Spent 7 years on submarines AMA

[Jesus X]

did the submarine ever collide with a whale or anything?

I actually saw a blue whale on a whale watch it was the size of a large yacht,whale sharks are also enormous .

 

[Lord Vutulaki]

Subbed

 

[teamquestnorth]

I remember all of those events well. I had class mates in the engine room of the Cole. The reason I brought up China is because we left Hong Kong the day that plane went down. I was on a 30 year old destroyer that was independent steaming all by ourselves. Our navy and the Chinese navy thought it would be a good time to play fuck fuck games for the next 72 hours. We could hear the active sonar "report back" (or what ever its called). The CO explained to us that we were tracking Chinese Kilo class subs, tracking us. Those fuckers underwater had our entire boat worried. I remember thinking "this is it, we are gonna be sunk by a damn sub." I wondered what the official story would be lol. Its a nerve racking experience to hear the sonar ping something that could take us out. Just was a creepy experience. @teamquestnorth what are your thoughts on those Kilo class subs?


So I got the hell out of the surface fleet and traded in my coveralls for cammies and went to Assault Craft Unit 5 @ Camp Pendleton. That was a great idea, 1 month before Sept 11th.

I forgot to answer this question the first time around. Being tracked by a Kilo class submarine, you definitely had cause to be worried. They're the quietest sub in existence.

When they're operating on the battery, the only real way to track them is by going active. When you go active though, they can tell exactly which bearing you're at and have probably already imputed a firing solution.

These are Russian made subs and I can almost guarantee that they had Russians train them on the use when they took delivery.

Tracking them on one of our subs, you had to be really close and I mean within 2k yards are shorter. That's without going active and giving away our position.

The downside of being so quiet and running on the battery is that they have to surface or at least go up to periscope depth every so often and run their really loud diesel motor to recharge their batteries. That's the best time to lock in on them.

They probably dropped back over 20-30 miles before doing that when they were tracking you guys though.

The Kilo class submarine threat is the real reason that the US Navy won't give up their active sonar training that are apparently harming the whales.

Another downside is that they have a short range due to being non nuclear and run on diesel fuel.

I know that China, Iran, and Russia operate Kilos. North Korea was trying to get their hands on some too. That sub is a legit threat.

 

[BJTT_Pella]

I forgot to answer this question the first time around. Being tracked by a Kilo class submarine, you definitely had cause to be worried. They're the quietest sub in existence.

When they're operating on the battery, the only real way to track them is by going active. When you go active though, they can tell exactly which bearing you're at and have probably already imputed a firing solution.

These are Russian made subs and I can almost guarantee that they had Russians train them on the use when they took delivery.

Tracking them on one of our subs, you had to be really close and I mean within 2k yards are shorter. That's without going active and giving away our position.

The downside of being so quiet and running on the battery is that they have to surface or at least go up to periscope depth every so often and run their really loud diesel motor to recharge their batteries. That's the best time to lock in on them.

They probably dropped back over 20-30 miles before doing that when they were tracking you guys though.

The Kilo class submarine threat is the real reason that the US Navy won't give up their active sonar training that are apparently harming the whales.

Another downside is that they have a short range due to being non nuclear and run on diesel fuel.

I know that China, Iran, and Russia operate Kilos. North Korea was trying to get their hands on some too. That sub is a legit threat.

Thanks for getting back to me. That is exactly how it was explained to me then. It really was a long week dealing with that.

 

[1372]

I forgot to answer this question the first time around. Being tracked by a Kilo class submarine, you definitely had cause to be worried. They're the quietest sub in existence.

When they're operating on the battery, the only real way to track them is by going active. When you go active though, they can tell exactly which bearing you're at and have probably already imputed a firing solution.

These are Russian made subs and I can almost guarantee that they had Russians train them on the use when they took delivery.

Tracking them on one of our subs, you had to be really close and I mean within 2k yards are shorter. That's without going active and giving away our position.

The downside of being so quiet and running on the battery is that they have to surface or at least go up to periscope depth every so often and run their really loud diesel motor to recharge their batteries. That's the best time to lock in on them.

They probably dropped back over 20-30 miles before doing that when they were tracking you guys though.

The Kilo class submarine threat is the real reason that the US Navy won't give up their active sonar training that are apparently harming the whales.

Another downside is that they have a short range due to being non nuclear and run on diesel fuel.

I know that China, Iran, and Russia operate Kilos. North Korea was trying to get their hands on some too. That sub is a legit threat.

Lots of people waiting on your answers today bro.

 

[teamquestnorth]

Lots of people waiting on your answers today bro.

Yeah I better tend to my other AMA lol. Not so knowlegable on the other one

 

[b00ts]

I don't have any questions, but I will say that I had to see my bird(AH-64D) off when our tour was done. Flew gunner myself(Thanks for the waiver Gen Sanchez)down to Kuwait where it was cleaned, shrink wrapped, and loaded on a ship. A BIG FUCKING SHIP. God damn those things are fucking huge.

Also, my buddy from high school ended up as a cook or some shit on a sub. Not sure of the specifics as he was somehow reclassed to a cook and never talks about it lol.

 

[SongExotic2]

I don't have any questions, but I will say that I had to see my bird(AH-64D) off when our tour was done. Flew gunner myself(Thanks for the waiver Gen Sanchez)down to Kuwait where it was cleaned, shrink wrapped, and loaded on a ship. A BIG FUCKING SHIP. God damn those things are fucking huge.

Also, my buddy from high school ended up as a cook or some shit on a sub. Not sure of the specifics as he was somehow reclassed to a cook and never talks about it lol.

when I was in tech school we had some guys who washed out of the program, they got backclassed a few times until eventually they had a choice of being a steward on a sub or going home


I think that's what they do, fill the positions they need to with people who have already signed up.

I wasn't eligible for submarines during my service as I would have to give up my dual citizenship, and I said neigh

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

I just went on a tour of a sub with a friend of mine that was stationed on one. Fuck that, you guys are the real men. No way would I want to be underwater that long. That being said the new tin cans are almost as bad with no real deck space.

Did you get your SS qualification? Where you ever on a surface ship for any amount of time?

nick diaz is my nut hugger

 

[Disciplined Galt]

How many times did you go dowqn below?