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Originally Posted by sunvalleyslim
Natty,
You got it down. It was all about training, all about wanting to survive...
Just think about being a lookout, ever searching for that contact, wanting to be the first to report. Seventy plus men below relying on you...
The Officer of the Deck screaming "Lookouts Below"
The diving claxton blaring
The officer yelling "Dive, Dive"
Tumbling down the ladder to your diving station
The Chief of the Boat yelling the "Christmas Tree is Green"
The Officer of the Deck dogging the conning tower hatch
Then down to the Control Room, where you mann your planes station
and the Diving Officer says "Full Down on the Bow Planes"
'Fifteen Degrees Up on the Stern Planes"
"Flood Negative"
"Ahead Flank"
And you watch, as ever so slowly as the depth gauge creeps to safety
You don't count seconds....You wait for the explosions....and pray....
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Sunvalleyslim ... you and me are the two best guys on this forum and
I'm not too sure about you ... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Seriously though, we're the only two that have had to clear the bridge in a hurry. We were both in the old boats ... sunvalleyslim's boat was older than mine, but mine was bigger and sank faster.
The USS Salmon SS-573 could be at 60' in 30 seconds going all ahead full and rigged for dive, just like in the movies men are doing something all over the boat when she dives. Valves have to be shut and buttons have to be pushed and hatches have to be dogged, sometimes all hands not actually on watch have to race to the stern room to get the down angle off.
I'll never forget my first dive or I should say the first time I had to clear the bridge. When I reported on board the USS Salmon I has just turned 19 years old a week before and it was just three days after the Threasher had sunk.
The COB said find a bunk and then pointed to one behind the hatch from the crews mess to the crew quarters, the one that kept opening with the sickening suction sound (they have to get their air from somewhere) of four big diesel engines running, three racks high and I got the middle one with two stinky zippered clothes bags hanging from the other two, but that didn't matter as the cook was the next person I got to meet.
He showed me the sink and gave me an apron. I was the next messcook (and the only one) and I had to wait six (6) weeks for my replacement to come aboard, boy was I happy to see him.
I was washing dishes one time when the captain got on the 1 MC and said, "If anyone hasn't made a dive from the bridge yet ... come on up" We were just off the coast of California usually somewhere near San Clemente Island doing training exercises.
Tony the cook says, "Hey messcook have you ever cleared the bridge"? I said, "No, all I've done is empty the trash from the sail" I had never been up that high, it was forty feet from the keel to the top of that huge sail that had been built for radar picket duty in the Atlantic ocean. He said, "Go, go, don't keep the captain waiting"
So I hurried on up to control room where the COB said, "You here for clearing the bridge" I said, "Yes sir" He said, "Don't call me sir" He hands me a foul weather jacket to put over my apron and then puts a pair of binoculars around my neck and points up, "Go on up the captain is waiting for you"
The next level up is the conning tower where the helmsman was at ... everyone was sort of grining at me, but I couldn't figure that out. You have to understand that I was born and raised in Texas and I'm kind of slow.
So, I go on up to the bridge and get to meet the captain for the first time face to face. He was grining too and I was in awe of my surroundings, sort of looking around at the magnificent view.
The captain says, "Okay were going to pull the plug and you go first" "Just clear the bridge and I'll dog the hatch" I said, "Yes sir"
Well, he yells dive, dive and I wandered over to that big hole starring at me and I wanted to make sure my foot was just right for the first rung, but that was not my captains intention to let me pussy foot down that ladder. I forget his exact words, but remember officer's are gentleman except when clearing the bridge on a 350' long submarine in the Pacific Ocean on a training exercise, especially on a boat that can be at 60' in 30 seconds (if we were going full speed).
He was steping on my head, he was stepping on my hands, he was doging the hatch to the bridge so fast that he was on top of me before I could get to the conn ... everyone is yelling at me to keep going and get on the planes down in the control room one more level down. So I started down the ladder and everyone (including the captian) is yelling jump. jump. So I jumped landing in a heap at the bottom of the ladder in control room with everyone laughing at me.
My fingers were bloody the skin had been broken, I was bruised, the binoculars had come up and hit me in the teeth and in the face, I was flustered, I was hot, I was embarrassed. Captain said, "You'll do better next time" as they prepared to glide away under the ocean.
I slunk back to the galley and my dish washing, knowing that something important had happened that day. I had been introduced to how to be a lookout on a U.S. Navy submarine.
Over the next few months I learned how to do it the right way, first by tucking the binoculars inside of my jacket and by kicking my legs out from underneath me and letting my hands litely grab the long rung handle on the ladders and just slide down one level, hit the hatch to the second level, grab the bow plane seat and joy stick my way to the depth the OOD ordered, but how could I ever forget that first introduction to becoming one with them ...
Here's a picture of the best submarine to ever slide beneath the waves ... SS-573
