Tin-can Sailor needs Submarine info (Vanity)

N/A | 7/2/04 | Self

[Bob]

In a conversation last night, I was told that I couldn't have possibly seen what I'm 100% certain that I did.

As a civilian contractor for GTE-Sylvania, I did course development work and pilot teaching of a course on a piece of electronic equipment. This was back in the 1977 or so timeframe. While teaching a course in Groton, CT, I got to go aboard a fast attack boat for a short tour. (I was really struck by how much bigger it was than I had imagined.)

The part that I was told couldn't have happened was that I recall there were torpedoes stowed in racks on the bulkhead of the control room. I specifically recall recognizing that they appeared to be Mark 48's because the guided missile frigate that I had served on had them as well.

Can anyone confirm for me that fast attacks (or at least one class of them) had control room storage of torpedoes? ISTR that there were three of them in racks on the port bulkhead. I don't remember if there were any on the starboard bulkhead.

Thanks, Bob

[steplock]

See Jane's weapons books - available at all worthwhile libraries - they have on line references also I believe.

GOOGLE finds mucho!

http://jfs.janes.com/

[em2vn]

My time on tin cans preceded you by about a decade. My question to you is,what system was in place to transport the fish to the tubes.

[Bob]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I had tried googling with no success. A lot of hits but nothing specifically on this item.

[Bob]

My question to you is,what system was in place to transport the fish to the tubes.

I don't recall seeing anything that looked like a transport mechanism. I'm picturing them in horizontal racks that were something like three metal rings attached to the bulkhead. If I'm not mistaken, there were three torpedoes, each one above the next separated by a foot or so. It's been a long time so my memory is a bit fuzzy on the details.

[dark_lord]

Well...back in 1977 we DID still have some diesel boats that we were selling to the Iranians (yeah, back when the Shah was running things). Perhaps this was a diesel boat?

[Bob]

Nah. This was a newer boat, definitely a nuke. A few of the class attendees were serving aboard her. I wish I could remember the name or even the class.

[cmsgop]

BUMP

Off topic but does anybody know why or how the USS Dorado went down?, Thanks My great Uncle was the Skipper.

[Skwidd]

Why would anyone be on a sub? No one swims away from a sinking submarine. =)

[Jonah Hex]

I tend to agree, you likely didn't see what you thought you saw.

:-)

Mk. 48's are BIG mothers, much bigger than the small ASW torps you see on a skimmer. During my time on both boomers and 688s, I've never seen them anywhere other than their normal racks (discounting bringing 'em aboard, etc.).

I'm not going to speculate on what you may have seen (OPSEC).

[CyberCowboy777]

What boat were you on?

Dad might know, I'll ask. There are some MK48 links on my profile page, including some torpedoman sites, one of the guys might know.

[Bob]

You're partially right, I had gotten the type of torpedo wrong on the Yarnell. They were 12.75" Mark 32's (triple tubes midships port and starboard). Perhaps there were Mark 48's fired from the ASROC launcher.

These mothers were BIG and they were definitely torpedoes. I had eyeballed them to be about 24" diameter and 20' long. The specs say 21" diameter and 19' long so I wasn't off by that much.

[Bob]

What boat were you on?

Dad might know, I'll ask. There are some MK48 links on my profile page, including some torpedoman sites, one of the guys might know.

I wish I could remember the boat's name. It was on a brief tour after I had left the Navy.

I was a skimmer. I served on the USS Harry E. Yarnell (CG-17, formerly DLG-17) and the USS Hoel (DDG-13).

[red-dawg]

I was stationed on a sub tender that had 9 fast attacks in our squadron. I don't recall ANY having torpedos of ANY kind in the control room. Perhaps you were in the torpedo room?

[CyberCowboy777]

Sub tender eh? Dad was served on the USS Dixon (AS 37).

[red-dawg]

Right across from the Dixon was the Sperry.(AS-12)
I was there in 1977-1978.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Off topic but does anybody know why or how the USS Dorado went down?

In Search of USS Dorado (SS-248)

[narby]

Perhaps you were in the torpedo room?

I've never been on a boat, but I can speak to old memories. I found after going back to look for places that I lived 20 years before that everything was not quite as I had remembered. Streets that I just knew were there, weren't. And street's that I didn't remember were.

I tried to find a house that I lived in for a year that was almost in the track of that F5 tornado that hit Oklahoma City a couple of years ago (it survived). Tried for 30 minutes to find it. I know I was within a half mile of it the whole time, and never did find it. They had built up an entire housing addition in a field that had been right next to it, and now that it was in the middle of a group of houses, I was totally lost.

I write software, and I went back to visit at old job after 6-8 years after I'd left. We used the language "MIIS" (close cousin to "MUMPS" - real names, I swear). The guy who'd taken my place showed me a program to see if I still remembered anything about the language (it was pretty cryptic). I couldn't even recognize what the hell the concept was, even though I knew several other computer languages. I asked if that really was MIIS. He said "yes, you wrote this very program".

Could have fooled me.

[cmsgop]

WOW! Thank You, I have not seen that page before. Thanks again.

[Doohickey]

If it was "new" it could have been a stretch-hull 637 or a 688 (L.A. was commissioned in 1976).

In either case, you couldn't have seen torpedoes in the control room. There wouldn't have been any room.

On a 637 the FCS was on the port side and the QM stand, BCP and Nav station were starboard.

On a 688, fire control was on the starboard side with the BCP, radar, fathometer etc. to port.

So, one of two things happened: 1) You were in OPSLL where the Torpedo Room is (skimmer pukes get mixed up a lot on subs because hatches and bulkheads aren't labeled). Plus, the WCP and leveling computer looked somewhat like a helm station to the untrained eye. 2) What you saw wasn't a torpedo. If I remember correctly, there were a couple of AFW heat exchangers outboard fire control on a 637. '37's had a little passageway behind fire control where the IC matrix and the heat exchangers were.