Military News and Views

[Yoheadden]

I occasionally come across an interesting or funny article relating to our Armed Services or just patriotic in nature, that would be nice to share. That is what this thread is for. If you have a good story you would like to share or an interesting article, post it here. If you are not a veteran, we invite you to post any patriotic offerings as well. Semper Fi

US Navy's advanced nuclear attack submarine hits the water

The Virginia-class attack submarine is the latest addition to the US Navy's fleet, designed for stealth, surveillance, and warfare missions.

interestingengineering.com

 

[CaptTom]

Great idea! I'll be on the lookout for links to post.

I'm afraid I have a small beef with that article though. Here's the headline:

Futuristic nuclear-powered fast attack Navy submarine launched

Followed by:

The submarine began construction in 2017 and will be the 26th Virginia-class fast attack submarine.

I looked it up. The first of the Virginia class was launched in 2003. And nuclear subs have been around since the Nautilus, launched in 1954.

The technology on these things is impressive, to be sure. But futuristic?

(Sorry, click bait and misleading headlines are a pet peeve of mine. Carry on.)

 

[Gumby]

Submarine technology continues to evolve over the years. Typically, each successive "block" of a submarine class has better sensors, better fire control systems, and more advanced weapons, and also operates more silently, than the earlier blocks. And each "class" is usually a quantum leap in those capabilities over prior classes.

 

[Yoheadden]

I’m curious as to who gets to bring this 2.6 Billion dollar submarine out for the “test ride” as it goes through its testing phase.

 

[Yoheadden]

Did you ever wonder what happens to warships once they become decommissioned?
They are used for target practice.

The US Navy has a way to get rid of warships it no longer uses — using them as target practice and gunning them down with missiles

Brazil is figuring out what to do with a 34,000-ton warship laden with asbestos. The US sinks its warships, but they must be purged of pollutants.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Gumby]

I’m curious as to who gets to bring this 2.6 Billion dollar submarine out for the “test ride” as it goes through its testing phase.

The regular U.S Navy crew does it, although they also may have a few contractors on board to fine tune things. In April 1963, the USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank with the loss of all hands during sea trials following overhaul. Of the 129 men aboard, 17 were shipyard workers.

 

[frayne]

I wish Tom Clancy were alive today to write about the advanced technology being used in modern warfare. Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October set the standard for military novels and explained the intricacies of this kind of stuff.

 

[AudiDudi]

Submarine technology continues to evolve over the years. Typically, each successive "block" of a submarine class has better sensors, better fire control systems, and more advanced weapons, and also operates more silently, than the earlier blocks. And each "class" is usually a quantum leap in those capabilities over prior classes.

The subs today are far more advanced than the one I was on in the mid 70's that was built in the early 60's. (SSBN 644 Lewis & Clark)

 

[Gumby]

The subs today are far more advanced than the one I was on in the mid 70's that was built in the early 60's. (SSBN 644 Lewis & Clark)

You had the fancy stuff. My first boat was USS George Washington (SSBN-598), which was launched in 1959 (as was I). Originally, the boat was laid down as the USS Scorpion (SSN-589), but midway through construction, they cut the boat in half and inserted the missile compartment. The Scorpion name and number were assigned to another hull. The level of technology on the boat overall was fairly primitive. My second boat was USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-656), launched in 1965. Both of them were made into razor blades long ago.

 

[braumeister]

It's not just the Navy. The Air Force is still flying B-52s from the early 1960s. They are expected to remain in active service through the 2050s.

But if the handle has been replaced three times, and the head twice, is it really still my grandfather's axe?

 

[motley]

It's not just the Navy. The Air Force is still flying B-52s from the early 1960s. They are expected to remain in active service through the 2050s.

Which is a tribute to what a great aircraft it is, as can be said for other long-standing aircraft like the F-15, F-16, and A-10 (my personal fav).

Anyway, if any Navy folks might remember this story and have a link to an archive somewhere I'd appreciate it..this is an article I saw in (I think) the Oceana base paper around 2010ish. They had this "Letters to the Commander" feature where people wrote in and the base commander printed his answer. This one in particular was a civilian wife of a high-ranking officer who drove onto the base and explained how miffed she was because they didn't salute as she drove on base (I think she was driving his staff car to pick him up) and made some snide remarks about the gate guards. His response started off something like this (paraphrasing what I recall from memory): "Wow that's some sense of entitlement you have there. Perhaps we should arrange a 21-gun salute as you drive on base as well?"

He then went on to explain that gate guards aren't saluting the car, they're saluting the officer, and while her support of her husband was appreciated, as a civilian, she merited absolutely no salute whatsoever. He basically just told her to shove it in a very eloquent way.

 

[CaptTom]

Similar story about at an air base. Officer complained he was stopped for an ID check, but the pizza delivery guy was just waved through. It had to be explained to him that the guards had orders to do the ID check on anyone they didn't recognize. The pizza guy probably came through that gate a dozen times a night. Rumor was the same officer was later ticketed for speeding, and really lost his temper. But again, orders are orders and it was the officer, not the base security policeman, who was disciplined.

 

[wrigley]

Great man and patriot. He was on the BOD of the company I currently work for. His military achievements are second to none and this one is quite unique and special. He recently passed away. Fair Winds and Following Seas Shipmate!

An S-3 Viking Once Flew A Captured Terrorist On A Record-Breaking Flight To The United States

The carrier-based S-3 anti-submarine jet transported the terrorist all the way from the Mediterranean to Washington on a high-stakes mission.

www.twz.com

Mike

 

[Koolau]

Cool thread. Nothing for me to add, but thanks for posting.

 

[ERD50]

I'm afraid I have a small beef with that article though. Here's the headline:

Followed by:

"Futuristic nuclear-powered fast attack Navy submarine launched"

The technology on these things is impressive, to be sure. But futuristic?

(Sorry, click bait and misleading headlines are a pet peeve of mine. Carry on.)

Seems that by definition, if it was futuristic, it couldn't exist yet? I think you could have futuristic ideas, plans, etc - but if it is realized, well.... wouldn't that take a time machine?

 

[djsander]

Trench 94 at Hanford Washington is where the defueld reactor compartments for ships and submarines are stored. For those former sub sailors or nuc cruiser sailors you can see the last part of your boat/ship. A few exception as some are still pier side waiting disposal. I was on the Enterprise and it hasn’t started yet. Some online photos have a list of hull numbers corresponding to location.

 

[Yoheadden]

World’s 1st unmanned air center fitted on USS George HW Bush

The Navy's USS George HW Bush now hosts the world’s first Unmanned Air Warfare Center, integrating systems for MQ-25 Stingray operations.

interestingengineering.com

Whoa, The face of warfare has definitely changed as technology improves.

 

[Nords]

I’m curious as to who gets to bring this 2.6 Billion dollar submarine out for the “test ride” as it goes through its testing phase.

There's a very good reason that the Navy (and the boat's commissioning crew) "invites" the shipyard contractors to attend sea trials.

To be fair to the contractors, some of them are submarine veterans. They also routinely do sea-trials checks with advanced gear on obscure features (like checking the exact alignment of the torpedo tubes that's stored in the fire-control system computers) which the crewmembers rarely need to perform.

One of the U.S. Navy's mottos of us steely-eyed killers of the deep is "We do not discuss submarine operations." However our crews & veterans have crowdsourced lots of unclassified sea stories about the glamorous submarine lifestyle that have been shared in the "Sub Tales" series of books by Charles & Frank Hood. Sub Tales 5 has just been released.

 

[AudiDudi]

One of the U.S. Navy's mottos of us steely-eyed killers of the deep is "We do not discuss submarine operations."

I wasn't there and that never happened

 

[More Cowbell]

A relative on a Virginia-class submarine sent me this video about the known relative size of the global submarines:

 

[imnontrad]

I’m curious as to who gets to bring this 2.6 Billion dollar submarine out for the “test ride” as it goes through its testing phase.

Each submarine has a precommissioning crew that is formed shortly before it is launched (~2 years before commissioning). The launching happens when there is a watertight hull but far from being completed. The crew does ship testing on the work done by the shipyard during buildout.
Then when close to being commissioned, the precom crew along with a cadre of appropriate shipyard professionals (and possibly additional contractors) take the sub for many sea trials to test out all systems. Only when the sub passes all these tests is the boat accepted by the Navy and commissioned.

 

[YB88]

I wish Tom Clancy were alive today to write about the advanced technology being used in modern warfare. Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October set the standard for military novels and explained the intricacies of this kind of stuff.

I really enjoyed The Hunt for Red October. But my recollection is that on reading Red Storm Rising I thought the results were quite optimistic --- well, also if you're selling military fiction to a western audience, of course the west has to triumph (!).

I was a combat engineer posted in Germany in the late 70's, early 80's and my sense is that there would have been a great deal of disorganization, vehicle breakdowns, logistics issues, slow reforger unit deployments, throwing out of official doctrine in favor of what --- after a lot of pain and loss --- units found actually works. Etc, etc such that those folks who write the thriller novels based on a great knowledge of the names of weapon systems and so forth might tend to err on the optimistic side. Maybe by a lot.
Mind you, the Warsaw pact side was likely as screwed up or more so I imagine !

Very glad we never got to find out.

At least Howard Coyle ("Team Yankee") actually walked the walk on this stuff. I don't recollect what Clancy's personal military background was, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't in the Army during the cold war.

An interesting look at cold war military stuff from a different perspective is a German TV series, "Deutschland 1983", Deutschland 83 - Wikipedia
It follows a hapless DDR lieutenant who gets roped into becoming a spy in the west, assuming the role of an aide to a Bundeswehr General. It's available to watch on Amazon Prime video.