| Author |
Message |
    
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:38 pm: |     |
Not sure what failed, but here she is again.
 |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:40 pm: | |
Oh, the pain from the bees was REAL!
But, I got over it, learned a lesson or two, and went on. |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:47 pm: | |
To see a submarine Toilet check this out.
Toilet
Dave Posted:
Excellent info! Now let's see the kitchen/mess area.
BobK Posted:
Gosh, I always knew there had to be some good use for bug juice. jg, just for the record did anyone ever screw up? Just curious, that's all.
My answer:
Often. You could bet (and we did wager a few $ on the date and hour) a new guy on board would do it within a week or two. We also had a high hit rate of guys who played cards late into the night and were just too sleepy to pay attention.
The noise and smell was so loud and strong, it was obvious when it happened, plus the guy who did it was the one in the shower ripping clothes off, spitting profusely, and saying words not fit to print. After the shower, the lucky person had to clean it all up and vent the ships air through tanks of charcoal to try to remove the odor.
We had a special badge they had to wear until they passed it along to the next guy to earn the honor. You did not want to be caught not wearing the badge if you were assigned it. The price was too much to pay. (Another story some day.)
Me, luck, skill, and fear kept me out of the club.
Kitchen/Mess area? Joking or for real? I have the pictures, I start another thread if you want to see where we cooked and ate. |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:49 pm: | |
For real. Curious. Put'em here or elsewhere. Thanks! |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:53 pm: | |
Here is a picture of the Mess area as it looked most of the time.
Here is a table set for a Thankgiving dinner.
 |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:56 pm: | |
Another time we even had a guest for dinner.
He paid the check!
 |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:57 pm: | |
That one can be tricky. |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 3:02 pm: | |
Because it was Dickey? |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 3:08 pm: | |
Glad to help, George. Neat pix.
 |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 4:05 pm: | |
Here is the mess area when the boat was on an angle. Note how the guys are leaning just to stand up. Try to hold a cup of coffee while doing this.
And here is a Galley shot. I have a better one but can not locate it now.
And here the guys are bringing on the groceries after that shopping trip to Shoprite. We asked for plastic but they never give us what we asked for.
 |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 4:19 pm: | |
Good Day all!
and Good Night!
 |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 4:27 pm: | |
I hope that's food they're tossing through the air and not ordnance.  |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 1:28 pm: | |
"You were in the business of atomic bombs? I didn't know that!"
"I knew you were on submarines, but somehow I missed the part that it was a nuclear submarine and what your job duties were."
+++++
I mentioned it on MOL, in one or two words before. I really never expanded on it as much. People take the information in very odd ways
It is hard to explain to folks why I seem to know a little about a lot of things, and when I get interested in something, why I am willing to research and learn about it.
+++++
Yes, for 12 years I rode nuclear submarines. I programmed the flight path calculation for 24 ICBMs each having up to 17'ish re-entry bodies. Consider that we were underwater when we launched them, then flew them into space, then dropped them to re-enter like a rock and had to hit a target within 50 Yards from 3,000 miles away. No guidance systems or steering systems were on the re-entry bodies. They just fall like rocks from space. At the same time winds near earth blow, jet streams flow, the earth turns faster at the equator than Moscow, space does odd things to something released into it, re-entry burns change direction as things heat up, and you get the picture.
I was also directly responsible for fixing the mini-frame computers we used, as well as the computers in the missiles and the computers in the re-entry bodies that caused the physics packages to go boom. The computers were, you guessed it, water cooled.
And, being a member of a nuclear submarine, I had to be trained to operate and do basic repair on any item on the submarine, just in case something happened and I was the only one in the room when the doors shut and locked several thousand feet under water.
So, everything includes, reactors, steam turbine systems, lithium bromide A/C plants, all things electrical, and on and on.
Plus, with 3 months under water at a time, you end up with a lot of time on your hands. So you learn to cook. 157 other guys on board and you learn a lot about other people, and how they act and cook. |
Dave
| | Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 6:14 pm: | |
George, if you have a weekend email address, send it to me in PrivateLine. Thanks. |
Smithford
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 3:41 pm: | |
George, thanks for all this interesting stuff. I have an amateur's interest in naval matters, and I was hoping you could elaborate on a couple of things that didn't make sense to me.
I didn't think subs ever carried ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missles), but only SLBMs (submarine launched ballistic missles)? As I recall, the SLBMs were much smaller in size and shorter in range, the Cold War strategy being that ICBMs would be launched from land, go orbital, and land in the USSR, while SLBMs were designed to be parked in the Barents Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk (the last out of range of Moscow, but we might want to strike the port at Vladivostok), as a counterstrike measure in case our land-based ICBMs were knocked out in a first strike. And the nuclear bomb armed B-52s would be on constant alert as the third leg of the nuclear triad of mutual assured destruction theory.
I also thought it was only ICBMs that carried MIRVs, not SLBMs?
And if the SLBMs did have MIRVs, or if you did carry MIRV equipped ICBMs, then wouldn't each re-entry vehicle have some type of independent guidance system? Otherwise, they all just fall together, and what's the point of the multiple warheads in that case?
And if these are nuclear warheads we're talking about, why is it important to hit a target within 50 yards? This is a nuclear bomb right? It seems to me that you have a kill radius of a lot more than 50 yards on a nuclear warhead. These aren't smart bombs we're talking, right?
Just wondering... |
Dave
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 4:12 pm: | |
George, FYI, I owe you a pitcher of Guinness at O'Reilly's, as you left too much money Sat. night at Bunny's. |
Dave
| | Posted on Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 10:45 am: | |
George, Your email address is bouncing back. Might want to call the office and see what's up (or down) with the server.
Also, I did a quick edit on your review of "View from the Bridge" as you exposed an identity that a person might not want exposed. I was trying to protect the innocent :-) I sent off a PrivateLine regarding this when I did it, but maybe it didn't go thru. |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Monday, March 18, 2002 - 5:41 pm: | |
Smithford,
You are correct that the original submarine launched missles were SLBMs and were short in range. As we moved into the 70's things changed and the newer class of missiles were in fact ICBM's with very long ranges. If you fast forward to today, the Trident class systems can reach targets while sitting in any port of the US.
In the 70' they started to become MIRV. Later this week I'll explain how a single missle could carry more than a dozen re-entry bodies.
The answer to your question about 50 Yards is 'Hardened Targets.' In some cases we had a target plan to drop one in to blow the dirt out of the way then a second weapon to take out the target. |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 8:44 pm: | |
The answer to the single missile with many warhead question. They are mounted on a platform that has a guidance and steering system. While in flight it is moved from side to side or slowed down. To keep track of where it is, it even has an eye that looks for the North Star and uses that as a reference. Ever hear the word Polaris, as in Polaris Missile System?
While in flight the re-entry bodies are dropped like a rock. As they re-enter, and pass through the upper atmosphere, then the jet stream winds and even surface weather they bounce around, however, we already figured all that out and dropped them from the correct spot in space. We also compensated for the fact that the Earth wobbles, and locations on the Equator move much faster than a spot further North.
Each of the dozen or so re-entry bodies is released and falls, again, as a rock. Each missile ends up covering a footprint area, shaped much like a long teardrop. Within that footprint many targets can be covered. From the same missile, you can even drop two weapons onto a single target. Drop one, the lob the next one higher. One will fall and the second one will be behind it by a couple of minutes. Or, drop one from the first missile and a second one from a second missile. Many ways to do it.
I once loaded a target package that required 5 to be dropped on exactly the same location over a 25-minute period. I still do not know what was built on that spot, but it must have been deep and hard.
If you saw the movie Crimson Tide, in that all the stuff about keys and different people decoding different messages that all have to add up is exactly true. It took 7 men with 7 codes and 7 different keys to launch a bird. Any one could stop it. All 7 had to do it at exactly the same time. The locations of the key stations were all over the sub so no one person could insert all the keys and pull the triggers. Not even 3 or 4 people could do that. The key locks were spring loaded and required one to turn the key and hold it over at all times with one hand a pull a trigger with the other hand.
Well, you asked for it. Enjoy. |
Smithford
| | Posted on Monday, April 8, 2002 - 6:24 pm: | |
George,
I did ask for it, and I did enjoy. Thanks for the info. Good luck on your BOE run.
David |
Dave
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 8:36 am: | |
George, have you read Cryptonomicon? Lots of code-breaking and U-boats. |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 4:05 pm: | |
No. I recommend reading Blind Man's Bluff.
Since I was on several of the submarines in the book, I can attest that the book as written is factual. I can't talk about it a lot, but the bood did.
Spook stuff. You would be surprised at what we use to pick up as junk off the bottom of the ocean floor.
I have a couple of copies if you need to borrow one. It is still in print, paperback.
Read it just for the Halibut. |
Smithford
| | Posted on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 4:09 pm: | |
I second Blind Man's Bluff. Very interesting stuff.
George, just out of curiosity, how accurate is Tom Clancy in things like Red October? |
Jgberkeley
| | Posted on Monday, April 15, 2002 - 8:11 am: | |
On the techno stuff, he reads like he spent time at sea on on of the boats. I'd say he gets it correct 99% of the time.
In the last chapters of "Clear and Present Danger", he is way to close. He did say that he changed some of the data on how to build a bomb, but that was way, way too close.
His description of what happens step by step once one is set off is almost on the money. |
Smithford
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2002 - 10:01 pm: | |
George,
Thanks for the invitation to coffee with Fred Profeta. I wanted to respond by privateline, but it's not working for me. Normally, I'd say yes to the invitation. However, we had a baby girl last week, and we are still in that new baby chaos mode. So I'm not going out anywhere these days.
Keep me in mind for next time, tnough.
Best regards! |
Edmay
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 7, 2002 - 11:29 pm: | |
Message to JKB from Ed May.
I was too busy to answer your email or consider going to the event you cited. Sorry. Next time try to give more lead time. By the way, with so many signs going up for the Democratic candidate, I need a lawn sign for the republican candidate to provide balance. Maybe Marie can help me get one.
Ed May |
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