When the last of the heavy structures like the conning tower/ fairwater are installed, and the hull is declared water-tight, it is time to roll the boat out of the building shed and launch it. By this time, the PCU crew has been completely assigned, working day to day with the EB personnel. Once the boat is launched, it is towed to a dock where the rest of the sub's equipment will be installed and tested. This can take between six and eight months, and it is made more difficult by the poor access to the interior of the boat at this time. Since the design of the 688Is makes no allowance for hard patches-points on the hull designed to be cut open-everything has to fit down the hatches leading into the interior of the sub.
Testing/Shakedown
From the Navy's point of view, the new boat really comes to life when the reactor is powered up, or made "critical," for the first time. Prior to this, the reactor fuel elements have been loaded and a series of mechanical and electrical tests made. Before the reactor is allowed to go critical, every element of the propulsion system will have been tested under real-world conditions for a substantial period of time. During a final test (known as a Reactor Safeguard Examination), which is supervised by personnel from DNR and certified personally by the DNR himself, the crew is tested to affirm that they meet the standards set down over forty years ago by Admiral Rickover when the Nautilus first made ready to go to sea. And for the rest of the boat's service life, a DNR team will periodically be sent down to the boat for a continuing series of Operational Reactor Safeguard Examinations (ORSEs).
By this time the precommissioning crew has grown to the point that they can take the boat out for her initial sea, or Alfa, trials, in which a mixed Navy/EB crew will take the boat out into the Atlantic for a series of test runs. These tests are always carefully monitored and escorted, and throughout the history of the nuclear propulsion program, the three DNRs (Admiral Rickover, Admiral McKee, and Admiral DeMars) have each embarked on every new nuclear submarine to personally supervise the first sea period of the Alfa trials themselves. This personal accountability and responsibility on the part of all three DNRs, as well as their perfect safety record, has gone a long way in building confidence with the public, the Congress, and the administration in the U.S. Navy's ability to safely and successfully utilize nuclear power at sea.
Commissioning: Into the Fleet
When EB has finished building the boat to the contract specifications, it is time to finish training the crew and turning the boat into a warship. This process takes several more months. It includes weapons and tactical training, emergency procedures drills, navigation training, and actual weapons firings at the Atlantic undersea test and evaluation center (AUTEC) range down in the Bahamas. Located in the waters off Andros Island, this is an instrumented range where submarines and their crews can practice the process of operating their boat and learning to "fight" it. Somewhere during this process, the boat and her crew pass the point where they become one great war machine.
Almost six years after the contract was first signed, the final step in the process takes place. Once the Navy has determined that the boat is in all ways ready to enter the fleet, a commissioning date is scheduled, with the ceremony to be held either in Groton or Norfolk.
On this day the boat's name becomes official, the crew of "plank owners" (the original crew at the time of commissioning) is set, and the PCU submarine becomes a U.S. Navy submarine. Usually, high-ranking Navy and political figures give speeches, the commissioning captain gets to speak a few words about what this day means to him and the crew, and then, at a special moment in the ceremony, the commissioning pennant is broken out and the crew, adorned in their best Navy whites, rushes aboard and mans the boat for the first time in her official Navy career.
At this point the boat actually enters service with the fleet. But if the crew think they have seen the last of the builder's yard, they are mistaken. After the boat goes on its initial shakedown cruise, it is sent back to the yard for what is known as the Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) period. This involves taking the boat back to the yard and fitting all of the new equipment modifications that have evolved since the initial contract was signed. In addition, any warranty repairs that have become necessary will be done at this time. Following the PSA period, it will be time to head out to her new home port and the first real missions for the fleet. There probably will be only one or two of these before the CO gets word his relief is being sent. And when the commissioning captain leaves the boat, she really does belong to the fleet and the string of men who will command and sail her.
Home Bases[8]
Once a boat has been commissioned into the fleet, it will be assigned to duty at one of the submarine bases scattered throughout the United States. These bases have the job of providing administrative and maintenance support to a boat, as well as providing housing and sustenance to her crew. Their facilities range from the ultramodern Trident facilities at Bangor, Washington, and Kings Bay, Georgia, to the turn-of-the-century New England charms of Groton, Connecticut. For the crews of the boats, these places mean home and family. Let's look at them.
Pacific Fleet
Out in the Pacific are a number of bases supporting nuclear submarine operations. These include Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Ballast Point in San Diego, California; and Bangor, Washington. The most modern of these is the huge base at Bangor, designed to support operations of the Ohio-class SSBNs and their Trident missiles. It is located on Washington's Puget Sound, nestled into the trees of Kitsap Peninsula. Built in the 1970s specifically to support Trident operations, this is a huge facility with room to support a squadron of eight Ohio-class submarines. Currently this is Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 17. Those who have had the pleasure to serve at Bangor have often called it one of the most comfortable and modern duty stations in the entire U.S. Navy. Also located at Bangor is Submarine Group (SUBGRU) 9. It supervises all of the submarine activities in the Pacific Northwest, including the permanent facilities for basing, overhaul, and rework at Bremerton, Washington. Technically, SUBRON 17 at Bangor is also subordinate to SUBGRU 9.
Down in San Diego is the sub base at Ballast Point. While the permanent facilities at this location are not as developed as other bases (it is literally carved into the side of Point Loma), it is located adjacent to the immense naval facilities in San Diego, and considered by the sub crews and their families a great place to be based.
Though the permanent facilities at Ballast Point are not as well developed as Bangor and some of the other bases, it has an amazing array of submarine tenders, floating drydocks, and other support ships to provide infrastructure for the many boats and submersibles based there. The major submarine organization located at Ballast Point is SUBGRU 5, which has a number of subordinate units in addition to several attached SSNs and a tender. The first is Submarine Development Group (SUBDEVGRU) 1, which is equipped with several tenders and a rescue ship, as well as two research submersibles and the two DSRV rescue submarines. Also subordinate to SUBGRU 5 are SUBRON 3, with nine SSNs and a tender, as well as SUBRON 11, with seven SSNs and a tender.
8
As this book goes to press, massive cuts in the structure of the submarine force are being planned. These descriptions of bases and organizations are current as of March 1993.