No doubt about it! If it comes down to a choice, “ET-1 Testy. At your service. When do we sail?”
Testy
The pressure is surprisingly easy to ignore, especially after your first patrol. The hull does creak a bit when you’re changing depth by a significant amount. The only time I heard of the pressure causing a problem was more funny than dangerous. OK, this is a sea-story which differs from a fairy-tale in that it starts with “Now this is no shit” instead of “Once upon a time.” 
The boat had just finished a lengthy stay in the yards and was doing a “test-depth” dive. This is to make sure the boat will go to the depth specified without crushing. A new guy was taking a crap (which he shouldn’t have been doing but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go) when the dive started. The stall door jammed on him due to stresses on the hull and he couldn’t open the door. Thinking the end was near, he panicked and started screaming and clawing at the door. They had to pry him out and calm him down.
Testy
You really glossed over this, Testy, bubbleheads all know the sole purpose for going boats is to get your “dolphins”. There are no non-sub qualified personnel on board, unless they are a rider or a visitor, or are new and working on quals. On fast attack boats enlisted personnel have about 9 months to qual, officers up to 15 months or they get booted off (which is pretty rare). Submarine quals involve learning every aspect of the boat and it’s equipment. Qual delinquency (ie, running behind where your LPO (Leading Petty Officer) or the COB (Chief of the Boat) thinks you should be can be pretty rough, with study halls, etc., when you could be in the rack. Attaining this ignominious distinction earns you the sobriquet of “Dink” (spoken with a distinct sneer), which any dolphin wearer will use on you on a regular basis.
You’re right, I did skim that pretty badly. I still remember the relief at getting those and wondering what I was going to do with all the additional time I had. I’m not sure if it was universal but on the Adams the final exam was the “walkthrough” where the COB and some other E8 and maybe an officer would walk you through the boat. pointing at things and making you explain them.
I got out in 1980, don’t have any remaining vestige of a uniform or any other Navy memorabilia, but I’ve still got those dolphins.
Regards
Testy
Speaking of morale. We had a “blue-nose” ceremony when we crossed the Arctic Circle. We got blue food, blue bug-juice, and had our noses painted blue as well. We theoretically got an official “blue-nose” card but it would have been top secret because it had the time and position on it. :mad:
Testy
We got very elaborate diploma-sized blue-nose certifications signed by the CO in gold ink. In the section of the certificate where there were blanks for the date and longitude, it simply said “Classified.”
Our blue-nose ceremony was pretty elaborate, and disgusting. It involved being blindfolded, and being made to do a follow-the-leader course through the machinery room, getting sprayed with fire hoses (charged with freezing salt water) and getting blasted by huge ventilation fans. Then you had to partake in the “feast” consisting of cold spaghetti dyed blue, and finally, you had to eat a blueberry that was lodged in the belly button of the “royal baby.” :eek: The “royal baby” was the fattest guy on board. Then you got a dab of blue ink on your nose that took about a week to wear off.
Robby and Testy, one blue nose inductee, one blue nose partier, one Rock (straights of Gibraltar) inductee, one Rock partier… All with elaborate “diplomas”, with the long/lat for blue nose indicating “confidential”; 51 months fast attack sailor with the best view of the boat, Fire Control Tech of the Watch.
Oh with a tip to the OP, when I first reported on board, morale sucked for a while. The boat had just did 56 days straight North of the Arctic circle, stopped in St. Thomas for liberty (5 days), got recalled two days in back to Norfolk (leaving about 12 guys on the beach), did a food and weapons load out in two days, and went back out on patrol for another 44 days up North. Not a lot of happy faces to greet the clueless newbie who was too stoked for words to be on his first patrol.
LOL mrAru got his Magellan and Bluenose on teh same cruise …
Yups, around the world under the icepack=)
We still have a vial of water from the arctic somewhere around=)
That was also the cruise that the CO refused to let the supply officer do his job, they were down to peanut butter when they stopped at a test station and hijacked supplies. Stupid boomer driver didnt think about how much less stowage there is on a fast attack and said his crew was NOT going to walk on cans … <oops>
USS Spadefish?
Have any Submariners read Alistair MacLean’s Ice Station Zebra? Does it bear any semblance of reality? 
Yes, I read it when I was a child and enjoyed it immensely. It isn’t very realistic at all though. Oil-soaked lagging and fires? Never in hell. :eek:
Testy
Yeah, I could understand them being a bit less than cheerful. Uggh! I’m happy to have missed that cruise.
Testy
You guys that got the Blue-Nose and other certificates make me envious. Now I’m not sure whether my CO just didn’t want to do it or what.
All the best
Testy
Thank OG, no. USS Cincinnati, a 688.
Another contribution to the OP, a couple of posters mentioned food. Without a shadow of a doubt, submariners are the best fed in the military. Yeah, you’ve got your basic pork loin with apple sauce and turkey loin with cranberry sauce (usually the sauces were the identifier), but the sub fleet takes pride on letting you eat and eat good just about 24-7. With chow served every six hours, no one goes hungry. Plus, unlike other installations where the chow hall is closed so many hours of the day, in essence a sub’s crew’s mess never closes. Can’t sleep, want some cocoa, cruise on in and make yourself a cup. Sandwich? Ice cream? Usually on tap 24-7. Four egg ham and cheese omelet (before the eggs run out), with 6 slices of bacon, a pile of hash browns, toast for breakfast? Just ask the cook. About once a month, depending if you were on patrol or not, Surf and Turf (for the record, halfway night on our second Med run, I had four steaks and three lobster tails, with melted butter and all the fixings). If I recall correctly, I think it took about three days to digest all that…
In comparison, while in the reserve after ending active duty, on drill weekend we’d eat at an Army chow hall. On the menu was burgers and fries and sides. The burgers were about the size of your basic McD’s hamburger. I asked for two burgers, fries and baked beans. The server refused to serve me baked beans because that would be two starches!! Say wha’?!? So I figured I’d go through the line again and get another burger this time with baked beans, no can do, once through the line is all you get. Needless to say I was picturing Sarge Snorkel doin’ a number on Beetle Bailey!
Yeah, the food on the boat was excellent. There was always an expectation that one or two Chiefs were going to have to be stripped and lubed before pressurizing the boat ti get them out.
Testy
LOL, mrAru was on the spadefish …
I pissed off the real wingnut of a CO a couple of different times. Hm - Bradenton , I pissed off his wife when I pointed out that it was her husband who had the commission and not her when she wanted to make the wives club go see the Pound Puppy movie … and there were only 3 kids of the right age to appreciate it and thye weren’t going to be along - it was supposed to be a ‘girs afternoon out’ event :rolleyes: and a second time when mrAru’s exfiance [the one married to my exhusband … sigh] forced them to ask mrAru which of the 2 of us got his car for the remainder of the cruise… her [who he had been living with before the cruise went out] or me [who he dear janed her at the midpoint in Faslane and told to move out of the apartment, give me the keys so i could put his stuff in storage and since he never mentioned HIS car, she didnt want to fork it over] I simply reported his car as stolen. It helps that I had gotten his power of attorney in the mail <evil grin> but she still made me out to be the bad guy.
Then there was the time that the dive officer got the boat pinged by an alpha … cavitation is not your friend when following an alpha in 1985 … in the north sea in more or less russian waters :eek:
Or the CO who hated his wife and kids and about had the crew mutiny because for almost 2 years they were never home for any holiday at all … christmas, easter, new years, 4th of july … because the wife and kids would be there … :smack:
Not to mention the crew changeout for drugs in IIRC 1985, I think something like 40% of the crew were removed.
If Insane Officer X decides he’s going to launch no matter what, is there a way he can do it? Is it just physical keys? So, is it memorized codes or something?
-Joe
See Testy’s post [post=6871014]#55[/post] in this thread; it ain’t like a Minuteman or (now deactivated) Peacekeeper that pretty much runs on autopilot once the launch operations are enjoined; a whole list of things have to occur, in order, before launch operations can commence aboard a sub. One guy ain’t gonna do it all, even if he can somehow subdue the rest of the crew.
Stranger