How many real world submariners frequent this site?

[GraylingSTS(SS)]

I apologize if this is a repeat topic but I am curious to know how many here have served on a submarine in real life.

I was a sonar tech aboard the USS Grayling (SSN 646) from 1989 to 1994.

Some of you may be familiar with the infamous "Grayling" from the collision with the Russian Delta IV (most reports say Delta III) in the Barents, just north of the Kola Peninsula back in March of 93.

That was the day that I decided against reenlisting!:hmm:

Much safer to command my own boat in SHIII!

[XabbaRus]

Quite a few here.

You weren't the sonar tech on duty at the time of collision?

[GraylingSTS(SS)]

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

Quite a few here.

You weren't the sonar tech on duty at the time of collision?

Just got off watch and was manning the CEP headset.

[XabbaRus]

You allowed to be telling this?

Glad I wasn't you. I have read the Barents isn't the most sonar friendly waters.

[sonar732]

This actually surprises me that he's posting this.

Where's the smily for looking around for Big Brother???

[GraylingSTS(SS)]

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

You allowed to be telling this?

Glad I wasn't you. I have read the Barents isn't the most sonar friendly waters.

The incident was actually reported in the media shortly after it happened. You can read about it on a lot of different websites that list nuclear incidents/close calls.

As far as being sonar friendly, well I think we can assume it wasn't very friendly that day!

So were you in the Navy and if so, what did you do?

[GraylingSTS(SS)]

Just to be on the safe side, I deleted most of that post. I don't think any of that would cause a problem, but if that's the perception, then its better to err on the side of caution.

Funny thing is... I am constantly amazed at the amount of information the Navy allows access to on Discovery Channel and TLC. When I was in, they would never consider letting a camera crew inside the sonar shack.

[Ishmael]

Tin-can Ping jockey here. 6 years on destroyers from 72-78. Found 7 confirmed Russian subs, 2 Foxtrot Diesels, 2 Echo II SSGNs, 2 November SSNs and 1 Yankee SSBN. Best one was on ops aboard USS Elmer Montgomery(DE-1082) off Charleston in '78 with the Forrestal and a Boomer. We were 10 miles from the main body prosecuting a contact another 10 miles out when a green flare pops to the surface behind the carrier. The boomer comes shallow and signals over Gertrude,"We got you".

We came back,"If that's you there, who's this guy over here?"

They came back and said,"We don't know, but goodbye."

When our helos dropped a sonobuoy pattern, the noise signature of an Echo II came up. We found the Russian shadowing the boomer.

I have been one of the few skimmers to hoist a few at the old Horse & Cow bar in Vallejo, Ca. made famous in Blind Man's Bluff. I also had a crewmember from the Foxtrot that shadowed us in the Med in '76 tow my car home from Burbank to Pasadena in 1998.
I asked him if he ever visited the one they have tied up nest to the Queen Mary in Long Beach. His answer was, "Hey, I lived that for 3 years. Why would I want to pay money to visit it again."

[PeriscopeDepth]

Great thread. Thanks for your service guys.

PD

[GraylingSTS(SS)]

Ahhh the Horse and Cow...I have a lot of great memories from that little establishment...even more "non-memories".

When I was first assigned to the Grayling, she was still in the yards after a refit at Mare Island.

We supplied the bar with several "artifacts" from the Grayling...the funniest I think was the CO/XO's ****ter seat. Some guys "borrowed" it one night right before sea trials.

The XO was a jerk, threatened to prosecute everyone...the CO was cool though. Before we left Vallejo for good, he showed up at the H&C one night and signed the missing seat in GOLD marker.

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by GraylingSTS(SS)

Ahhh the Horse and Cow...I have a lot of great memories from that little establishment...even more "non-memories".

When I was first assigned to the Grayling, she was still in the yards after a refit at Mare Island.

We supplied the bar with several "artifacts" from the Grayling...the funniest I think was the CO/XO's ****ter seat. Some guys "borrowed" it one night right before sea trials.

The XO was a jerk, threatened to prosecute everyone...the CO was cool though. Before we left Vallejo for good, he showed up at the H&C one night and signed the missing seat in GOLD marker.

In my travels I picked up a medal from the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet. The last time I was at the H&C, right before they closed & passed on the medal to the owner who was moving lock,stock & barrel to Pearl. For five years from 90-95 I lived on Sandy Beach at the end of the Napa River on those houses on the piers, literally on the Dock of the Bay. Since the ex-wife was working at Mare Island, whenver an LA-class boat pulled in or out, I used to hoist the Soviet Flag, break out the camera with the telephoto lens and snap,snap,wink,wink. If I had been a real schmuck, I'd have dropped a hydrophone into the water and turned on my electric shaver. It sounds just like a torpedo. During the 1st gulf war, I watched a Japanese Self-defense force destroyer come steaming up the San Pablo Bay heading to Port Chicago toload war shots. Since I was curious about it, I broke out the binocs to have a closer look. Sure enough, fluttering from the masthead was the Rising Sun flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

I grew up in Benicia, about 7 miles up the Carquinez Straits from Vallejo and lived there and in Vallejo for about 25 years man & boy. As a boy, I used to sell the local Benicia paper in the same bar that Jack London used to frequent in his days on the Fish Patrol. In fact, he was rescued off Sandy Beach by a poacher he had chased down the straits from Benicia when his sloop tore her bottom out near the present day jetty. His partner was waiting at the dock and had to arrest the man for poaching but when the trial date came up, Jack & his partner paid the poachers fine for him in gratitude. Jack wrote a series of short stories about his experiences there entitled,"Tales of the Fish Patrol".
If you do a title search online, they are available and are a great read and an interesting documentation of the area around 1900.

Most folks here already know I served in a FRAM-updated WWII Gearing class DD; Brinkley Bass-DD887. They should, they've heard me say it often enough. I was a third-class RM when I got out in December '70.

Funniest story I have is the chain-of-command. It was a regular hobby for someone to break into the baker's locker at least once a month and steal a box of doughnuts. One day we were enjoying a box in the radio shack when RM1 Brown came in, took one and warned us that the Chief RM was on the prowl. Sure enough, our Chief walked in, but instead of raking us over the coals he took a doughnut and warned us the Lt. Adell, the Com Officer, was out and about. Of course our next visitor was Mr. Adell, who took one and warned us that Lt. Anderson, the Ops Officer, was looking for the doughnuts. I swear it's true; Mr. Anderson came in, took one and said the Captain was around, so be careful. Sure enough, the next man through the door was the Skipper. Being very leery of taking gifts from enlisted men he ASKED if he could have one of OUR doughnuts. When he left he thought it best to warn us our Chief was snooping around; he didn't like these sort of shennanigans from his boys.

We just said we'd be careful.

Closest I ever got to a sub was taking some pictures in Guam.

[timmyg00]

ET1/SS, ESM/Radio/Nav, USS Annapolis, SSN-760, 1993-1997 (plus the requisite ~2yr of SAEF schools ).

I really enjoyed my time, and miss it greatly.

@ Sailor Steve, that was a great story :rotfl:

TG

[Neptunus Rex]

IC2/SS, USS Pintado (SSN-672) '82-'84, USS Tunny (SSN-682) '84-'87. Both gone now.

[Linton]

I have been away for a few days,can anybody pm me the bits I missed?