Submarine sea trials

[bidmaron]

Well, I am finally returning from leave after completing sea trials on USS Jacksonville SSN 699, and Selden thought there might be some interest in my discussing some of my experiences. First, as for my background, I have been in the Navy for 23 years now and commanded USS DALLAS (SSN 700) for 3 years completing in 2003. Now, I am the Commander Naval Submarine Forces Representative at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY). My main job is to ensure the submarines, whose Commanding Officers work for me, are ready to return to sea after overhauls and major depot modernizations.

As for sea trials on JACKSONVILLE (JAX for short), they were conducted in two separate phases, Alfa and Bravo. Alfa was a little over three days from the time we departed the pier here at PNSY until we moored briefly at Groton, Ct to exchange sea trials riders for the second phase.

We departed pulled away from the pier at sunrise 11 July. The tide and currents here are the second highest in the continental US, so underways and landings are always performed within an hour of slack water. In our case, it was high slack. What we call the Maneuvering watch, that is the time inland or close ashore, is a brief two hours or so here, and the sea trials testing commences right away on a not-to-interfere with safety and contact avoidance (actually the testing starts days before for some systems, especially intertial navigation). This watch is similar to Battle Stations in that all hands have a watch station for the Maneuvering Watch.

It was a chilly but otherwise great morning for an underway, and it went spectacularly well on JAX. PNSY civilian sea trials personnel were monitoring the performance of many important systems during this period, including the ship's control surfaces (rudder and stern planes, since fairwater planes are not in use on the surface), propulsion machinery, and navigation systems. After we secured from the Maneuvering watch and set the normal underway surface watch stations, the CO and I had time to enjoy a cigar on the bridge (top of the submarine's sail, where we rig a temporary 'flying bridge' railing around the mast and periscope area of the sail) before heading below decks to commence our monitoring of the crew's performance on their first underway in over two years. This tradition, popularized by the movie Crimson Tide, is one many submariners treasure.

[to be continued...if anyone is interested. Next, I'll talk briefly about the sumarine refueling overhaul, if that's of interest, before returning to the tale)[/i]

[Cham]

Do you have any pictures ? Could be cool to see all that here.

[ElChristou]

Pretty interesting... Yep a few pictures would be welcome!

[bidmaron]

I will have to wait until the rest of my family returns from the holidays to get my photos, but I'm afraid I only have photos of the exterior. I didn't take any from in-hull.

Anyway, the submarine had completed their refueling overhaul, which is normally a two year period during which the reactor gets refueled and many of the major pieces of equipment are replaced or overhauled. About a year of this time is in drydock.

Of interest, JAX is the last fast attack submarine that will be refueled, as future submarines have reactor cores that are designed to last for the life of the submarine (nominally 30 years). Of our first and second flight (hull numbers 688-725, 750) had cores originally designed for about 20 years, and many of them are being decommissioned as opposed to refueling . The Trident ballistic missile submarines are or will be refueled, however, as they are nominally 42 year design boats.

(to be cont ...)

[Cham]

Aren't all these info supposed to be classified ?

I once visited the old submarine permanently presented to the public, in Manathan (the one close to the big aircraft carrier). Was insanely small for the crew, inside. If only one crew member had the bad idea to fart, it could sink the sub ...

[bidmaron]

Well, what I am discussing is not classified. It is all public record if you do the research. Just trying to discuss the things that I think scientifically minded folks like many that use Celestia might be interested in. If there are other areas, I'll do my best to discuss as classification permits.

[bh]

Most interesting.

[LordFerret]

Indeed very interesting! Would love to hear more. Boy I'd love a tour of the JAX, or any of its class. Many Navy here in the family, one current too (air)... I'd been to Groton, for a dry-dock refitting (USCG vessel, late 1970's), interesting place.

Oh and lest I forget - Thankyou for your service!~