DU Navy Vets

[Submariner]

A good submarine show on Fox right now if you can stomach Ollie 'the traitor' North for an hour on war Stories.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Navy here. I cannot stomach it. What topics covered?

[Submariner]

2. WWII Diesel Electric Fleet Boats in the Pacific war

Ollie just about ruins the show with his lame questions and comments, but I spent 4 years on those pigboats so the nostalgia effect has me watching.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Wow, GATO class? You are the man, I have the greatest respect!!

:toast:

[Submariner]

6. I was on Gato class (300 test depth)

and Balao class (400 ft depth) boats. Just a hull thickness distinction, but in the '60s when the transition to nukes was taking place, they were remarkable machines to play 'chicken-of-the-sea' with the Soviets.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. "Swede" Momson was always one of my heroes, the guy who conceived

of the bell system of submarine rescue that was successfully used in rescuing the crew of the Squalus (sp?). Apparently because of some beareaucratic unhappiness with him it was named after some other submariner (McCracken?).

Very dramatic though because it was one of those rare examples of a maverick idea, where one critical moment arose to validate someone's life's work, and it happened.

Now I guess the rescue doctrine is all about the small minisub submersibles, if you can get one to the site...

[Spinzonner]

5. There's a very good book about the rescue

The Terrible Hours:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0061014591/103-9344509-8677405?v=glance

And a TV movie (I didnt see):

http://www.seacoastnh.com/arts/please060201.html

[oneighty]

7. It was the McCann Rescue Chamber

Lt. Momsen was inventor of the 'Momsen Lung' an individual breathing apparatus for escape from a sunken submarine (In shallow water).

The Master Diver in charge at EOD Dive School in 1956 was a young diver on the Squalus rescue. (He claimed).

180

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. The way Maas presents it in "Terrible Hours" is that Momsen created

the bell also, or devised the rescue tactic, but McCann got his name there because of some Navy brass unhappiness with Momsen. That's the Peter Maas version.

The guy who hooked the line to the sub, to guide the bell, I believe got the Medal of Honor or something close. Took a lot of balls, diving straight air at a good depth, and cold/poor visibility etc.

[oneighty]

10. Hey!

Peter Maas is pretty good source if he is the one I am thinking off. But in my Navy they always give credit rightly or wrongly to McCann.

180

[Submariner]

8. The Squalas was lucky to be over a shallow insular shelf

and the rescue chamber was made to order.

Sub rescue philosophy became more of a 'morale booster' approach to the subject, because most all subs operate within ocean depths that would be a hull crusher if the boat was going to the bottom, and that as understood by all. Nowadays, the DSRV can get to a boat at 3,000 ft if the boat was lucky enough not to implode.

[UTUSN]

11. Sorry, I'm 1) Navy, 2) Blue Water, 3) Brown Water, But

I don't/won't tolerate Oliver NORTH, no way/no time.

[HawkerHurricane]

12. Kinda sorry I missed it.

I'm Surface Warfare, and spent many a hour either...

a. Looking desperately for our boats

or

b. Following a Russian boat

Of course, Ollie 'Traitor' North is a personal enemy of mine; anybody who sells weapons to our enemies that are used to shoot at me needs to be hung.

[UTUSN]

13. At Least Yellowstone Hasn't Exploded Yet n/t