Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 245 Petty Officer 2ndClass John Mosley at thehelm of USS Florida beneath the surface ofHood Canal. Inthe control room of the Trident control room below via intercom. submarine USS Florida, Petty Officer Also atop the sail is the Florida's Section 3 2nd Class John Mosley munches commanding officer, Capt. Paul Sullivan. He rhythmically on a tasteless scrap of watches wordlessly and stoically over the gum and nudges the small oval OOD's shoulder. 400 Feet steering wheel before him to the right. Today the crew is taking the billion- Below the "Right 15 degrees rudder, steady dollar strategic sub from its berth at the course two-seven-eight," he says in a calm Bangor naval base to 600-foot-deep Dabob Canal voice from the swivel chair where he sits. Bayin Jefferson County for a test spin. It's a ByLloyd Pritchett Mosley, considered the best helmsman short 35-minute cruise across Hood Canal. with the Florida's blue crew, can't see where The idea is to put the submarine he is going. through its paces one last time before it Instead, he eyeballs a panel clustered heads out on another 75-day patrol under with gauges and instruments and responds the unforgiving ocean after nearly a month to course headings ordered by the ship's in port. officer of the deck. "If the ship gets out (on a patrol) and For the moment, the 18,700-ton sub is something doesn't work ... it can create a real cruising along the surface of Hood Canal. domino effect," said Cmdr. Henry Gonzales, The officer of the deck, known as the the Florida's executive officer. "One reason "OOD," is perched at the top of the that doesn't happen much is because we submarine's towering black sail, out in a have Dabob Bay here to use for testing." brisk spring wind. He communicates to the The crew also needs to know if all 146 • Using the Resource systems are working noiselessly, since a sub "All vents open!" answers the chief of that makes noise is a sub that gets found. the watch, as he throws open switches. And Trident subs aren't in the business of Thousands of gallons of Hood Canal water being found. begin pouring noiselesslythrough valves Any noises detected by sensitive sound into the sub's ballast tanks. detectors planted on Dabob Bay's bottom A rush of cool air passes through the must be tracked down and silenced by repair control room. "The average crews before the sub can head out to sea. Immediately, the red digits on the age ofthe crew As the sub enters the bay, it begins a sub's keel depth gauge begin increasing as long, looping racetrack circuit. It is nearly is only 21 the sub starts on its way below Hood Canal's time to dive. gray waves. The planesman calls out the years old.A lot The personnel on the sail — the OOD, increasing depths. of timesa new the junior OOD, the captain and two look "Three-eight feet," he says. "Four-six. crew member outs — clamber down a long metal ladder ...Four-eight.... Five-zero feet.... Five-two." senses the through two hatches into the control room "Deck's awash," calls out the officer of weight of the below. The last one down closes and seals the deck, signalling that the waves are now the hatches. combing over the sub's outer deck. whole world is Now the officerof the deck will guide When the keel depth reaches sixty- on his the ship by periscope. eight feet,the huge submarine is completely shoulders. But A command passes over the ship's submerged. I remind him speaker system: "Watchstanders, man your Once it passes below 84feet, it will be that it's really phones in preparation for submerging the too deep to use the periscope. ship." "Order depth one-nine-one," intones a teameffort... At the helm, Mosley chews his gum the OOD. I call it 'Team faster as the moment for diving approaches. Shortly after, he lowers the periscope. Florida'." His right leg moves up and down rapidly in The helmsman seems to relax. His leg — Capt. Paul a nervous rhythm. stops moving up and down. But he still gives Sullivan, USS Also at the ready is the ship's his gum a workout. Rorida planesman, to Mosley's left, who controls the sub's angle of descent, and the chiefof the watch, who mans a panel showing which JNow isthe time when the ship's sonar valves, hatches and openings on the ship's room takes over. hull have been closed. "We're the eyes and ears of the boat Beforethe sub can submerge, every when we're not at periscope depth," ex opening must be shut. plains Sonar Technician 1st Class Michael "We don't want water getting into Guinn. what we call the people locker," explains the What the sonar crew does is listen to submarine group's training officer,Lt. Cmdr. sounds in the water — very carefully — Jay Perkins. using a multimillion-dollar hightech elec The OOD orders more course changes tronic system called the AN/BQQ6 that and the helmsman answers. analyzes sounds on a screen. "Right full rudder, aye," says the The system is so sophisticated that, helmsman, just the slightest bit of tension with a crackerjackoperator, it can put entering his voice. "All ahead one-third, aye. together a three-dimensional acoustic ...Passing course one-eight-zero to the right, "picture" of all sounds surrounding the ship, sir.... Continue course two-zero-zero, helm identify where they are coming from and aye. Officer of the deck, steady on course what is causing them. two-zero-zero, sir." It can tell whether a nearby sound is "Very well, helm," answers the OOD. caused by a whale, a supertanker, an ocean Then the planesman receives his tug — or a Victor class Soviet submarine — orders: "Submerge the ship, make depth and then allow the sub to avoid it. seven-eight feet." "Just by listening, we can tell how And just as it has been portrayed in a many screws (propellers) a contact has, and thousand Hollywood movies, a voice how many blades are on each screw," said crackles over the ship's speaker system: Guinn. "Dive! Dive!" A horn alarm sounds Today, in Dabob Bay, the sonar system twice, and then the order is repeated: "Dive! picks up the tiny sounds of hundreds of Dive!" snapping shrimp. The sound of a passing Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 147 patrol boat also leaves a thick acoustic wake nated by the certainty that it will be followed down the sonar system's screen. by about 75 days at sea. But out in front of the sub, all is clear. It takes most of a day for a sub to get Down below on the ship's lowest deck, from Bangor to the sea. Once the Trident in the Rorida's torpedo room, another crew reaches the western end of the Strait ofJuan is getting ready for action. de Fuca, "it's time to pull the plug," said Today the crew will test-launch a Mark Gonzales, executive officer of the Rorida's 48 torpedo — a million-dollar weapon so blue crew. The sonar smart that if it misses its target it is pro After the sub dives, it needn't come system picks grammed to come back and try again. back to the surface until the patrol is over. The torpedo being shot today has no Air is manufactured, water is purified from up the tiny warhead on it. After launching, it will be the sea and tons of food are stashed aboard. sounds of retrieved and put back into service. During all this time, one thing is more hundreds of No tense, sweaty-faced officer barks important than any other to the ship and its snapping "Fire one!" into his headset as a torpedo crew: silence. shrimp. After roars from its tube. Instead, there is a calm Aboard a Trident sub, any sound can countdown, after which a technician pushes jeopardize national security if a listening testfiring a a button in the control room. Soviet sub is anywhere within miles. There torpedo, a A loud hiss, lasting less than a second, fore, silence is not just a virtue; it is a neces torpedoman is the only sign that the torpedo has been sity, a habit, a way of living. removes the pushed from its tube by pressurized water. Machinists don't drop tools. Cooks smashed After the launch, a burly torpedoman don't bang pots and pans. Doors and hatches remains oftwo opens the tube to check it. Inside he sees the aren't slammed, they are closed with great, smashed remains of two Hood Canal shrimp gentle care. Whenever possible, crew Hood Canal sucked into the screens during the launch. members climb into their bunks, or "racks," shrimp sucked "It's the catch of the day," he says. to avoid making noise. Toilet lids aren't even into the tube. lifted for fear they will fall back down with a bang. 1he Trident submarines based at "Something like that can be heard Bangor spend more than twice as much time miles through the water," said Senior Chief out on patrol as they do in port. Mercer, who adds the crew goes "to any For 75days at a time, 160crewmen length to eliminate" noise. stand ready at a moment's notice to launch Meanwhile, the work load hardly lets 24 missiles packing up to eight warheads up.