Mad Scientist At Work

 

Sometimes a submariner wears many hats.  Here, I'm a Navy Instructor experienced in curriculum development and platform instruction.  To those that know the Submarine Base at Groton, Connecticut, I was assigned to teach inside the building on the hill with no windows.  I taught Periscope E&E Adapters.  These are Electrical & Electronic packages that ride up and down beneath certain periscopes that processed and directed the gathered information. Beyond that, I can't talk about them.

When I first started doing this, specialists would come in and train on something else entirely different that pertained to Electronics Intelligence (can't spell it out - Top Secret).  The training device for that was the 7B1 Electromagnetic Stimulator (that's how it's spelled), and it was maintained by another instructor who had orders out.  I volunteered to take over his duties additional to my own instructor duties. 

The 7B1 took up an entire wall.  It incorporated paper punch computer-driven everything:  Digital electronics; hydraulics; analog devices; A/D Converters; D/A Converters and a Partridge In A Pear Tree.  I needed stuff to maintain and calibrate some of it that wasn't there.  I figure that fellow before me didn't realize that certain items required this - the system is very complex.   Obtaining those items was an uphill battle, but I got 'em, including a Pace Microminiature Repair Station that I won't discuss how I obtained.

The first order of business was to take over an unused room and turn it into a laboratory and begin stocking it with test equipment.  While doing this, I sat back one day and stared at this monster.  I realized that I could triple the training capabilities of it.  That meant being able to train three teams of specialists on three different burn-yer-eyes-out-if-yer-not-authorized super-whompadyne Top Secret electronical-type suites simultaneously.  Well... I was impressed with what they were playing with - but I always did like science fiction. :-)

For awhile, I drove my wife nuts.  In my sleep (so she tells me), I'd be muttering equations in Binary, Hexidecimal and Octal code between some very loud snoring.  That actually happened, by the way.  I drew up the schematics for the black box changes required while using a ROM burner-reader that I had to design (couldn't buy one anywhere) and built to implement the changes using a light box that I had to design and build for the same reasons.  Raytheon had to wait for me to return from scheduled Leave to begin implementation of those changes from the blueprints they made of my drawings.

That's me, The Mad Scientist, up there in those pictures in my lab actually implementing some of those changes.  It worked, and Sub School began training three times as many specialists simultaneously.

Sometimes we referred to these specialists as spooks.

The Reason That I Put This Here

I have an ulterior motive for including all of this here, and it's not Pin A Rose On My Nose.  This is merely an illustration based on personal experiences.  On a given resume when I was seeking civilian employment, I listed a bunch of training schools attended and the fact that I have a highschool diploma but no college degrees, as that was very difficult for some of us within the Fast-Attack submarine community due to unexpected missions.   Most civilian employers keyed to the college degree mindset, haven't the slightest clue what any of that meant listed in a resume, and dismiss someone like myself as an uneducated dolt.  Most of us are self-taught additional to formal training and are very experienced.  Those potential employers lose more than they could ever realize when a submariner is not hired.

I mention all of this not for myself, but for the benefit of those younger that follow me.   I used the word experienced above, and allow me to expand on that.  In addition to a submariner's basic job training, he knows hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical main power, electrical auxiliary power, valves and piping, nuclear reactors, radiation and health physics, and can step into the roles of other specialty rates in emergencies.  There's more, but you should get the idea.  Owning a college degree doesn't necessarily mean the epitome of success,  but that's the criteria set by our Government when awarding bids on military contracts, and the guidlines of civilian personnel departments.

I feel these things should be pointed out, because American Industry suffers through this ignorance.  You can tell that I'm proud to be a submariner.  Perhaps you can now see some of the why.

 

USS Perch Ops

U.S.S. PERCH (SS-313)

These Defense Dept. Photos (Marine Corps)
Were Taken By An Official Military Photographer
By The Name Of McDonald 25Sep59.  I Joined Up in 1964
This happened before my time

My wife, Jeannie, was a restaurant manager in Jones' Point, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) when one day a retired McDonald showed up with a pile of old pictures.  He offered her the pick of the heap, and she chose these (being a sub sailor's wife, of course).  It's an unusual glimpse into some of the things that we do out there, and perhaps you'll share in my interest.  The following descriptions were type-written by McDonald on the backs of the photographs.  No location is indicated.

Members of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion man their rubber boats as the Submarine USS Perch prepares to submerge.  The Wet Deck launching exercise was part of the recent submarine training.  The companies of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion spent 36 hours aboard then were heli-lifted ashore and replaced by another company.

The USS PERCH is shown submerging and launching the rubber boats of the troops of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

Members of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, shown alongside the USS PERCH
Note the teakwood deck.  This was a tough material that we
used on the boats.  It was flat.  We also took advantage of this
at times.  We'd stop in the middle of the ocean someplace,
break out a cut up 30 gallon drum, have a cook out behind the sail,
someone would standby with a loaded rifle for sharks,
and we'd have swim call.

Members of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion prepare
for a deck launching of their rubber boats.

Note the "Cigarette Deck" behind them
This was before the sleek fairwaters were created
     to protect the masts and periscopes

The Next Two Archived Pics Of Perch Were Taken 1955

Records show that in 1948 the SS-313 and the SS-315 boats
were converted and classified SSP
Note the widened after deck and the messcook hanging out the side door.
They could hold 111 troops, 85 tons for weapons and equipment,
a complete LVT chain-driven amphibious vehicle,
a jeep, and eight 10-man inflatables.
Not seen here is the 5" 25 gun mounted on the forward deck.
What IS shown is the 40 MM mounted on the Forward Gun Deck.
See that huge thing on the after deck?  I saw something like
that being used on "The Funny Tunny" when it came into
Subic Bay, nearby where we were.  She drove up, singled up
all lines and stayed like that.  A bunch of really mean soldier
types came running up dripping with knives, bandoliers, guns
and rifles and all sorts of nasty things.  This big tank-looking thing
had a hatch open up like a trap door.  I peeked inside, of course.
A bunch of sleeping racks.  The gentlemen trooped inside this as
"The Funny Tunny" cast off all lines and departed for parts
unknown.  I certainly didn't want to ask a bunch of questions...
 

 

 

The Great Bilge Caper

The Riolo Brothers - Greg Left George Right

These were the Riolo brothers, both stationed aboard the same boat as electricians, and they were good submariners.  (Remora).   We were in port, tied up alongside the pier.  The older brother, Greg (the one on the left above),  and myself were both EM2, and pulled the same inport duty section.

The bilges are located inside a ship or boat at her very bottom, usually with a walking deck constructed over it.  Bilges are also where oil and water (and dirty sludge) collects, requiring pumping and cleaning.  Especially if one is assigned to repaint it's areas with terra-cotta paint.   This sometimes contains red lead.

This is NOT a pleasant task.  We were to clean and paint the Motor Room Bilge, which is located just below Maneuvering (see Split Cubical pic) where the Main Motors are located.

Diesel boats run on huge batteries located within two battery wells.  The Forward Battery Well lies beneath Officer's Country, and the After Battery Well lies beneath the Crew's Mess and Hogan's Alley (Amidships Crew's Berthing).  When charging, the bubbling hydrogen vapors cause acidic electrolyte to collect on top of the battery cells, and must be cleaned on a regular basis.  We did this by mixing a solution of baking soda and distilled water in a "battery (rubber) bucket".   Then using tubing linked between this bucket and a regular garden-type hose, we'd spray down the cells to both neutralize the acid external to the cells and clean them - finishing off with pure distilled water from the hose less the baking soda.  Then using rags, we'd dry the cells off.

So here we were, with this assignment to clean the bilges.  Normally a very dirty and tedious job requiring scrub brushes or whatever was handy to crawl down on hands and knees to utilize.

We looked at each other and both had the same very brilliant idea at the same time.  Why not use the siphon tubes?  We came up with a can of non-ionic detergent, mixed it up with some potable water, hooked a hose up and went to town cleaning the bilges the easy way.  We were very proud of our inventiveness.

Until...

After awhile, and breathing this vaporized mixture into our lungs, he looked at me and I looked at him, then we both darted up the After Torpedo Room hatch, ran halfway across the brow (gangplank), leaned over its safety rail, and lost everything that we had up until that point - and then some!  We were so green around the gills, and sick to our stomachs,  that it was very difficult to accomplish Plan A.  We did.  A very painful lesson was learned that day....and Plan B was abandoned forever...silently...