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It's a Matter of Degrees!
Steve Wheeler and myself reported on board to the Bates together. I was an FTG1 at the time, Wheeler was an SN.
We had graduated number one and number two in our Fire Control class so we both had our choice of what ship we would like to be assigned to.
We were good friends in class, competing for the top position. Because of my past experience, I graduated first, but Steve was smart and scored just a smidgen behind me.
There were several boats needing FTG's and I chose the Bates. Steve, being a good friend, also chose the Bates because it was in need of two FTG's.
It wasn't long before I re-qualified on the Bates and Wheeler had earned his dolphins in record time. Fire Control Technician Steve Steuer joined the weps crew during this time, and the three of us were put to work on routine maintenance for Fire Control.
As it turned out, the Bates had eight degree torpedo tubes, meaning that they weren't aligned with the centerline of the boat, but were angled out slightly. This turned out to be important, because earlier boats had been built with six degree tubes.
When running the monthly preventative maintenance (PM), specifically stabilization tests for fire control, it consistently failed, so we worked diligently trying to find the problem.
Months passed without finding anything wrong, other than it didn't pass the PM.
We were questioned by our XO about working so hard attempting to find a problem which "might not exist". (The XO's question was good natured and not a question of our diligence.)
Eventually I realized that the ship had to have been signed off in shipyard acceptance tests, otherwise, we wouldn't be here. I dug through our documentation to find the actual shipyard tests and tried running that test.
Bingo, it passed despite extremely tight tolerances because of all the work we had done aligning the stabilization units. That meant that it was our PM that was defective, not the Fire Control system.
I submitted a feedback report stating that the PM in our package was the wrong test, which met with resistance from our CO who was reluctant to acknowledge that testing that had been done might not have been satisfactory. That the particular PM been passed for a couple of years prior our boarding the boat was a problem for our CO.
The two Steves and myself, all brand new crew, were the only FT's onboard doing tests - the Chief FT was the COB and didn't work on the system. It finally got to the point that we said we could not pass the PM when it clearly was the wrong test and failed.
Eventually the CO submitted the feedback with a warning to us FT's that we better be right! Since the system had passed all PMs for years, the ramifications were serious.
In the end, the feedback was acknowledged with a new monthly PM designed for 8 degree tubes rather than the 6 degree tube test in our current PM package contained.
Both the Weps Officer and XO commended us for our persistance in prosecuting the problem.
I only wish our CO would have commended us for our diligence.
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Improvise, Adapt, Overcome...
These photos were taken by the Newport News Shipyard photography group on April 11, 1974 as we were about to finish up our PSA.
As you all know, hull numbers were not in vogue in those days, but we wanted a publicity piece.
So we made large cardboard numbers, and double sticky taped them to the sail for the photos.
Following the photo shoot, we did some operational tests, one being a dive to test depth. We were sure the cardboard numbers would be gone when we surfaced.
To our amazement they were still stuck to the sail!
Easy Bake Ovens
This is a no s___ter (Navy speak for this really happened) and as I remember it.
I was the off-going TMOW (Torpedoman of the Watch). It was deep in the middle of the night after mid-rats was cleaned up and the movie probably didn’t interest me at the time.
Being qualified in pretty much everything it was easy to get bored underway. I would usually find myself hanging out in control with the QMOW (Quartermaster of the Watch), often Tom ‘Spot’ Johnson, or in the Equipment Space aft of Radio conversing with the RMOW (Radioman of the Watch), usually David ‘Harry’ Harrison. These two gents were also my roommates in the barracks when in port in San Diego.
Tonight found me hanging in Control and so I had to be either visiting ‘Spot’ or studying to qualify as COW (Chief of the Watch).
The Rash Statement Log
There were only a few books that I can think of that were permitted in Maneuvering. The RPMs (Reactor Plant Manuals), of course. Websters Collegiate Dictionary, so that our logs wouldn't contain spelling errors, was officially sanctioned. I think. It was kept in an aluminum can about 2 feet tall and 2 feet diameter that sat on the deck and usually resided near the sound powered phone mounted on the control panels. Just to the right of the RO.
I have a little niggling doubt about the dictionary because it was the final arbiter for the forbidden games of "Hangman" we would play while on watch. I mean, picture it: Doing ahead 1/3 for days, the reactor is at equilibrium xenon and there are 6 hrs to be used up. We're gonna play hangman. It was not without challenge.
