High resolution version here
Posted on 01/27/2005 12:42:24 PM PST by Boot Hill
The amount of damage is simply staggering!
That this boat ever made it back to port is a tribute to its designers, builders, and especially to the crew and captain. How does America keep finding men like these?
Where does everybody get this impression that the oceans are fully and completely charted? This has never been true, and likely won't be for a very long time to come.
Actually, only a fairly small portion of the ocean bottom is fully and accurately charted.
I was thinking more along the lines of...
"Johnny, why don't you really surprise Daddy and spread a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar on the bed sheets?"
"Johnny, what do you suppose would happen if you put a thin bead of Krazy Glue on Daddy's toilet seat?"
"Johnny, wouldn't it be fun, if when Daddy throws out burned out lightbulbs, you got them out of the trash and hid them for a couple of days and then screwed them back into the lamp he took them out of."
But then, I've had lots of practice at this sort of thing!
--Boot Hill
Yes, but wouldn't it make sense to at least complete the survey near a sub base (Guam)? Given that the Chinese are beginnning to deploy submarines in that area would make sense to have all the approaches charted and under observation with no gaps in the knowledge.
Here's a link to the definitive reference on Submarine Recycling
Ouch.
Likely a total write off, but still a testament to design and crew skill.
That they made it back at all, Providence had a hand in that.
In a sense "they" have already scored a kill - now one less boat to watch out for.
Wasn't the Omaha SSN 692? - Tom
Peace! :>)
Since as you state the charts are classified, I guess we will have to wait and see.
Yes we will. The information released stated that he was on-course and that the course was frequently used as a routine transit from Guam to Australia. His orders would have given him the course and schedule. He would have had to had some very serious concern to disobey those orders.
I am still curious as to what happens when a course is plotted if it would clearly lead to a collision.
They would re-plot. FYI, submarines transit on underwater "sea-lanes" which include allowable depths. If one is transiting E to W, allowable depths alternate with those going W to E, in a manner similar to airplanes to avoid collisions. These are designated as alternating levels based on 100 feet. These are know internationally to help avoid sub to sub collisions. Unfortunately, Russian subs were set up on 100 meter intervals and overlaps existed.
I don't know.
Maybe next year. She is only 20 months now! But daddy is going to get a big surprise when she get's into her car and insists on "Go Fly"!
They brought it back to port. Yes, they are heros.
WOW!!!!!
Did you see this??
Dear God! It looks like they nearly ruptured the inner pressure hull.
I would dearly love to buy the Damage Control Chief all the beer he could hold, just to hear this tale. And I guarantee you it was a well drilled, professional crew that saved boat from sinking into 6000 feet of water.
God Bless them all!
And it's a good thing they had that big blue tarp with them, or it could have really been bad.
We had just put the kid into the car seat and my wife was leaning in to hug her goodbye when the kid said "sh!t"! We didn't understand as she still had her booper in her mouth so my wife asked her what? The kid said "sh!t". The third time we realized what it sounded like.
We both looked and mom and said "She didn't learn that here!" (that was the first time we had heard her say it) Mom (redfaced) confessed.
While on a mission ordered by the Navy, and traveling a route directed by the Navy, you take a 160 men in a 7,000 ton sub traveling at 35 knots and collide head on with an uncharted underwater seamount at a depth of 525 feet and you still manage to surface the vessel and return to home port with the loss of only one life, then you bet your sweet ass, these guys are heroes.
You should be ashamed for having asked.
--Boot Hill
Well yeah... but KY and WI are pretty close to each other. For that to work you would have to take the bow off something that close... and the Oakland was a light cruiser in WWII - slightly different bows... plus you probably shaved with the Oakland as a teenager (she was sold for a couple hundred thousand).
Closest you can get in the same class is maybe the Pasadena (SSN752) or Olympia (717?) and they're in use right now.
Seriously, I'm not going to completely agree with Mr Cook... his experience is superior to mine, but subs ain't cheap and a few thousand connections doesn't compare to a replacement cost of $2Billion (which used to buy you a Nimitz). On the other hand... she's almost 25 years old and the Virginia's ( SSN-774) are starting to join the fleet.
The last 688 was launched over a decade ago... the only way to pick up an "extra bow" is the way I swapped the engine in my '68 Saab (find one that got totaled from the rear and just take parts from the front). Any 688s back down on a sea mount lately?
I think it could go wither way. She looks like a MESS (this is more than "paint and powder" by a long shot) but it's amazing what some of these guys can do.
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