WTFO

Road Trip

2007-05-22T19:32:00.000-08:00

When I travel Outside I look for submarine related items and places. I found a memorial to 52 boats outside Las Vegas while visiting my wife’s grandfather’s final resting place in a national cemetery. I also found a few things on my last trip down south.
I went down to Seattle to attend a conference for work. I headed down a day early to see some family in the area. On my way back to Seattle I took the scenic route from Mount Vernon through Whidbey Island to the ferry. It’s the first time I’ve been to sea in awhile. It’s a short ferry ride from Keystone to Port Townsend, around 30 minutes dock to dock. While underway I did get the chance to see a boat pulling back into the area from somewhere. Escorted by two USCG patrol boats the Ohio class boat was crossing our intended course and we got surprisingly close.

I snapped a few pictures and listened to the kids around me chatter excitedly about seeing a real live submarine. That got me thinking about a place I’d heard about for years but being an east coast sailor I had never had the opportunity to visit.
So making my way from PT south I meandered through the area towards my intended destination until I found the Naval Undersea Museum near Keyport.

I didn’t know it existed but when I saw the signs for it, I had to take the detour. Luckily for me they were still open and I had an hour to roam about on a self guided tour. Admission is free but they’ll still take a donation if you’re so minded. They’re closed on Tuesdays if you plan to go. The museum is pretty nice. Outside the facility they have the sail from the USS Sturgeon SSN 637 as well as the entire research vessel Deep Quest and DSV-1 Trieste II. Inside, the ladies who were running the show are very friendly and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them. They’ll guide you to the start of the exhibits by passing through a door into a room with a timeline on the wall that begins with the myth of Gilgamesh and ends in our modern times. A section dedicated to the ~~boomer fags~~ SSBN sailors who patrol the seas is next. Sections on oceanography, torpedoes and mines, propulsion, navigation, WWII, diving and others await the intrepid explorer. Interestingly they have the major components of the control room of the USS Greenling SSN 614 in a mockup that visitors can fiddle with. Youngsters can sit at either of the Helmsman/planesman stations, dive & drive and look up at the SCP that is curiously missing a couple of gauges to those who know to look for them. The BCP is there enclosed in plexiglass as well as a few FC consoles, a chart plotter, and two periscopes through which a visitor may view a camera feed from the roof of the building. A fathometer and a MK 27 gyro are there too. It looked like they were working on a few other items for the control room as well though I don’t recall what they were.

There is a Japanese Kaiten midget submarine there as well as a variety of torpedoes and mines from throughout history. In the diving section there are diving suits and bells from early hard hats to current hard suits. There is also a section devoted to women divers and their accomplishments and contributions. A Vietnam era SDV hangs from the ceiling as well. There is also a few displays that honor the sub community’s greatest heroes, those bubbleheads from WWII.
Winding up my time in the museum, I stopped in the gift shop and bought a t-shirt and headed down the road.
Before long I arrived at my next destination.
Here.

I'd heard about this place from guys who came to the boat from the west coast and thought I'd go there if I was ever in California. But circumstances being what they were I never made it and the bar moved to Washington not far outside the base at Bangor.
I had a burger and a brew. Bought a t-shirt there as well and looked at the memorabilia lining the bulkheads and overhead. It almost felt like home.
I had to run though and continued on my way to Seattle for the rest of the week.
If I go back I’ll have to bring the family, at least to the museum.

I’ll just bring the wife to the bar.

Summer

2007-07-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy this summer that I have had little time for reading other blogs let alone posting to this one. Not that the picture below is any reflection of the type of thing that has kept me so busy. It's just an example of what we caught for dinner one night last week.

Surface, Surface, Surface

2008-10-17T21:48:00.003-08:00

Here I am.
I have been pretty busy over the course of ten months. I've lurked around a bit and dropped a few comments here and there, but haven't been inclined to put up any of my own posts. The summer was too short and not a particularly warm one. I didn't accomplish all the projects I had planned. The other half and I have both gone back to school in addition to our other duties. I've finally gotten the motorcycle I almost bought thirteen years ago in Norfolk and I love riding it, although the snow has been here for a few weeks and I won't be able to ride it again for seven or eight months. I caught up with an old Navy buddy last week who I have not seen in over ten years and it was good. I'm also keeping my hopes up for the Fourth of November that this country will not elect a socialist for President. We'll see when I have a chance to post again.

Who ya gonna call?

2008-01-18T08:11:00.000-09:00

It's really strange what inspires me to put stuff up on this blog. The build team from the show Mythbusters is here in town doing research for a few Alaska based myths. I like the show but my wife has never seen it (we don't have cable) so she didn't understand my geeky excitedness at hearing about their presence in town. Apparently they'll be figuring out whether there is any truth to the myth that you should speed up when about to hit a moose (I doubt it, your car is gonna be totaled and you'll be hurting if not dead. That's why I drive a truck.) and also a myth or two about cabin fever related things. I heard that from a local TV station. It seems the team was surprised to find that they wouldn't be going out into the bush to find a specimen for their research. They found a moose downtown as is usual during the winter months here in Anchor-town. I hear it was this one again.

So yeah, it's 2008 now and much time has passed since I last updated this page. I've been lurking around the blogosphere though; perusing other people's handiwork and have occasionally left a comment or two behind. I've given a few stories away to be posted about by others but nothing I think they wouldn't have found anyway.
So a belated Happy New Year to all. I'll put something else up, eventually.

Leviathan

2007-06-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Who knew whales could be this old?

Score

2007-05-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

A hat tip to RM1/SS over at The Old Coot where I found the link to this quiz. I wonder if my wife will agree.

Your Score: Pure Nerd

65 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 13% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Sunshine

2007-03-01T15:47:00.000-09:00

After returning to work from a six weeks of leave to welcome my newest addition to the family home(and do as much for my better half as possible before leaving her alone with three kids), I find myself in the place I was when I started this blog. Cold Bay, Alaska. It's a gorgeous day here and seeing bothenook's pic of a glacier on his page inspired me to attempt to photograph myself enjoying the sunshine. It was a little difficult to take a self portrait with the wind steadily blowing 25 knots with higher gusts knocking the camera over. After a few faulty starts I came up with this.
Enjoy.

The final countdown...

2006-12-15T14:09:00.000-09:00

I've been pretty busy lately, what with work, school, the holidays and the upcoming arrival of V2.3 .
Not much time for other things such as posting to this blog or even reading my favorites, although I have managed to peek at a few.

So keeping this short, I'll just say Merry Christmas to all and have a Happy New Year!

WRONG!!!!

2006-09-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I was wrong.
The real amount of the 2006 PFD is $1106.96, not the aforementioned amount. But what's $53.55 anyway.
Yay for us, still.

PFD

2006-09-15T21:33:00.000-08:00

According to my calculations, I believe that the amount of the 2006 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend that the Governor will announce on September 20th will be $1160.51.
This is the subject of much speculation in AK right now but I think I have it right.
Yay for us.

AWOL

2006-08-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

So here I am back in the Aleutians and what do I find? The M/V Cougar Ace still listing and moored for salvage operations in Wide Bay across from Dutch Harbor/Unalaska, so I took this picture.

I added an old shipmate to my blogroll. Visit him here.

Not much else going on now. I've been really busy this summer and not had much time to post. That's what summer in Alaska is all about for those fortunate enough to live here. A mad rush to complete as many projects outside before the cold sets back in as well as trying to find time to get out and fish while the salmon are running and enjoy the midnight sun.

What is it?

2006-08-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here's one for the masses. Can you identify this picture? I'll post the correct answer in the comments after a brief amount of time.

Commissioned

2006-05-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

Today in submarine history...
On this date in 1981 my old boat, the USS Jacksonville SSN 699 was comissioned.

I had a plan for a more detailed post on this subject but like most things associated with this blog, I just haven't had the time.

Maybe I'll post some pics tomorrow, on the anniversary of her collision in 1996.

Don't hold your breath though.
Ho Ho Ho, as it were.

Birthplace of the Winds...

2006-02-17T23:25:00.000-09:00

I am in, of all places, Adak right now. The connection I have access to now is… very… slow….
Various Chiefs had, at various times, threatened my junior ass with a tour out here during my time on active duty. I didn’t make it out here for the first time until a few years ago though, many years after I had left the boat.
It is a sad sight out here. The infrastructure is rotting away. Imagine Norfolk or San Diego or any other large base deserted, a ghost town blowing away in the wind and rusting from lack of care. There are only about 80 or so full time residents out here at my last count, well down from a heyday population around 6000; but the caribou population has exploded due to lack of hunting pressure. More when I come home to a faster connection.

What team would you play for?

2006-02-15T08:42:00.000-09:00

You scored as Deep Space Nine (Star Trek). You have entered the dark side of the Star Trek universe. The paradise of Earth is far from you and you must survive despite having enemies on all fronts. But you wouldn't have it any other way because you thrive in conflict and will know what needs to be done to take care of those around you. Now if only the Founders would quit trying to take over the galaxy.

SG-1 (Stargate)

81%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

81%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

69%

Serenity (Firefly)

69%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

63%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

63%

Moya (Farscape)

63%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

56%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

56%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

50%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

44%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

44%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

I found the link to this quiz on Rontini's BBS.
The quiz writer seems to have left out the crew from Futurama though.

Touring, Touring, it's never boring....

2006-02-07T16:58:00.000-09:00

So there I was in Dutch Harbor, where I found on my answering machine a message from the United States Coast Guard. They wanted to speak to us regarding frequency management in the Dutch Harbor area. The message was from an LT on the USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) stationed in Kodiak. No one having been on site for some weeks, I was sure that his question had not yet been answered. I tried to return the call to the number that was left but to no avail. Then, lo and behold, the next day they pulled into Dutch Harbor for a port call (they called it a patrol break). So, being the type of guy I am, I went right down to the dock and made my presence known to their quarterdeck watch and asked for the LT who had left the message. As it turns out, the person who left the message was the Operations officer and he wanted to know if the ship would be able to rotate and radiate on their newly installed radar whilst in port without interfering with our facilities. So while I was there I got a tour from the Ops and a little history lesson on this ship. I learned a bunch there and not just that you really don’t have to be six feet tall to be a Coasty (in case you fall overboard you can then stand up in the water).
Here’s some of what I learned on that tour as well as a little more I found out afterwards when my curiosity had been piqued.

The USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) was originally commissioned in 1971 as the USS Edenton (ATS-1). A U.S. Navy diving and salvage ship built for the Navy by a British shipbuilder.
While in the Navy she had a few connections with the submarine force.
In 1983 she towed the decommissioned submarine tender USS Bushnell (AS-15) to the site of her final resting spot some 175 miles out to sea where she was sunk by two Mk-48 torpedoes fired by USS Atlanta (SSN 712), with the USS Finback (SSN 670) standing by. A more complete description may be found at the bottom of this page and a video of the SINKEX can be found here.
In 1995 the USS Edenton participated in attempting to recover the screw from the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor.
In 1996 the USS Edenton was decommissioned. In 1997 she was transferred to the Coast Guard and stricken from the Naval register.
After completing an 18 month yard period where the diving and salvage equipment was removed, a flight deck installed and many navigation, engineering, combat system and habitability upgrades were performed, the ship was recommissioned in 1999 as the USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39). A basic before and after drawing may be seen here.
Yes, that Alex Haley. In addition to being a prolific and famous writer, the author of Roots was also a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. Haley originally enlisted as a mess attendant just prior to WWII. During the war he served aboard ship in the Pacific as a cook but his writing abilities garnered him much attention. After serving aboard cutters for much of his career, the Coast Guard created the Journalist rating for him in 1952. He wrote and edited stories for the Coast Guard in official publications as well as promoting the Coast Guard in the media until he retired in 1959.
The cutter itself is home ported out of Kodiak, AK but ranges all over the Gulf of Alaska, North Pacific and Bering Sea providing fisheries enforcement and SAR capabilities. It has a coed crew of about 10 officers and 90 enlisted not counting any embarked air detachment. The cutter can carry a helicopter in the hanger installed after the conversion. As the hull configuration is not a normal built-to-be-a-cutter design, the ship is a lot more stable in the large seas frequently experienced up here.
The warp cutter installed aboard was an interesting piece of equipment. This device looks like a large grappling hook with blades on the inner part of the hooks and is used to cut fishing nets or cables by towing it behind the ship.
My tour guide and I got to chat about the differences in watch standing in the various departments on a submarine and the cutter. I was amazed to see their in port duty section was so small. Of course it only took a trip to the engine room to remind myself of why. They’ve got diesels, so all they have to do is hook up shore power, turn off the systems, change over to a below decks roving watch and a quarterdeck watch (in a nice heated shack), and make sure they’ve got enough bodies to fill those two watchstation’s for the day. The duty officer was a first class so you can imagine how many duty sections they must have. I wish I could’ve spent more time learning about their systems but it was just a tour.
So I’ll leave you with that and thanks again to the OPS and the duty section onboard for the tour and their hospitality.

Westbound

2006-01-09T10:22:00.000-09:00

Well it's a new year (has been for nine days now) and this is my first post of 2006.
I'm on my way to Dutch Harbor, AK today. I haven't been there since July but I'm looking forward to going. It'll be good to get out of the office. I've been here behind a desk for the better part of two months with the last three weeks playing supervisor. But now the boss is back and I can go back to being a regular field tech again.
Dutch is a great place to go in the summer but can be a little nasty sometimes in the winter. If you ever go there be sure to go to the Grand Aleutian Hotel on Wednesday for their all you can eat seafood buffet. It's tops and you get everything from king crab to salmon served six ways from Sunday and every kind of seafood in between.
There's a lot of naval history in Dutch. We had quite a few soldiers and sailors stationed there during WWII. Ships, submarines and aircraft all made the place their home. It is one of the few places on U.S. soil that the Japanese bombed after Pearl Harbor. I think I may have linked here before but I hope you'll still visit and learn more about submarines in the Aleutians during WWII. More about the war in the Aleutians here.

Whoa!

2005-12-27T13:25:00.000-09:00

Did you know that Costco sold these?

Aurora

2005-12-27T07:53:00.000-09:00

As an Alaskan I tend to take for granted the fact that we see the Northern Lights all the time. While those in the Lower 48 see them only during severe solar storms, I can't imagine living here and not seeing them except on those rare occasions as this article suggests may happen.

Leaving the Last Frontier....

2005-12-23T16:16:00.000-09:00

A sad day today for Alaskans as well as the rest of America as we mourn the passing of a great man.
Col. Norman Vaughan left for new frontiers today at the age of 100.
Please read more about this legendary explorer here.

Surfin'

2005-12-18T23:31:00.000-09:00

I was surfing last night and found this page about certain job comparisons when I queried Google for submarine humor. The author of that page credits this one for the list. I must warn you though, the language is a little rough in a few places but the humor is undeniable at least to those who’ve been there done that.
I also found this page that I’d forgotten about. Its author is a former COB of mine and current senior enlisted member of USN.

Ein

2005-12-14T12:07:00.000-09:00

I am number one, according to Google and MSN at least. Yahoo says 45 but when you search for WTFO on the other two the first result is this blog. Pretty nifty.
I also got my 600th visitor as well, unfortunately it was me checking myself out. So the award for 600th place will actually go to number 601 who happens to be from Virginia Beach,VA and came here by way of The Stupid Shall Be Punished and didn't stay long. Congratulations on your meaningless award whoever you are.

St. Augustine Volcano

2005-12-15T09:28:00.000-09:00

Go here for the latest on our little steamer. What's really neat is this page with the seismograph on the web. An explanation of the seismograph is here.

Narwhal news

2005-12-15T09:26:00.000-09:00

Looks like scientists have discovered a few things about the Narwhal.

Anniversary

2005-12-13T12:03:00.000-09:00

Well today is the 11th anniversary of me getting my fish. In transit back to NOB Norfolk, somewhere in the North Atlantic following an eye opening run to the north on my first deployment, I got pinned in crews mess. Months of learning systems, procedures, TAB's and drawings, locations, qualifying watchstations, practicing damage control, attending SOB, checkouts and interviews, lots of lookups and oolies, walkthroughs, scoring cookies from the night baker to bring to my board and of course my board itself, finally culminated that day eleven years ago when the CO pinned my fish on.
Happy anniversary to me.