Google Image Sometimes when the weather is really hot or cold I find myself remembering other times and places. It's pretty cold today. I have pretty much decided that if the furnace and/or air conditioners work there is no sense of wasting my time in uncomfortable weather.
Cold weather takes my memories to three places: Japan; Newfoundland; or Connecticut. It's always time spent in the Navy because I never willingly chose cold weather. Connecticut always means submarines for me and that's where the snow took me today.
Cold weather takes my memories to three places: Japan; Newfoundland; or Connecticut. It's always time spent in the Navy because I never willingly chose cold weather. Connecticut always means submarines for me and that's where the snow took me today.
Google Image I was almost 23 years old when the itch struck. I was a second class petty officer working at the Naval Station in Argentia, Newfoundland. When I got my orders to go there I first thought they were for Argentina.
One of the mounties who was stationed there told me he would rather be a pelican on a rock in the ocean than be there. I didn't really go that far but I only had six months left on my tour when the Navy put out a notice that they were looking for Hospital Corpsmen to fill jobs in the Nuclear Medicine field and the Submarine Medicine field.
Memory softens things but looking at the picture, it is pretty barren. Our claim to fame is that Bill Cosby was stationed there a few years earlier.
One of the mounties who was stationed there told me he would rather be a pelican on a rock in the ocean than be there. I didn't really go that far but I only had six months left on my tour when the Navy put out a notice that they were looking for Hospital Corpsmen to fill jobs in the Nuclear Medicine field and the Submarine Medicine field.
Memory softens things but looking at the picture, it is pretty barren. Our claim to fame is that Bill Cosby was stationed there a few years earlier.
Google image of submarine escape training tower. I volunteered for Submarine Medicine because it was an Independent Duty job and I always enjoyed working solo. I received the orders but found that they had combined the two jobs and that everyone was now going to be trained for Nuclear Submarines. The story of my trip of a lifetime to get there can be found under “my first car” (eclectic gearhead/vehicles) on this blog.
I cannot tell you if this google image is from Groton or Pearl Harbor. The scenery tells me Pearl but it is one of the most impressive buildings either place. Ask any submariner about pressure testing and escape training.
I cannot tell you if this google image is from Groton or Pearl Harbor. The scenery tells me Pearl but it is one of the most impressive buildings either place. Ask any submariner about pressure testing and escape training.
Google image of Fleet Submarine circa WW2 New London gets all the ink for the submarine base but it’s really in Groton. As the map above shows the Thames river runs between the two and the Navy has been parking submarines in the Thames since, at least 1912. I spent about 10 weeks in Nuclear Medicine school, a similar time in Submarine Medicine School, and a little less in Basic Submarine School. Now I was a Nuke (Nuclear Medicine) but I did not go to a Nuclear Submarine. I went to a Diesel Electric Sub that was originally commissioned in 1945 just prior to the end of WW2. It was capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
It had started life looking like this boat. This is a Fleet Boat. It is so named because it could keep up with the Fleet and actually make cross ocean transits. Boat is vestigial. The original subs were carried on ships.
Now you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see some problems with this design. In the first place you probably don’t need much imagination to compare this appearance to half the surface ships of WW2. In fact, that bow is called a cruiser bow.
You have probably noticed that cars made over the past 30 years seem to have all become very smooth with nothing sticking out. That’s because of Aerodynamics. Works the same way in water but it’s called hydrodynamics. All those things sticking out serve some sort of function but they also slow you down. This is truly a surface ship that knows how to dive.
If you have ever thought about transiting an ocean on one of these you will also see a problem with where the people stand. The little stands with the rails around them are the lookout stations. They might be 15 feet (a guess) above the surface of the water. That makes life very wet and cold if you have twenty foot waves. Every ocean crossing has 20 foot waves.
It had started life looking like this boat. This is a Fleet Boat. It is so named because it could keep up with the Fleet and actually make cross ocean transits. Boat is vestigial. The original subs were carried on ships.
Now you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see some problems with this design. In the first place you probably don’t need much imagination to compare this appearance to half the surface ships of WW2. In fact, that bow is called a cruiser bow.
You have probably noticed that cars made over the past 30 years seem to have all become very smooth with nothing sticking out. That’s because of Aerodynamics. Works the same way in water but it’s called hydrodynamics. All those things sticking out serve some sort of function but they also slow you down. This is truly a surface ship that knows how to dive.
If you have ever thought about transiting an ocean on one of these you will also see a problem with where the people stand. The little stands with the rails around them are the lookout stations. They might be 15 feet (a guess) above the surface of the water. That makes life very wet and cold if you have twenty foot waves. Every ocean crossing has 20 foot waves.
Google image of snorkeling submarine The snorkel is a tube that sticks up above the surface of the water and allows the engines to pull in air. The humans on board are allowed to share that air. What you see here is the slender periscope to your left. It enables one to see.
Right behind that is the snorkel intake. That allows one to breathe. Both are necessary to your continued existence. I do not know anything about this particular submarine.
Right behind that is the snorkel intake. That allows one to breathe. Both are necessary to your continued existence. I do not know anything about this particular submarine.
Turkish submarine S343. Not SS343. That's a pretty large tube to be splitting the water all the time so someone had the bright idea to build a dog house around it. That dog house proved to be very hydrodynamic and you actually could make better speed under the surface than an original fleet boat. Since it was a ship and since it was Navy, they called it a sail instead of a dog house. The sail made it easier on the lookouts and the Officer of the Deck when transiting.
They stand inside the sail on what appears to be a step.
In fact it resembles a step so much that it's called a step sail.
The fleet boats all had the bow (front) of the boat pointed up like a surface craft. Curiously enough this is a Turkish submarine that originally belonged to us. I like it because of what appears to be a hull number of S343. Coincidence, I think not. It was destined to appear in this article.
They stand inside the sail on what appears to be a step.
In fact it resembles a step so much that it's called a step sail.
The fleet boats all had the bow (front) of the boat pointed up like a surface craft. Curiously enough this is a Turkish submarine that originally belonged to us. I like it because of what appears to be a hull number of S343. Coincidence, I think not. It was destined to appear in this article.
Google Image. When I blow it up, it's still the same.
USS Clamagore while still a guppy 2 This is a picture of my boat, the Clamagore, (SS343) underway sometime between 1948 and 1962. I know that it’s a big span but that’s how it looked for all those years. It entered the war as a fleet boat but in 1948 it was taken into the shipyard and given a Guppy 2 conversion.
Guppy stands for Greater Underwater Propulsion Power with a y added because everything is (was) fishy in subs. Now they name them after cities.
The big things were batteries and sails. For you, the casual reader, the biggest obvious difference between the guppy and the fleet snorkel was the upturned Fleet nose. They gave the guppy a nose job for the sake of hydrodynamics.
I don’t recall seeing a Guppy 1. I think it was a very short lived part of the evolution. There were Guppy 2 boats all over the place while I was in subs.
Guppy stands for Greater Underwater Propulsion Power with a y added because everything is (was) fishy in subs. Now they name them after cities.
The big things were batteries and sails. For you, the casual reader, the biggest obvious difference between the guppy and the fleet snorkel was the upturned Fleet nose. They gave the guppy a nose job for the sake of hydrodynamics.
I don’t recall seeing a Guppy 1. I think it was a very short lived part of the evolution. There were Guppy 2 boats all over the place while I was in subs.
Google Image USS Seawolf. First generation nuclear submarine (with step sail). With regard to the sail. There was some one step forward/two steps back. This is a first generation Nuclear sub (Seawolf). Here she represents the cutting age with respect to powerplant and endurance. She has the step sail. Surface travel just wasn't as important as with a Diesel.
This boat has several significant memories for me. The one that is most pronounced is the subject of another story herein: http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/tragedy-averted-the-seawolf.html . You can find it on this blog titled: Tragedy Averted, the Seawolf.
This boat has several significant memories for me. The one that is most pronounced is the subject of another story herein: http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/tragedy-averted-the-seawolf.html . You can find it on this blog titled: Tragedy Averted, the Seawolf.
Republic of China ex USS Guppy 2 This is how most boats looked during the seventies. Look at the picture of the 343 boat or seawolf above and see where the lookouts stand. Guppies of all persuasions and probably some old fleet snorkel boats received this conversion. It was called the North Atlantic Sail and it’s fans are legion. If you look at the lookout stations on all prior models, somebody is getting wet.
This boat belongs to the Republic of China (Taiwan) and was originally ours. It is capable of putting it’s lookouts (at very top of sail) about 30 feet above the water. I must say that I have been on boats that secured topside watch and used the periscope and radar to navigate due to rough seas. That’s pretty rough. A nuclear boat just submerges but we were still surface craft that could dive.
This boat belongs to the Republic of China (Taiwan) and was originally ours. It is capable of putting it’s lookouts (at very top of sail) about 30 feet above the water. I must say that I have been on boats that secured topside watch and used the periscope and radar to navigate due to rough seas. That’s pretty rough. A nuclear boat just submerges but we were still surface craft that could dive.
Model of USS Corporal. Sister ship of Clamagore. This is a picture of a Fram 2, Guppy III boat if I recall everything correctly. It received a Fleet rehabilitation and modernization overhaul and was done to Guppy III specs. Since I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday that could be suspect but it’s close enough. You can see that the nose and the superstructure have been smoothed out a batch for less turbulence underwater.
What you can't see is that they made it 15 feet longer and added a type of sonar (the three horns on the deck) and more battery. This is a model of the Corporal. She was the sister ship to 343. This is pretty much what I went to in April 1967. She was in the shipyards in Portsmouth N.H. which was actually in Kittery, Maine. Captain William Gunn, Commanding.
What you can't see is that they made it 15 feet longer and added a type of sonar (the three horns on the deck) and more battery. This is a model of the Corporal. She was the sister ship to 343. This is pretty much what I went to in April 1967. She was in the shipyards in Portsmouth N.H. which was actually in Kittery, Maine. Captain William Gunn, Commanding.
Navy housing barge. Or rather, that’s where I thought I was going. I actually went to a berthing barge that was much like this tied up alongside a sewer pipe with two huge holes sticking up to the sky.
I had first heard the name of my boat while I was in sub school when she had a collision with a tourist boat in the Virgin Islands. The tourist boat sank with no loss of life and I was told the accident was their fault. It was history by the time I arrived.
From there it went to the yard in Portsmouth where two big holes were cut into the pressure hull and the batteries removed. By the time I reached the boat they were about a month from getting underway again.
When we did get underway again I was given more cause to doubt my sanity in volunteering for this little piece of heaven. You noticed the holes in the side of the superstructure that allow water in and out. It’s all free flooding. When you surface the water immediately drains out and any thoughts the boat might have of being top heavy are gone with it. Well Capt. Gunn decided he was going to play WW2 submarine skipper when we left the yard.
I had first heard the name of my boat while I was in sub school when she had a collision with a tourist boat in the Virgin Islands. The tourist boat sank with no loss of life and I was told the accident was their fault. It was history by the time I arrived.
From there it went to the yard in Portsmouth where two big holes were cut into the pressure hull and the batteries removed. By the time I reached the boat they were about a month from getting underway again.
When we did get underway again I was given more cause to doubt my sanity in volunteering for this little piece of heaven. You noticed the holes in the side of the superstructure that allow water in and out. It’s all free flooding. When you surface the water immediately drains out and any thoughts the boat might have of being top heavy are gone with it. Well Capt. Gunn decided he was going to play WW2 submarine skipper when we left the yard.
Google image of wild surface. We were submerged and not too deeply. The skipper ordered a moderate speed ahead and depth just under the surface. He put the planes on a little bit of dive and bubbled air into the ballast tanks. When he decided it was just right and we could barely stay submerged, he ordered us to surface. We popped to the top like a cork and had we any deck guns we could have blown any unsuspecting junk, fisherman, canoe or ferry out of the water. Instead we discovered the missing link in the guppy evolution.
You saw the holes (limber holes) in the sides of the free flooding superstructure atop the subs. You also saw the growth in the size of the sail that floods. You may have thought of the necessary correlation. I am not an engineer but I am told the size and/or amount of holes did not keep up with the volume of the sail. I am told there were over 20 tons of salt water in that sail area that had not drained when we popped up.
I do know for sure that we leaned over to about a 40 degree angle to port and held there for hours while it drained. Well, at least for 15 seconds but that can be an eternity in subs. It surprises me that many of the ships company do not remember that time. Possibly I do because it was my first dive ever.
You saw the holes (limber holes) in the sides of the free flooding superstructure atop the subs. You also saw the growth in the size of the sail that floods. You may have thought of the necessary correlation. I am not an engineer but I am told the size and/or amount of holes did not keep up with the volume of the sail. I am told there were over 20 tons of salt water in that sail area that had not drained when we popped up.
I do know for sure that we leaned over to about a 40 degree angle to port and held there for hours while it drained. Well, at least for 15 seconds but that can be an eternity in subs. It surprises me that many of the ships company do not remember that time. Possibly I do because it was my first dive ever.
Google Image of Captain D.M. Ulmer and Commander J.R. Spear LCDR Spear was one of my favorite bosses over a 20 year period.I was young and stupid and he knew it. He mostly cared that I did my job and that was my priority also. Just a great guy and if I remember correctly from the Bar Harbor Maine area. He was on the boat when I arrived. Capt Gunn left the ship shortly after we left the shipyard and D.M. Ulmer took command. All commanding officers are referred to as Captain (capt) and executive officers are Commander (cdr). Both were Lt. Commanders at the time.
No matter what is said about duty or jobs anywhere, the leadership is the most important thing. There are three duty stations that stand out from the others. Capt Ulmer is responsible for the leadership at the one that I think was the best I had. I found out last year that he unsurprisingly went on to a very distinguished Navy Career. If you care to follow a link to a remarkable person you can follow this one: http://mightyo.site.aplus.net/dmulmer.com/aboutdmulmer.html
There was nothing pretentious about the man. He was an enlisted man who became an officer and he qualified on the boat he later commanded. He and his family traveled around in a little blue VW the same as I. He trusted me and I trusted him. Between the Commanding Officer, Ulmer and the Executive Officer, Spear, that was a good boat. It had a good crew that I think about to this day.
I had the good sense to know that it was a good boat while I was there. Like always some things happened. We lost one of our crew to a stupid accident in the shipyard and I continued to foolishly volunteer for the conflict in SE Asia. I was pulled to ride any sub that had a Corpsman with family problems. I guess that I was just "gung ho" or put another way: "that boy ain't right".
I swapped with another corpsman on a boat (USS Sailfish 572) that was changing home ports from Groton to Pearl Harbor. I knew it was going to go to Vietnam very quickly. You may think that submarines are not involved in things like that. If so, you are wrong.
I believe 40-50 percent of the crew was new to the boat. Chemistry has to be experienced and lost to be appreciated. I remember the Sailfish a lot more fondly now than I did for the past several years. I became ill while on board and had to stop serving in submarines. It was a good boat that suffered from the constant shuffling of the crew.
I got sick rather quickly and was removed. No chance for pictures or saying goodbye to very many. Perhaps 5 years ago when social media became a possibility I tried to make contact with some of my friends. Nobody responded.
This past summer I discovered why they did not respond. They thought I was dead. I joined a facebook group for that boat and and ran across one guy that I knew. Then last summer I got a phone call from someone who had found I was alive. He was pretty surprised about that. I have made contact with several of them now and think a blog on my second boat is in order.
No matter what is said about duty or jobs anywhere, the leadership is the most important thing. There are three duty stations that stand out from the others. Capt Ulmer is responsible for the leadership at the one that I think was the best I had. I found out last year that he unsurprisingly went on to a very distinguished Navy Career. If you care to follow a link to a remarkable person you can follow this one: http://mightyo.site.aplus.net/dmulmer.com/aboutdmulmer.html
There was nothing pretentious about the man. He was an enlisted man who became an officer and he qualified on the boat he later commanded. He and his family traveled around in a little blue VW the same as I. He trusted me and I trusted him. Between the Commanding Officer, Ulmer and the Executive Officer, Spear, that was a good boat. It had a good crew that I think about to this day.
I had the good sense to know that it was a good boat while I was there. Like always some things happened. We lost one of our crew to a stupid accident in the shipyard and I continued to foolishly volunteer for the conflict in SE Asia. I was pulled to ride any sub that had a Corpsman with family problems. I guess that I was just "gung ho" or put another way: "that boy ain't right".
I swapped with another corpsman on a boat (USS Sailfish 572) that was changing home ports from Groton to Pearl Harbor. I knew it was going to go to Vietnam very quickly. You may think that submarines are not involved in things like that. If so, you are wrong.
I believe 40-50 percent of the crew was new to the boat. Chemistry has to be experienced and lost to be appreciated. I remember the Sailfish a lot more fondly now than I did for the past several years. I became ill while on board and had to stop serving in submarines. It was a good boat that suffered from the constant shuffling of the crew.
I got sick rather quickly and was removed. No chance for pictures or saying goodbye to very many. Perhaps 5 years ago when social media became a possibility I tried to make contact with some of my friends. Nobody responded.
This past summer I discovered why they did not respond. They thought I was dead. I joined a facebook group for that boat and and ran across one guy that I knew. Then last summer I got a phone call from someone who had found I was alive. He was pretty surprised about that. I have made contact with several of them now and think a blog on my second boat is in order.
Clamagore as a museum ship. I believe the Clamagore is the last guppy III above the surface. It is at Patriots Point close to Charleston S.C. It is obliged to sit beside this oversized target.
I hope to write a little more about the Navy’s humongous hybrids. Guess I just needed to get my first boat out of my system before I did. I don't expect much personal history will bleed through whatever follows. This is representative of the type of questions for which I hope to give easy simple answers.
How many engines turn those propellers;
How do you see out of the boat;
How does it dive and surface;
How does an engine run underwater;
How do torpedoes shoot; and
Why doesn’t the pressure crush you
If you enjoyed this you might like these links.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/diesel-electric-submarines-worlds-biggest-hybrids/
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/dockside-classic/dockside-classic-acceleration-from-zero-to/
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/trackside-classic/the-birth-of-the-gmemd-two-stroke-diesel-engine-very-well-ket-we-are-now-in-the-diesel-engine-business-excerpts-from-my-years-with-gm-by-alfred-sloan/
Just cut and paste in your brouser or go to curbsideclassic.com and put the key words in the custom search in the top right.
I wrote the first two of these curbside classic articles. The third is near and dear to a submariners heart and anyone who served on an EB boat will like it.
If we all stay above ground I will put out some more of these before long. No timetables and there are also goats, donkeys, and ducks that demand equal time. No punching a time clock in the retired world. Hope you enjoy.
I hope to write a little more about the Navy’s humongous hybrids. Guess I just needed to get my first boat out of my system before I did. I don't expect much personal history will bleed through whatever follows. This is representative of the type of questions for which I hope to give easy simple answers.
How many engines turn those propellers;
How do you see out of the boat;
How does it dive and surface;
How does an engine run underwater;
How do torpedoes shoot; and
Why doesn’t the pressure crush you
If you enjoyed this you might like these links.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/diesel-electric-submarines-worlds-biggest-hybrids/
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/dockside-classic/dockside-classic-acceleration-from-zero-to/
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/trackside-classic/the-birth-of-the-gmemd-two-stroke-diesel-engine-very-well-ket-we-are-now-in-the-diesel-engine-business-excerpts-from-my-years-with-gm-by-alfred-sloan/
Just cut and paste in your brouser or go to curbsideclassic.com and put the key words in the custom search in the top right.
I wrote the first two of these curbside classic articles. The third is near and dear to a submariners heart and anyone who served on an EB boat will like it.
If we all stay above ground I will put out some more of these before long. No timetables and there are also goats, donkeys, and ducks that demand equal time. No punching a time clock in the retired world. Hope you enjoy.
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