Trav_R
11-15-05, 12:27 PM
The "Armed Forces" thread reminded me of this. I was a merchant marine for a couple years. I wanted to try it out, so I quit college, did it, served on two tankers, and then got back into college. I'm still technically a merchant marine, but since it isn't part of the military I can pretty much come and go as I please. I'd like to sail again someday, but I'm getting off track here.
Anyway, some time around August, 2002 I was working on a medium-sized tanker mainly moving gasoline from refineries in Texas to different ports in Florida. Nice and freakin' hot down in the engine room, where I worked as a wiper. You know the "bilge rat" icon that we all start out with as our avatar? That was me, I was the go-to guy for all the crap dirty jobs. Had to start somewhere.
Once a week we would do a lifeboat drill. We'd all gather up near one of the lifeboats and go over the procedure for lowering and entering the lifeboat, starting the engine and all that. One day we were somewhere southwest of Florida, and we were doing one of our lifeboat drills. We were all hanging out on deck, going over the same thing we always go over, being bored and waiting for it to be over. Naturally, I was enjoying myself as I was at least outside in the sun and catching a nice breeze, and looking out into the sea to see if I could catch a glimpse of a dolphin, or some flying fish or another ship or something.
Then it happened. Directly ahead of us, maybe 50-100 yards ahead of the bow, a submarine came blasting out of the water. Just like you see on TV, like he was showing off. He wasn't casually rising to the surface, he was hauling ass, his bow just came flying out of the water like he was preparing for launch into a low-earth orbit or something. Of course, the lifeboat drill came to a halt as we all gaped at the sub. Once he surfaced, he just kept cruising nonchalantly. No crew appeared on the bridge, at least not that I could see, he motored off pretty quickly.
Wow, that was an awesome thing to see. What was real cool about it is knowing that that sub had probably been tracking us for a good while. He knew exactly where we were at, how fast we were going, and which direction we were going in. I'm guessing he picked us up on passive sonar and just plotted us out on a map (or computer screen) just like we do in this game. Who knows, maybe the captain on my ship knew about it and they were coordinating with the sub to give the sub's crew a little practice or something, but I doubt it. No all the evidence points to that sub's captain just wanting to have a good time and show us who's boss.
I can't imagine being on a merchant ship in WWII, or in any other war when the enemy has submarines. You do your job, every single day like you would any other time, but you know that at any moment, a sub could be out there listening to your screw from miles and miles away, putting X's on a map representing your position, plotting your path, calculating a good point to intercept you, while you are busy painting a pipe on the deck, or wiping up an oil mess, or taking a shower. Man, that takes some balls.
Sometimes when I was working on the lower decks in the engine room, I would put my hand on the bulkhead, imagining the water flowing by just an inch or so away on the other side, and 30 feet below the surface. I'd think for a moment what it would be like to have 500 lbs of explosives detonate on the other side of that bulkhead, and try to imagine how big the resulting hole would be, and how f*cked I would be once that water started rushing through.
Anyway, some time around August, 2002 I was working on a medium-sized tanker mainly moving gasoline from refineries in Texas to different ports in Florida. Nice and freakin' hot down in the engine room, where I worked as a wiper. You know the "bilge rat" icon that we all start out with as our avatar? That was me, I was the go-to guy for all the crap dirty jobs. Had to start somewhere.
Once a week we would do a lifeboat drill. We'd all gather up near one of the lifeboats and go over the procedure for lowering and entering the lifeboat, starting the engine and all that. One day we were somewhere southwest of Florida, and we were doing one of our lifeboat drills. We were all hanging out on deck, going over the same thing we always go over, being bored and waiting for it to be over. Naturally, I was enjoying myself as I was at least outside in the sun and catching a nice breeze, and looking out into the sea to see if I could catch a glimpse of a dolphin, or some flying fish or another ship or something.
Then it happened. Directly ahead of us, maybe 50-100 yards ahead of the bow, a submarine came blasting out of the water. Just like you see on TV, like he was showing off. He wasn't casually rising to the surface, he was hauling ass, his bow just came flying out of the water like he was preparing for launch into a low-earth orbit or something. Of course, the lifeboat drill came to a halt as we all gaped at the sub. Once he surfaced, he just kept cruising nonchalantly. No crew appeared on the bridge, at least not that I could see, he motored off pretty quickly.
Wow, that was an awesome thing to see. What was real cool about it is knowing that that sub had probably been tracking us for a good while. He knew exactly where we were at, how fast we were going, and which direction we were going in. I'm guessing he picked us up on passive sonar and just plotted us out on a map (or computer screen) just like we do in this game. Who knows, maybe the captain on my ship knew about it and they were coordinating with the sub to give the sub's crew a little practice or something, but I doubt it. No all the evidence points to that sub's captain just wanting to have a good time and show us who's boss.
I can't imagine being on a merchant ship in WWII, or in any other war when the enemy has submarines. You do your job, every single day like you would any other time, but you know that at any moment, a sub could be out there listening to your screw from miles and miles away, putting X's on a map representing your position, plotting your path, calculating a good point to intercept you, while you are busy painting a pipe on the deck, or wiping up an oil mess, or taking a shower. Man, that takes some balls.
Sometimes when I was working on the lower decks in the engine room, I would put my hand on the bulkhead, imagining the water flowing by just an inch or so away on the other side, and 30 feet below the surface. I'd think for a moment what it would be like to have 500 lbs of explosives detonate on the other side of that bulkhead, and try to imagine how big the resulting hole would be, and how f*cked I would be once that water started rushing through.