My trip aboard the USS Nevada, an Ohio class Trident Submarine part 1

[chrisinhouston]

I thought I would do a little write up on my trip aboard the USS Nevada, SSBN 773 for anyone interested.

My trip began with my flight to San Diego where I have not gone for so many years. I had a 2 day wait until my son's sub was able to "bump the dock" and take on passengers. Interestingly, Trident Subs normally never dock anywhere but at their home base, either Bangor, Washington or Kings Bay, Georgia. It cost around a million dollars each time they do it at other Navy docks as there are many costs involved in meeting the sub when it surfaces and escorting it into port and arranging for local tugs and pilots to get it berthed safely. Also, for security reasons there is a flotilla of escort ships as they approach any port or harbor; a mix of Navy vessels and Coast Guard ships. There is also an armed sailor on the bridge with an AR-44 6.8×43mm automatic magnum battle rifle ready for anyone approaching without permission.

I met up with the other Tiger Cruise members about 2 hours before the time we were given for boarding. Most were fathers of sailors, a brother or 2 and one 11 year old boy whose dad was a Senior Chief. We made the usual small talk as we waited, first in a meeting room and later down on the dock. The sub would be picking up extra provisions and there was a general nod of approval when a fork lift delivered fresh produce and about 20 five gallon tubs of hard packed ice cream! Soon the sub was in sight and was being gently pushed along buy 3 huge tug boats. The pilot was up on the bridge (the top of the sail or what you see as the tower that sits on the top of the sub. The captain later told us that the pilot remarked after safely docking the sub that this was his first time with a submarine of that size! The captain was not amused!

Speaking of size, the sub is 560 feet long and 46 feet wide at the beam with a vertical draft of 37 feet. It has a crew of 17 Officers, 15 Chief Petty Officers and 122 Enlisted, but multiply that by 2 as there are actually 2 crews, Blue and Gold which swap out after a set time period of shore or sea duty.

We made our way down the ramp that had been set down from the pier to the ship and then we all walked to the back of the sub and climbed down the ladder in the rear hatch, not like a typical ladder you might use to clean your home's rain gutters but very narrow and straight with no angle to it which makes it a challenge for going up or down. We were all taken to the Crew Mess or dining area, there were around 36 of us. There we were welcomed by the Captain and given a safety briefing. Our cell phones were taken up and stored, not that cell phone's get any kind of signal through the thick hull or underwater but because most have a camera or recording application.

Let me diverge here and explain something I did not realize prior to my cruise. The opportunity to go on a Tiger Cruise (the Navy term for a cruise with family members as guests) on a ballistic missile sub is extremely rare. Why? Well, let's just say that if a trident sub was not attached to our navy or the USA and was an independent entity it would be about the 4th largest nuclear armed power in the world! Also, these subs typically get their orders for a sea tour to go somewhere very deep and unseen and sit and listen and wait. Some of the sailors refer to this as "4 knots to nowhere!" There main mission is usually to listen and wait for the message that they hope will never come!

The Nevada had just completed a complete 2 year dry dock overhaul of it's reactor and missile system and had just done a successful test launch of a trident missile. How successful? Well, let's just say that launching a test missile from the waters off of San Diego to a spot in the Pacific ocean over 4000 miles away on the far other side of Hawaii and hitting a target area the size of a baseball diamond defines it as successful!

After our initial welcome we were shown the rooms where we would be bunking together. Each room is around 10 x 12 feet and sleeps 9 in 3 sets of bunks. All the bunks are about the size of a camp cot, about 24 inches wide, barely 6 feet long and there is only about 28 inches between the mattress and the bottom of the bunk above or the ceiling in the case of the top bunk. I was assigned a top bunk and as I stared at it wondering how I would get my body up there I realized that the middle bunk just below was not occupied as one cruise member was not able to make it. I got permission to move and even so it was a bit of a hike to get up into it or reach the floor when I needed to get out. There was a small closet and a set of drawers for each occupant. The room was chilly as was most of the sub; we were told that it helps keep the sweat down, something that makes sense when you confine 136 or so individuals in a small space! Each bunk had a curtain to give privacy and also make the bunk area dark as many sleep on different shifts. There is also a thin storage pan under each bunk and a small lockable box within the bunking area for valuables.

I was not able to meet up with my son, Colin until much later that day as he had been on watch in the Engineering area which was off limits to all cruise participants as well as the radio room and the nuclear reactor area. Other than those areas we had complete access to all areas of the sub, something that will not be possible once the ship has it's payload of 24 missiles aboard!

All of the cruise participants were given a welcome packet with a list of things we were asked to do in order to qualify as an honorary submariner and earn our Dolphin Pin at the end of the voyage. It reminded me of when my boys were in Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts and working on the next rank or a merit badge. It consisted of lots of items like visiting different areas of the sub and interviewing the sailors who were working in each area and finding out what they did. That was actually a lot of fun and all of the submariners were eager to explain to us what they did and also do demonstrations of group activities like fire fighting which is very important on a submarine! On most surface ships there are designated jobs for different sailors and if a fire breaks out the occupants of an area evacuate so the fire fighting team can do there job; but, on a sub, everyone is a fire fighter or a leak fixer of whatever! And most have 2 jobs; an area of expertise as well as a duty position, like holding a watch in the Command room. For instance, the Lieutenant who was the supply officer and responsible for securing all supplies and provisions also was a Dive Officer and had a 6 hour watch where he oversaw the helmsman who controlled the rudder and the sailor who controlled the planes that effect depth.

Go to next trip report entry for more. Link: http://www.cellar.org/showthread.php?t=24741

[Gravdigr]

Awesome. Can't wait to read parts 2 & 3 tonight.