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Kinda Like That
By Bull Nav
Driving west-bound along I94 in Michigan tonight it was damn windy. My F150 was getting blown around and buffetted all over the road. It was impossible to tell the direction of the wind because the sun had long since set and the usual points of reference (trees, flags, etc.) were masked by the darkness.
It reminded me of an underway.
Now, when a hurricane is headed for your port, the ships all get to go to sea because they would be severely damaged if/when the hurricane force winds hit. Not to mention the tidal surge. It would be a bad situation, so you sortie the fleet.
I don't remember the names of the storms, but we sortied from Norfolk in 98 and 99 for hurricanes.
They get everyone ready and come up with a schedule, but when it comes down to it, you go based on who is ready first. And based on when the carriers need to go because they suck up all the tugs.
One ship gets out in the channel and the tugs go get the next one.
In this case we were the second unit to go. I think the first was a battle-FFG.
It was an amazing sight when we got to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Looking astern out the scope, there was a ship/submarine/big deck every 500-1000 yards all the way up the channel. You might have thought we were going to war, but for the fact there was a storm coming.
What to do ships do for a hurricane? They try to avoid it. Go to sea and try to drive around it as it goes ashore.
What do submarines do? Head straight for it and submerge.
Imagine you have these nice long rollers coming in on the reciprocal of the ship's head. You are driving straight into the seas, which are intensifying as the night settles in.
After a while, the boat starts pitching with a very slow period because the period of these waves is pretty long. As OOD, you are sitting on the bridge trying to see if there is anything out there. You have no night vision because the submarine ID beacon is flashing right behind you and the masthead light is right above that.
Not that anyone in there right mind is out in this mess.
Soon you start taking waves. The bad part (which is what I was reminded of tonight) was that you can't see the waves coming. One second you are squinting into the darkness, the next you are being thrown around as a wave crashes over you. Maybe one comes from right off the bow and then a few minutes later one comes from the starboard beam.
You never know where or when the next one is going to get you.
After a couple of hours, you get close to the dive point so then you can go below after rigging the bridge for dive.
Cold, wet, and dark.
Yeah, lots of fun.
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Comments
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
That's why it is so cool that we have people like you out there doing it because you know that we all benefit by you being out there.
i was in sandiego boot camp the day that president kennedy was assassinated. we got the word about 10:00 and every thing was shut down tight.
we could see the sandiego channel from the top of our barracks and so we went out and watched the United States Navy go to war.
like you said, whoevers ready goes first but the flat tops get the tugs.
in this case it was small boys passing on the right and the left and to hell with the five knot harbor speed limit.
as i remember there was a classic WWII cruiser got out first with white water a third of the way down the hull. don't know if he was showing the flag or getting the hell out of the way of the rest of them.
years later i heard that there was a genuine concern for submarines hanging off of the coast for a turkey shoot.
C
BULL SIR,
Out of the pox list I am, no brown, lookin @ the big 50 and braggin... #1 scored 1st Company Honorman @ MCRD Diego last week, soon to be back in the box since he already turned down Recon and WH detail,,,life goes on....
You know what's great about aviation? When a hurricane is coming-you simply fly away to Chicago and sit the hurricane out watching the Cubs play at Wrigley field.
Or at least you used to before they closed Glenview NAS.
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I'd love to see a picture of the fleet sortee'ing all at once...