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FUSS Flasher (SSN-613) Underway
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As the only non-nuke Electrician's Mate assigned aboard Flasher in drydock at Groton through a Navy SNAFU after Bainbridge (I wasn't meant to be a Nuke it seems), the Captain sat me down and pointed out how the ship's logroom on the barge was in total disarray. It was a total mess both in appearance and operation. Classified stuff was heaped everywhere and used all over the place without any paper trails. He asked that I fix it. So I did. So one of the hats I wore was that of Log Room Yeoman, without actually being the Log Room Yeoman because I wasn't one of Rickover's boys. I fixed a motor once and got chewed out by this E-9 EM for fixing "Rickover's equipment" when I wasn't authorized because of this fact (I didn't work for him directly I was a non-nuke, and this guy made life pretty miserable - rather an unforgetful Navy experience that I had to go through both before Flasher (USS Harder - the crew didn't like ANY baby nukes and made life a living Hell) and now this after Bainbridge. I ran into the same sort of mindsets in the corporate world twenty years later, and simply chalk all of this sort of stuff up in the "How Not To Treat People" column. With just a few exceptions like this Master Chief and that guy who was the Log Room Yeoman by virtue of being a nuke (a bit resentful of me following orders), those on Flasher's PreComUnit were all a great bunch of guys. As far as fixing that motor went, before changing my rate to Electronics Technician I was EM1(SS) experienced in both Main Propulsion and Auxiliary Power divisions on Diesel-Electric Submarines as well as the motor rewind repair shop at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The brightest beacon for me aboard Flasher was Flasher himself - Commander Kenny Carr. He did everything in his power to get me to remain aboard including changing rates to Interior Communications Technician - didn't work even though I passed all the tests. The SNAFU Department of the US Government sent me to another fleet boat as an Electrician's Mate instead. Many years later, I was a Navy Instructor ET1(SS) assigned to Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut (up on the hill in the building with no windows). In this capacity, I was on Lower Base standing Duty Instructor Watch when I stepped out of that office for something. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted gold sleeve-striping everywhere and yelled "Attention On Deck!" while I snapped to Attention myself. The very next thing that I heard was, "Przybyla, you stupid son of a bitch! How come you ain 't made Chief yet!?!" I looked over and saw the source of that tirade being yelled at me. It was Admiral Kennith Carr, COMSUBLANT. With him were two four-stipers, one the present Commanding Officer of SUBSCOL, and the Captain there to replace him in an upcoming ceremony. As I always tell it like it is (which lands me in trouble quite often), I grinned. "Captain, ET rate is locked down. Simply got tired of playing that PNA game. "Bull! You make Chief. That's an order!" "Yes sir!" I responded. (I made Chief on Lapon and went through initiation as the only boat sailor in the crowd of skimmers being initiated there as well in La Mad - now that was interesting.) Then he went on to embarrass the heck out of me by telling how he used to get letters from the Venezuelan Embassy that he had to respond to all the time asking about how I was doing. My family happened to be living there during the time I was on Flasher as my father was teaching their government employees how to make steel with my entire family protected by armed security guards. He made me promise that I'd make Chief, so I did. Even though an officer makes it up the hierarchy ladder, a warrior Commanding Officer will always look forward to being called "Captain" by any of those under his command at that time in his career. Ken Carr is a skilled and clever warrior that I would go into battle with at any time without hesitation. Chainfall, ETC(SS)USN(ret)
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In Submarine Speak to other Submariners Flasher started out being sister
ship to the Thresher
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Here's a translation: The USS Flasher (SSN-613) began life on the drawing boards being pretty much the same as the USS Thresher (which was subsequently lost at sea with all hands being killed). We don't talk about that very much. I had some friends on the Scorpian when she died as well, and the same applies. After that happened, everone literally went back to the drawing boards. As a result, Flasher was broken in two and extended in length (frammed), and great minds came together to vastly improve material conditions aboard with regard to system redundancies and the composition of the materials used in those systems (The SubSafe Program). The Flasher was constructed in drydock at the Electric Boat Company (EB) a division of General Dynamics Corporation, in Groton, Connecticut. This was in the days of the hippies and protest marchers, and dummys that actually tried to block Flasher's launch by sitting in small boats right in the launch path. The Emergency Blow System of a modern submarine is designed to quickly empty the Ballast Tanks of all sea water, and allow this displacement to let the boat (submarines are boats - NOT ships!) to quickly rise to the suface in case of an emergency such as fire or flooding. This method is not normally used to come the the surface as it emptys out a good deal of our high pressure air tanks. The origional system's Emergency System Blow valves, because of the air pressures involved (don't want to include numbers here), had a very nasty predisposition to freeze OPEN, thus dumping ALL of our pressurized air into the ballast tanks! During the testing of this system, I was one of two men stationed in the Bow Compartment to manually shut the cutoff valves to prevent this from happening (real fun). The system was subsequently redesigned and worked properly from then on. Members
of the PreComUnit, us, discovered the reversed hydraulic valves and had
EB correct that problem. |
As a crewmember during the boat's construction (and having a hand
in that construction) plus being there at the vessel's commissioning into
the US Navy's fleet, I am a Plank Owner, which is a traditional term for
one that owns part of the ship (a plank or board). We were all presented
with a small piece of the origional Flasher's teakwood decking (planking).
During the construction, a very strange thing occured. All submariners
"requalify" shortly after reporting to a new submarine. That means
learning where all systems, valves and components are, are how to operate
them. I was doing this when I crawled down inside the After Trim
Tank with notepad and flashlight. Suddenly, all the hairs on the
back of my neck stood on end. I was spooked, and for no apparent
reason. I popped out of the access opening fast (call it the intuition
that most boat sailors have built in). One of the nukes (Engineering
rate trained in nuclear power) saw this, and my face was as white as a
sheet. He asked me what was going on. I told him, shrugging
my shoulders. It was then that he told me how two months prior to
my reporting aboard, three shipyard workers (yardbirds) were in the After
Trim Tank using cutting torches. There apparently was a leak
in their oxygen hose that filled the After Trim Tank while they went on
break. They returned, ignited a torch, and they were all burned
alive. The unfortunate men were removed in pieces. I never
went back down into that tank again. |
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Flasher at Pearl Harbor
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Flasher Shipmates of
mine today while attending |
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Cliff Snow and Ronnie
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