Sea Stories.. Lets hear some.

[Frame57]

Did you guys use "Bug Juice" to clean stuff with? That stuff could clean just about anything? I wonder where that term originated from? I never could understand field days. Back in my "newby" days as messenger of the watch. The Chiefs in particular would get pissed off if I cleaned out their coffee mugs. I asked the COB once why e had to field day every friday, especially the "Goat Locker" seeing as they do like to even have their coffee cups cleaned out. Well, once again my big mouth earned me extra field day training.....Sheeez! The good old days!

[Bubblehead Nuke]

The whole thing about washing the coffee cups. Geesh does that bring back memories.

They called it 'seasoning'. You only swished water around and dumped it out. You NEVER EVER used soap. Said it changed the way it tasted, heck one guy said he could add water to his cup and get a half way decent cup of joe just from the residue left inside.

We had a Master Chief Electriction who claimed that the same scum had been on the inside of his coffee cup from some 10 years. The only reason it was not there longer was that his wife 'accidently' cleaned it. As I remember, he was soon divorced from her. I don't think it was the cause, but it probably created a LOT of friction.

I have no idea WHY it is called bug juice, but it fit the perfect mentality of subs. Thre are almost NO single purpose items onboard. My question is what did it start life out as. Was it a drink mix that someone figured out was a GREAT cleaner for the stainless steel commodes, or was it a cleaner that someone got a taste of (hows THAT for a mental image!) and decided that you could use it for a tasty beverage?

[sonar732]

Originally Posted by Frame57

Did you guys use "Bug Juice" to clean stuff with? That stuff could clean just about anything? I wonder where that term originated from? I never could understand field days. Back in my "newby" days as messenger of the watch. The Chiefs in particular would get pissed off if I cleaned out their coffee mugs. I asked the COB once why e had to field day every friday, especially the "Goat Locker" seeing as they do like to even have their coffee cups cleaned out. Well, once again my big mouth earned me extra field day training.....Sheeez! The good old days!

Everytime that I see the 'bug juice' kids drink at the convience store it makes me wonder if the creator was an ex-submariner...not to mention the kids laughing when I tell them if they don't drink it all that they need to clean the head with it.

[Frame57]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead Nuke

The whole thing about washing the coffee cups. Geesh does that bring back memories.

They called it 'seasoning'. You only swished water around and dumped it out. You NEVER EVER used soap. Said it changed the way it tasted, heck one guy said he could add water to his cup and get a half way decent cup of joe just from the residue left inside.

We had a Master Chief Electriction who claimed that the same scum had been on the inside of his coffee cup from some 10 years. The only reason it was not there longer was that his wife 'accidently' cleaned it. As I remember, he was soon divorced from her. I don't think it was the cause, but it probably created a LOT of friction.

I have no idea WHY it is called bug juice, but it fit the perfect mentality of subs. Thre are almost NO single purpose items onboard. My question is what did it start life out as. Was it a drink mix that someone figured out was a GREAT cleaner for the stainless steel commodes, or was it a cleaner that someone got a taste of (hows THAT for a mental image!) and decided that you could use it for a tasty beverage?

I hear ya brother! LOL:rotfl:

[Frame57]

Originally Posted by sonar732

Everytime that I see the 'bug juice' kids drink at the convience store it makes me wonder if the creator was an ex-submariner...not to mention the kids laughing when I tell them if they don't drink it all that they need to clean the head with it.

I am gonna buy some just for memory sake.

[Frame57]

After our repair job in LaMaddelina the Archerish steamed toward Toronto Italy. i guess we were going to play some "Hide and Seek" with some combined NATO forces. Boring yes, but part of the job. We had about three days to spend in Toronto. I was banned from going to the bars because the XO did not enjoy getting me out of the local fuzz stations for this or that when I was drunk as a skunk. The COB had already made his S*H*I*T house mouse. So I decided to hike the country side, get a little of the local culture in. The area was a bit like a desert, in fact if you saw any of the Spaghetti westerns, this is what it looked like. I was walking through a village and an elderly man waved me over. He was selling goats. I guess people buy them to keep weeds down around their homes and probably make for good garbage disposals. Well, I did what any normal bubblehead should do and I bought the goat.

After having a Calamari dinner at a side walk cafe. (Gave the veggies to the goat), I proceded back to the boat. I never got challenged by anyone and our topside watch was taking draft reading near the stern so there we went, me an my goat across the brow. The goat was not to happy about being carried doen the fwd escape trunk hatch and started to make a lot of goat noises in the process. I tied the goat to the Towed array hydraulic spool and went about to execute my devious plan. The "Goat Locker" (Chief's quarters is on the port side of the bow compartment). Luck was with me, no goats present in the locker! So, I went to get the real goat and put him in the Chief's shower stall and shut the stall door. Being the good host that I am, I then went to the fridge and got our new shipmate some lettuce and carrots. I worked on a few qualification and then hit the rack. We were to have a morning muster topside at O seven hundred.

Muster time came and most of the crew was topside, exept the COB and most of the Chief's. Then all hell broke loose. I heard the COB cussing up a storm and a braying goat being pulled and shoved up through the hatch. The crew was now fully engaged in the spectacle before them. The goat got away from the COB and dashed across the brow and down the pier. The crew was now in hysterics of laughter, myself included. The COB's nickname was "Red", because of his hair, but his face was really red now. He ordered us to shut up with choice vocabulary, in between his threats and rantings, the goat would stop and bray, which made us laugh even more and even more made the COB's blood pressure raise. Well, he threatened the entire crew with all sorts of COB witchcraft, so I had to come forward and confess. He just pointed his finger at me and said, "Below decks NOW!, you will never see daylight again...." I knew deep down the COB liked me and after a couple of weeks of constant cleaning of the goat locker, I guess we were buds again. But after that it seemed as though the Chief's had a new found respect for me. I am sure they nor I will ever forget this prank.

[Molon Labe]

I got a good laugh outta that one, thanks.:rotfl:

[Dr.Sid]

In Czech we have a phrase 'submarine disease' which does not seem to have equivalent in English. It is used for the state when several people has to live together in small space and due to lack of privacy they tend to dislike and hate each other. The way someone sneeze, the way someone throws his towel on the floor .. and you find yourself wanting to kill the other guy.

Some say this will be serious trouble for interplanetary flights. Now back to topic.

It's perfectly clear now after Frame57's stories where this term come from, right !? :rotfl:

PS: funny enough, we don't have sea or navy, much less submarine force

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

In Czech we have a phrase 'submarine disease' which does not seem to have equivalent in English.

Some say this will be serious trouble for interplanetary flights. Now back to topic.

SPACE MADNESS!!!!!

http://kelevcat.vox.com/library/vide...df26b3c7f.html

They think I'm crazy, but I know better. It is not I who am crazy, IT IS I WHO AM MAD!!!!!

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

In Czech we have a phrase 'submarine disease' which does not seem to have equivalent in English. It is used for the state when several people has to live together in small space and due to lack of privacy they tend to dislike and hate each other. The way someone sneeze, the way someone throws his towel on the floor .. and you find yourself wanting to kill the other guy.

Some say this will be serious trouble for interplanetary flights. Now back to topic.

It's perfectly clear now after Frame57's stories where this term come from, right !? :rotfl:

PS: funny enough, we don't have sea or navy, much less submarine force

I actually found that confines of a submarine created an increased sense of tolerance. There are things that would drive you start raving MAD if you had the ability to leave a situation. When you are stuck in the 'sewer pipe', you had to learn to deal with problems. Coping skills became a highly developed thing.

You knew more about someone than their spouse did. They told you things, and you told them things that you would NEVER talk about to anyone else. EVER.

I became great friends of people, that had I met in other circumstances, I would have either ignored or is some cases walked across the street to avoid. It is the exposure to the varieties of life and lifestyles that tends to make you more tolerant. It gave you a forced introspective look at what YOU did and how others percieved you. This gave you a better ability to look at things from someone elses perspective and maybe lead to a little more understanding.

Was there friction? You betcha. Was there fights?? Oh yes. I had my share of throw down/drag out bare knuckle fights. You know what? After we got done beating the crap out of each other we would realize that what we arged over was damn petty and feel stupid. Then we would go out for a beer and/or a lapdance.

That same person who you fought with three weeks ago had your back when things went down somewhere else. You NEVER left a shipnmate in a fight unless he was a total dumbass and ignored all the warnings you gave him. Then you just let him get stomped on a little and break it up before any real harm is done.

Later in life, I find that very little bothers me. I seemed to have developed my own 'bubble' I guess. Unless you FORCE me to attempt participation in something I dislike, I can pretty much tune it out. It drives my wife LOONEY.

Back to what you called a space problem? I do not think it will be as much a problem as people think. The dynamics of a small crew are well understood and there are tests that can be adminstered to determine compatibility of crew members.

[Frame57]

On extended patrols, what I have found is that we get goofy. I honestly do not recall short tempers ever being a problem. Maybe the cooks put something in our chow (Kidding). Silly goofy things were done to break the monotony that would never draw a laugh in port, but would be crazy funny after a month or so at sea. The only time I remember threatening to punch someone out was during a Royal Bluenose ceremony. They do some weird stuff and make you eat some weird stuff, but it is a tradition. They made some concoction consisting of a variety of hot peppers and I refused it, because I am allergic, they did not believe me, so I almost had to do some punching out. but the doc Intervened and confirmed my food allergy. That is the only time I ever had to physically threaten a shipmate. I was not about to suffer an allergic reaction to appease the Royal order of the bluenose.

All in all, I believe that we became more like family in a way. So I think if there are Sub sailors out there who snap from being at sea, it may be that there are issues at hand regarding the overall morale of the crew.

[Frame57]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

In Czech we have a phrase 'submarine disease' which does not seem to have equivalent in English. It is used for the state when several people has to live together in small space and due to lack of privacy they tend to dislike and hate each other. The way someone sneeze, the way someone throws his towel on the floor .. and you find yourself wanting to kill the other guy.

Some say this will be serious trouble for interplanetary flights. Now back to topic.

It's perfectly clear now after Frame57's stories where this term come from, right !? :rotfl:

PS: funny enough, we don't have sea or navy, much less submarine force

Well, Doc it is about time we start one for ya!

[TopTorp '92]

Maybe I too can make a contribution . . .
I was speaking with the off-going COW so I could be ready for my watch. Ship at PD, sun up, sea state 1 (really light), some stuff goin on back aft (for all I remember it could’ve been steam generator blow-downs) and we were in the process of completing sanitaries (Sans.) Since I was also in Fire Control division, I checked message traffic on OTH (over-the-horizon) contacts, since engineering evolutions were going to keep the ship at PD for several hours; I just wanted an idea of who was in the area. I noticed there was a fishing fleet in the area.
Moments before I assume the watch, AOW reports secure from pumping Sans. This report normally means that the hull valve PL-49 (688 sailors will know this valve) has been shut along with its back up-valve. Sweet, I thought. Just the stuff going on in the engine room to be concerned about.
I also looked to the ship’s control panel to observe the trim angle and it was pointing up. I looked to see who the DOOW was and it was a chief I knew and worked well with. He had been a DOOW for a few months while I had been a COW for considerably longer. However, ever since I knew him as DOOW, I noticed that he liked to fidget with the ship’s trim as if he were never satisfied with its condition.
Then about 20 minutes pass. Dive asks to move some water aft. Now it begins, I thought. He’s already fidgeting with the trim. I move some water to aft trim. I check the trim angle and it is just as it was when I assumed the watch.
Another 15 min or so and Dive asks if I’m moving water. “No,” I say. “Has the sea state picked up?”
He says no but confesses that it may have been the problem. “Move more water aft”.
So I move more water. And wait another 10 min or so. Still getting heavier up forward. What’s going on? Now we’ve moved probably 8-15 Klbs of water from FWD trim to AFT trim.
I call for the AOW. This isn’t the same AOW from before the watch, it’s a different guy. I tell him to go check the valve line-up. Make sure the hull and back-up valves are shut. Also, check the level in all the sanitary tanks. Make sure they’re not rising.
10 minutes or so later, AOW returns and confesses that the off-going AOW failed to secure the line-up. San 1 filled up again and we need to pump.
How inconvenient.
Sonar reports closing contacts. Probably fishermen.
Later, periscope operator reports contacts held visually. Yup, fishermen.
Begin pumping san 1.
Sonar reports noisy ops from fisherman, probably dropping nets.
Years as FTOW led me to ask the periscope operator whether there were sea birds over the ship. There were. Lots of them.
I then told the OOD that pumping sans probably attracted fish, which attract birds, which attract fishermen. Thankfully, he got the idea and decided to clear datum. I guess engineering could wait.
Not 1 but about 3 fishermen dragged their nets nearby and all because the AOW forgot to secure the valve line-up after pumping sans.
DOOW never knew what hit him.

[Frame57]

I like it Torp! You see, we even invent new ways to go fishing!

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Long time no see TopTorp.

I have been wondering how long till you drop in here.

How you been doing?