History Guy

LOL…that happened in 1984, a year before I was commissioned. I can’t comment on it because I never looked it up. :grin:

:rofl:
Maximum respect, you know i was just teasing you.

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:rofl: Yes I know. :grin:

It is funny because I have looked up the classified versions of other incidents. When I saw it was this incident I though, Cool. I don’t have to say “No Comment.” :laughing:

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They said he came up to periscope depth (PD). :thinking:

When you get ready to come to PD, the first thing you are supposed to do is a “clear the baffles” that cone behind you that you can’t hear with your sonar. Clearing the baffles is simple; make a turn to the left or right about 30º-60º from your previous heading. You listen to the previously blocked zone to make sure there is nothing behind you (like a ship), and then get back to your original heading. Hold that thought.

The second thing you do, while you are heading up to PD, is raise your periscope while it is still under water, and look all around. The officer at the periscope (usually the Officer of the Deck (OOD) on US subs) looks a bit silly twirling around and around like that but it is important. Every revolution he calls out “No shapes or shadows” unless of course he does see a shape or shadow, then he orders the sub back down. Hold that thought.

USS Kitty Hawk is 1,068 feet Length Over All (LOA) - so 325.8 meters LOA for you folks on the metric system. The things that make noise on a ship - the machinery spaces - are in the aft half of the ship to include those four big noise makers (the propellers) which are at the very end of that LOA. A carrier can actually mask its some of its own noise. Acoustics are funny that way. Hold that thought.

I’m not going to defend the guy - he obviously messed up. However…

Remember what the History Guy said, the acoustics were lousy and it was a pitch black night.

So a noisy environment with some of the carrier’s noise being masked by the ship means that even if he properly cleared the baffles, they might not haver detected it.

A pitch black night means that even if he was checking the periscope all around on the way up, there might have been no shapes or shadows to see.

So why go up to PD in those conditions in the first place? That’s the question. My guess would be that he wanted to regain contact on the carrier and didn’t realize how bad the acoustic and visual conditions were.

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Yeah, that’s what I meant by “keel depth”, i.e. at a depth where he could be hit by someones keel.
I realize that my nomenclature is not up to navy standards… :wink:

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Oh I understood what you meant :grin: and you are actually correct - keel depth is what submarines use to determine their depth as this story illustrates.
MidshipmanFirst Class (Midn 1/c) Hangar was assigned to a “boomer” - USS James Madison SSBN-627 Gold Crew in the summer of 1984. During our deployment we took some Midshipmen2/c out for a 2-day familiarization “cruise”. At one point we were on the surface and the Mind 2/c were invite to climb up the conning tower to spend some time up there outside.

I was standing Diving Officer of the Watch (DOOW) - not much to do on the surface. The Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) was in Control (inside the sub (essentially the bridge of the sub…although “the bridge” is up in the conning tower, were the sub is conned while on the surface - control is where the sub is controlled) the OOD was up the sail in the conning tower conning the sub.

A Midn 2/c walks into Control with the purpose of going up the ladder to the conning tower. He stops and looks over my way and notices the depth gauge - basically. the sub’s altimeter although all the numbers are really negative from sea level. The depth gauge reads 32 feet - this is the sub’s current keel depth…but the 2/c Midn is reading it like an altimeter. He knows the numbers are really Below sea level but…it says 32… so that means the sub is 32 feet below sea level??

He looks at the ladder to the conning tower…he looks at the depth gauge…he looks at the ladder again …the gauge again…

His look of puzzled consternation was priceless. He moves to the ladder and carefully cranes his neck until he can see all the way up…and sees the sky…still confused he kind of shakes himself and starts up the ladder.

All of us watching in control busted out laughing. :laughing:

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Epic!

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I cannot for the life of me think of a single reason this hasnt been made into a film.
It would be EPIC

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Cost?
Imagine making sets for all those locations!
But these days CGI could probably do it…
Would be an awesome adventure story with a broad appeal.

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Another awesome piece of history.

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Wow.

History guy talks about challenge coins…

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Pretty cool find @Troll.

Wheels

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THG on the subject of the “Gimli Glider”.

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Good channel, always something interesting.

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It is! And short episodes too. Good for a cup if coffee or two :slight_smile:

Another one I enjoy is TimeGhost Army. They do a week by week series on WWII (and others) that’s has been good:

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Oooh! Interesting! Haven’t heard of them…
Must check it out. Thanks!

Oh yes, they’re beyond amazing.
Big, big support to those people.