Submarine (1993)

by Clancy, Tom - Nf

  U.S. “Dolphin” submarine logo. JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD.

  Once aboard his first boat, the new crew member’s first major career task will be to qualify for his “dolphins,” which certifies him as a submariner. From there, he is expected to take his qualification boards and move up the promotion ladder. After this first tour, if he chooses to reenlist (and many do) he will probably be given the opportunity to move to one of the various schools as an instructor. This might be at one of the reactor prototypes or the firefighting school in New London. Wherever it is, he will be asked to put back into the new recruits some of the knowledge and experience he has gained. And this is the cycle that he will follow for most of his career.

  Qualify and earn promotion, that is the key. Eventually the submariner might be given the chance to become a warrant officer, or perhaps go to college to become an officer, or “mustang,” as they are known in the Navy. For those choosing to remain as enlisted men, the ultimate honor is to make the rank of master chief, who is usually given the title Chief of the Boat, or COB, on a submarine. This position is considered the equivalent of the executive officer (XO), in charge of the enlisted men on a boat. These are frequently well-educated men with graduate degrees. And to say that the commanding officers (COs) of submarines respect their opinions is something of an understatement. If anything set our service apart from that of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, it was the cohesion or “glue” that our noncommissioned officers provided the Navy. They are the keepers of what corporate America might call corporate memory or tribal knowledge, or what in the Navy they just call tradition.

  The route of an officer is somewhat different from that of the enlisted men. For starters, the Navy is rather particular about who gets to drive their nuclear boats. So while the Navy might be satisfied with a psychology or history major driving an F-14 Tomcat or Aegis cruiser around the block, for their nuclear officers they want engineers. Or, more correctly, university graduates with hard science degrees. There are several ways for a young man to get into this career path. Certainly the most conventional route is the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. There also is the Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC) in place at many U.S. college campuses. This four-year program helps provide tuition, books, and a small monthly stipend to help support the young man, who is commissioned an ensign when he graduates. The final way for college graduates is just to volunteer through the Officers Candidate School (OCS) program. In this case they will be put through a three-month training program, hence their nickname of “ninety-day wonders,” after which they are also commissioned as ensigns.

  The first step on the road to becoming a U.S. Navy submarine officer starts with selection by the Director, Naval Reactors (DNR-NAVSEA Code-082E). This involves a series of personal interviews with the DNR (a four-star admiral no less) to assess the candidate’s technical knowledge and ability to handle stress. When Admiral Rickover used to handle these interviews, the questions took on a sometimes bizarre and personal nature, but as people in the submarine community will tell you, it seems to have produced a very capable corps of submarine officers. At this point the new submarine officer heads off to a year at NPS and the reactor prototype schools.

  Once this is completed, he will be sent to the Submarine Officers Basic Course (SOBC) at Groton, Connecticut. SOBC takes three months and is roughly equivalent to the enlisted men’s Submarine School course. Upon completion of the SOBC, he finally is assigned to his first boat, where he will probably spend the next two to three years. Much like his enlisted counterparts, he will spend much of his time standing watches and qualifying for his “dolphins.” He will also be assessed in his ability to handle and lead the men assigned to his division and watches. Even at this stage of a young officer’s career, he is being tested for his ability to command a boat in the future. During his first sub tour he will take the engineer’s exam, again supervised by personnel from DNR. This is a critical exam because it is the first major stay/leave criterion, allowing him to stay in submarines or pointing him to some other part of the Navy. Success means that the officer is now qualified to be assigned as chief engineer of a boat. From here he will probably do a shore tour on staff at a sub squadron or as an instructor at one of the schools. He also will probably have been promoted to lieutenant by now.

  After the shore tour the officer, now not so young, returns to the submarine school at Groton for another six-month training course. This one, known as the Submarine Officers Advanced Course (SOAC), is designed to prepare and qualify the officer as a department head—engineering, navigation/operations, weapons, etc.—on a boat. It is also one of the required steps on the road to command of a boat. Now the officer heads back to a boat for his three-year department head tour. By now a senior lieutenant, he is ready to screen for the big step on the road to command of his own boat, becoming an Executive Officer (XO). After he has screened for XO, his next training course is the three-month Prospective Executive Officers (PXOs) course, which qualifies the officer for his tour as Executive Officer of an SSN or SSBN. If he successfully completes his XO tour, he will probably head for a shore tour, possibly in one of the many joint billets that are considered so important to the career of American military officers. From here he is selected for the rank of commander, screens for command, and heads to the Prospective Commanding Officers (PCO) course and, finally, to command of his own boat.

  This last step, the PCO course, should not be thought of lightly. Much has been made of the U.S. Navy’s fixation with nuclear reactor safety when selecting skippers. A good record with power plants is certainly one of the major selection criteria for command. The Navy feels, probably with good reason, that they must have a perfect operating record for the American public to allow them to continue operating ships and submarines with nuclear power. With this said, though, it is the PCO course that actually qualifies a man to command one of the U.S. Navy’s boats and not the scores on his engineering exams.

  The PCO course was created in 1946 by James Forrestal, then Secretary of the Navy and later Secretary of Defense. It allows the submarine service to have total autonomy in the selection and training of its submarine skippers. Certainly, advanced training programs like Top Gun—for U.S. Navy and Marine fighter pilots—Red Flag—for U.S. Air Force aircrews—and the National Training Center—for U.S. Army units—are better known to the public, but the submarine PCO course is easily the equal of any of these. Successful completion of the PCO course is mandatory if a man is ever to command a U.S. nuclear submarine. Another aspect of the PCO course that is not generally known is exactly what the curriculum consists of. For the record, each course, which is approximately six months long and enrolls between ten and twelve officers, teaches them the tactical and operational intricacies of commanding a U.S. nuclear submarine.

  During the ensuing six months, the prospective CO will practice approaches and fire something like five to seven “live” (exercise) weapons (Mk 48s, Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles) under a variety of conditions. The course curriculum is both wide and varied, with improvements and changes being made after each and every course. The challenge for the instructors of the PCO course is that in just a dozen years, they have gone from a course with only one primary weapon (torpedoes) and mission (ASW), to having the broadest range of missions—ASW, antishipping, mining, strike warfare, intelligence gathering, etc.—and weapons—torpedoes, missiles, and mines—in the entire U.S. Navy. And as in the submarine qualification courses of other countries, especially the Royal Navy’s Perisher course, any miscue or mistake can be reason enough for an officer to be disqualified.

  At the end of the six months, if he has completed all aspects of the course, and if the instructor feels he is both qualified and ready, the PCO student graduates. At this moment he will have achieved the goal of every submarine officer, command of his own boat.

  Boat Construction

  Let me try to give you the condensed version of how an Improved Los Angeles (688I) is b
uilt.

  The first step in the process is for the Navy to decide that they want to build a boat. This decision is made in the Undersea Warfare Office of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV). Until recently this office was known as OP-02 and was headed by Vice Admiral Roger F. Bacon, USN. In November 1992, through an OPNAV reorganization, this office was renamed N-87 and is now headed by Rear Admiral Thomas D. Ryan, USN (Director, Undersea Warfare Division). It is here that the requirements for such boats are established and the request for proposal is developed. This is usually done in batches or “flights” of boats to a particular shipyard. For our purposes, we will assume that the builder is the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation. Their yard at Groton, Connecticut, would submit a bid to Code 92 (attack submarines) at Navsea, and after a series of negotiations, the contract to build the boat would be awarded. From here the funding for the boat would have to be submitted in the president’s defense budget, approved by Congress, and the money allocated in the federal budget.

  Once the boat has been approved, the actual process of construction begins. The first step in the process is to order items with long lead times, like the nuclear reactor, and heavy machinery, like reduction gears and turbines. The reactor, in this case a General Electric S6G, is ordered and supplied as a piece of government-furnished equipment by Code-082E at Navsea, the Office of the Director of Naval Reactors (DNR).

  A year or two later, when these items begin to show up at Electric Boat—known simply in the Navy as “EB”—the actual construction of the boat begins. The first step is the construction of the pressure hull. EB manufactures its own pressure hull barrel sections in a special facility at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, which takes three-inch-thick hardened steel plates and works them into the curved sections. The sections are carefully welded together to make up the barrel sections, which are barged to the EB yard at Groton. The work now proceeds to the huge building shed at EB. Here the hull sections are welded together into a single long cylinder to form the pressure hull. It is miserable work, with the metal of the barrel sections having to be heated to 140°F/64°C just to prepare for welding. Each section is then hand-welded to the next by men often on the verge of heat prostration, exhaustion, and dehydration. Men must do this work because no machine can do the job to the standards of Navsea and DNR, and even this work must be checked by Navy inspectors armed with mirrors and X-ray machines. The individual sections of the hull are packed with items that are too big to install later, such as the reactor, torpedo and vertical launch system (VLS) tubes, and the turbines.

  The USS Topeka (SSN-754) is launched at the Electric Boat yard at Groton, Connecticut. ELECTRIC BOAT DIV., GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP.

  Once the cylinder of the pressure hull is finished, it is moved down the production way to have the machinery mounts, trim tanks, and internal deck structure installed. Now more and more components of the boat are delivered to the yard. Also during this time the first elements of the precommissioning unit (ships and submarines are known as “PCUs” before they are commissioned as “USS”) crew begin to arrive at EB. These are the Navy personnel who will first take the new boat to sea. Usually the initial cadre is composed of a few officers, including the commissioning CO, and a number of chiefs. Their job will be to oversee the final fitting out of the boat, as well as being the Navy’s representatives to EB for the commissioning. Eventually the ends of the hull are sealed with end caps, and the superstructure is installed.

  When the last of the heavy structures like the conning tower/ fairwater are installed, and the hull is declared water-tight, it is time to roll the boat out of the building shed and launch it. By this time, the PCU crew has been completely assigned, working day to day with the EB personnel. Once the boat is launched, it is towed to a dock where the rest of the sub’s equipment will be installed and tested. This can take between six and eight months, and it is made more difficult by the poor access to the interior of the boat at this time. Since the design of the 688Is makes no allowance for hard patches—points on the hull designed to be cut open—everything has to fit down the hatches leading into the interior of the sub.

  Testing/Shakedown

  From the Navy’s point of view, the new boat really comes to life when the reactor is powered up, or made “critical,” for the first time. Prior to this, the reactor fuel elements have been loaded and a series of mechanical and electrical tests made. Before the reactor is allowed to go critical, every element of the propulsion system will have been tested under real-world conditions for a substantial period of time. During a final test (known as a Reactor Safeguard Examination), which is supervised by personnel from DNR and certified personally by the DNR himself, the crew is tested to affirm that they meet the standards set down over forty years ago by Admiral Rickover when the Nautilus first made ready to go to sea. And for the rest of the boat’s service life, a DNR team will periodically be sent down to the boat for a continuing series of Operational Reactor Safeguard Examinations (ORSEs).

  By this time the precommissioning crew has grown to the point that they can take the boat out for her initial sea, or Alfa, trials, in which a mixed Navy/EB crew will take the boat out into the Atlantic for a series of test runs. These tests are always carefully monitored and escorted, and throughout the history of the nuclear propulsion program, the three DNRs (Admiral Rickover, Admiral McKee, and Admiral DeMars) have each embarked on every new nuclear submarine to personally supervise the first sea period of the Alfa trials themselves. This personal accountability and responsibility on the part of all three DNRs, as well as their perfect safety record, has gone a long way in building confidence with the public, the Congress, and the administration in the U.S. Navy’s ability to safely and successfully utilize nuclear power at sea.

  Commissioning: Into the Fleet

  When EB has finished building the boat to the contract specifications, it is time to finish training the crew and turning the boat into a warship. This process takes several more months. It includes weapons and tactical training, emergency procedures drills, navigation training, and actual weapons firings at the Atlantic undersea test and evaluation center (AUTEC) range down in the Bahamas. Located in the waters off Andros Island, this is an instrumented range where submarines and their crews can practice the process of operating their boat and learning to “fight” it. Somewhere during this process, the boat and her crew pass the point where they become one great war machine.

  Almost six years after the contract was first signed, the final step in the process takes place. Once the Navy has determined that the boat is in all ways ready to enter the fleet, a commissioning date is scheduled, with the ceremony to be held either in Groton or Norfolk.

  On this day the boat’s name becomes official, the crew of “plank owners” (the original crew at the time of commissioning) is set, and the PCU submarine becomes a U.S. Navy submarine. Usually, high-ranking Navy and political figures give speeches, the commissioning captain gets to speak a few words about what this day means to him and the crew, and then, at a special moment in the ceremony, the commissioning pennant is broken out and the crew, adorned in their best Navy whites, rushes aboard and mans the boat for the first time in her official Navy career.

  At this point the boat actually enters service with the fleet. But if the crew think they have seen the last of the builder’s yard, they are mistaken. After the boat goes on its initial shakedown cruise, it is sent back to the yard for what is known as the Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) period. This involves taking the boat back to the yard and fitting all of the new equipment modifications that have evolved since the initial contract was signed. In addition, any warranty repairs that have become necessary will be done at this time. Following the PSA period, it will be time to head out to her new home port and the first real missions for the fleet. There probably will be only one or two of these before the CO gets word his relief is being sent. And when the commissioning captain leaves the boat, she really does belong to the fle
et and the string of men who will command and sail her.

  Home Bases8

  Once a boat has been commissioned into the fleet, it will be assigned to duty at one of the submarine bases scattered throughout the United States. These bases have the job of providing administrative and maintenance support to a boat, as well as providing housing and sustenance to her crew. Their facilities range from the ultramodern Trident facilities at Bangor, Washington, and Kings Bay, Georgia, to the turn-of-the-century New England charms of Groton, Connecticut. For the crews of the boats, these places mean home and family. Let’s look at them.

  Pacific Fleet

  Out in the Pacific are a number of bases supporting nuclear submarine operations. These include Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Ballast Point in San Diego, California; and Bangor, Washington. The most modern of these is the huge base at Bangor, designed to support operations of the Ohio-class SSBNs and their Trident missiles. It is located on Washington’s Puget Sound, nestled into the trees of Kitsap Peninsula. Built in the 1970s specifically to support Trident operations, this is a huge facility with room to support a squadron of eight Ohio-class submarines. Currently this is Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 17. Those who have had the pleasure to serve at Bangor have often called it one of the most comfortable and modern duty stations in the entire U.S. Navy. Also located at Bangor is Submarine Group (SUBGRU) 9. It supervises all of the submarine activities in the Pacific Northwest, including the permanent facilities for basing, overhaul, and rework at Bremerton, Washington. Technically, SUBRON 17 at Bangor is also subordinate to SUBGRU 9.