Quote:
Originally Posted by Kruger
Speaking of which, I wonder what subs did in ww2 in extremely rough weather. Of course, staying submerged saves a lot and avoids the complete mess of not being able to eat something without sticking the fork in your eyes, but they needed to recharge the batteries. How are the storms in the pacific compared to the ones in the Atlantic ?
Dave, could you tell us a little about the procedures aboard a diesel sub in stormy weather ? Do you adopt the maximum possible buoyancy ? Trimming the boat must be a hell of a task.
I can only imagine that in a serious storm you would be completely swept off the bridge (das boot comes to my mind, even though I cannot say how realistic that scene was created) and the boat would just either completely submerge in a big wave, or jump out of the water between the waves.
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A modern nuclear submarine can obviously go deep and ride under any storm, as long as the water is deep enough. When the boat is at deep submergence, there is very little sensation of movement. It feels very much the same as sitting alongside the pier.
How deep you would have to go to avoid a storm would obviously depend on how strong the storm is. I have been at 150 feet and could still feel the effects of the wave action, although it was greatly reduced.
Diesel boats are a whole other story. When submerged, diesel boats run on batteries, which will be depleted in fairly short order. A USN fleet boat could run for about 15-18 hours at three knots on the battery, assuming the battery was new and fully charged upon diving. This may actually sound like a long time, but remember that is at
three knots, which is three nautical miles per hour, a distance of about 6000 yards in an hour. The average person can walk faster than that. If you go faster to cover a greater distance, the battery depletes it's charge faster. At a flank bell the battery will be completely drained in an hour, and you will still only have moved about 8-9 nautical miles.
What am I getting at? Well, the limited speed and endurance of your average diesel-electric submarine while submerged precludes diving to ride out the storm. Therefore your only option is to ride it out on the surface! This is not a pleasant experience. The low height, low freeboard, and the rounded hull shape all make for a very rough ride in heavy seas. Blowing or pumping out ballast to make the boat ride higher is actually counterproductive; it raises the center of buoyancy and results in the boat rolling even worse. It is not uncommon for a fleet boat to take "green water" over the bridge, that is for the boat to go completely submerged for short periods while it rides up and down on the waves. In these circumstances you would have to close the bridge hatch or the conning tower will flood. The lookouts and bridge watch would have to be lashed to their stations to prevent being washed over the side. In many cases the Officer of the Deck (OOD) would send the lookouts below for safety sake. Only the OOD and the Quartermaster would remain topside.
Inside the boat conditions get bad. Walking is very difficult and food and dishes go flying. Usually the cooks will secure the galley and provide only sandwiches for the crew. The best part of the boat to be in is right in the center in crew's mess. Due to it's location in the center it is moving the least. The worst areas are the forward and after torpedo rooms. Being at the very ends they are moving the most and riding out a storm in those compartments is like riding a roller coaster. It will make all but the most salty of sailors seasick. No one sleeps and trying to keep your balance and constantly holding on is actually quite exhausting and the crew gets tired quickly.
Another factor is the location of the main air induction valve for the diesel engines. On a fleet boat it is directly aft of the conning tower and just above the main deck. Low to the water, it will have a tendency to take in water during rough weather and the engine rooms bilges will fill up quick, requiring constant pumping with the drain pump. You also run the possibility of flooding the engines through the intake manifolds and if that happens you will have dead engines and the makings for a very bad day.
On December 3rd, 1943 the USS
Sailfish (SS-192), under the command of LCDR R.E.M. (Bob) Ward surfaced into the teeth of a typhoon off the coast of Japan and commenced an attack on a Japanese task force. The seas were "mountainous" and the wind was estimated to exceed 50 knots. His approach was hazardous as any attempt at speed caused the bridge to take green water. The presence of escorts forced him to make several attacks, some submerged and some surfaced. Depth control at periscope depth was nearly impossible in the seas; he was alternately completely submerged with the scope under the water, or broached and on the surface. In desperation he submerged to 90 feet where depth control was a little easier and commenced a sonar approach. But the rough seas again botched his approach and the target passed astern. Angry in his belief that he had lost out on sinking a carrier, it wasn't until later that he and the crew learned that their earlier attacks had been successful. The carrier
Chuyo had been mortally wounded and did indeed sink.
The Pacific can host some pretty awesome storms. In 1986 on a run from Japan to the Philippines, my old
Darter ran through two separate typhoons. We lost one of our topside sonar domes and the aft marker buoy broke loose. One of the worst spots is the Bashii Straits north of Luzon. The bottom shallows compared to the surrounding seas and this magnifies the wave action. There were several times that we secured the bridge watch and brought everyone below. We raised the snorkel mast so that the main induction was above the waves and we ran along on the "surface", but in submerged mode. We did go deep every once in a while to give the crew a rest, but would eventually have to come back up to charge batteries.
I have spent my entire Navy career in either the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Persian Gulf so I can't directly comment on the conditions in the Atlantic. But some of my shipmates have and their stories of the north Atlantic storms are the stuff of legends.