving 4MC's for
injured men all over the boat. I was worried that those reports were
over whelming any equipment/boat casualties that could make our life
worse. I had teams form up of able bodied men to inspect all of the
forward elliptical bulkhead, lower level, and tanks below those spaces.
I couldn't believe that we did not have flooding, it just didn't fit in.
At one point I looked around in the control room, and saw the disaster.
The entire control room deck was covered in paper from destroyed
binders, and blood. It looked like a slaughterhouse, we had to clean it
up.
I knew that Ash was severly injured and brought to the messdecks, he was
one of my best men, and one of our best sailors onboard, he was like a
son to me. After surfacing I was the control room supervisor, I had a
boat to keep on the surface and fight and knew that if I went below to
see how he was doing, it would teeter me on the brink of something that
the ship did not need, the ship needed somebody who knew her.
I have to say that the design engineers at Electric Boat, NavSea and
others have designed a submarine that can withstand incredible amounts
of damage and survive. We lost no systems, equipment, or anything broke
loose during the impact. The damage to our sailors was almost all from
them impacting into the equipment.
The crew is a testament to training and watch team backup. When a
casualty occurs, you fight like you train, and train like you fight. It
kept us alive during that 2+day period.
I've just returned from the honor of escorting my sailor home to his
family. God bless them, they are truly good people and patriotic. The
Navy is doing everything they can for them and they are learning how
submariner's take care of each other. During the memorial and viewing on
Saturday, CSS-15 provided a video from the coast guard of us on the
surface and the SEAL/Dr. medical team being helo'd in, the family had
this video played on 2 screens in the background. It was a sobering
reminder of what a hard woman the ocean can be. We had to call off the
helo because of the sea state, it was becoming too dangerous for the
aircraft, we almost hit it with the sail a couple of times. The sea
would not allow us to medivac in our condition and that sea state.
I was one of the 23 sent to the hospital that Monday. I was fortunate,
my leg was not broken, just trashed/bruised. I walked on that leg for
almost 24 hours before it gave out on me and they had it splinted. The
SEAL made me promise not to walk on it, how do you refuse a SEAL? LOL.
So I hopped around on a single leg for awhile, the other chief's were
calling me Tiny Tim, LOL. "God bless each and every one! Except you, and
you, that guy behind you!". The COB threatened to beat my @ss if I walk
onboard before my leg is otay, he's about the only man onboard that I'd
take that from, hehe.
The crew is doing better, we've lost a few due to the shock of the
incident. We will make sure they are taken care of. The investigation
goes on, and I have a new CO. I will only say that the San Fran was the
best damn sub in the Navy under CDR Mooneys leadership. We proved that.
God bless him and his family no matter what happens in the future, he is
truly a good man.
I just need to get my leg healed and get back to fighting my favorite
steel *****.
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Hi Tom
No I never had the pleasure of meeting Captain Deering.
While you were in Kingsbay there are three large buildings. Two off to the right and 1 off to the left.
The Left is the dry dock, which is freaking huge and the other two are EHFW's, Explosive Handling Wharfs.
There are 2 EHW to support Brits and US boats.
Normal refits are performed at the piers. The 130,000 pound missile does require special cranes and other equipment. so during a normal refit it is not likely, note the lack of confirmation, that a missile move would occur. It is a very costly operation to move the birds. The marines are scattered about providing VERY tight security. They are locked and loaded and they have no sense of humor what so ever.
Here a good link to learn about how our tax dollars are spent
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/slbm/d-5.htm
While launching a missile the sub acts in a very strange way. How one may ask.
Take a piece of licorice and hold it in the middle with two fingers, now move it up and down, that is what the 560 foot long 42 foot wide sub does for about 15 seconds. It is wicked cool, the second time....
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colterphoto1,
Thank you
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Having been on two new commissioned boats, the scariest moment in my life was on board the USS Tennessee SSBN734. It was my first time experiencing a dive on a sub and it was the first time the sub ever submerged. There was an deadly silence shortly after the boat lowered its number 2 periscope. As hundreds of flash lights bounced off of the bulkheads the reports started comng in. All good. but at 70 feet that aint nothing.
In the end there were a few minor leaks that sealed themselves from the pressure, like the periscopes. When we got back into port it was party time.
Being a periscope tech I was the point of contact for removals, installs and the QA/subsafe packages. Upon sea trials after the replacement the Captain and I were standing in control and it was a junior officers first time on the boat and first dive. Well, it was play time. When we dove the periscope leaked like there was no tomorrow. The entire control room started panicing and the captain started barking out, people running around and then the Captain turns to me in an ever so calm voice and asks, Scott what do you recommend. I said deeper captain. He responded with great idea, he commanded the sub to 100 feet deeper. The look on the Ensigns face was priceless as caught on the polariod picture. The poor guy was whiter than white and the entire control room party was laughing their butts off. Teh good ole times..
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Parcel Post: maybe 2 weeks 3 tops. If I was a betting man, my money is the buyer received it.
I apologize, thought you said you asked for more money.
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I truly hope you are kidding. Do a little research on the incident.
USS San Francisco SSN-711....Once you read what really happended and you should be amazed that after hitting an unchartered mountain going from roughly 35 knots to 4 knots in 1 second, with a calculated transfer of energy of 980 megajoules, the crew and sub not only survived (exception of one sailor) but was able to bring the sub back to port.
The ocean is too vst to plot every square in.
Theday.com has a very well written article about the entire even. I will be more than happy to share the "cover up" with you. Send me a PM with an email address and I will send it to you.
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This made me laugh
by imthman: She couldn't wait 5 more days.... It's apparent who's screwing who here.
Sorry to see your perfect rating tarnished.
That is only one, I would not worry about it.
My money is on she received it and when you asked for more money she went extreme.
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jsut found this
NOTE: R1.05 Firmware update installed.
R1.05 allows you to adjust the underscan on HDMI input and other improvements.
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Ihave the version 1 of the football, hockey, basketball and sub hunt.
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while I agree that Klipsch should not babysit there dealers they should keep an open line of commnications with them.
if Klipsch had taken the time to call that particular dealer, instead of posting here on the forum, I feel something could have been worked out sooner and instead of the customer waiting for 2 months. the customer in this case did follow the proper route but I feel, again my opinion, that Klipsch could have been a little more responsive and helping the customer and working to support the dealer.
IMO it would have been refreshing to see Klipsch talked to the dealer and they worked together to have an operational sub in the customers home.
I relate situations like this to a paycheck. how long would an employee sit idle waiting for a pay check after being told oh the machine broke and will not print out your last name, but we are waiting for a part sorry. Would someone willing wait 2 months or would they call the boss or someone higher up.
I could not imagine the look on an employees face if the president of a company came in and said, we don't baby sit our quality managers and we were hoping they would be able to fix the problem.
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The front of the subs and the back of the subs house the main balast tanks. Inside those tanks are air banks housing 4500psi air to displace tthe water from tanks causing the boat to rise. That air is used during an emergency blow or a timed blow after surfacing
the tarp is covering up the sonar array which is a pretty unique looking device simply made up of a series of transducers (microphones) to listen. At 20+ knots the sub is basically deaf due to the rate at which the water is rushing over the sonar dome, the fiberglass nose of the sub.. Also, the torpedo tubes are located in the lower part of the hull.
The original condition of the sub was said to be that the metal that was peeled back due to the impact had to be cut away by divers. The high yield metal they use is not the easiest metal to cut let alone trying to cut it at sea.
Now if this was a VLS (vertical launch system) platform, which launch tomahacks, I do not think this boat would have survived.
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The tarp is covering up the Sonar array. That is always covered they the sonar sphere is removed or in this case damaged. the sonar sphere is similar to the radar dome on the front of the cockpit of a plane.
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Having spent 10 years on subs one of the biggest fears was always hitting something while submerged. Rumor has it that the sub was travelling in excess of 20 knots and the 9000 tons vessel came to a complete stop almost immediately. One sailor from Ohio lost his life and dozens seriously hurt. Despite the severity of the damage the sub was able to return to port under its own power.
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I can't imagine what you are going through. All I can ofer is stating the fact you have far more patience that I do.
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A strong horseradish seperates the good BM from the outstaning BM
Also a hint of freshly ground black pepper
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Intel is always looking for MEs.
The largests FABs are in New Mexico, Oregon, Phoenix and Santa Clara. If you are interested in working in the semiconducotr industry drop me an email if you would like to know whats available.
Scott
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14 years in the Navy on subs (SSBN) Maryland, Tennesee and Michigan.
It is too bad they pulled out of the exchanges because they offered service men and women some great deals. Now they push blose.
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Also check to make sur ethe DVD player is NOT set to PCM for DTS and DD
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Gram
I beleive Office XP comes with Photo Editor Office 2003 doesn't.
if you have a copy of Office XP you can install that program without having to install the entire office suite.
I have connected Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta and Kodak cameras to my desktop computer. No problems what so ever.
the 6 computers on my network have been loaded with XP since the release. Now they have SP2 and running fine.
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I am using www.allofmp3.com
they charge 2 cents per meg. itunes is good but expensive to me.
Plasma TV or Projector?
in Home Theater
Posted
27,000 hours til half brightness?
Would you have to know the source for that?