Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus
Anyway, about 2/3rds though the book, Beach makes a comment that the Negative Tank, unlike the other tanks is vented directly into the submarine. In the story he relates a circumstance where during an emergency dive, the negative tank was not blown when it should have been and when they blew it at a deeper depth it caused discomfort in the submarine.
Beach is pretty accurate in his books. But is this true?
Negative Tank vents only into the Submarine?
Why? is this to help conceal the submarine during the dive?
It is my understanding/(misunderstanding?) that during a normal dive, the negative tank is flooded, but when the submarine is on the way down, it is blown at a relatively shallow depth. The purpose of the negative tank is to give the submarine that extra kick to get under faster.
By venting the Negative tank into the submarine, there would not be a big sub fart of air telling the enemy where the sub is.
Is this correct or do I need to go back to lubbing land again?
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Platapus:
You answered all of your own questions, and accurately I might add! When surfaced, the negative tank is kept full (or nearly so depending on the calculated state of the boat's buoyancy). You do this for the very reason you mentioned: it provides that extra amount of negative buoyancy needed to submerged the boat fast on a crash dive. Once under, the tank is blown to a pre-calculated "mark" that will restore (when combined with adjusting the amount of water ballast in the trim tanks) the desired neutral buoyancy. If circumstances prevented you from blowing the tank at periscope depth, you would obviously have to use increasing amounts of air pressure to empty the tank the deeper you were at the time. You eventually have to vent this air if you want to refill the tank and the air has to go somewhere. Venting it over the side would give off telltale bubbles so it is vented inboard. This would raise the internal air pressure and after a while this gets very uncomfortable for the crew.
BTW, Ned Beach wrote two sequels to "Run Silent, Run Deep", and are both excellent reads in their own right. "Dust on the Sea" picks up where the first book leaves off and completes the WWII portion of the trilogy. "Cold is the Sea" jumps to the Cold War era and follows Richardson after his promotion to a nuclear submarine squadron commander and deals with a Soviet submarine incursion to the Arctic.
Beach wrote the original RSRD in his off time while serving as a naval aide to President Eisenhower. It was a best seller and turned Beach into a semi-celebrity while still serving in the Navy. He also wrote several non-fiction books, one of his best being "The Wreck of the Memphis". This is the story of his father's command, the armored cruiser USS Memphis (ACR-10) and how it was wrecked by a freak tsunami while in harbor in the Dominican Republic. This was a gripping, thrilling tale and Beach did a masterful job of writing. I highly recommend any of this books.