U S S Connecticut

[old2soon]

           The submarine that struck an uncharted sea mount. I was going to ask But what I'd thought when I read the top 3 in command authority have been relieved due to Lack of Confidence. My Guess even before I'd read it were-C O  X O and The C O B. Talk about puttin a dent in ones carrer!  Everything I've read said it was an UNCHARTED sea mount but was someone derelict on watch when the collision happened? Guessing these multi billion? dollar weapons systems Should have state of the art collision avoidance technology even while submerged! I Hope all 3 have enough time in to retire comfortably by now. I remember being told on The U S S Yorktown CVS-10 one oops screws up 10000 attaboys.  And I've also heard Command has rewards But Command IS LONELY. RIDE SAFE.

[scooperhsd]

CO, XO, OOD on duty at the time of collision. Could be one  of the dept heads or even an OOD Underway Qualified JO.

That would be my guesses, anyway.

[old2soon]

      I should have stated the article said-C O  X O and The C O B were relieved. For those of y'all Not familiar with the term C O B is Chief Of the Boat. Senior enlisted man aboard. RIDE SAFE.

[carolinarider09]

Well, its old stuff, and it was an old boat (SSBN-599, Patrick Henry) but the notion was not to make any noise.  

All monitoring was passive via sonar.  

Location was charted via accelerometers (I forget then name of the system) that tracked the motion of the boat and then figured out where we were based on direction of travel and speed.  You were not suppose to, but you could generally walk through the Nav area and see the lat long readouts.  Sometimes they were covered with "Top Secret" little plaques.  At least that is my memory.

When we took the Patrick Henry out of Bremerton after overhaul (1971 I think) and re-fueling we had to do some checks (sea trials) to make sure everything worked. One of those things was called "angles and dangles".  The boat would take extreme up and down angles (30 degrees if memory serves but its been a while) to check to make sure all the stuff works at those angles (its suppose to).

On part of our angles and dangles about somewhere away from Puget Sound, we struck something as we were making the transition from down angle to up angle.  Probably the lower tail/rudder area.  We did not break anything but..... It was a surprise to most on board.  And angles and dangles were down well below periscope depth so we did not broach.

It is my understanding that with the use of the internal nav system and the charting that was being done on the sea floor, you usually knew the depth of the water you were in and potential obstacles.  However, all things have accuracy issues.  

We bounced off the bottom when we should have had plenty of water under us to do the tests.  So, either we were in the wrong spot or the charting was in error.  But it did happen.  

Edited to add some additional detail.

[Jess from VA]

The thought of getting into one of those long tubes and going deep underwater for long periods never appealed to me, at all. 

Sort of like driving with your eyes closed, for weeks on end.

No sir, no thanks.   

[old2soon]

      There Is something Beyond WRONG being on a ship designed to sink!  But I did have a Submariner friend of mine mention off hand there Are Only 2 types of ships. One is a submarine. The other is a target. RIDE SAFE.

[carolinarider09]

      There Is something Beyond WRONG being on a ship designed to sink!  But I did have a Submariner friend of mine mention off hand there Are Only 2 types of ships. One is a submarine. The other is a target. RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

While we're at it you could stick that ball turret gunner job where the sun don't shine either. (and I was just the size they were looking for)  There was no room inside for a parachute, which was left in the cabin above the turret. A few gunners wore a chest parachute.

Yeah, as much as I'd like to fire twin 50s, NO.  (put me on a waist gun, or just convene the court martial, I'm not doing it.)



The rear sight appears to have been your penis.


It's the claustrophobia you know.  

Things are different now, but the US Navy submarine service sustained the highest mortality rate of all branches of the U.S. Military during WWII. 1 out of every 5 sailors were KIA/MIA.

During WWII, 51% of bomber aircrew were killed on operations, 12% were killed or wounded in non-operational accidents and 13% became prisoners of war or evaders.  Only 24% survived the war unscathed.

The greatest generation.

To save the republic for today.  

[scooperhsd]

CO - Senior CDR / Junior CAPT - might be allowed to retire.

COB - E8 / E9 with more than 20 years of service - might be allowed to retire

XO - Senior LCDR / Junior CDR - depends on how the rest of his career has gone. Probably will never be a CO at sea at best.

SINS would be the name of the system (Ship Inertial Navigation System).

[carolinarider09]

Yep, that's in it, SINS.......    It has been awhile.  


Edited to correct typo. 

[vanavyman]

On a Submarine if the CO is fired the COB is too if it is work related.  Sometimes fair sometimes not.  Friend of mine had it happen to him.  Then he retired.

[scooperhsd]

Seems a little out of place to me, coming from the Surface Navy perspective, but if that's what they do ...

Surface Navy, about the safest Leadership role is Command Master Chief.