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    • My Day on a Nuclear Submarine


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    Last month, a week or so before Christmas, I received an email from Lt. Denise Garcia of the U.S. Navy. Now email from the Navy isn’t something that occurs often for me so I opened that one ahead of the others in my in-box that day. That email was like getting an early Christmas present as it contained an invitation to join 7 other bloggers aboard a Los Angeles Class Fast-Attack Nuclear Submarine.

    I had to read it a couple of times. Really? Me?

    I learned that my friend Jenn Van Grove, who I know from Twitter and several Twitter Meetups, had included my name on a list she gave to Lt. Garcia.  Also, ours would be the first group of bloggers that the Navy has invited on a submarine.

    Our amazing trip was this past Friday, January 15, 2010.

    My fellow honorary submariners are:

    The group of us and Denise met Thursday night at Celadon in Hillcrest for dinner and as a kind oficebreakerr. This was something we arranged on our own but I think it really added to the trip. Eachof us knew some of the others but not everyone. Denise was able to answer questions as well as give us some information about what we would be experiencing the next day. Good food, good times and an early evening as we had to be at the submarine base in Pt. Loma at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

    Morning Briefing

    We met Friday in a parking lot just outside the base. Here, Denise gave us permits to drive onto the base and we carpooled together the short distance from there to the pier where the
    USS Hampton Logo
    submarine would be. We were each given name tags and divided into 2 groups to facilitate tours through the sub. For security reasons, it wasn’t until then that we learned that we would be aboard the USS Hampton (SSN 767)

    At 8:00 things came to a stop as we had Colors and the Star Spangled Banner played. Then it was across a gangway to the sub, into an open hatch, and down a vertical ladder into the sub. It was immediately apparent why the 2 groups. Having all 8 of us in one spot would just clog things up.

    Video screen with our schedule for the day

    We all went to the Wardroom where we were briefed on what we would be doing for the day.

    My group was the first to go up to the control room and attack center where I was able to watch the men control the sub. I also got to go into the sonar room where I was given a set of headphones to listen in on what we could hear around us.

    There is so much information coming at you on these screens. It was incredible. The screens in the control center aren’t dedicated to a specific task. One minute they could be displaying sonar contacts and the next they could be displaying a live video feed from the periscope. Also, interesting is that these systems are COTS (commercial off the shelf) which keeps costs low and enables them to be easily switched out or upgraded.

    Dive!

    Around 10:00 we reached our dive point. I was in the control room when the order was given. The Hampton was put at a 5-degree angle down and we started to slip beneath the surface. I was really looking forward to this. It was quick and silent. I was standing by a monitor that was receiving a video feed from periscope 2 and shot this little video of our dive:

    Angles and Dangles

    When we had reached a certain depth we went through a procedure the men call “Angles and Dangles.” During this procedure, the sub dives deep and then comes back up, both at a steep angle. You need to grab hold of something because at 25 degrees you are really leaning! One of the reasons for going through this procedure is that everything not secure will fall. Falling objects make noise and noise and submarines do not mix. Silence is your friend.

    Also demonstrated for us was the crew coming to battle stations. A flurry of activity in very limited space occurs. Orders and acknowledgments fly. The bunch of us press ourselves out of the way as best we can in the tight control room. Everything is like clockwork. Torpedo tubes flooded. The order was given to fire! A quick shift in air pressure occurs that makes your ears pop as the torpedo leaves the tube. Today it was a ‘water slug’ which is basically a flooded torpedo tube with no torpedo in it. Torpedo away, the sub turns and moves. Fast.

    Weapons Demonstration

    We went down to the torpedo room where the sub has 4 torpedo tubes and

    View down the USS Hampton's torpedo tube
    watched a demonstration of a torpedo, this one inert for training purposes, being loaded into the tube. The torpedoes are 19ft long and only slightly less in diameter than the tube. Here is a picture looking down torpedo tube #1. The Pacific Ocean is about 20 feet away on the other side of that door at the end.

    Loading that torpedo is a precision maneuver with no room for error. Orders are shouted, acknowledgments given fore and aft of the torpedo as it is moved on its hydraulic rails into the tube.

    Lunch

    Our lunch menu
    After the weapons demonstration we made our way back to the Wardroom where lunch was served. With all the excitement of the morning, I was hungry! The chef on the Hampton did not disappoint.

    There was a menu at each of our places. From the soup options, I chose tomato and, while you could have had all three deserts I chose the ice cream. There was also fresh bread and pitchers of water, Diet Coke, and juice. Everything was good.

    After lunch, the groups switched places. The others went up to the control room and my group went to the places they had been in the morning.

    Afternoon

    We went back to the torpedo room for a closer look at the controls and the tubes themselves. We also saw the auxiliary diesel engine, crew meeting room, crew mess room, and galley.

    Me having a look though periscope 2

    Later we went up to the control room again. I believe we were around 60ft below the surface and we had a demonstration of an ‘Emergency Blow’. This is where air is forced into the ballast tanks and the sub rises rapidly to the surface. Felt like a quick elevator ride.

    An amazing day

    We saw and did so much it is really had to distill it into a blog post. Everyone I encountered was ready to answer questions and proud of their amazing machine. And they should be. I am honored to have been included on this historic first blogger submarine embark.

    Thanks to Commodore Genoble, Lt. Garcia, and the men of the USS Hampton for your hospitality and an amazing adventure!

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