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Every time a sub has completed a refit or an overhaul, each system that was worked on will be inspected by the repair facility and by members of the crew. Both groups must do these inspections and sign them before the repairs are accepted.
Then the sub will go out on sea trials. On sea trials, we will submerge and the crew must go down a very long list of procedures to test the operation of every system.
The entire crew must remain alert and ready to respond to casualties during sea trials. It is very fatiguing.
Obviously we hope that all systems work, but after years of doing this, we all know that some systems will fail.
Sea trials are very stressful. I have seen fires during sea trials, flooding incidents, high-pressure hydraulic leaks, high-pressure air leaks and more. Leading up to sea trials the crew will perform a wide array of drills, to refamiliarize ourselves with the boat and to work on our response to casualties.
After testing all systems, the crew will begin making repairs on the systems that have failed. When we go back up, our first radio transmission should be the list of repair parts that we need. So we will head back toward homeport, and a tugboat will meet us half-way in. To transfer to us the needed repair parts, and to off-load the yard birds [so they can go home and get some sleep].
Once we have all repair parts needed for the crew to finish making repairs, and the repair facility workers are gone, then the boat is free to submerge and go back to its patrol areas.
Sea trials are among the most exhaustive things that a sub crew does. Every hour different systems are being tested, and the entire crew is thinking of how that system could fail and how they should respond to such a failure.
btw, individual system failures happen a lot during sea trials.
As sea water rushes inside the boat, we need to keep tabs on the volume of in-rushing water to be less than our ability to pump water out again. And we need to maintain sufficient speed, even if we take on too much water, if we still have forward momentum, we can drive ourselves upward toward the surface and make it easier on the pumps to remove excess water. Taking on water too quickly, without forward momentum is 'bad'.
We train for these incidents all the time.
The US Navy has 'Damage Control trainers' that they run crewmen through. Which are basically large metal rooms filled with machinery. Each pipe in the room has high-pressure water or hydraulic fluid in them, and the pipe fittings can be remotely controlled to pop loose. Also, each piece of machinery has oil sprinklers inside that are remotely operated to begin spraying hot burning oil. Crewmen go in these trainers, and try to combat these problems as the room fills with burning oil and water, hopefully, in an ideal world, to fix all the problems before the oil/water level reaches the ceiling.
The trainers are scheduled as one-week schools. We will 'do' the trainer each morning for 2 hours and then critique ourselves until lunch break, then after lunch we do it all over again. Do that 5 days a week and you can get yourself some real nasty nightmares.
On my last boat, they cycled me through 'Damage Control Trainers' twice a year, each year I was stationed on that boat.
.........The US Navy has 'Damage Control trainers' that they run crewmen through. Which are basically large metal rooms filled with machinery. Each pipe in the room has high-pressure water or hydraulic fluid in them, and the pipe fittings can be remotely controlled to pop loose. Also, each piece of machinery has oil sprinklers inside that are remotely operated to begin spraying hot burning oil. Crewmen go in these trainers, and try to combat these problems as the room fills with burning oil and water, hopefully, in an ideal world, to fix all the problems before the oil/water level reaches the ceiling.
The trainers are scheduled as one-week schools. We will 'do' the trainer each morning for 2 hours and then critique ourselves until lunch break, then after lunch we do it all over again. Do that 5 days a week and you can get yourself some real nasty nightmares.
On my last boat, they cycled me through 'Damage Control Trainers' twice a year, each year I was stationed on that boat.
I remember the chief in charge of one, showing the video with his voice over.
"Geee, a pump would be handy around now.....they still haven't requested a pump (as the water got higher and higher)......ah! after ten minutes, they finally ask for a pump..."
I remember the chief in charge of one, showing the video with his voice over.
"Geee, a pump would be handy around now.....they still haven't requested a pump (as the water got higher and higher)......ah! after ten minutes, they finally ask for a pump..."
People get tunnel-vision. If you start on a fire-hose fighting a fire, it is easy to get overly focused on 'the fire'. Such that you do not notice that the room is filling with water. Once you notice that you are now swimming, it breaks that focus and you get to re-evaluate the need for a fire-hose.
Once a room has 14 foot of water, that is not the best time to observe where the leak is located. Finding the leaks is best accomplished before you start swimming.
People get tunnel-vision. If you start on a fire-hose fighting a fire, it is easy to get overly focused on 'the fire'. Such that you do not notice that the room is filling with water. Once you notice that you are now swimming, it breaks that focus and you get to re-evaluate the need for a fire-hose.
Once a room has 14 foot of water, that is not the best time to observe where the leak is located. Finding the leaks is best accomplished before you start swimming.
The Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) is designed to rescue 24 people at a time at depths of up to 600 m (1,969 ft). Their maximum operating depth is 1,500 m (4,921 ft). Power is provided by two large batteries, one fore, and one aft that power the electrical, hydraulic and life support systems.
Herein lies the issue. I have not kept up, but I doubt any sub's crush depth is beyond 2000ft or even say 3000ft. All well and good if the boat bottoms out above crush depth then there might be a chance of some being rescued but in the case of the Thresher she lies in 8000ft of water. The USS Scorpion lies in 9500ft of water and it is expected she sunk due to an explosion when a torpedo went hot and exploded. Both were crushed before they hit bottom.
In the case of the Kursk, she was in 350ft of water. She had a torpedo go hot and explode. That explosion killed most of the crew but 28 were alive and sealed in an aft compartment. after. With a free ascent suit one can free ascend from 600ft. We can assume they either had no suits or no egress from the rear compartment. They died from lack of oxygen as Russia refused to let anyone got near it.
Rarely will a sub operate at its maximum operating depth though it will go down to it occasionally to "compress/exercise the hull". We could hear the creaks and groans.
While depth is the killer, is is usually a malfunction (loss of power, explosion, flooding, etc.) that begins the sinking.
Last edited by johngolf; 01-04-2019 at 02:14 PM..
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