Looking to come up to speed

Posted by Tom on September 30, 2010 at 11:23am
My son is presently at Great Lakes in his second week of boot camp.  He is headed to Groton following that for his sub school and tech school.  I try to stay up on and involved with what my kids are doing so I'm very interested in updating my general knowledge about subs.  Are there any good online sources where I could read up on the subject.

I'm not even sure these days what classes of subs are in service or anything much more current than 25 years ago when I was in the USAF and served in a joint services unit.  We didn't have any connection with the sub services in that unit but when shop talk occurred we all did our best to educate each other about our respective branches.

It would be great to bone up on what ever might be available on the net about the subject.

Thanks...
Tom G.

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Replies

  • Chris B. November 3, 2010 at 5:49am
    I suggest The Stupid Shall Be Punished and NUKEWORKER . Many current and former Submariners frequent both sites. I was in your shoes four years ago when my son enlisted.
  • Jack Pouchet October 11, 2010 at 10:38pm
    SImilar situation here - my son is new to boot camp, DIV 005, PIR 11/24 and also heading to Groton. Don't expect this to be a grad & go with Thursday being Thanksgiving but one never knows what to expect. I wasn't AF myself but grew up with a father in the service (E9).

    At least with an MT rating we already know the class of boat he will serve on, provided he completes the long series of schools ahead. The entire family is incredibly excited for him.

    So Tom, when does your son PIR? Sounds like he and my son, also Pouchet, Jack, are close in timing.

    Best regards.

    Jack
  • NavyDads Admin (Paul) September 30, 2010 at 11:59am
    Click this link to our Naval Ships Group Page. You can at least see the various ships and what classes they are in and click to a ship's website. There is little info published but it might give you a start.
  • Leonard September 30, 2010 at 11:47am
    I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, but my son has been on subs for 4 years now. By their very nature, subs are a secretive subject of course, so I'm not sure what you will find online. As far as I know we have LA, Virginia, and Ohio class boats. There are also a couple of Ohio class boats that have been coverted from SSBN's but I'm not sure what that group of boats is called.

    We only have two bases that home port the Ohio boats. Bangor and Kings Bay. LA's and Virginias are scattered among Groton, Sand Diego, Pearl, and Guam. They may also be at Norfolk but I'm not sure.

    Tell your son that coming out of sub school billets get offered on a first come first serve basis with the highest score in that class getting to choose first. There's a lot of competition to get on the Virginia class boats. Being newer, they are far superior in technology to the old LA boats. Also, the Ohio SSBN's almost never go into any port other than their home port. So, if you want to see the world, get on a fast attack boat.

    One part about subs they don't tell the recurits. Sub guys work looooong hours. For the last few months my son's boat has been in drydock for a shakedown. They have been working the entire crew from 4:45 AM unitl 6:00 to 8:00 PM, seven days a week for the last three months. And, every fourth day he pulls 24 hr duty on watch. He's an E5, and says the chiefs work even longer. I suspect this is the result of budget cuts and the use of enlisted (slave type) labor to cut back on contrator costs. The long hours are about to convince him to get out when this enlistment is up. Until now, I thought he would stay in.
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