Captain — The officer in command of the ship or sub. He is an absolute dictator, subject only to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the orders of his superiors in the chain-of-command.
Chopper — Helicopter.
Clear the baffles — A submarine tracking another submarine can take advantage of its quarry's baffles to follow at a close distance without being detected. Periodically, a submarine will perform a maneuver called clearing the baffles, in which the boat will turn left or right far enough to listen with the sonar for a few minutes in the area that was previously blocked by the baffles.
Cleat — A T-shaped piece of metal or wood, esp. on a boat or ship, to which ropes are attached.
COB — Chief of the Boat; the senior enlisted man on a submarine.
Column — (water column) All the water above and below.
Come-home bottle — A small gas bottle that gets a diver back to the PTC/DDC in an emergency.
COMSUBPAC — Commander, Submarine Force Pacific; the commander of all submarine forces in the Pacific.
Conn — The location from which the sub is controlled by the OOD (Officer-of-the-Deck) — also called Control. The Conning Officer (Conn), the watch position for the person who controls the sub's direction, speed, and depth. The OOD usually has both the Deck and Conn, but can pass off the Conn to another qualified officer. Sometimes the Captain will assume the Deck, leaving the Conn with the officer watchstander.
COW — Chief of the Watch; the enlisted watchstander (usually a Chief) who sits at the BCP and controls the ship's load of ballast water and its distribution throughout the submarine.
Coxcombing — A decorative knotwork performed by sailors to dress-up items and parts of ships and boats. Modern uses are to wrap boat tillers and ships' wheels with small diameter line to enhance the grip as well as the nautical appeal. Knots used in coxcombing include Turk's head knot, Flemish, French whipping, and others.
DDC — Deck Decompression Chamber; a pressure chamber on a ship's deck or just below the deck that contains a side lock for entrance and egress, a top lock to mate with the PTC, a small lock for passing in food or medical supplies, emergency equipment, and depending on how it is being used, bunks, lavatory facilities, etc.
Deck — The watch position of OOD (Officer of the Deck); the person in-charge of the sub when the Captain is not in the Control Room, or has not assumed the Deck while in the Control Room.
Dipping bird — A helicopter equipped with a dipping sonar.
Dipping sonar — A helicopter-carried sonar system that can be dipped to various depths by the chopper
Display Room — Located in the Bat Cave — a location with display monitors for following the Basketball or fish.
Dive Locker — A place where divers congregate and stow their gear.
Dive Manifold Complex — A console with gauges, valves and indicators from where a saturation dive is controlled.
Diving Officer — The officer or specially qualified Chief controlling the submarine depth. Works directly under the OOD. The COW works directly for the Diving Officer.
DIW — dead in the water; a ship that is not moving through the water.
Dolphins — The insignia worn by qualified submariners, silver for enlisted and gold for officers. It represents about a year of hard study to gain complete, detailed knowledge of the submarine.
Dry dock — A narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a ship to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft.
DSRV — Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle; a specially designed mini-sub for rescuing crews from downed submarines. The DSRVs replaced the McCann Bells, and now, both DSRVs have been decommissioned. They have been replaced by the Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System.
EAB Mask — Emergency Air Breathing mask; an emergency mask that can be plugged into nearby pressurized air outlets throughout the submarine.
Executive Officer (XO) — Second in command of a ship or sub. Responsible for ship's administration and personnel.
Fast attack — See "Nuke fast attack."
Fast cruise — A one to two day period alongside the pier where all sub's systems are checked out just prior to deployment.
Fish — A towed, high resolution, side-scan sonar device that produces detailed images of the sea floor.
Fish — A torpedo.
Floating dry dock — A floating dry dock is a type of pontoon for dry docking ships, possessing floodable buoyancy chambers and a "U"-shaped cross-section. When valves are opened, the chambers fill with water, causing the dry dock to float lower in the water. The deck becomes submerged and this allows a ship to be moved into position inside. When the water is pumped out of the chambers, the dry dock rises and the ship is lifted out of the water on the rising deck, allowing work to proceed on the ship's hull.
Hawser — Heavy line used to moor subs and other vessels.
Helm — Ship's wheel and steering mechanisms. The person manning the helm.
Humboldt Squid — A large (5ft to 20+ft) squid found in the central pacific and along the Southwest coast of North America.
LOFAR — Low Frequency Analysis and Recording
Maneuvering Room — That part of a sub where the engines are directly controlled.
Maneuvering Watch — The special set of watch assignments for a sub or ship that is getting underway.
Mark 2 Mod 0 Deep Diving System — The original second version of the Deep Diving Saturation System.
McCann Rescue Bell — An old-fashioned type of submarine rescue system deployed from old ASRs; a bell-type of chamber that must be lowered directly to the sub's rescue hatch.
Messenger line — A light line, often with a monkey fist at one end, used to haul or support a larger cable.
Monkey fist — A monkey fist (or monkey paw) is a type of knot, so named because it looks somewhat like a small bunched fist/paw. It is tied at the end of a rope to serve as a weight, making it easier to throw, and also as an ornamental knot.
Nav — Depending on context, the ship's/sub's Navigator; or the navigation stand — typically near the Conn.
Nuke fast attack — A nuclear fast attack submarine; a hunter-killer submarine.
OIC — Officer-in-Charge; the Officer-in-Charge of a unit or operation. A lesser command responsibility than a Commanding Officer.
OOD — Officer-of-the-Deck; the individual in charge of the ship or submarine at any given moment. The OOD is responsible only to the Captain.
Operation Ivy Bells — A Top Secret Cold War plan to retrieve Soviet missile parts and tap into their underwater communication cables.
Ops — The Operations Officer
Oxygen candle — Canisters containing a mixture of sodium chlorate and iron pellets. When they are ignited, they produce about 150 man-hours of oxygen each.
Port — Left.
PTC — Personnel Transfer Capsule; a spherical bell that mates to the shipboard DDC and can transfer a maximum of four divers to the underwater working site.