[Heiwa]

When I complained about the heat, they said the AC units were down for maintenance. There were some fans running, but most of my painting was not under a vent duct.

What did you paint in the un-vented reactor room of a nuclear sub in Newport drydock using breathing apparatus? Or is it a national security matter?

[Lark]

There is temporary vent to keep the air safe to breathe, but it does not do much to keep it cool. I was painting over sample sites and areas where paint was removed for interference removal. The paint I was using required a resperator due to the vapors it gave off. The first day I was qualified to wear a dosimeter I was sent in to paint near the reactor to get experience I guess. I work at the Puget Sound shipyard in Washington state, I have never been to the Newport News shipyard in virginia.

[Lark]

I took a walk through one of the subs that is being cut up for recycling in the dry dock. The sub is cut up into 3 pieces and separated. Lots of paint lagging and metal samples are taken to show that it is not contaminated or if it needs to be cleaned. Then they cut it into little pieces and send the section with the reactor out to Hanford for storage.

I got a look at the engine room. There is a huge electric motor and steam turbines connected to a large shaft. The electrical generators are big too. There is also a big diesel engine with another generator. I think I would not want to be living on one of those subs when it is at sea. One of the technicians was showing me around and told me how his first bed on his first sub was next to the torpedos. That did not sound like fun at all.

[rerevisionist]

Interesting stuff. Any sign of huge batteries? Or diesel fuel tanks? Or a nuclear reactor?

There has been a guess (or informed comment?) made that these subs could be powered by Stirling engines. The opposite view is that Stirling engines just don't have the power that's needed, so it must be something more usable. Any views on that possibility?

[Lark]

I have the lowest security clearance that the shipyard can give me and I can still see almost every part of the sub. I was told that I can not talk about equipment layout or details like like power capabilitys. But the guys who have shown me around said that it is not a secret that the subs have a atomic reactor and a diesel engine and a battery.

I have seen the reactor, sort of anyway. It is surrounded by a large tank to stop some of the radiation. There is a big red diesel engine with a generator on it in another part of the sub too. I was told that the battery is very big, but it is only good for a few hours because the sub uses lots of electricity. He said the batery was like the one used on the old subs in world war 2, but those ones were alot smaller.

I asked about a stirling engine but my friend did not know anything about them. He said the diesel can only be run when they are on the surface of the ocean or if they stick up a pipe to take in air. I asked about using the air on the sub and he said that the only air made on the sub is for the crew to breathe.

[Lark]

interesting day in the shipyard today. I was on a submarine that is nearly completed with the overhaul. They started up the engine room and heated everything up. A gasket on one of the steam valves blew out and made a steam plume that was almost 3 feet long. One of the sailors shut a valve and the steam went away in a minute. We will have some lagging and repainting to do after the valve is fixed.

[Lark]

I found a book on submarine recycling in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It has lots of info on cutting up submarines and it is unclassified. If anyone wants to know more about turning submarines into razor blades, please let me know.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

I was thinking how that maybe submarines fit into the balance of terror. If you're an elite, you want to keep the people scared of some threat, but you don't want them to go into a panic and stop working and stop paying their taxes and such. You want to keep the social structure intact, to your advantage.

If people get too scared of the threat of nuclear annihilation, then you can come out with this submarine thing, and assure them that if the USSR obliterates the USA, the submarines will still be out there, undetectable, and they have the capability to retaliate, even if the USA is completely smoke.

Then if the people in the USA get too confident in the submarines, you can release the story that the Japanese have sold the Russians advanced machining technology that enables the Russians to manufacture a submarine propeller that is silent, and therefore undetectable.

There was a story I heard several years ago, that a guy who was working at some big corporate headquarters during the 'Cold War' told, and he would say which. In New York City, I think. He worked among the big corporate heads, but had some lowly occupation. He said, it surprised him that while himself and the general population was scared of an attack by the USSR, the corporate big wigs just laughed at it.

[FirstClassSkeptic]

I have seen the reactor, sort of anyway. It is surrounded by a large tank to stop some of the radiation. There is a big red diesel engine with a generator on it in another part of the sub too. I was told that the battery is very big, but it is only good for a few hours because the sub uses lots of electricity. He said the batery was like the one used on the old subs in world war 2, but those ones were alot smaller.

I asked about a stirling engine but my friend did not know anything about them. He said the diesel can only be run when they are on the surface of the ocean or if they stick up a pipe to take in air. I asked about using the air on the sub and he said that the only air made on the sub is for the crew to breathe.

How big is 'big'? Is the diesel engine five feet long, ten feet, twenty feet forty feet?

Are you saying the battery on this sub is bigger than the batteries of WWII? Or the WWII batteries were bigger?

[Lark]

I do not really have anything to compare the size to. I think the diesel is about 1000 horsepower and about ten feet long. The battery on the nuclear sub is about the same size as the battery used in world war two subs, but the older subs were much smaller and some of them had two batteries.

I saw a nuclear sub running the diesel engine once. It was pouring out white smoke and it made noise and vibrated the ship a bit. I heard they do not like to run it out at sea except in an emergency because it is louder than the steam turbines.

[Lark]

He said, it surprised him that while himself and the general population was scared of an attack by the USSR, the corporate big wigs just laughed at it.

My dad told me about conversations he had with my grandfather. They talked about the nukes that each country had and the possibility of a war. My dad told me that my grandfather insisted that there would not be a huge nuclear war because there was no money in it. Even though each side spent a bunch of money getting ready for it, if they tried to use their nukes, then they would end up losing too much when the other side attacked back. Grandpa said he was not going to waste any time or money getting ready for a war. He did have emergency supplies for civil unrest though.

My grandfather was a sub sailor during the cold war, but my dad wanted nothing of that and stayed out of the military.

[Heiwa]

My grandfather was a sub sailor during the cold war, but my dad wanted nothing of that and stayed out of the military.

So what did dad do for a living?