Sea Stories! Routine submarine life back in the 90s

Well hello ATS!

With all the crap going on in the world today, I thought to take a little time out to provide a light-hearted sea story. Feel free to tack on a sea/land/air story of your own!

There we were...

My submarine had just come off of a highly classified patrol somewhere near the Sea of Japan. We had been on station for 62 days and everybody was ready for a little R&R. So we began steaming for Guam.

One bit of maintenance we had to do in those days on the Sturgeon class submarines was known as "diesel trend". It was supposed to be done every month, but we had missed one cycle due to the patrol. In order to do this we had to be surfaced. Speed went down to Standard (roughly 13 knots) on the surface.

It was sea state 3, with large swells rolling us around like a cigar in a swimming pool. People were getting sick, and to make matters worse, the diesel fumes were getting sucked back into the air intake. We had one tank for the toilets (known as San 2), and there was a line for all the heads, including the officers'.

As time went on San 2 filled up and we had to blow it overboard with high pressure air. All toilets were secured lest a pressurized geyser decorate the head with all sorts of filth. We blew the tank overboard - problem solved. Well, not quite.

The Chief of the Watch (COW) says, "Officer of the Deck, I'm not getting a shut indication on TD-2". That was the hull valve where the contents of San 2 were blown out. The COW cycled the switch a few times to no avail. Meanwhile, the tank was filling up rapidly with sea water.

Luckily for us, we were about 10 hours away from Guam, so on and on we trudged on the surface, heads were secured and the sailors' bladders were full. Some relieved themselves in the bilge, others were a bit more conscientious and found plastic bags (the ELTs were the main suppliers).

Finally we pulled into Apra harbor where the USS Holland - an old submarine tender - awaited us. The next day they told us that our stench could be detected when we reached buoys 1 & 2. That was about 3 miles outside the harbor!

We ended up having to put a belly band around the submarine hull and pumped out the tank. A VERY unlucky (and very small) sailor had to go into the tank to discern what had been fouling the hydraulic ball valve (TD-2). There were a couple of things - one was a t-shirt, one poopy suit (apropos) and two sets of underwear.

They were stenciled with the names of the sailors. [pause for dramatic effect]... No action was taken as the public shame was enough to ensure it never happened again.

We adopted a saying after this debacle: Never trust a fart.

----
Share your stories!

a reply to: Avardan


Tell me, what's the top speed of one of those suckers? Submerged.
Never have managed to get a straight answer.

Ahead flank

a reply to: neutronflux

Closest I ever got was "better than 20 knots."

Duh.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: neutronflux

Closest I ever got was "better than 20 knots."

Duh.

I got much the same answer from a co-worker who had served on a nuclear aircraft carrier as a jet mechanic. He did tell me that if the moderator rods are backed out of the reactor, you got more heat, more steam, more speed...theoretically. He also told me that personnel were not allowed on the flight deck while the ship was underway at speed, but he never gave me a number.

a reply to: Avardan
What a funny but also serious story lol. Never quite thought about all the things that need to be manageable on a submarine.


I have one to share too, so here it comes: It was October 2002, Red Sea in Egypt. I was with someone on a research vessel where they tested robotic mock up animals in free water. We had to go back to Sharm El Sheik harbor because of a technical problem and were grounded there for a few days, the weather was extreme windy.

A few of us then used the time to go scuba diving, as we all had our own equipment and stuff, but no boat. With one of these small diving boats, maybe 18-20m long, 5m wide. The first 3-4m waves hit us half an hour after we left shore, was very windy. Then on our way we spotted a school of dolphins. It had to be hundred or more, parents, little baby dolphin jumping out of the waves and also in front of the driving boat.

There were two other boats with us and the captain changed course with them, sounded their horns to make these dolphins curious.. and traversed some waves, 5m high now estimated. I was on the top deck with the captain, with a few others, that was a wild ride!

It was such a deceiving look, because almost everyone was hanging over the bulwark, but not to watch these dolphins lol. It's just funny in retrospective because we had flying equipment, 7L/220 Bar pressurized air bottles coming out of the bottle holders, rolling back and forth. Needles to say there was no diving this day and when on our way back, I thought the boat would not make it. I use to sit on the bowsprit regardless the weather while we move (Egyptian Captain does not care if dangerous) whenever possible so I know how hard waves are when the boat dives into one.

This time I stayed under deck, once I made it down.

TLDR: Just about everyone puked their guts and soul out.