RED SOUNDING
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Biography
I am a military historian and defense contractor. I completed a B.S. in Diplomacy and Military Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, and am continuing my education in military history by taking courses at Norwich University's online Masters Degree program. I created this blog as a scrapbook to keep a record of events I find interesting.
WHAT'S A REDSOUNDING?
A "red sounding" is a term used by sonarmen operating a fathometer. It's intended to alert the crew that the water's depth below the keel of the boat is dangerously shallow, and that the risk of running aground is imminent. It's kind of like "mark twain," but different.
I served in the US Navy from 1990-1996 as a submarine sonar technician. After completing submarine training and a further eight months of basic and advanced electronics and troubleshooting schools in Groton, CT, I was assigned to San Diego, CA, for sonar operator and repair school. With all of these schools, I spent two years of my naval service in the classroom before my first underway.
In August 1992, after finishing 2nd in my class, I was offered several choices of duty station, and chose a fast attack submarine based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Overall, I served on two fast attack boats: USS Aspro (SSN-648), and USS San Francisco (SSN-711). I completed submarine qualifications, and had my silver dolphins pinned on my chest in March 1993.
The Aspro was a Sturgeon-class fast attack submarine, refitted in 1986 with the AN/BQQ-5C sonar system -- the system I had spent months in San Diego learning how to operate and repair. The Aspro was commissioned in February 1969 (when I was two years old), and I served on board for her final two Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployments -- she was decommissioned in 1995.
After Asro, I was then assigned to the USS San Francisco in November 1994, and I completed Los Angeles-class submarine qualifications in January 1995. The fact that I was already wearing dolphins made qualifying much easier than the first time.
The San Fran was an amazing boat, especially after having served the much smaller Aspro. The difference between the two classes of submarines was stark, particularly in the engine room. The limited space on Aspro -- especially in her after compartments -- was crammed full of gear, including a nuclear reactor, a propulsion plant, an electric plant, water-purification systems, several hydraulic plants, air compressors, reduction gears, sea and fresh water pumps, refrigeration plants, and numerous other life support systems. Needless to say, moving around the engine room on a Sturgeon-class boat during a fire drill while wearing a bulky oxygen breathing apparatus required great flexibility and a certain level of acrobatic skill. The forward compartments on Aspro were not much better.
The Sturgeon-class boats (except the "stretch hulls") were only 292 feet in length, compared to the LA-class's 360 feet. Also, the Sturgeons were more narrow than the LA's, and the slight difference in beam was profound from the inside. Thus, the San Fran featured an extraordinarily large engine room compared to the Aspro's.
The reason for the larger engine room was rooted in the Cold War. Hyman G. Rickover was tasked in the late 1960s with designing a very fast boat that could keep up with the speedy Soviet boats. In order to do so, the new design featured a propulsion system that really cranked out the horses. And that it did! Driving the LA-class boats proved nearly deadly during their first sea trials, as the crews struggled to tame the powerful and agile hunter/killers.
My life aboard submarines revolved mostly around my main duties as a sonar technician. During the maneuvering watch, for instance, I spent hundreds of hours operating the boat’s fathometer, standing for hours at a time in one place and staring at a stylus running back and forth, back and forth, across a roll of paper. Believe me when I say that this can challenge even the most emotionally stable of individuals.
Also, driving a $1 billion submarine into and out of port requires the undivided attention of the boat’s navigation team, which is composed of the finest watch standers who are entrusted with the safety of the crew – which consists of about 140 men – and one of the world’s most expensive and technologically sophisticated pieces of military hardware. During the maneuvering watch, thereore, it is the responsibility of the fathometer operator to alert the navigation team if he's detected anomalous water depths, which typically indicate something’s amiss. When the boat ventures into dangerously shallow water, the fathometer operator alerts the navigation team by shouting “red sounding.”
Luckily, I never encountered an actual "red sounding," a true testament to the professionalism of the officers and men I served with for 6 years in the world's finest navy.
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