Pacino was relieved when Donchez, next to him on the podium, pushed up next to the microphone.
“That’s right, people. This isn’t a change-of command ceremony, it’s a take-permanent-command ceremony. A reward for a job well done, Captain Pacino. Besides,” Donchez grinned, “Captain Duckett says the boat is too much of a wreck to take back, so Captain Pacino, it’s now your job to get this boat put back together.”
Donchez saluted him, he returned the salute, and then the crew broke ranks and crowded around him, half-carrying him down to the pier.
The speaker system rang out “SEAWOLF … DEPARTING!” and all Pacino could remember of the ceremony from that point on was that he was hugging his wife and son, shaking hands with the crew, and especially with Sean Murphy.
After the crowd had left, only his family remained on the pier as the sun began to set. Then they too left for their hotel and Pacino sat in a chair in the front row and stared at his submarine, still not quite believing it was really his.
There was no one else except the deck sentry as he got up and walked to the gangway, intending to go below to his stateroom and change out of his dress whites, when the Circuit One system blared out over the pier the two words that were the most beautiful Pacino had ever heard:
“SEAWOLF … ARRIVING!”
GLOSSARY
ACR (Anti-Circular Run) — A torpedo interlock that prevents the weapon from acquiring on the firing ship. When the torpedo turns more than 160 degrees from the approach course to the target, the onboard gyro sends a signal to the central processor to shut down the unit. It then sinks.
Active Sonar — The determination of a contact’s bearing and range by pinging a sound pulse into the ocean and listening for the reflection of the ping from the target. The time interval between transmission and reception gives target range using the speed of sound in water. The direction of the return pulse indicates the target bearing. Generally not used by submarines since it gives away the ship’s position.
Anechoic Coating — A thick foam coating attached to the outside of the hulls of some submarines. It absorbs incoming active sonar pulses without reflecting them back, while damping out internal noises before they can get outside the ship. Analogous to stealth radar absorptive material on a stealth aircraft.
Angle On The Bow — The angle between an observer’s line-of-sight to a target ship and the target’s heading. A ship coming dead on has an angle on the bow of zero degrees. If the contact is going on a course at a right angle to his bearing from the oh server, the angle on the bow is port (or starboard) 90 degrees.
ASH (Anti-Self Homing) — A torpedo interlock that measures the distance from the firing ship. If the torpedo comes back toward the firing ship, at 80 % of the return trip, the ASH interlock will shut down the unit, and it floods and sinks.
ASW — (1) Antisubmarine warfare. (2) Auxiliary seawater system.
ASWSOW — Antisubmarine warfare standoff weapon. A supersonic solid rocket fueled missile launched from a submarine at either a surfaced or submerged target. Also called “Ow-sow.”
Baffles — A “cone of silence” astern of most submarines where sonar reception is hindered by engines, turbines, screws, and other mechanical equipment located in the aft end of a submarine.
Ballast Tank — Tank that is used solely to hold seawater ballast, weight that allows a ship to sink, or, when blown, allows a ship to be light enough to surface.
Battleshort — A condition in which the nuclear reactor’s safety interlocks are removed. Used only in a severe emergency or in battle, when an accidental reactor shutdown is more dangerous to the ship due to loss of propulsion than the potential risk of a reactor meltdown. Only the captain can order Battleshort.
Bearing — Direction to a contact, expressed in degrees. A contact to the north is at a bearing of 000. A contact to the east is at 090, etc.
Bigmouth Antenna — Slang name for the AN BRA-34 multi frequency antenna. A radio antenna suitable for transmission or reception of several frequencies including HF, VHF, and UHF. Shaped like a telephone pole, it protrudes from the sail about 25 feet.
Bridge — Small space at the top of a submarine’s sail used for the Officer of the Deck to control the movement of the ship when on the surface. The height allows a better view of the surroundings of the ship.
Bridge Access Trunk — Tunnel from the interior of the submarine to the bridge.
Broadband — Noise containing all frequencies; white noise, such as heard in radio static, rainfall, or a waterfall. Broadband detection range is high for surface ships, which are noisy. Broadband detection range is low for submarines, usually less than five miles, due to quiet submarine designs.
Bubblehead — Derogatory slang for submariner, used by aviators (Airdales) and surface sailors (skimmers).
Check Fire — Order to abort a pending weapon launch.
CINCPAC — Commander-in-Chief Pacific. Admiral in command, U.S. Pacific Forces.
Clamshells — The steel or fiberglass hinged plates that cover the top of the bridge cockpit when rigged for dive and are opened when rigged for surface. When shut, the top of the sail is completely smooth.
Clear Datum — Tactical euphemism meaning run away.
C.O. (Commanding Officer) — Official title of the captain of a ship.
COMMSAT — Communications satellite in a geosynchronous orbit that sends and relays Navy radio traffic.
Contact — Another ship, detected by visual means, sonar, or radar. A contact can be hostile or friendly.
Course — The direction a ship is going measured in true compass degrees. North is 000. East is 090. South is 180, etc.
Critical — The point that a nuclear reactor’s fission rate is constant without an external source of neutrons. The chain reaction keeps fissions continuing using neutrons from fissions.
Deck — (1) Floor of the submarine. Each compartment is either two or three decks high. (2) Responsibility for the physical operation of the ship. The officer who has the Deck makes decisions about equipment lineups, how to run and operate ship systems, etc.” while the conning officer concerns himself with ship navigation, course, speed, and relationship to the target. Usually the OOD has both the Deck and the Conn.
Depth Control — Ability to control a ship’s depth within a narrow control band. Done either manually, with a computer, or with the hovering system (when stopped). Particularly vital at periscope depth because failure to maintain depth control can cause the sail to become exposed (broach), giving away the ship’s position.
Dogs — Banana-shaped pieces of metal that act as clasps to keep a hatch shut.
Dolphins — Pin worn above left pocket of submariner’s uniform, indicating the person is qualified in submarines. Qualification typically takes one gruelling year. Enlisted men wear silver dolphins; officers wear gold. Dolphins, when not worn on the pocket, are a general symbol of the Submarine Force.
Doppler Effect — Effect responsible for train whistles sounding shrill when the train approaches and low pitched when the train is past. When a moving platform emits sound waves, the waves are compressed ahead and rarefacted (spread apart) behind the source. The compression of the waves raises their frequency, making a higher note.
EMBT Blow — Emergency main ballast tank blow.
Emergency Blow — Blowing the water out of the main ballast tanks using ultra-high-pressure air. Empties ballast tanks in seconds, lightening the ship, allowing the ship to get to the surface in an emergency such as flooding.
Emergency Propulsion Motor (EPM) — A large DC motor aft in the engine room capable of turning the shaft to achieve 3 knots using battery power alone. An electricity hog.
EO (Electrical Operator) — Enlisted nuclear-qualified watch stander who mans the Electric Plant Control Panel and reports to the EOOW.
EOOW (Engineering Officer of the Watch) — Nuclear-qualified officer who runs the nuclear power plant. Responsible to the OOD for propulsion and propulsion plant damage control.
Escape Trunk — A spherical airlock used on American nuclear submarines. The device can be used to make emergency exits from a sub sunk in shallow water. Principally used for divers to lock in or lock out.
ESGN — Ship’s inertial navigation system using a small metal ball that spins at about 10,000 RPM to gyroscopically maintain a constant reference (north).
ESM (Electronics Surveillance Measures) — The gathering of intelligence through the analysis of enemy signals, including radars and radio transmitters.
EWS (Engineering Watch Supervisor) — A Chief who is a roving supervisory watch stander in the engineering spaces. Reports to the EOOW.
Fathom — Unit of depth equal to six feet.
Fathometer — Bottom sounding sonar that directs an active sonar pulse down to the ocean bottom and measures the time for the pulse to reflect back and hence the distance to the bottom. New units transmit a secure pulse, using a short duration random high frequency pulse.
Final Bearing and Shoot — Order of the captain to shoot a torpedo after he takes one last periscope observation of a surface target.
Firecontrol Solution — A contact’s range, course, and speed. A great mystery when using passive sonar. Determining the solution requires maneuvering one’s own ship and doing calculations on the target’s bearing rate. Can be obtained manually or with the firecontrol computer.
Firecontrol System — A computer system that accepts input from the periscope, sonar, and radar (when on the surface) to determine the firecontrol solution. The system also programs, fires, steers, and monitors torpedoes. If a ship is cruise missile equipped, the system will program and fire the missile.
Firecontrol Team — A collection of people whose task is to put a weapon on a target. Includes the sonar operators, OOD, JOOD, Captain, XO, firecontrol operators on Pos One, Pos Two, Pos Three, the firing panel, and the manual plotters (geographic, time-bearing, time-range, and time-frequency).
Firing Panel — A console section between Pos Two and Pos Three. The vertical section is a tube weapon status panel. The horizontal section has the trigger, a lever used to fire a torpedo or cruise missile.
Firing Point Procedures — An order by the captain to the firecontrol team to tell them to prepare to fire the weapon, done during a deliberate approach when the solution is refined, as opposed to a Snapshot. The solution is locked into the weapon and the ship is put into a firing attitude.
Fix — A ship’s position. Determined by visual triangulation or radar when close to land on the surface, or by NAV SAT or BE sonar when at sea.
Flag Plot — A chart room used by flag officers (admirals) to plot strategy or determine the distribution of forces.
Flank Speed — Maximum speed of a U.S. submarine. Requires fast speed reactor main coolant pumps and running at 100 % reactor power.
FLASH — The highest priority of a radio message. Receipt required within minutes or seconds.
Forced Circulation — Forced flow of water coolant through a reactor using pumps, as opposed to natural circulation.
G — A measure of acceleration. The acceleration due to gravity is one g. Two g’s is twice, etc.
Geographic Plot — (1) A manual plot saved from World War II submarine days using the plot table to deduce a firecontrol solution. Works well on unsuspecting targets. Target zigs cause confusion on this plot. Useless in a melee situation. (2) A mode of display of the Mark I firecontrol system showing a God’s eye view of the sea with own ship at the center and the other contacts and their solutions surrounding it.
GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) — A worldwide time standard using the time at longitude zero at Greenwich, England. Also called Zulu time.
GPS (Global Positioning System) — A series of satellites and shipborne receivers enabling extremely precise navigation fixes. Also called the NAV SAT
Gyro/ Gyroscope — Electrical compass using a rapidly spinning gyroscope.
Head — Seagoing term for bathroom.
Helm — The wheel that turns the ship’s rudder. Also short for helmsman.
Hovering System — A depth control system managed by a computer that keeps the ship in one point underwater. Used by boomers when launching missiles. Used by fast attack submarines to establish a desired vertical speed (depth rate) to vertical surface through polar ice.
Hull Array — One of the sonar hydrophone element assemblies (arrays) of the BAT EARS sonar suite, consisting of multiple hydrophones placed against the skin of the hull over about one-third of the ship’s length. Used mostly as a backup to the spherical array because the hull array’s sensitivity is reduced by own ship noise inside the hull.
HUMINT — Human intelligence, that gained from foreign agents or American intelligence officers.
IR — Infrared.
JOOD — Junior Officer of the Deck; Assistant to the OOD. When in transit, the JOOD is usually an unqualified officer in a training position, given the Conn and supervised by the OOD.
KH-17 — Newest generation of Bigbird spy satellites. The KH stands for Keyhole — appropriate for a spy platform.
LAMPS — Light airborne multipurpose system. Cute acronym for a Seahawk ASW helicopter carried aboard a U.S. Navy surface ship.
Leg — The straight line travel of a submarine doing passive sonar Target Motion Analysis (TMA) between maneuvers. During a leg the crew attempts to establish a steady bearing rate to the target and establish speed across the line-of-sight to the target. Two legs determine a firecontrol solution. Three legs confirm the solution. Four legs indicate the captain is afraid to shoot. A large sign at Prospective Commanding Officer School in Groton, Connecticut, reads “you don’t need another GODDAMNED LEG!”
List — Tilt of a ship to the side.
Locking In/ Locking Out — Entering or leaving a submerged submarine through the escape trunk (airlock).
Lookaround — (1) A periscope observation. (2) A warning by the OOD or captain to the ship control team that the periscope is about to be raised. The Diving Officer and helmsman report ship’s speed and depth as a reminder, since high speeds can rip the periscope off and flood the ship through the periscope hole.
MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) — A detector flown on an aircraft that measures changes in the earth’s magnetic field that could be caused by the iron hull of a submarine.
Main Ballast Tank — Tank that is used solely to hold seawater ballast, weight that allows a ship to sink, or, when blown, allows a ship to be light enough to surface.
Main Engines (Propulsion Turbines) — The large turbines that extract energy from steam and convert it to power to turn the screw.
Main Steam Valves One and Two (MS-1, MS-2) — Large gate valves on the port and starboard main steam headers, at the forward bulkhead of the aft compartment. These can isolate the main steam system in the event of a major steam leak.
Maneuvering — The nuclear control room, located in the aft compartment upper level. Smaller than most closets.
Maneuvering Watch — The watch stations manned when a ship gets underway in restricted waters.
Mark 36 or 38 — A torpedo-sized decoy vehicle that transmits the sounds of a submarine and can be programmed to maneuver through the ocean like a submarine; used to evade a trailing hostile ship or torpedo.
Mark 50 — Latest breed of torpedo. Also called the “Hullcrusher.”
Mark 80 SLAAM — Submarine-launched anti-air missile.
Mark On Top — Term used to note that a hostile aircraft is flying directly over the submarine. Generally means the submarine has been detected by the aircraft and will be under attack almost immediately. Usually followed by an expletive, i.e. “P-3 mark on top, dammit.”
Natural Circulation — Water flow through a reactor caused only by the heat of the core — hot water rises and cold sinks. Eliminates use of noisy main coolant pumps, allowing quieter operation.
NESTOR Secure Voice — A UHF radio-telephone communication system that encrypts a voice signal prior to transmission and de crypts it
after reception. Can be transmitted to the satellite and beamed worldwide. Fast, secure means of communication.
New Kuomintang (NKMT) — A Chinese revolutionary group modeled after the unsuccessful faction of the 1940s. The NKMT, with Japanese support, is dedicated to the overthrow of the Chinese Communists.
NMCC (National Military Command Center) — A nerve center in the Pentagon where, in theory, orders would originate for fighting a nuclear war. Seasoned officers scoff at the idea that NMCC would survive the first ten minutes of a surprise decapitation assault.
Nukes — (1) Nuclear weapons. (2) Nuclear-trained officers and enlisted men.
OOD (Officer of the Deck) — Officer in tactical command of the ship, a sort of acting captain. Directs the motion of the ship, giving rudder, speed, and depth orders. Responsible for ship’s navigation, operation of the ship’s equipment, and employment of the ship’s weapons. Usually has the Deck and the Conn. Needs captain’s permission to do certain operations, such as go to periscope depth, start up the reactor, transmit active sonar or transmit radio, or launch a weapon. Done best while smoking a cigar and telling sea stories.
OP — Operation or mission.
OP AREA — A specific ocean area devoted to a particular exercise or operation. Some OP AREA are permanent, some are established only for one exercise.
OP REP 3 PINNACLE — Name of a message that is sent with FLASH priority to the White House and NMCC telling of a dire emergency requiring immediate action, such as an incoming nuclear assault.
Overhead — Nautical term for ceiling.
Ow-Sow — Pronunciation of ASWSOW, antisubmarine warfare standoff weapon.
PA. Circuit One — Shipwide Public Address announcing system.
PA. Circuit Two — Similar to PA. Circuit One, except that it only announces in the engineering spaces.
PA. Circuit Seven — Speaker announcing system used between the Conn, Maneuvering, the bridge, and the torpedo room.
Passive Sonar — Most common mode of employment of most submarine sonar systems. Sonar system is used only to listen, not to ping out active sonar beams, since pinging gives away a covert submarine’s presence. Use of passive sonar makes it difficult to determine a contact’s range, course, and speed (solution). TMA is the means of obtaining a solution when using passive sonar.
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