Two Days Aboard a Nuclear Submarine
My son, Lt. Commander Jeffrey Masterson, is the Navigator of the USS Jacksonville SSN 699. The Jacksonville is a nuclear powered, Los Angeles Class, fast attack submarine based in Norfolk Virginia. My other son Jim, and I, were invited to join the ship in Jacksonville Florida for a cruise back to the home port of Norfolk, a trip that would take just over two days.
The Jacksonville is the type of boat that was the "hunter" in the "Hunt for Red October". It is 360 feet long and 33 feet wide at the beam. The normal ships complement is 13 Officers, 14 Chief Petty Officers, and 111 Enlisted Men. Its maximum depth is in excess of 800 feet and its maximum speed is in excess of 25 knots. Its submerged displacement is 6,900 tons. This all means it is a very big boat that goes very fast and very deep.
We arrived at the boat on Tuesday morning about 6:00 with our duffel bags in tow. I had the opportunity to tour the boat before when it was moored, but somehow climbing down that hatch ladder with luggage and clothes to last two days put a whole new perspective on it. We were shown through some very narrow passageways and down another set of very steep steps to one of the three "Senior State Rooms". The three department heads (Navigator - called NAV, Engineer - called Eng, and the Weapons Officer - called Weps) are assigned these state rooms but must share them with two other junior officers. One of the officers that shares this room was not on board for this trip and the other one graciously gave up his space and moved into one of the "nine man" berthing areas so the three of us could stay together.
When you open the narrow door to the state room, there is open floor space about three feet wide and five feet long. Along the back, which is along the outside wall of the sub, are three bunks stacked up. The bunks are about three feet wide, and about six and one half feet long. You can only see the center three feet of the bunk and it takes some practice to crawl in the center and toward the end. There is enough room to roll over, but just barely. Along the two sides of the open space there are storage areas and a fold down desk top. Behind the door, is a very creative fold down sink. At one end of the outside hall is the "head" and at the other end is the Ward Room, which is the officer's dining area and meeting/studying space.
After we stowed our bags, Jeff led us up one level to the control room. This is an awesome area. It is the full width of the boat and about 40 feet long. In the center towards the front are the two periscopes. The area around the scopes is raised two or three inches and is called "The Con" This is where the Officer of the Deck (OD) operates and issues orders. The OD is the only person who can issue orders to the crew operating the sub. Even if the Captain or the NAV want a change in course, direction, or speed, they must request it from the OD and the OD issues the orders. Straight ahead of the Con is a hallway where the Captain and the Executive Officer (XO) have their quarters. Behind the Con, with an isle between them, are the two plotting tables where the Quartermaster operates under the direction of the NAV. Along the port (left) side of the room are the depth instruments. Along the starboard (right) side are the fire control stations and the sonar screens used by the OD. The sonar operators are in a small separate room in the front of the CON. The front port side is where the boat is "driven". There are two seats with airplane like steering wheels with a third bench like seat in between and slightly to the rear of the drivers seats. There is one other seat in the corner in front of a massive panel of switches and gages.
The Chief of the Watch sits in the corner and controls all the flow of water and air within the boat. The Stern Plainsman sits in the left driving position and controls the angle of the boat by pushing and pulling on the "steering wheel" to move the stern planes. The Helmsman sits in the right driving position and controls the rudder and the sail planes. Behind them, watching every move, sits the Diving Officer of the Watch (They are senior Chiefs or higher). These four people actually operate the boat at the direction of the OD. The OD issues orders in the form of speed (ahead 1/3, ahead full, stop, etc.), direction (in degrees), and level of the boat (again in degrees). The Diving Officer repeats every command before it is executed. The Helmsman repeats every command after it has been executed, and the OD will acknowledge with "aye Helms".
After Jeff showed us around the CON, he went over the charts for departure with the Quartermaster. They asked all Tiger Members to assemble on the mess deck for a briefing. The mess deck is a room with six large restaurant like booths. The 28 of us found a space to sit and waited for the briefing. First up was Jeff as NAV and as the boat's Security Officer. He explained the two areas of boat where we were not allowed to go. One is the nuclear engine room and the other was the radio room. Other than that, we had the freedom to move anywhere we wanted.
Next, the "Doc" briefed us about medical issues and told everyone that if they had not yet taken the "industrial strength" sea-sick pills it was too late. The Chief of the Boat (COB), who is the senior enlisted man on board, welcomed us aboard and again went over the two areas where we could not go. Finally, the Captain came down from the bridge and also welcomed us aboard. While the briefing was going on, we could feel the boat leaving the pier and it started to gently roll side to side.
When the briefing broke up, I went up to Control to watch Jeff. As we were exiting the breakwater area the seas got very rough. Jeff took over as Contact Coordinator, which is the officer in charge of the CON when the OD is up on the bridge on the top of the sail. The next five hours were like a five hour roller coaster ride - not a Valley Fair roller coaster, but like a Mall of America type roller coaster. Back and fourth, side to side, up and down, we bobbed like the proverbial cork. Fortunately, I never felt sick at all but most of the crew and guests were in bunks trying to ride it out. At times, the sea water would fly up over the sail and down the hatch into the control room. Several Tiger member went up the sail for a look and all came down soaked. Just as I was getting ready to brave a trip up the sail another wave would come crashing down the hatch. I finally decided I would wait for the surface transit into Norfolk for that experience.
The Captain decided the OD was taking too much of a beating up on the bridge, so he told Jeff to secure the ship and take over as OD from the control room. That meant that for the last two hours of the transit, sonar, radar, and periscope were the only ways to watch for other ships. Since sail boats and some other small craft do not show up on sonar or radar, this is a very trying and demanding time for the OD. In the control room, there is a small television monitor which shows what the OD is looking at through the periscope. There is also a second "World War II" scope which we were allowed to use at the same time. After I finished using the second scope I apparently flipped the handles up a little too hard, and Jeff announced "It may be a WW II scope but they only do that in the movies!" We went by several smaller crafts who were bouncing even more than we were but no one came very close.
As we started approaching the dive point, the Captain came back into Control and announced over the PA system that we were five minutes away from the dive. I was selected to drive the stern planes and another Tiger member was selected to drive the rudder and sail planes. We took the drive seats and the Diving Officer briefed us on the gages, where they should read, and how to affect them with the drive wheels. The Plainsman stood behind me and coached. The time came for the dive, and Jeff asked the Captain for permission to dive the ship. Jeff gave the dive order to the Chief of the Watch who broadcast a "dive dive dive" message and blew the dive alarm. The Plainsman then told me to push the wheel to get a 5 degree dive reading which I did. There are gages which show the angle of dive and of course the depth. We dove to 150 feet and then leveled off to check the buoyancy of the boat. The Chief of the Watch adjusts the ballast tanks so the boat is buoyancy neutral and is not rising or diving while I held the angle of the boat at zero. The Chief of the Watch reported to Jeff that the boat was stable and then Jeff issued the order "take it down" to 450 feet. Again, I pushed on the dive wheel to a point where the boat was angled down 5 degrees until we hit 450 feet.
As soon as we left the surface, the rolling and bobbing stopped. By the time we leveled out at 600 feet the ride had become extremely smooth, the sensation is the same as a very very smooth airplane ride. There is a slight occasional roll from side to side but that is the only sense of movement that you feel. It is very quiet, no water or propulsion noise at all. The only noise is the air handling equipment providing the fresh air.
Jim had come into Jacksonville late the night before so by now, we were pretty exhausted. There was nothing exciting scheduled until supper so we decided to get our first shot at "rack time".
Jeff was relieved as OD at 17:30 (5:30PM) and he came to get us for dinner. The Ward Room, like the rest of the boat is an example of incredible space efficiency. There is a big table in the center which will sit 11 people and a bench along one wall which will sit 3 more for a meeting or training. At meal time the table is covered with white linen but at other times it is covered with dark green vinyl. In an emergency, it converts to an operating table for "Doc". The room overall is about fifteen feet by 20 feet and it is "paneled" with fake wood. Very nice plaques from the various ports the Jacksonville has visited adorn the walls, and there is a large photograph of downtown Jacksonville on the back wall. In the corner, there is a set of gages which show the ships speed, depth, and course. Whenever the Captain or NAV are in the room, they seem to be constantly checking them so they know the ships status.
The head of the table is reserved for the Captain or, in his absence the XO. The highest ranking officer is in charge of the Ward Room and everyone else must ask for permission to enter and ask to be excused to leave.
The food is served family style with two or three entrees. It was OK, but it was not the outstanding food I had heard about on submarines. No carbonated drinks are available, and the favorite seemed to be the endless supply of "bug juice" - Crystal Light Lemonade. There is only one galley, so the food that is served in the Ward Room is the same as the food that is served in the Mess Deck. The seamen think that something magic happens when the food is put on silver serving trays instead of the baking pans and that the officers eat better, but they don't. The only difference is that the officers have to pay for every meal on board (it is recorded and deducted from their check) and the enlisted men do not.
The evening exercise was to come to periscope depth and "snorkel". Snorkeling is the word for running the emergency diesel engine. The snorkel is a tube that sticks up by the periscope which provides air and exhaust in order to run the diesel. The diesel is the baby of the Senior Chief and nobody touches it without his permission and usually his help. It is something to see, it is absolutely immaculate! There is no sign of any dirt or oil anywhere. It is a twelve cylinder engine that is about five feet high and about fifteen feet long. It is painted bright red with yellow and blue flames. The purpose of the diesel is to provide emergency electrical power and to recharge the storage batteries that are used if the reactor is "scrammed" (turned off). We were down in the engine room while they were starting the engine. There is an old-fashioned crank that must be used to prime the engine with oil. Something was wrong and the Chief could not crank fast enough to get the prime to take. Finally he gave up and took the crank off and using a socket, duck tape, shaft, and electric drill got the prime to take and started the engine. It is incredibly loud and can be heard anywhere in the boat. In the engine room you need to wear ear protection. Because we were at periscope depth (60 feet) we were again bobbing around for about an hour while the diesel warmed up and cooled down before we could return to the quiet nuclear power.
We went back up to the control room which was "rigged for night vision" because we were at periscope depth. I thought the control room was awesome when it was lit, but it is incredibly awesome when it is rigged for night vision. It is very dark, and the only lights are red. All of the gages and dials are red and they use red flashlights. There is a black curtain which surrounds the CON so even the red lights of the controls cannot affect the eyes of the OD who must constantly be watching thought the periscope to make sure there is no one in the way on the surface. The Captain invited me into the CON to look through the scope at night but frankly, I could not see much - I sure hope they can see better than I could. The diesel finally cooled off, and we could dive back down to where it is nice and calm. The snorkeling exercise marked the end of the day, so we were off to get more rack time. Jeff had work he had to do and I found out later he did not get to bed until 2:30. Several people told me that it is not uncommon and "NAV never gets more than two or three hours of sleep at a time".
Meals are served four times a day for an hour - 5:00 AM; 11:00 AM; 5:00 PM; 11:00 PM. The work shifts are six hours. Those coming on-duty eat right at five or eleven and then relieve their peers who then get a chance to eat. I set my alarm for 5:30 AM to make the breakfast mess. While I was getting dressed, a seaman knocked on the door and told me to tell the NAV it was 5:30. I assured him I would, and I did, but not very forcefully. Jeff slept for another hour or so and I figured why not - who knows better, Jeff or that young seaman. I went to the Ward Room, and no one was there so I had some coffee and an apple thing that was sitting out. After a while, the Captain joined me for a cup of coffee. We visited and he told me how great Jeff had done on the Tactical Readiness Exercise (TRE) test that the boat had just completed.
When Jeff and Jim showed up they had breakfast and then we went on a tour of the torpedo room. The Jacksonville carries torpedoes and two kinds of cruise missiles plus some "training" equipment that they can also shoot. Several of the crew sleep in the torpedo room when they are not carrying a full compliment of weapons. Some of the newer fast attack subs have verticle launchers but the Jacksonville has the traditional horizontal type tubes. I suppose if Jeff was the WEPS I would have more to say about this area but it looks like the torpedo room in every submarine movie you have ever seen.
This mornings exercise was to surface and receive messages (a sub cannot receive any messages when it is deep). This is a very perilous time for a sub because they cannot tell for sure what may be up there. The OD announces "Come to periscope depth". From that point on no one in the control room can speak. As the boat starts approaching the surface, the OD is on the periscope even though it is under water (remember - there is a TV monitor which we were watching which shows what he was looking at) looking for the hull of another ship. The next words spoken in the control room must be from the OD and they will either be "No close contact" or "Emergency dive". Fortunately, it was "No close contact" that we heard next. After several minutes at periscope depth (PD) the OD issues the order "Prepare to surface", and soon we were bobbing again.
One of the really strange things is, other than bobbing more on the surface, there is no difference in the sensation of being on the surface or 600 feet below the surface. After letting the diesel cycle one more time, and after receiving the messages from the satellite we were ready to dive again. This time we were preparing for the "Angles and Dangles" exercise. The difference between "Angles and Dangles" and a normal dive, is that for a dive you pump water out of the ballast tanks and "sink the boat"; With the "Angles and Dangles" exercise you are using the ships propulsion to dive and rise. The OD brought the boat to 200 feet, so that when we started the angles we would not pop the screw out of the water. The OD then ordered "Down 25 degrees" and down we went - everybody holding on to whatever they could. It took about 50 seconds and we were at 600 feet. We leveled out, and the OD ordered "Up 30 degrees" and up we went, again holding on as we bent forward 30 degrees. We were traveling at 12 knots and we went from 600 feet to 300 feet in about 30 seconds. You could hear books and pens and crap flying everywhere banging onto the floor or into the walls.
Next was lunch on the mess deck. Lunch here, while it is the same food, is very different than in the Ward Room. They need to feed over 100 people in an hour, so it is much faster, and much more relaxed. It is cafeteria style. You fill your tray, eat your food, and get the hell out of the way. There was fried fish and scallops available but we missed them and when we saw them we did not think we wanted to go back for them. We had ravioli and macaroni and cheese and they left a lot to be desired but they filled us up and supper was only six hours away.
At 11:30 Jeff became OD for the afternoon exercise. The first one was a simulated firing of a torpedo. They fire what is called a "water slug". They fill the torpedo tube with water and then "fire" it with compressed air just like they would a real torpedo or missile. The exercise starts with Jeff ordering "Man battle stations" and the Chief of the Watch repeating the command several times into the PA system and sounding the battle station alarm. Seamen just pour into the control room. From the normal cruising complement of about eight, all of a sudden there are about thirty seamen in the control room (plus about 10 of us Tiger Members). No one is left in the rack - for battle stations every man on the boat has a place they are to be. Every position is manned by the most senior person on the boat. The Captain is on the deck and announces "The Captain has the CON; NAV has the Deck" which means the operation of the boat is still under control of the NAV and the Captain is in charge of the fire. The Chief of the Boat (COB) becomes the Dive Officer. The Captain announces "we have identified a hostile submarine and we have authority to shoot" They do several maneuvers to identify, by sonar, where the other sub is located. When the Captain gives the orders to fire, it is almost anti-climatic. The WEPS moves a small lever to the left to ready the missile and then to the right to fire it. You can hear the missile (just water in this case) leave the tube and then you just wait and wait and wait for the Captain to announce the result (a direct hit of course in this case). The Captain announces "Secure from battle stations"; "Come to PD to report actions"; "NAV has the Deck and the CON".
The transit (that means on the surface) into Norfolk is eleven hours so it started the night before. For this surface maneuver the Captain ordered an Emergency Blow. This was by far the most exciting maneuver we did on the trip. It was night, so the control room was rigged for night light (all red). The OD brought the boat to periscope depth and checked for other boats. Finding none, we dove to 400 feet. The Captain announced an eminent emergency blow. I was standing right in front of the CON looking over the shoulder of the Dive Officer. The OD announced "Emergency Blow". The Chief of the Watch switched some switches which forced compressed air into the ballast tanks and it sounded like 100 semi-trucks letting off air. As the water left the tanks, we started "shooting" to the surface. The Plainsman and Helmsman held the rate to 30 degrees and we kept going faster and faster (this was the first time we felt any sensation of speed) until you could feel and hear the bow come right up out of the water and then settle back down on the surface. We went from 400 feet to the surface in about ten seconds - it was one hell of a ride!!!
That was the end of the day, and it would be a short night. Since we were coming into port the next morning there was "reveille" at 5:30 for the entire boat (instead of just me up at 5:30, everyone was). The "Maneuvering Watch" like the "battle stations" requires every man on board to be at their stations. I had not been up on the bridge yet so I wanted to be up and ready if I got the chance. Just as daylight was breaking the Chief of the Watch asked if I wanted to go top-side. I got my camera and jacket and up the ladder I went. The view up there was just spectacular. The sun was coming up over the starboard stern and the flag was waving - it was just incredible. I took a few shots over the bow and the stern and went back below to give someone else a chance. There is only room for the OD and one other person "in" the top of the sail and I was not very interested in going up "on top" of the sail (in means only your shoulders and head are above the edges of the sail; on means you are up walking on the top of the sail).
During the Maneuvering Watch, the OD is up on the Bridge and the NAV is at the chart tables with the quartermaster charting the course and passing instructions up to the OD. The OD then adds his knowledge based on what he sees (like other boats) and orders the course corrections. One of the amazing things to me, was that all this is done with charts, dividers, and pencils (with big erasers) rather than computers. There is almost no computerization of the operation. There is an incredible amount of paperwork involved - none of it automated. Every five minutes, the Quartermaster (or his assistant) record, by hand, the exact location of the boat and that record must be kept, on board, for three years.
The Captain then invited all the Tiger Members down to the Mess Deck for a debriefing. The COB presented each of us with a "Honorary Submariner" card and a "Submarine Drivers License".
Overall it was an awesome trip. An opportunity few have a chance to experience and one none of us will ever forget.
