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CUTBACK OVERRIDE Action to stop a cutback by taking the mode selector switch to the cutback override position, stopping control rod motion inward. Used when a cutback is caused by an instrument failure rather than an actual hazard.

C.O. (COMMANDING OFFICER) Official title of the captain of a ship.

DANCING WITH THE FAT LADY Periscope watch. When rotating the number two periscope (type 18 scope), the observer’s pelvis is pressed up against the hot optical control module of the unit. Physically exhausting when done for hours at a time.

DEBALLASTING SYSTEM Russian alternative to an emergency blow system. Explosive charges are placed in the ballast tanks to blow water out and replace the water with hot gases. Cheaper system than an emergency blow system, but rumored to have worsened Russian emergencies by rupturing the hull instead of blowing out ballast tank water.

DECADES PER MINUTE Measure of speed of increase of reactor power during a startup. A decade increase means that there are ten times as many fission neutrons in the core as before. There maybe several dozen decades between the startup range and the power range. Normal startup rate is one decade per minute (about two to ten times faster than a civilian reactor startup rate). Fast recovery startup rate is 5 decades per minute. Absolute emergency rate is 9 dpm, since the maximum visible on the meter is 10 dpm.

DECK OFFICER Russian equivalent to the American Officer of the Deck.

DELOUSING When a submarine temporarily trails another friendly submarine; done to ensure the first sub is not being trailed by an enemy sub.

DEPLOYMENT Extended submarine OP to a distant OPAREA.

DEPTH CONTROL Ability to control a ship’s depth within a narrow control band. Done either manually, with a computer, or with the hovering system (when stopped). Particularly vital at periscope depth because failure to maintain depth control can cause the sail to become exposed (broach), giving away the ship’s position.

DEPTH RATE Speed of change of depth in feet per second. Vertical speed.

DEPTH SOUNDER Fathometer. Measures distance from the bottom of the ship (keel) to the ocean bottom.

DETECT (Noun) When a torpedo is in search mode, a detect is a positive confirmation that a target is where the solution theoretically shows him to be. When a submarine is discovering a target, a detect is the initial sonar bearing to the broadband noise or the initial sonar frequency of the tonal.

DEUTERIUM Heavy water. Used in nuclear fusion reactors or fusion (hydrogen) bombs.

DIALEX Phone system used on submarines for administrative and unofficial communication.

DISK CRASH The failure of the disk module of the fire-control computer. Memory access and operating system actions are done using the tape module, which is infinitely slower than the disk system. Severe failure, but still allows limited fire-control and weapon launch functions.

DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEM (DCS) Computer system that controls a complicated process such as a nuclear propulsion plant.

DIVE POINT The point a submarine plans to submerge. Traditionally where keel depth is greater than 600 fathoms.

DIVING OFFICER Officer or Chief who sits aft of the sternplanesman and helmsman. Responsible for depth control.

DOGS Banana shaped pieces of metal that act as clasps to keep a hatch shut.

DOPPLER EFFECT Effect responsible for train whistles sounding shrill when the train approaches and low pitched when the train is past. When a moving platform emits sound waves, the waves are compressed ahead and rarefacted (spread apart) behind the source. The compression of the waves raises their frequency, making a higher note.

DOPPLER FILTER A sonar receiver that blanks out reception of the frequency of transmission of a sonar pulse. The receiver listens only for higher or lower frequency returns, thus screening out stationary contacts and only detecting moving contacts. Used in police radars and torpedo underice active sonars.

DOT STACK Same as a bearing dot stack.

DOUBLE HULL Construction of the pressure hull inside an outer hull. The space between the outer and inner hull is used for equipment and ballast water. Creates a very survivable platform at the cost of weight and expense.

DRAIN PUMP Main component of the drain system. Pumps out bilges of flooding spaces and discharges the water overboard.

DUTY OFFICER Essentially the Officer of the Deck when the ship is tied up at the pier or in drydock.

D/E (DEFLECTION/ELEVATION) The spherical array of the BAT-EARS sonar suite has hydrophone sonar receivers placed over most of its surface. A sound received on the upper surface (high D/E angle) means the contact is above the submarine or its noise is bouncing off the ocean above. A sound received at low D/E is either reflected from the ocean bottom or directly transmitted from beneath the submarine.

ELECTRIC PLANT CONTROL PANEL (EPCP) A console in the maneuvering room that controls the electrical distribution of the ship including the turbine generators and the battery.

ELF (EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY) Long wave radio waves capable of penetrating deeply into the ground and underwater. Requires large high power land based antennae and has very low data rates (taking several minutes to transmit one letter or number). Usually used to call a submarine up to periscope depth to receive a burst of communication from the satellite.

EMBRITTLEMENT A reactor’s pressure vessel is impacted by trillions of neutrons, altering the physical structure of the metal. The steel vessel becomes brittle and fractures easily when subjected to sudden temperature changes, like a frozen coffee mug shatters when hot coffee is poured in.

EBMT BLOW Emergency main ballast tank blow.

EMERGENCY BLOW Blowing the water out of the main ballast tanks using ultrahigh-pressure air. Empties ballast tanks in seconds, lightening the ship, allowing the ship to get to the surface in an emergency such as flooding.

EMERGENCY COOLING (XC) A system that uses a seawater heat exchanger to cool the nuclear reactor when flow through the core is lost. Uses natural convection flow, which is flow motivated by the tendency of hot water to rise and cold to sink.

EMERGENCY DEEP An emergency procedure used at periscope depth to avoid collision with a surface ship. Involves cavitating, flooding a depth control tank, and putting a diving angle on the ship to get deep in mere seconds. Designed to avoid hull rupture from collision with a surface ship that cannot see the sub at PD. Era of super tankers makes this a vital procedure because super tankers have so much oil volume forward of their engines that they are quiet as a sailboat and are often undetected by sonar.

EMERGENCY HEATUP RATE Emergency procedure used on startup when heating a nuclear reactor after a scram. Instead of a nice slow warmup at a half degree per minute or one degree per minute, the plant is heated up at up to several hundred degrees per minute to save the ship, ignoring the risk of a possible vessel rupture from thermal stress.

EMERGENCY PROPULSION MOTOR (EPM) A large DC motor aft in the engineroom, capable of turning the shaft to achieve 3 knots using battery power alone. An electricity hog.