Encounters of the Submarine Kind

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

As an ex US Navy sub sailor so of you guys just crack me up

The implication here, as I read it, is that some posters are in error. Can you explain why?

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by sailpower

Virginia class?

Not sure but I think so.
These guys come out of Bangor Submarine base in Hood Canal.
They always have lots of company when they transit past our place on Whidbey.

[Hydra]

Many posts here refer to surfaced submarines.

A French Navy submariner told me an interesting story. He was keeping watch at the periscope, at night and saw a vague white shape in the distance. Some time later, he looked again and the white shape filled the whole field of view. Looking up, he saw it was a sailing yacht without lights. He barely had time to retract the periscope and dive under the yacht.

If a collision had occurred, the periscope would have been bent but the yacht would have been holed.

When a submarine is training for special ops, it will often be not far from shore, close to the surface (periscope depth is about 1.5m of water over the top of the sail) without any light, and not operating a radar or transmitting on AIS. It will be running a radar detector and receiving on AIS. It is up to yachtsmen to be detected.

Alain

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by sailpower

Submarines don't surface at full speed no matter what.

Obviously there have been a few mistakes made but that is not the norm.

Which negates your first sentence. Hot dogging a sub is fun. It is done occasionally, without permission of course. Totally depends on the CO.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by Raythesailor

A most interesting thread but I must say not that long ago all you submariner experts could have been subject to what we call in the UK "TheOfficial Secrets Act" !!

That is the problem with you Limeys, no freedom of speech nor of the press.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

I seriously doubt there are any US subs in service that are diesel electric powered. Nowadays, they're all nuclear.
The nukes started around the "580" hull number.
The last diesel electrics I saw were when I was in the Navy submarine service the late '60's.
I was crew on this boat, the USS Pickerel ss524 thankfully not on this day though !
That was a test for an emergency surface from maximum depth.

Looks like offshore of Pearl Harbor with the Koolaus in the background.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

I am glad all you submariners joined the conversation. Can I ask you- does it make any difference to keep your depth sounder on? Would you recommend it in open ocean? I am willing to change if it is safer...

Originally Posted by ZULU40 View Post
Ive been 'out' for some time now, my understanding is the USN had one Diesel electric for research purposes

BTW I think this is the boat:
USS Dolphin - Maritime Museum of San Diego She is a DE that held all types of records in her "research" purpose. You can tour her in San Diego.

Just play the Grateful Dead real loud.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Raythesailor

A most interesting thread but I must say not that long ago all you submariner experts could have been subject to what we call in the UK "TheOfficial Secrets Act" !!

There is no discussion of classified material happening here. What specifically are you referring to?

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Which negates your first sentence. Hot dogging a sub is fun. It is done occasionally, without permission of course. Totally depends on the CO.

Negates my first sentence?

Nonsense.

The Greenville incident in particular was a result of several factors aside from the CO but as a matter of course submarine CO's are definitely not "hot dogging" it.

Have you ever served on a submarine?

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Hydra

When a submarine is training for special ops, it will often be not far from shore, close to the surface (periscope depth is about 1.5m of water over the top of the sail) without any light, and not operating a radar or transmitting on AIS.
Alain

I wonder if he was on a diesel boat? That is not the case with a nuke boat.

The top of the submerged sail at PD would pose no danger to any sailboat at least in calm conditions.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Raythesailor

A few years ago I was doing a YMaster exam ,at night, in Plymouth Sound (UK).

Part of the examination involves light identification.

The poor candidate was as confused as the examiner when entering the harbour came;

A submarine escorted by two tugs foreword, a tug aft and 4 police launches.!!

That is a lot of lights all at the same time!

At some point, the correct answer becomes "a whole load of boats"

[Hydra]

Originally Posted by sailpower

I wonder if he was on a diesel boat? That is not the case with a nuke boat.

The top of the submerged sail at PD would pose no danger to any sailboat at least in calm conditions.

IIRC, he was on a diesel boat (a time when the French navy still had some of them).

Anyway, periscope depth isn't the same on all subs. At 2660 tonnes dived, the present French SSN (attack subs) are much smaller than the US ones (about 6900 tonnes dived for Los Angeles class). So, they have shorter periscopes.

Alain

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Not sure but I think so.
These guys come out of Bangor Submarine base in Hood Canal.
They always have lots of company when they transit past our place on Whidbey.

Looking at it again, I believe it is the USS Jimmy Carter, the last of the three Seawolf class boats.

She was lengthened considerably and took over the tasks previously performed by USS Parche and USS Halibut. If you know what they did, you know the type of OPS she does.

If you want a good read about submarine OPS in the Cold War, read Blind Man's Bluff. Operation Ivy Bells is particularly amazing.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by sailpower

I wonder if he was on a diesel boat? That is not the case with a nuke boat.

The top of the submerged sail at PD would pose no danger to any sailboat at least in calm conditions.

Or maybe a big, fat Russian sub; which poses a danger even if its 100 meters below the surface.

[Emmalina]

Was once sailing in the adriatic and the depth went from 80m to 12m then to 5m then back to 12m then 80 again. Looked at my fish finder and it sure looked like the outline of a sub. Forgot to take a photo of the ff...