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Book on NR-1
snStarter writes "Hyman Rickover created NR-1 for a variety of purposes, one of which included doing science from a nuclear-powered vessel capable of sustained deep operations. Back in the '70s I really wanted to be on the crew of this puppy but all crew members were required to qualify as second class divers and that was hopeless for me. A new book, and web site, discusses NR-1 and is the most complete information on the boat I've seen in one place."
It must take a very special sort of soldier to submit to the claustrophobic surroundings and lack of freedom inherent in being in a submarine. I can only wonder what that's like when you're in a submarine that nobody knows about.
Watching Das Boot was as close as I ever want to get to that.
The little submarine was born in controversy, served in secrecy, survived potential catastrophe on numerous occasions, and is still in operation almost forty years after being concieved. It was and remains the only one of its kind ever built.
The story of the NR-1 is told against the tense background of the Cold War and peopled with such rich characters as the acerbic Admiral Hyman Rickover, ocean scientist Robert Ballard (who found the Titanic), the designers and builders who faced almost impossible tasks to give life to the ship, the unique officers and sailors who took the little boat down into depths on covert missions, and the families who waited for them on shore, unaware that there would be no escape if the boat ran into trouble.
"Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub" is a thrill-a-minute book of submarine adventure, imminent danger, personal bravery, technological wonder and historic discovery. It will be a proud addition to the shelves of readers who love stories of the sea, history and intrigue.
What's long, hard and full of seamen?
(ducks)
And if you want the rest of the story of the US Submarine operations that we could not talk about, read Blind Mans Bluff.
Its the the book that allowed me explane what I did while in the Navy but could not tell her.
SS
Read about this a while back. This is really interesting. After the end of the cold war, the navy deployed this shop in the Mediterranean to search for greek ship wrecks. They found thousands of ships, cargo, etc, all well-preserved after thousands of years by the cold depths of the medi.
A UVic researcher is among a National Geographic Society team of oceanographers, engineers and archeologists that used a nuclear submarine to discover the largest concentration of ancient shipwrecks ever found in the deep sea. Dr. John Peter Oleson (Greek and Roman Studies) viewed the site off southern Italy and examined artifacts retrieved from 2,500 feet beneath an ancient Mediterranean Sea trade route by the remotely operated submersible Jason.
More on it here.
Then read about Richard Gere's Ass Zoo!
tcd004
From the book excerpt: The ship was so stable that it automatically tried to keep itself level, which meant that as we came down the slope, the bow tended to rise and stay even with the stern. Only the rear wheel was touching the mud as the forward part of the boat angled slightly higher. That pointed the forward television cameras up too far to see anything on the bottom. That separation of the bow from the bottom also limited the effectiveness of the sonar.
Maurer added still more water to the forward ballast tanks, which brought the bow down and put both wheels back in contact. Unfortunately, the extra ballast made the boat so heavy that the maximum upward force from the combined fore-and-aft thrusters would not be able to lift it. We rolled ahead.
Why didn't the idiot pilot add a little water to the bow tanks and release some from the aft tanks? He was either totally incompetent (highly unlikely) or this "teaser" is made up... oh well..
"I'm about to drop the hammer and dispense some indiscriminate justice!"
It takes a special kind of Nuke to ride NR-1....and the damn thing was never a secret...I personally have known about the thing for years....not only because I was a Nuke but because it has been in National Geographic a whole bunch of times. "If only we could harness this power for evil!"
If only I could harness this power for evil...
In a submarine, 100 guys go down, and 50 couples come up.
...no wonder its NR-1!
"The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
not only because I was a Nuke
What rate?
ELT1....via the Evilprison....
If only I could harness this power for evil...
~~~
nice attitude d00d
grow up
Fucking diggit...
http://www.nr-1-book.com/images/CableLife.jpg
Gee, I WONDER what the sub was doing around that cable! Yep, they were just wheelin' along and "Whoa! Look at that! A trans-atlantic phone cable! How'd we get near one of those with all this fancy nav gear?"
Oceanography, indeed. Note all the comments about sonar systems being used to "identify" and "home in on" objects. I think we've just found the sub that was rumored to be able to splice into various undersea cables. Seriously- what do you need 300+ day run capability, secure comm equipment, and more types of sonar than you can shake a stick at?
Does anyone actually believe that this thing was built because the USN wanted to take pretty pictures of crabs? If so, where's all the scientific equipment for measuring ocean conditions, collecting samples(I've always been a big fan of those critter-slurpers), all the normal "Zeee heello, I am Jacques Cousaeu!" stuff?
Sorry, the thing has "spy toy" written all over it. Pathetic that our tax dollars went into it. Sounds to me like someone's trying to justify the money. "Well...uh....look! Some of the pictures have crabs in them! We did some oceanography while we were tapping that line!"
ELT's have the best job on the boat. You can never find them: they're either in the rack at sea or gone by 9:00 in port...
~~~
What's an ELT?
Not where I come from... oh the "rack at sea" comment I'll go with, but we always felt lucky to get out before 2 in the afternoon in port. Of course, that was on the most evil ship on the waterfront, the EVILprise. Maybe it's better elsewhere.
"All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - George Orwell
Damn--is this place overrun with squids or what?
You noticed that too?
Nah - RM's and NavET's always beat the ELT's ashore.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
I'm sorry, I had no idea. :)
So how many primary to secondary leaks do you have right now?
On shore, but if you are deployed with a battlegroup and spend 16 hours/day at PD, then RM's are quite busy.
~~~
Ah, the timeless need of the young male to feel a part of some society, some culture, some group, where they are above some and below others. And of course, you need to be able to make those below you know their place, right?
That is one reason why I got off the boat as quickly as possible--the smothering embrace of The Crew, of the hierarchy.
That, and the wretched smell of the damn thing....the crew didn't smell too damn nice, either....
Sig:
Navy nuke sub lifestyle?
If you're intelligent enough to be that far above the process, you're certainly intelligent enough to have done your research before volunteering for submarine duty, no? And once there, honorable enough to have honored your commitment to serve and aware enough to realize that lots of it is bullshit (as in life darned near anywhere), and to just deal?
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
Considering its directly-downward crew viewport, and a claw manipulator capable of lifting roughly 1000 pounds (id wager there is a seperate claw control set right near the viewport), NR-1 would be perfect for tapping and/or interfearing with deep-water communications cables.
Even today, when America has almost nothing in the way of global powers about which to spread FUD and justify massive military spending on a project such as this, NR-1 would still be extremely useful as an intelligence gatherer operating against foreign corporates in the interests of American compaines, via taps on shallow and deep-water data lines.
Kind of makes you wonder if all those cable cuts in the north of Australia were really caused by ships anchors, or by FUBAR'd operations by boats such as the NR-1
Janie took my gun...
None, I'm a civilian now! hahahahaha... sweet freedom...
"All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - George Orwell
hey you could have been a Nuke ET like me, all we did was sit in the AC and complain about that...
Now its open and used for research, but when it was first put in service. The idea and concept was something totally new.
If this interests you in the least you have to read:
"Blind Man's Bluff"
~~~
I don't know what boat you were on, but we (RC div) are always the last ones to leave every day.
You musta been on a different boat than me (old fast attack)--all the nukes, even we twidgets, worked our asses off, mostly cleaning the AMS, NI cabinets, etc etc etc etc....
Sig:
Navy nuke sub lifestyle?
We don't get pro pay. Coners get fined $100 per month for being stupid. :)
Or sewer-pipe sailor.
At least they're better than Coasties. Woo hoo, the puddle police!
Just how many nuke ET's read slashdot anyway?
NR-1 is one (if not THE) smallest portable nuclear reactor in the world. The Army tried their hand at this back in the day. They wanted to make some tiny portable field power unit. Unfortunately all they managed to do was pin some poor sap to the ceiling with a control rod. ...yet another 2 cents...
Luckily the Navy builds their reactors in a safer fashion.
this sig was brought to you by the letter
Wasn't NR-1 used to recover parts of Challenger's SRBs from the floor of the Atlantic?
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Have you boys never heard of SOSUS? Yeah, I'm sure that it was probably also used to tap 'secure' Soviet communications lines, but it was also probably a SOSUS repair truck.
What if it is just turtles all the way down?
They wanted to make some tiny portable field power unit. 15 years ago, I read an article about how East German (during the cold war) scientists had tried to build a nuclear car. The scientists failed because they couldn't isolate the nuclear reactor without the car being too heavy. Maybe it was for the best that they never managed to get these rolling nukes out on the streets. :)
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
the uss halibut, uss seawolf, and uss parche tapped russian cables in okhotsk and the barents. instead of some gay-ass claw they snuck in and used deep-sea divers to place a tap, waited a while (or left), and then retrieved the tap's tapes.
all this and more in Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
The people working on the design knew it, and the reactor control rod system was being redesigned when the accident occured. This was a little reactor, developed as a crash program for a military project, and deliberately installed in the middle of nowhere so that should the worst-case accident occur, the effects wouldn't affect anybody other than those directly involved at the test site.
I was stationed on AR-16 USS Tringa, a Sub Rescue ship at the Nuke Sub base in Grotton CT. back when the NR1 was HIGHLY CLASSIFIED (mid 70's). We towed it to Scottland and all we ever saw of it was... NOTHING! We met another ship in tha Atlantic, they gave us the end of a tow line and we pulled it across the ocean! When we got to port, a crew set up a floating tarp with a zipper in the middle. The NR-1 came up under the tarp, unzipped it from below and departed the sub. Armed Marines were posted on the the NR-1's pier with orders to shoot ANYONE nearing the vessle. Fast foward 25 years, I pick up a Readers Digest and there, in color, with cut-away views and everything but blueprints, is the NR-1! My how things have changed.
Alfred "Speedy" Mercer
USN Engineman 3rd Class (Dissabled Vet.)
Hero Hog AKA: Speedy, Dr. Speed 01000111011001010110010101101011
OK, I spent a couple of years on a bigger submarine (LA class Fast Attack) Here's how you can get a feel for this stuff at home.
Surround yourself with a few people you don't like. Close all windows and doors tightly, close curtains. Seal any openings to the outside world with a proper vault. Unplug all radios and TV sets to cut yourself off completely from news, football games, Saturday Night Live, the Muppet Show, etc.
Hourly monitor all operating home appliances, if not in use, log as secured. If using the bathroom, do not flush toilet for first two days to simulate smell of blowing sanitaries and venting inboard. Then flush daily.
Wear only approved FBM coveralls, or proper Navy uniforms. No hats, special T-shirts, etc. Cut your hair once a week ensuring that you make it look like hell. Work 18-hour day intervals to ensure your body really gets confused. Listen to the same cassette over and over until you can't stand it anymore, and then put in one that you can't even listen to without acute nausea setting in. Set your alarm to go off just as you fall asleep, with alarm set at loud, or buy a special alarm clock with various settings, (i.e., "Man Battle Stations, Fire, Flooding in the Basement").
Prepare food with a blindfold on to simulate what real submarine cooks do. Then take the blindfold off and try to get your dog to eat it. Then break out a can of tuna and/or peanut butter.
Cut your bed in half, and enclose all but one side using the dimensions of a small casket as a reference. When not in bed, make up blankets properly so no one will see or care.
Periodically, for want of excitement, open main power breaker and run around yelling, "Reactor Scram", until you are sweating profusely, then restore power. Buy yourself a snorkel and mask, and again, periodically, just for want of nothing else to do, put it on and pretend you're in a smoke filled room with no way out. For added variety, hook up the garden hose and pressurize it.
To enable yourself to handle anything, constantly study wiring diagrams and operating instructions for various home appliances (stove, refrigerator, can opener). For no reason at all, at specified intervals (monthly, weekly, etc.) tear one item apart, just in case it was going to break down.
Paint everything around you gray (Navy FSN gray, no substitutes) or off-white. To be sure you are living in a clean and happy environment, every Friday, set alarm on loud for a short but hated drill sound, then get up and manned with only a bucket and sponge and greeny, clean one area over and over, even if it was already spotless. Then make out a discrepancy list.
Once a day, after normal programming hours, plug in TV and watch one movie being careful that it is (a) at least five years old, (b) made long enough prior to showing to be sure that you've seen it at least once before, or (c) be so bad you have to install a seatbelt in your chair to keep you there until it is over.
Since no doctor will be available, stockpile Band-Aids, aspirin, and Actifed as these are proven cure-alls. Practice if necessary on your dog (surgery, dentistry, or death).
When commencing this test simulation, lock your family, friends, and anything that means anything to you outside. Tests will run for at least two months with no end in sight.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
Mast abate.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
I've been out for a while, but I thought classes of submarines were named after either the first ship of that style (i.e., "Skipjack" class, "Los Angeles" class), or the hull number of the first ship (i.e. "637", "688"). Of course, the exception to that rule is the Permit class, since nobody really wanted to say they were on a "Thresher class" boat after it failed to keep the dive:rise ratio at 1:1.
Alternately, you could be refering to the type of reactor. But --again, correct me if I'm wrong-- I thought the common nomenclature looked more like "S5W" rather than "Class B".
I entered "class B nuclear submarine" as a string into Google and turned up zero hits. Please, enlighten me: name a couple "class B nuclear submarines" so that I know what you're talking about.
Clearly I am surrounded by submarine dig-its on slashdot, so I'll try not to hurt anyone's feelings. NR-1 was originally an ego booster for Hyman Rickover. After all, as the head of the Bureau of Naval Reactors (part of the Department of Energy), why couldn't he have a namesake? The president has Air Force 1. Why couldn't he have NR-1. NR-1 is a pretty old submarine, and it is TINY. It is occasionally referred to as the "trash can reactor". You wouldn't catch me volunteering to be on that thing-- the guys I knew gave up the opportunity to shower regularly to lead a fairly miserable life for the periods of time they were submerged. Compared to life on even a Los Angeles class submarine, NR-1 life is substandard. All of the stupid "100 people go down, 50 couples come up" jokes are pretty lame. For the most part, a submarine crew consists of sharp, extremely heterosexual guys that spend their time doing the right thing and busting each other's balls. If anyone admits a weakness or that something bothers them, everyone will do their best to push that button and drive him to insanity. When the crew's favorite movie is "Wild Things", it is hard to say they're all a bunch of homos. The life of a submariner is anything but easy. Men on real operational submarines (i.e. the "fast attack", Los Angeles class submarines) often spend more than half of the year away from home. I've said my peace.
And how can you tell that Santa Claus is really a potent male fertility symbol?
Well, what else can you think of that keeps sliding up and down long, dark, warm, hidden vertical passages, leaving presents at the bottom?
(No, I didn't make this up, I heard author Margaret Visser say this in a TV interview.)
(Yeah, I know this is off-topic, but what the heck, I have a few extra karma points.)
Oh yeah, Bruce, thanks for your terrific contributions in the open source movement.
I only know of two class b submarines. Both were non nuclear. The USS Bass(SS-164) was a US Class B sub, and the Brits had a class B costal sub. You must be old as hell pops. The Bass was used for target practice in 1945, and the british class b was builit in 1904.
I mod down any one who says "I'm sure I will get modded down for this"
My father served on the NR-1 as storekeeper (SKCM) for a number of years. Luckily this did not required him to go out with the sub as it was so tiny anyone who wasn't needed didn't go on the patrols. He was on many subs in the USN for 20+ years. A few of them were the USS Sam Rayburn, USS Whale, USS George Marshall, and USS Phoenix.
When I spent time as an RO (Reactor Operator) and an instructor in the Navy, I always wanted to go to NR-1 so I could qualify as EOOW (Engineering Officer of the Watch).
This qualification is normally limited to officers in the submarine community.
Craenor
The Royal Navy still has an escape tower filled with water at their training centre in Gosport and to get your submariner rating, you had to practice there. Escapes are definitely considered survivable from 100 metres which is why there is training.
See my journal, I write things there
That whole flag crap really pissed me off back in the day. I had to work to get my fish in 1995, only to see kids knowing half of what I did being handed them from 1996-2000. It was sad the "Great Dolphin Giveaway" was in full force. I received my checkouts from the A-Gang LPO, and the kids just found a belowdecks qualed MM2 to grape them. At least I knew what to do in a casualty!
Disgruntled former STS2/SS
It's obvious that given the sub had a nuclear powerplant it was going to be used on clandestine, secret operations in Soviet territorial waters to monitor Soviet Navy movements. NR-1 was probably the best submarine to quietly monitor the home bases of the Northern Fleet, the Soviet Navy's primary fleet for operations against NATO.
What's interesting is that the Soviets never built anything like NR-1. The Soviets had built a series of miniature submarines for Spetsnaz operations in Norwegian fjords but they never did build anything akin to NR-1, even though Soviet submarine designers could have easily designed and built such a craft. Maybe the poor state of Soviet nuclear reactor design prevented the NR-1'ski from being built?