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From: unx.sas.com!sasdvp@mcnc.org (David V. Phillips)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Nuclear Navy
Message-ID: <1991May14.051622.6928@amd.com>
Date: 10 May 91 14:06:08 GMT
References: <1991May3.063219.5127@amd.com> <1991May8.034742.11736@amd.com> <1991May9.064322.13481@amd.com>
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From: unx.sas.com!sasdvp@mcnc.org (David V. Phillips)


deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) writes:
[ and mentions the NR-1, -- the nuclear powered research submarine. ]

At last, something this lurker knows something about.  It's really just
some trivia about NR-1.

The NR-1 is incapable of transiting to its operational area under its
own power (well, maybe it could get to Block Island, but it would take
a while) so it requires a tow, usually (always?) from an ASR (that's a
submarine rescue ship.)

For some reason, the Ortolan (can't remember the spelling exactly, but
it's the catamaran hulled ASR on the East Coast) never gets the job, so
it usually falls to the Petrel or the Kittiwake (ASR-13)  I was
stationed on the Kittiwake for 3 years, and was navigator during one
operation with the NR-1.

The NR-1 is indeed *not* a commissioned vessel, so it has an Officer in
Charge, instead of a Commanding Officer.  It can be towed submerged,
and generally submerges as soon as the water is sufficiently deep.
When the operational area is reached, it releases the tow, and can go
to the bottom, where it can roll around (yes, roll,  it has wheels on
the bottom.)  The escort vessel stays in the area, and provides
periodic navigational fixes to help NR-1 verify its inertial navigation
equipment.  After the mission is complete, it hooks up to tow (while
still underwater!..a neat evolution) and gets hauled back to port.

We took NR-1 to an area in the North Atlantic one September.  After a
month of circling on station in some pretty nasty weather, we brought
NR-1 back into port.  When we reached the point where NR-1 had to
surface, we still had seas running about 20 feet, with winds of 40 kts,
gusting to 50.  We had been battered pretty badly for a month, and all
of our sailors came up to the open decks on the second level to watch
NR-1 wallow.  There were lots of smiles as we watched it go through
what we had endured.  Unfortunately, they were only surfaced for six
hours.

The Kittiwake (ASR-13) was 250 ft long, 40 beam, 3000 shaft horsepower
diesel-electric.  6-7 officers, about 100 men.

--
David Phillips         sasdvp@dev.sas.com
"They that can give up an essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". -- Benjamin Franklin (1759)