Submarine Quotes of the Month

- 1 -

Background... shower videos of women submariners
A Navy official confirmed to Navy Times in December that investigators suspected seven (7) videos had been taken with a cell phone camera aboard the Kings Bay, Georgia-based ballistic missile submarine Wyoming.   more background


"My information is that the use of the devices was widespread among most of the crew, officers included. I also have information that by the time the sub hit the docks, officers and enlisted men were using the devices."  -  Told to Navy Times in a Jan. 16 phone interview of James Stein, defense attorney for a sailor implicated in  USS Wyoming (SSBN-742) shower videos.

 - 2 -

Background...  60 kilometers from the border to Norway's border

[T] he world is facing a worst case scenario described as "an Arctic underwater Chernobyl, played out in slow motion," according to Thomas Nilsen, an editor at the Barents Observer newspaper and a member of a Norwegian watchdog group that monitors the situation. According to a joint Russian-Norwegian report issued in 2012, there are 17,000 containers of nuclear waste, 19 rusting Soviet nuclear ships and 14 nuclear reactors cut out of atomic vessels at the bottom of the Kara Sea.  more background

Norway has over the last 20 years granted some NOK 1.5 billion (€175 million) into nuclear safety projects related to the military navy’s activities, including decommissioning of four old submarines, development of casks for spent nuclear fuel, radioactive waste management, physical protection of radioactive- and fissile material. In addition, hundreds of millions are granted to civilian nuclear safety projects including Kola nuclear power plant and the nuclear icebreaker fleet in Murmansk. “It is timely to look into what we are going to spend Norwegian money on. Russia must take responsibility.”

“So far we have followed EU’s restrictive measures. When it comes to the possible new measures will this depend on Russia,” says Brende pointing to Putin as the man in key position to stop supporting the separatists in Eastern Ukraine with soldiers, tanks and artillery.

“Sanctions was right, is right and has had an effect.”  -  Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende  source

Submarines are always silent and strange.

ANSWERS - Sub Questions of the Week - 30 JUL 14

Background information and photo(s) provided when the Questions of the Week answered below were originally posted are here: 30 JUL 14.


Q.O.T.W. & ANSWERS
"Secret" arctic, Russian military base
1.  Name the Russian base that "does not appear on maps" and where is it located?  ANS: Zapadnaya Litsa is located on Russia's Litsa Fjord at (69°25′N 32°26′E ) in the westernmost point of the Kola Peninsula, about 45 kilometers from the Norwegian border.

2.  What purpose did the base serve for Typhoon subs?  ANS: "Homeport for the six Typhoon-class subs" during the Cold War.

3.  What special climate advantage does the base allegedly offer?  ANS: (propaganda) "It's a strategic spot that never freezes over in winter".  That answer from the film's narrator, however, is very doutful.   REAL ANS: (Wikipedia):  "Severe climate with changeable temperatures and strong winds, long Polar Night in winter (about 43 days) make it an inhospitable place." 

Crew safety and escape
4. The portable breathing devices carried by crew hold enough air for how many minutes?  ANS: "Fifteen minutes".

5. Two methods of crew escape are mentioned in the film. The first was via a torpedo tube wearing a special suit. From what maximum depth can this method be used?  ANS:  100 meters ( 328 ft)

6. The other method permits many crew to ascend from a disabled sub together --- how?  ANS: "At the baseof the  fo'c'sle in each of the [twin] hulls there's a rescue chamber. In case of emergency the two capsules can transport all the men and separate from the principal structure."

Miscellany
7. The film's  soundtrack, which we hear periodically, is based upon a classical piece. Name the title and composer of the classical piece.  ANS: Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

8.  Executive officer Bogachev is a central character, although other officers and conscripts speak briefly.  The film contrasts X.O. Bogachev's reception at his flat with that of another senior officer and implies what?  ANS: Matrimonial strife and likely dissolution of his domestic partnership.

9.  Apparently, a medical doctor serves aboard Russian missile subs to perform surgery, etc. For what malady was Bogachev treated?  Was it contagious?  ANS:  A very bad sore throat; not contagious. 

10. Which of the following crew luxuries were shown?    ANS: All of them listed blow:
a) caviar
b) vodka
c) sauna room
d) smoking room
e) female pin-up
f) rocking chairs

11. Russian officers and NCOs were shown dining with conscripts. Yes or No?  ANS: YES.

12. The ritual for becoming a certificated member of a Russian crew entails drinking a cup of seawater collected at what depth?  ANS: In this case, 60 meters  (197 feet).

Submarines are always silent and strange.