Answers to Submarine Q.O.T.W. from 17 MAR 17

Related information and links for questions are found in the original posting here. 

Questions of the Week (Q.O.T.W.) with ANSWERS

1- Was current President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin's father a submariner?  ANS: Yes , Putin's father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s.

2-  Did the U.S. navy require Cold War submarine volunteers to have their sound wisdom teeth extracted in order to prevent the possibility of mission interference / interruption?
ANS: Yes, authors here were some of them.

3-  Is it true that submariners are superstitious and as so unable to cope with deviations from daily routine for their fear of tempting fate?  ANS: Certainly NOT.  Just consider the number of subs sunk during WW2. By necessity and selection, submariners are among the least superstitious and most cerebral of any branch in the armed forces. As Juan Caruso says in the first line of his poem Extreme Creatures, “... (they) Who suffer no attrition upon news their kind are sunk”. More Examples.

4- How recently was the snow-flakey assertion in question 3 published? ANS: On March 17, 2015 an author remarked, "Submariners are a superstitious lot at the best of times and any deviation from this routine is an unacceptable risk in tempting fate."

Submariner's Quote of the Week
... [F]ood rationing at that time was a challenge because it got to the stage where breakfast was just one sausage with a teaspoon of beans and dinner was pasta and tomato sauce, but we had to get on with it as there was an important job to carry out.
 
5- The man quoted above received his fleet's commendation for (inter alia) "excellent work in difficult circumstances".
-a) Is he a culinary specialist? ANS: No, he was a communications and information systems engineering technician.
-b) i - In what navy does he serve? ANS: The U.K.'s Royal Navy.
-b) ii - Name the type of commendation awarded.  ANS:  The award was a Fleet Commander Commendation.
-c) For service aboard which sub (ship's prefix and name) was his coveted commendation awarded? ANS: The commendable service was rendered aboard HMS Torbay.
-d) During what period of time (approximate) did the underlying submarine mission take place?  ANS: His commendable efforts were performed in late 2015 and the first half of 2016. 
NOTE:  Excerpts leave no doubt that he fully deserved his commendation, in our opinions he performed far above expectations at critical times: 

"‘During this prolonged and uncertain period of operations, Blackburn’s leadership, mentoring, guidance and development of his team was instrumental to delivering the communications capability of the submarine and contributed significantly to HMS Torbay’s effectiveness. ‘Despite facing numerous technical and procedural challenges throughout a number of operations, he worked effectively to deliver this key operational capability, displaying characteristics expected of a far more experienced and longer serving individual. ‘Indeed his performance, attitude and ability matched and often exceeded that of his qualified and more senior peers despite the high intensity and challenging operations the Torbay was conducting at that time, which included the adoption of food rationing to prolong her endurance in response to continued tasking.’"  source

Blackburn

Read more at: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/special-fleet-award-for-daniel-1-8442241

in late 2015 and the first half of 2016.

Read more at: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/special-fleet-award-for-daniel-1-8442241

What is slightly troubling is journalism's unfamiliarity with some privations of submarine service. For instance, outages of potable water and food limitations have been experienced more widely than some journalists may be aware.  Generally, one survives without food for 3 weeks; and even without drink for 3 days. Submarine service has never been acceptable for  'snowflakes'.

 -e) - What is the official ship prefix used by Russia's Navy?  ANS:  Neither Jane's Fighting Ships nor the International Institute for Strategic Studies list a ship prefix for Russian Navy vessels.  The Russian Navy does not use a ship prefix convention (e.g. HMS, USS).







Submarines are always silent and strange.

 

Submarine Quote of January 2016

Background

UPDATE 27 JAN 2016: "Replacing the ageing Vanguard-class submarine fleet - the only underwater vessels capable of carrying nuclear warheads - is expected to cost £31billion over 30 years -"  MAL-JOURNALISM source  (nuclear tipped torpedoes obviously carry nuclear warheads, too).

Why Journalists Get so much Wrong - The Problem and the Fix (2011) 

Professional journalists* (paid writers) rarely consider much less comply with M.E.'s obvious best practices of reporting:
1) Either possess expertise in matters upon which you, the journalist, report facts to readers, or disclose your inexpertise.
2) Report contrary assessments by dissenting experts when topics are controversial.
3) Never write an opinion piece without related education and experience that sets you apart from uneducated, inexperienced readers. 

Submarine Mal-Journalism (2008) 

Submarine Quote of the Month

[color emphasis added]
Tel Aviv — With Israel’s flag flapping over the country’s newest piece of military hardware, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu descended very carefully into the nuclear submarine INS Rahav at its inaugural ceremony this month in Haifa.

.....The Jewish state has for years also been modernizing and expanding its fleet of nuclear submarines, which are seen mainly as a deterrent to a long-range Iranian missile strike on Israel, but are also capable of directing firepower at militants around the Mediterranean basin. - "Facing threats and opportunity, Israel forges Mediterranean alliance" - by Joshua Mitnick,  The Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 25, 2016.

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Really, is INS Rahav a nuclear sub?  Hardly, it is an Israeli Dolphin 2-class, diesel-electric (non-nuclear sub).  Did the writer and editors flub such a fundamental propulsion methodology or do they imply that INS Rahav is capable of transporting nuclear weapons?  It is capable! --- Other operational diesel-electric subs can transport and fire nuclear arms, and even during the Cold War a few Russian commanding officers now admit their diesel subs had carried them.

Bottom line (who else smells censorship?):  The general public views possession of nuclear propulsed submarines as a mark of technological distinction, while the general public currently views owners of nuclear weaponry with some fear, loathing, and suspicion.  "Israel neither confirms nor denies its widely accepted possession of a nuclear arsenal."  - source

Submarines are always silent and strange.