Answers for Sub Mystery Questions: 7-29-2009

For photo and background see the original Mystery Questions post here:

Question 1) - From the online source, who was the sailor and what was the boat?

Answer: D. LaPierre, and the boat, on which M.E. visited a sub-school friend, was the then recently commissioned USS GATO (SSN-615). A very short time later, in November 1969, Gato collided with Soviet submarine K-19 in the Barents Sea.

Question 2) - What is the latest commissioned submarine with a wardroom ship's bell clock?

There were no responses to this question.

Question 3) - About when did U.S. submarines switch from the 4-on and 8-off watch schedule of WW2 to the 6-on and 12-off watches?

Answer: There is no definitive date to this question. Some sources say the switch occurred in the 1960's, but see the answer to the next question.

Question 4) - How recently did some U.S. nuclear subs use a 4-on 8-off schedule?

Answer: Not for at least another decade on at least one nuclear submarine with which M.E. is very familiar.

Question 5) - Is the future of the 18-hour day for U.S. subs currently in question?

Answer: According to The NAVY NEWS in Apr 28, 2009, and Defence Research and Development Canada (March 2008), Studies could mean end of 18-hour days on subs, and the U.S. Navy is investigating the idea of using straight-8-hour watch schedules in its submarines.

Question 6) - If your sub had a brass bell-strike clock in its wardroom, who polished it and was the strike mechanism usually turned on or off?

Answer: A steward polished ours and the bell-strike was always turned off as we can recall.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine Mystery Questions of the Week: 7-29-2009

The theme of this week's Submarine mystery Questions is time.

Quote of the day:

"My first year on board the boat, she spent two-hundred and eighty-five days deployed. The second year, she spent two-hundred and sixty-five days underway. During my three-year tour, the boat only paid short port visits to Italy, Bermuda, Fort Lauderdale and Key West."

Question 1) - From the online source, who was the sailor and what was the boat?

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The remainder of this week's questions are slightly more difficult. Ship's bell clocks, a wardroom tradition on naval ships, were based on shipboard watches that were, historically, 4-hours long. In fact, even the nuclear submarines in which some of us served had a brass, bell-strike clock like the Chelsea model in the photo. The cost of these quaint timepieces has quadrupled since then, and submarine watches shifted to 6-hours length decades ago.

Question 2) - What is the latest commissioned submarine with a wardroom ship's bell clock?

(Answers to the 2 questions in bold highlight will depend entirely on the feedback of knowledeable submarine commenters. M.E. does not have this answer).

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Question 3) - About when did U.S. submarines switch from the 4-on and 8-off watch schedule of WW2 to the 6-on and 12-off watches?

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Question 4) - How recently did some U.S. nuclear subs use a 4-on 8-off schedule?

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Question 5) - Is the future of the 18-hour day for U.S. subs currently in question?

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Question 6) - If your sub had a brass bell-strike clock in its wardroom, who polished it and was the strike mechanism usually turned on or off?

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Answers Saturday.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

WANTED unusual submarine veteran

The cartoonish figure has both laboratory and teaching skills, but he may be working as a mild-mannered bureaucrat in Texas or Massachusetts.

Scant information about CAV may be found at his Gus Van Horn blog. He has been known to brew his own beer and is believed to be frequenting objectivist hangouts in Houston's or Boston's Bay areas.

Van Horn is well-travelled and utilizes unique stealth and survivalist skills obtained during U.S. military submarine service. When required, Van Horn can live off roadside asparagas plants, etc. and camouflage himself as a Rice U. student.

CAUTION: If spotted, do not attempt to photograph this cartoon character. Notify local A CORN authorities immediately. Van Horn should be considered testy and potentially argumentative, especially when provoked by religious zealots or Ayn Rand defamers. Do not attempt to engage in trite altruism conversations or expose his true identity on your own!
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Cracked Hull Considerations not a Laughing Matter

USS Toledo (SSN-769), a Los Angeles-class submarine was built by Northrop Grumman Corporation's Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and commissioned in 1995.

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Had Toledo really been sent to Scotland for repairs on 15 August 2000, three days after the tragic Kursk incident[2]? In December 2006, Toledo commenced a protracted depot modernization period completed in March 2009.

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Cracks have recently been detected in Toledo's outer deck and pressure hull. The Naval Sea Systems Command is continuing its investigation, which could conclude other Grumman-worked submarines are at risk and suggest some well-deserved penalties in connection with lucrative SSN work; or on the otherhand, Systems Command may simply cite a rare circumstance that befell Toledo alone. The latter finding might involve defective metallurgy (standby HY-80 producer) or Teredo worms. Quite believable? Rather doubtful.

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Were Longitudinal Stresses at Issue during Drydock or Earlier Shock?

The most likely failure mode of the pressure hull as a whole is an overall whipping response, because the structure being designed primarily for circumferential stress is not longotudinally stiffened. (from Concepts in submarine design October 1995; By Roy Burcher, Louis Rydill)

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Were Rigorous Quality Inspections Performed?

The combination of elements to produce an alloy with great strength is only half the story of producing submarine hulls. The second factor in the manufacturing process is the tempering of the steel and shaping of the plates into a final form. Once again, the basic concept is that a slow-cooling steel tends to be resilient and a quick cooling steel tends to be brittle. ...

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The next weld layer is placed on top of the deeper layer. As the process continues and the wedge shaped trough widens, more and more beads are placed side by side to fill the trough. Many hundreds of beads are required to bring the level of beading to the surface of the abutting hull sections. It is a long and tedious job and quality inspections are constant. ...

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Time destroys the hull from several directions. The metal itself fatigues over time. Additionally, the sea takes its toll with corrosion eating at the metal. Hull modifications requiring welding, heat the hull and thereby reduce the effectiveness of the initial tempering. from Bulletin No. 31 Test Depth and High Yield; excerpts from "Steep Angles and Deep Dives".

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Discrepancies in Sidestream vs. Mainstream News

As the map below shows, Greenland and Iceland are neighbors. The geographical proximity of two countries NOT KNOWN FOR WARM CLIMATES should raise at least two questions of mainstream news reporters: do you realize how biased you are with respect to the attempted climate change hijack of world economies? Would not the hijacking story itself eclipse the climate change scare in significance?

See for yourself, readers:

Mainstream reports (2) (HOT)

Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 - TIME - In a Warming World, Cloudy Days Are a Boon -

Add CO2 to the atmosphere and the climate will get warmer — that much is well established. ...But climate change and carbon aren't in a one-to-one relationship. But a new study published in the July 24 issue of Science is clearing the haze. A group of researchers from the University of Miami and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography studied cloud data of the northeast Pacific Ocean — both from satellites and from the human eye — over the past 50 years and combined that with climate models. They found that low-level clouds tend to dissipate as the ocean warms — which means a warmer world could well have less cloud cover. "That would create positive feedback, a reinforcing cycle that continues to warm the climate," says Amy Clement, a climate scientist at the University of Miami and the lead author of the Science study.

Saturday, 25 July 2009 - BBC NEWS - Greenland comes in from the cold -

As world leaders grapple with the perils of climate change, there are parts of the globe where warmer temperatures are welcomed. Hardtalk presenter Stephen Sackur has just returned from Greenland where he found plenty of people eyeing opportunities amid the melting glaciers.

Sidestream report (COLD)

Saturday, 25 July 2009 - ICELAND REVIEW Potato Crops endangered by unusual Coldness

South Iceland has been experiencing an unusually cold weather recently, with temperatures even going below zero at night. ... Yesterday, mbl.is reported that due to the coldness, the potato plant has been damaged which affects the crops. Bergvin Jóhannsson, Chairman of the Potato Farmers Union calls that the fact that this is happening in July highly unusual.

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Submarines are always silent and strange, making submariners somewhat familiar with dealing with the silent and strange.

Cracked Pressure Hull Hint

USS Toledo's (SSN-769) unexpected pressure hull fault is one thing - small. The outer hull crack was somewhat longer. Strange that no one heard an usual noise like the splintering of steel. If the associated metal failure noise was not heard, where is the most likely place for it to have occurred?

HINT: Not out at sea. Not while the below decks was on watch (in port), either.

Is the sound of a dense metal suddenly cracking audible? Yes.

Is the sound of a dense metal slowly splitting audible? We must ask how slowly, then ask who would actually know something that esoteric. Answer: more people than you might think.

Something less unexpected is that when significant boat traffic is around killer whales alter their communication frequency. Why does that not surprise us? Do people not alter communication amplitudes in crowds and noisey locations? Last year, scientists discovered that killer whales emanate sounds up to 40 kilohertz, well beyond the range of human ear detection.

Reminder:
The (officially unlocated) Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) for Air France's Flight 447 are a very similar frequency (37.5 Khz signal).
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Submarines are silent and strange.

Female combatant, Submarine and Anthrax - Thought Experiment

For the next 2 minutes, imagine you are a terrorist fiend ...

Your challenge is to mastermind an impressive act of terror to generate public alarm and weeks of publicity for your disreputable cause. Such an act requires selecting an exotic method (explosives, chemicals, germs, nuclear weapon, radioactivity) and employing it in your cult's signature style, numerous, simultaneous upsets to the status quo.

To the extent that your actual attacks disrupt secure military installations or high-profile civilian targets, they will be considered more successful.

HINTS:
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from Milan (delivery method): An Italian company has resorted to using remote-controlled toy submarines to run fiberoptic cable through the sewers of Milan. The model of the submarine is apparently the Neptune SB-1, a $600 toy by Thunder Tiger of Taiwan.
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from New York City (targets): Stolen Map of Water System May Put Supply in Jeopardy
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FoxNews: POISONING NYC WATER RESERVOIRS WITH ANTHRAX, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR BILL WARNER YouTube (1-1/2 minute)



Submarines are always silent and strange.

Ironic Far-fetched Research

Remember Ron Brown (August 1, 1941–April 3, 1996)? He was the first African American United States Secretary of Commerce, serving during the first term of President Bill Clinton.
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The ship NOASS Ronald H. Brown is a blue-water research vessel, the largest vessel in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fleet. The Brown, flagship of the NOAA fleet, is named for former Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who was killed on a mission to Croatia, along with 34 others, in a 1996 plane crash.

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Plenty is written about the vessel Brown. We can find photos of her current CO, CAPT Gerd Glang. her Medical Officer, LCDR Irwin Fish, and even her Able Bodied Seaman, Vicky Carpenter, for instance. More importantly perhaps, history detectives can also learn that the Brown participated in documentation of the site where the U-166 rests in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. [Yes, the Gulf of Mexico gets almost a mile deep in places]

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Ironically, research surrounds the purpose built NOASS Brown. What can we find about the Secretary of Commerce's curious and untimely death, however?

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For starters, readers may delve into Air Force Releases Brown Crash Investigation Report and What really happened to Ron Brown .

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Something is Wrong with this Submarine News

Something is wrong with the suggestion of this headline:

Friday, July 17, 2009 - Israeli navy in Suez Canal, may attack Iran

IN preparation for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, two Israeli missile class warships have sailed through the Suez Canal 10 days after a submarine capable of launching a nuclear missile strike. The development came as the head of Iran's nuclear agency yesterday resigned in a move that might have been connected to the country's post-election turmoil.

The headline imparts a fairly common expectation. In fact, the possibility of Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear fledgling nuclear capability has been expected for quite a while. In 2003, a Scottish newspaper claimed Israel warned it was prepared to take unilateral military action against Iran, if the international community failed to stop development of nuclear weapons at atomic energy facilities.[21]

Israeli increasingly pressures Iran to detour from its dangerous, nuclear pursuits, and the article specifies numerous examples.

"This is preparation that should be taken seriously. Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran. These manoeuvres are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats," an Israeli defence official said.

Who would doubt Israel can suddenly attack and neutralize Iran's ambitions, like it did to Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981? Not so fast!

The largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel resides in Iran. Accordingly, the Iranian Jewish community is guaranteed repesentation in the Majlis. Maurice Motamed currently occupies this seat.

On the otherhand, Israeli aircraft crippled Iraq's Osiraq reactor in 1981, after it had been damaged by an Iranian air strike the year before.

It should be rather obvious that Iran is not Israel's enemy, but Ahmadinejad and some of his team are. An Isreali First strike, therefore remains off the table and Ahmadinejad's team certainly must know it.

Is there a cleaner way of neutralizing Ahmadinejad's threat to Israel and M.E. peace? Since the recent election failed to replace Ahmadinejad, the best course is still the transportation accident predicted all along, and for which there has just been a conveniently timed reminder...

"The aircraft all of a sudden fell out of the sky and exploded on impact, where you see the crater," a witness told Press TV from the crash site. ... Conversations between the pilot and the ground were normal and did not indicate any technical problems, the network's Web site reported, citing the managing director of Iran's airport authority without naming him. Some witnesses say the plane caught fire before crashing, Press TV said. source

The plane's black boxes were damaged, apparently. Hurry, Ahmadinejad, take a trip to Venezuela with your key nuclear advisors.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Socialism Is Favoritsim

Organ donors take note of Obama health care.

When your organs become available earlier than necessary due to bureaucratic delays or surgical wait listing, your survivors will have little doubt who the favored recipients of available organs will be. First in line are the U.S.Congress, their relatives, select constituents, and esteemed federal employees.

Bureaucrats in line for healthcare decisions implicit in the above paragraph will have obtained their well-paid positions through party favoritism, and will naturally allign their decisons accordingly.

Like all other socialist programs, Obama's healthcare plan is about reducing choices for average citizens. Favoritism, however, will rule the day with most excluded from the front of lengthened healthcare lines.

As health standards decline in the U.S., socialist leaders in other countries will rejoice that the high standard they once had been compared with has finally been eliminated. Commoners in their countries will face worsening standards immediately. Not the ruling classes and nobility, however.

Declining U.S. healthcare standards will also lead to more cases of medical malpractice to enrich litigious lawyers (no other administration has employed more lawyers than Obama). When private insurers are ultimately bankrupted by the onslaught of malpractice litigation, guess who selected trial lawyers will then be allowed to sue? The U.S. government will then encourage medical lawsuits under the guise of looking out for the public. Taxpayers, of course, will foot the bill for lawyers' fees and awards.

Welcome to the world of socialized medicine.

The Best Bad News of the Day - Can We Say Mousetrap?

This is rich and comes from U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, a reservist who received orders mobilizing him to active duty in Afghanistan in June.

Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president - Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009 - his legal action seeks a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector. Do not be deceived, however.

Cook asserts he 'would be acting in violation of international law by engaging in military actions outside the United States under this President’s command. ... simultaneously subjecting himself to possible prosecution as a war criminal by the faithful execution of these duties.'

Maj. Cook's lawyer has filed a motion with the U.S. District Court to grant his client’s request based upon Maj. Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and, therefore, ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

What's different, this time? Obviously, Cook's manuever is a clever attempt to have previously sequestered evidence produced in respect to details of President Obama's birth. There is little doubt that the bases upon which courts declined (dismissed) previous legal efforts to release pertinent documents in the past may not suffice this time.

Certainly, were the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia to be coerced by Obama's lawyer-replete administration to dismiss Cook's motion, appeals and countersuits may be brought to hold Obama-era military personnel harmless from possible prosecution as war criminals by faithful execution of their duties. Does this motion proceed then to a world court?

You betcha! Does Maj. Cook, an engineer, come out of the deal with a book deal? Right again! Major Cook is a brave patriot to personally undertake his challenge. As Obama's lawyers attempt to suppress and finesse the court's decision, supporters of Major Cook, inside and outside of the Obama administration will provide ammunition making the book a blockbuster, creating a major political scandal, and perhaps both. That is the mousetrap.

M. E. readers may remember this prediction Out of the Bag: Fractured Hull By 2011 ?

Balls to the deck! Questions of the Week

Submariners are often dissed by Marines for reasons that are often erroneous but always understandable. Still, I have met many Marines and hold their courage and military service among the highest regard.

Consider the photo above, for instance. The Osprey is the world's first production tiltrotor aircraft. With one three-bladed proprotor, 2 turboprop engines, and wingtip nacelles, the aircraft is incapable of autorotation in the event of engine failure.

The public naturally views the Osprey as a dangerous platform (contrast that to the public's perception of nuclear submarine service): submariners are luxurious and ultra-safe; they offer fine dining, excellent recreation, and the finest ports of call. Much of the public even believes submariners manage to avoid seasickness. We know the gory details.


Question #1-
Galrahn of Information Dissemination says this about the MV-22 platform today,

There are logistics and maintenance problems with the MV-22. Shocking.

If you ever meet a MV-22 pilot, the question to ask is... "How many times have you ever performed an inflight refueling?" It is a really good question with a very revealing answer.

Alert submariners can certainly find the answer to refueling without waiting to ask an MV-22 pilot.

Another point to consider is backdraft. Note the small bodies that jumped out of the MV-22's rear exit doors. See the size of those giant props a few yards forward.

Question #2-
How powerful is the obvious backdraft for those jumpers?

You may well be surprised by the answers, which will not appear here next week, or any other time. Gutsy, very gutsy.

Comments have been turned off and no hint or answers will be given to this time.
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Update: Universal Health Care

The following half-minute (just 30 secs) YouTube humorously updates Horrors: Timely Preview of Universal Health Care posted April 21st. Yes, flies will be tolerated in hospital rooms!



This brief posting has only three items to keep in mind.

1- Citizens of the U.S. should insist that members of Congress subject themselves to the same health care facilities to which the public will be subjected, not the separate and privileged Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plan they currently enjoy at our expense.
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2- The hallmark of the terms public (as in restrooms or military conscription -the draft) have often meant lowered standards. Sanitation particularly comes to mind in both public highway rest stops and lately, in VA hospitals (Washington post article) .
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3- Finally, with few exceptions, the current administration is comprised of former trial lawyers. The final Universal Health Care Act will require private medical insurance accounts and health care providers assuring lawyers' job security (right to sue for malpractice claims). The cost of health care will rise as government-mandated treatment standards are lowered.