35 replies to this topic

[BradfordNC]

I'll scan the interior scematic in and see if I can post it. The sub is tight and silty, but interesting.

as interesting as any other rusty, silt-filled piece of culvert.

Hopefully, I won't have an issue getting my doubles through.

the limiting factor is the size of your body, not the size of the tanks. your PST-130s only add .75 inches to your profile. you will have to be a very "large" person for that .75 inches to be a deciding factor.
(i know you know this, but alum 80s are 7.25 inches in diameter, steel 130s are 8)
unless you are a stick, you are wider than your doubles, so width is not a factor. doubles fit through the hatches with no problems.

and now the only aircraft carrier in the US.

a stripped down and sanitized aircraft carrier (not that there is much to see on one anyway)

It can go to 0 vis sooooo damn fast.
If you aint the first thru it sucks.
Make sure you have good lines tied off well.

if not
extent left arm, it will hit wall.
extent right arm, it will hit wall
as long as your head isn't hitting anything, you are moving down the hallway.
if you seem to move forever and then your head hits something, your in the torpedo room, you won't fit out the tube, turn around and go the other way.
chances are, if the german sewerpipe gets silted out, and your searching for the exit, there will be someone at the battery hatch ready to grab you as you go by and shove you back out into the open.

[Diverbrian]

I'll scan the interior scematic in and see if I can post it. The sub is tight and silty, but interesting.

as interesting as any other rusty, silt-filled piece of culvert.

Hopefully, I won't have an issue getting my doubles through.

the limiting factor is the size of your body, not the size of the tanks. your PST-130s only add .75 inches to your profile. you will have to be a very "large" person for that .75 inches to be a deciding factor.
(i know you know this, but alum 80s are 7.25 inches in diameter, steel 130s are 8)
unless you are a stick, you are wider than your doubles, so width is not a factor. doubles fit through the hatches with no problems.

and now the only aircraft carrier in the US.

a stripped down and sanitized aircraft carrier (not that there is much to see on one anyway)

It can go to 0 vis sooooo damn fast.
If you aint the first thru it sucks.
Make sure you have good lines tied off well.

if not
extent left arm, it will hit wall.
extent right arm, it will hit wall
as long as your head isn't hitting anything, you are moving down the hallway.
if you seem to move forever and then your head hits something, your in the torpedo room, you won't fit out the tube, turn around and go the other way.
chances are, if the german sewerpipe gets silted out, and your searching for the exit, there will be someone at the battery hatch ready to grab you as you go by and shove you back out into the open.

I served on enough submarines to have a general idea of the interior layout. They haven't changed the interior layout much since WWII (at least from the submarine that I served on prior to being a member of its decom crew). Two or three decks along a pipe (as Brad so nicely puts it). Really there is one way in and one way back out of these vessels. Actually, I am not that large a person (which is why I normally drew bilge painting/cleaning on these vessels... I could actually fit in the bilges ). This sounds like I will fit almost as easily as I do through the bow passages of the freighters that I dive on in the lakes. This is good.

[BradfordNC]

Two or three decks along a pipe (as Brad so nicely puts it). Really there is one way in and one way back out of these vessels.

Brian,
the subs you served on were palaces compared to this one. other than the conning tower, there is only one deck to explore, and it has a central hallway. the "side rooms" are more like closets.

I normally drew bilge painting/cleaning on these vessels... I could actually fit in the bilges.

now that would suck. i'm sure there were members of the crew who intentionaly ate more than their fair share of chow so they couldn't fit down there.

[Diverbrian]

Two or three decks along a pipe (as Brad so nicely puts it). Really there is one way in and one way back out of these vessels.

Brian,
the subs you served on were palaces compared to this one. other than the conning tower, there is only one deck to explore, and it has a central hallway. the "side rooms" are more like closets.

I normally drew bilge painting/cleaning on these vessels... I could actually fit in the bilges.

now that would suck. i'm sure there were members of the crew who intentionaly ate more than their fair share of chow so they couldn't fit down there.

True enough on all counts. The real palaces were the missile subs. I never got to serve on one of them. I was on the attack boats. First boat was the SSN590 (USS Sculpin) which we decommed. The 589 (the sister ship to the SS590) is one of two of our nuclear submarines in Davy Jones locker under relatively mysterious circumstances. For those interested in that story, they can google for the USS Scorpion. I don't think that any of us will be diving that one, . These were actually more comfortable for the crew (IMHO) than the SSN688 class (Los Angeles class) that I ended my naval career on.

The older subs still had crew quarters in mind whereas the newer one was basically a weapons/sensing platform with crew accomodations stuck in as an afterthought. Actually, this brings up another question. What about the watertight doors between compartments? From your wording, I assume that there is enough room in the hatches for a person to pass through without severely hanging up gear (I have been snagged on wire inside of wrecks before, so I expect some of those issues.) In short, what kind of hang-up issues still exist inside this wreck?

As to the bilge work, what can I say? It led to a good place to hide-out on field day (major detail cleaning for those not into Navy terminology). And the larger guys had problems in other areas. I can't count the number of foreheads that I saw hit hatches and such. This was especially true when we were pouring our crew back onto the boat off a bad night on the town .

[BradfordNC]

What about the watertight doors between compartments? From your wording, I assume that there is enough room in the hatches for a person to pass through without severely hanging up gear (I have been snagged on wire inside of wrecks before, so I expect some of those issues.) In short, what kind of hang-up issues still exist inside this wreck?

nothing watertight on this baby anymore. lol.
actualy, i don't think there were any watertight hatches on these subs (other than getting through the pressure hull into the sub)
there were doors, but not sure if there were any seperate water/pressure compartments. there were no rescue teams back then, so not sure what the point would be in "safely" securing yourself in a particular compartment while the rest of the sub floods. you'd simply suffocate instead of drown.

the forward torpedo room has a door, but it is open, and easy to get through, but never paid enough attention to notice if it had all the bells and whistles and cranks to make it watertight.

even though this thing was sent to the bottom from combat, the inside looks like an artificial reef, it almost seems stripped. it has been down a long time, and the navy did go through it in the late 70s or early 80s to check for UXO. i know they used a hose to suction all the sediment out of it, so maybe they pulled everythign else out as well. that and other divers have prolly pulled out anything of value. other than the 45 degree tilt making orientation and hatchways fun, not much in the way of wiring to get snagged on.

[VADiver]

From the control room aft it gets a little tight, but from built up sand and machinery...no wires. Other than the list it's relatively easy to navigate. As Brad said, if you hit a bulkhead turn around and you'll get to the exit.