Well. It seems I’m probably going to be going to the USS Scranton (SSN 756).
So. If anyone has any information on the Hampton Roads area, the Norfolk Naval base, the USS Scranton, life on a Fast Attack submarine… or really anything else y’all might consider interesting or useful, please post away!
Hope you’re ready for hot-racking.
I highly recommend you check out Bubba’s Beach Club, on 17th between Atlantic and Pacific, Virginia Beach. It was my old hangout.
Welcome, l’il squiddly, to the area of much squiddliness!! And I say that with affection. To better answer your question(s), What’s your rate/rank? Marital staus? Do you own a car?
I’m his wife, which answers the marital status question. He’s E-4. We both have a car.
What’s housing like, either on or off base? Any places to avoid? And what should be a decent rate for a two bedroom in the area?
It’s easy to get a two-bedroom apartment in Virginia Beach or Chesapeake for under $1000.
These cities are good places to start looking, as they’re on the right side of the bridge-tunnel and have decent neighborhoods. Be sure to look carefully, though, before you commit.
Norfolk has good and bad areas, so you have to be careful. Portsmouth is almost completely a slum, except for the renovated old city. Suffolk is quite far to travel, and Newport News and Hampton are on the wring side of the bridge tunnel. You run the risk of being caught in murderous traffic living there.
It’s named after my hometown, and was the first of its class to surface at the North Pole. That’s all I got. Enjoy your new digs.
What Mr. Moto said is gospel. Base housing has gotten pretty good, with all the new construction based on the quality of life issues the CNO has been addressing. However, an E-4 with one dependent will be far down on the totem pole for base housing.
Living in town will be affordable with BAQ, etc. There are cheaper places in Norfolk but they probably wouldn’t be as safe as living in VA Beach or Chesapeake. Since Naval Operations Base (NOB) is the largest employer here, naturally the worse traffic is heading to/from the base. But if you’ve lived in LA or metro DC, it’s nothing. Nothing, however, compared to commuting through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) on a daily basis. From the beach waterfront, to Gate 3 is about 22 miles, and usually can take 25-45 minutes on a normal day. Add 15-30 minutes with an accident or two.
The SSN stands for Saturdays, Sundays, and Nights. When I was riding a fast-attack, as a single guy, it was fun and exciting (however the hectic schedule put a lot of strain on the married folks). One year we spent 250+ days at sea with two back-to-back Northern runs (40+) each. With the Cold War history, I don’t know how much time our boats are at sea, “training”. As an E-4, unless a nuke, you’re gonna crank, for up to 90 days. This could depend how badly your division needs you and how well you take to it. (Ie, the more you hate, the more time you’re gonna end up doing) The first nine months on board are pretty much gonna suck, because while you’re not cranking, or learning your job, or qualifying for watches or standing a watch, you’re going to be qualifying on the boat (sleep is optional). If you take longer, it get’s tougher. Once you get qualified in submarines, life is gravy.
The two most important people to you will be your division chief and the Chief Of the Boat (COB). Make those two guys happy and you will have a long and enjoyable career.
Since this is a Navy town, it’s pretty easy for the spouse to get a job, however, because of the transient nature of the job, wages are artificially depressed here.
Well that’s a nutshell, I’d better perpetrate some work. 
He’s a nuke.
We have a kid on the way, which puts us up a little on the priority list, but not much. I prefer living in town to on base.
Some one gave him some hold paperwork to fill out since I’m pregnant, but I know never to depend on anything any one in the military tells you until you see it happen.
Memorize the Norfolk High School cheer!
We don’t drink!
We don’t smoke!
Norfolk!
Norfolk!
LOL, mrAru was stationed in Norfolk on the old USS Spadefish\\\shick razor blades =)
Personally I go for off base myself…most people dont realize that housing office can basically come in at any time with 24 hours notice, and if you hosekeeping isnt up to their standards they can throw you out :rolleyes: and you can have seriously crappy neighbors, and maintenance can be haphazard. You sign off allowing yourself to be put into substandad housing. At least they tore down the Cockroach Motel by Oceana [Honestly, was visiting someone there once, and the roaches would be out in the middle of the floor in the middle of the day. ]
We lived in a nice apartment complex over the border in Virginia Beach on Witchduck Road, there were a large cluster of apartment complexes of varying levels of cost in that area=)
If you like grilling steaks, there is a place called Grate Steaks where you can pick and grill your own and they have a decent salad bar. medium cost place.
Anchor inn and Duck Inn by the Lynnhaven Brigde are good but touristy.
Jewish Mother used to be good but I hear they have gone downhill.
If you go to the farmers market in virginia beach, Golden Guernsey has a dairy store there, killer dairy products!
As to naval life on a fast attack … should sic mrAru on you … but for your wife - NEVER EVER trust the wives club on your boat to actually be useful for anything. Get some other ‘support’ group away from the military. Try to keep your after work hours separate from the military culture, make townie friends! If you spend 24/7 doing the military thang, prepare to go insane. We had as little to do with the military as possible and our support network was actually the society for creative anachronism=) Learn to be as rude as it takes to get the best medical care for yourself as possible, navy doctors consider navy enlisted wives hypocondriacs looking for attention because hubby is away so much. Shop around a bit - the commisairy system is good for some foods pricewise, but sometimes you get better produce offbase, it used to be the 21st street farm fresh had the best produce section in norfolk=)
Hey, my husband just fixed something on the Scranton. He’s a former submariner, now he’s out and fixes them for a living.
We live in Chesapeake, I’d recommend it. As everyone else said, avoid Norfolk & Portsmouth, and Newport News/Hampton will have a hellish wait in traffic daily due to the tunnel.
I don’t have any advice about Norfolk. I just wanted to yell “Bubblehead!” and run away.
BUBBLEHEAD!
:: runs away ::
Adding to the amen chorus.
I live in Hampton, and work on this side of the river, too. I think I made to the other side of HRBT twice since Memorial Day, and both times I used the other ways across.
The entire area is cool.
In case anyone has missed ShadiRoxan’s posts…
I’m an E-4, MM3, Nuke, ELT. I’m married, kid on the way. We have cars; Neither is new/expensive enough to be an insurance nightmare. Neither is old/crappy enough to be a maintenance nightmare. Both are paid off. We’re fairly light on debt. OTOH, E-4 doesn’t exactly make us heavy on income.
What do utilities generally run in the area?
What are the offerings on broadband internet?
What are the roads like?
What’s the climate?
Honest, Mom, I’m not cussin’ ! That’s just how Norfolk is pronounced. 
I have no idea what the cost of living is like in NY state (going by your location bug), but overall, I can see little difference between SE Virginia and Central Indiana.
My husband is nuke too, but is on a carrier here.
BAH will pretty much cover a decent 2 BR apartment with a bit left over for other bills, depending on where you’re living. We live in Norfolk, in a quiet little neighborhood. I know that everyone else is saying to avoid it, but we’ve had no problems. My husband can get to work pretty quickly in the morning, and we’re closer to a gate that not many people use, so he doesn’t have to wait in line too much. We moved down from NY also (Saratoga?) and ended up spending a month in an extended stay hotel while we got to know the area a little and looked for a house.
I’m guessing that our utility bill is a lot more for a house than an apartment, so I can’t answer that. The roads seem better than Texas, but the traffic and drivers aren’t the best. Summer is hot, but not too hot. Winters are nice. It snows a little, but nothing too bad. I think the most I saw was about 2 inches in a day last winter.
Is it true you can escape a sub in trouble by getting blasted out through the torpedo tube port. [sub]Just askin’[/sub]
I never said Norfolk was to be avoided, angelicate. I just said you had to be careful there in choosing a place and neighborhood.
That applies to Virginia Beach as well. It certainly has some seedy neighborhoods. All in all, though, it’s easier to find a decent place there or in Chesapeake.
Oh, I guess only one person said to avoid it. I definitely agree that you need to scope out the area before just settling on a place, though. We found a house that I thought would be great, and when we drove down to see it, I didn’t even want to slow down to look at it. I still avoid parts of Norfolk. 