USS Seawolf on the way home

The Seawolf is on its way home from a Westpac to Bangor today and should reach port by 4pm. The Seawolf is the first of its class. The Navy was originally going to upgrade their fast attack subs to the Seawolf's design but ended up going to the Virginia class. I remember when I was on the Louisiana. At the time, we were the newest boomer sub and the Seawolf was the newest fast attack. We played games with the Seawolf over several days putting them to the test. It was fun. There were times that the Seawolf could not find us and we were ordered to make noise to give them a hint. We were banging sledge hammers on the hull down in the lower level of the engine room. Needless to say, it did not take them long to find us once we started doing that!

Welcome home SSN 21!

Not Good News...

A weld inspector for Northrop Grumman has been caught falsifying weld inspection documents on new subs and one carrier. Apparently he has been signing off on welds without actually doing the inspection and it affects three ships that are currently in service.
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According to the report, the ships worked on by the inspector included the Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Missouri, California, Mississippi, Minnesota and John Warner, and the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush. Bush, North Carolina and New Hampshire are in service; the other subs are in various states of construction at Newport News and at the General Dynamics shipyards in Groton, Conn., and Quonset, R.I.

Read the full article here.
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I remember the first time I went out to sea on a sub. I was nervous and kept wondering if there would be any leaks or if you would hear any creaking from the hull. All my shipmates assured me that during construction they take special precautions to make sure everything is done right in order to prevent any catastrophes. I bet the first timers on the affected subs are pretty nervous right now if they even know about the issue. Of course the hull integrity of the subs are tested during sea trials, so hopefully if there is anything wrong it would be found by now. Although it might take some time before any welds are weakened enough for someone to notice. According to the news article they will be going back to re-inspect everything the liar touched.

Rescue from below

Apparently a swimmer off the coast of Haifa, Israel was swept away and got into trouble. It just so happened that a submarine surfaced and saw the man in distress. They brought him onboard and gave him first aid.

The article did not give the name of the sub, and was scarce on many details, but you can read it here.

The type of submarine was also not listed, but I bet when the man saw something like this coming to help, he was relieved.


Type 800 Dolphin Class submarine (Israel)

Memorial Day - A Time For Remembering

On Memorial Day lets try something new. Instead of letting the day be all about shopping and the sales going on, take some time to remember those sailors, troops, airmen, marines that have been lost while protecting our freedom. As a Veteran, most people that know me will tell me that they appreciate the fact that I served our country while they were home following their dreams and ambitions.

May 22, 1968, the USS Scorpion was lost at sea. The above picture of the bow section wreckage was taken in 1986. To this day we are not completely sure what happened and theories abound, but let's not focus on the why, but on the brave men who were lost that day. When I was on the USS Louisiana, I served with Chief John Bishop, whose father was the COB on the Scorpion went it was lost. I remember how proud he was of his father and how much he wanted to make his father proud of him.

This year on Memorial Day, take a time out from the sales and shopping to thank a veteran for their service and remember those that died keeping America safe.

More info on the Scorpion:

US Navy History

Wikipedia Entry on the Scorpion

Veteran's Day

I have an opinion about Veteran's Day and the linked article sums it up well.

Click Here

What it means to wear Dolphins...

There is a good article on about.com about the "Silent Service"

Link here

Also, I am back from a long hiatus from blogging. More to come soon...

USS North Carolina, SSN 777 to be Christened

The North Carolina, the Navy's newest of the Virginia class attack submarines will be christened on April 21 in Newport News, Va. This is the next step in commissioning an new submarine into the fleet. After the christening ceremony the USS North Carolina will go under extensive testing procedures called sea trials to make sure that the sub is operationally ready to undertake the missions and patrols that it was built to do. After sea trials the North Carolina will be commissioned around early 2008 in a ceremony in Wilmington, NC. I am hoping to be invited to the commissioning ceremony, I have asked that my name be placed on the invite list, so hopefully they will come through. After the sub is commissioned it will join the fleet around June 2008 and begin keeping America safe. As of now the sub is attached to Submarine Group Two out of Groton, CT.