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My "career" has spanned a little over 40 years. Most of that was working on subs. Very few people ever get a chance to see what the inside of the sub looks like.
Here's you chance to get a peek at the inner workings of one of these ships.
Hope you enjoy.
roN
Follow Ups:
It's on display in Chicago.
Only a few weeks earlier I watched Das Boot.
In the movie one of the crew had to lift a grate below the floor deck
and lay on his back and ride the trolly under all the machinery to the back of the boot where the batteries housed.
Seeing the actual grate and knowing your going along the bottom of the boat. Even a small leak would cause you to drown.
Submariners are truly special men.
I took a lot of pictures inside that sub.
Haven't seen them in about 25+ years.
Served on a boomer & a fast attack. Took the boomer through decom & de-fueled the reactor, so I've seen pretty much every bit & piece of our boats. Nifty to see a French boat, though!
Edits: 01/21/15
I'm kidding of course. Wasn't the sun great when you popped out?
I've seen the inside of a lot of boats, and could not understand how anyone could live in one of the old diesel types. Horrendous environments.
the fresh veggies we onloaded (and subsequently consumed) made us all sick as dogs for a few days.
More than the sun? The air coming in when we drained the aft escape trunk & popped open the hatch was so sweet & pure it was incredible.
The sub you picture is a floating PALACE compared to the U505, a German sub of WWII vintage. This is a type IXC boat and TINY inside. Hatches between compartments are ROUND. Little personal space. Some visitors get the sweats just THINKING about a 4 or 5 month deployment.The OTHER sub I've been on is the single boat class the USS Albacore. This was a research boat and had many mods over its career. The first Tear Drop hull, it was a diesel boat with unique engines. Each crewman had his OWN birth. What was the forward torpedo room on OTHER subs, in this boat, was basically a bunk room.
No weapons were carried, other than perhaps the Captains personal sidearm. This boat was ALSO very cramped, but at least the duty was interesting since you would run tests than perhaps have changes made to the boat before MORE tests. The configuration of controls shown is very similar to AIRCRAFT controls with turn/bank indicators, depth (altimeter!) and rudder position indicators.
It had a single / 2-element counter-rotating prop. This boat led directly to the SkipJack and other similar shaped subs which continue to this day.Down here in SanDiego, at the maratime museum, we have what I think is a Russian KILO boat. A diesel electric type. I suspect it is also cramped and might be considered the 'ultimate' WWII boat.
Turns out to be a FOXTROT, not a KILO. Still and all, cramped, Russian take on the Ultimate WWII sub.
Too much is never enough
Edits: 01/21/15
I did NOT like being underwater, but I stayed sort of calm.
Geeze did it pong, or what!!??
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
That was creepy as hell. You couldn't take any metal down there and you pulled yourself about on varnished timber belly slides just a few cm above many many amps of DC grunt.
Did a couple of sea trials too off Sydney Heads. Yes, they did stink.
Cheers,
John K
the nice chairs and nice room, I bet not everyone gets to go in there?
4 years on boats. That was a long time ago. Thankful for the opportunity, but once done would never go back.
I think photo was taken at Rosie Roads.
Later Gator,
Dave
I have a relative by marriage who was a nuke sub commander. He is now teaching future nuke sailors. I usually heard about his missions after the fact. NO specifics.
I spent 2 years on the Simon Lake in Charleston and Holy Loch, Scotland, crawling all over subs of all kinds -- sewer pipes, boomers, and attacks. During bad nights, I see myself still creeping around inside of a sail.
Quite an education in technology and changes in tech. In the boats is a totally unique life. Few can do it. Fewer yet want to; especially the missile subs. Cruising underwater for 3 months, carrying enough explosive to ruin half the planet.
What years were you in Charleston? I was a ship chandler and supplied a lot of naval vessels in Charleston and Savannah.
Lots of sensor-type stuff in there.
And "bubblehead" is a fraternal term for submariners. Squids in aviation jobs were "Airedales".
Piered up in the Cooper River, downwind from the pulp mill. Lovely smells. Which I also wake up to in bad dreams.
fds
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