Boomers of Bangor: Parts 1 and 2 of life on board a Trident submarine

they are the Titans of the US Navy submarine fleet partition prevents coercion by threat of nuclear attack 560 feet of pure deterrence this is an ohio-class sub nicknamed a trident for its armament of Trident ballistic missiles each carrying enough nuclear warheads to give an enemy pause the ultimate weapon and ultimate peacekeeper residing in your backyard since the early 1980s bangers sub base isn't exactly a secret yet they don't exactly leave out the welcome mat either security here is tight 7700 acres of Hood Canal home to 10 oh hi Oh class subs and 10,000 active duty civilian or contract personnel unless you work on base this is not a view many of us get these are fair water plans so it's one means that we have for controlling going up and down on the ship it's not until you're down on the docks up close and personal that you realize just how big this boat is to put it in perspective if you put two football fields end to end it would measure just shy of the 87 yard line on the second field if you stood an on end it would almost be as tall as the Space Needle and it's 50 feet longer than the arleigh burke-class guided-missile destroyers based in nearby everett unlike this ship where its mere presence can make an impression a subsidy to slide beneath the surface with 20 nuclear warheads makes it downright scary but before sailors ever step foot on board they start here at the Trident training facility this particular trainer they train a school which is a essentially a initial entry school for the the sailors that are coming in so there's a lot of classes they'll teach that particular things from from the ground up this is the torpedo tube lab it's essentially a mock-up of half a torpedo room it's one of three trainers we were given access to there are more than 50 here replicating every single function on the subs in a classroom environment it's a calculated conversation as a team leader follows the script to make sure it's literally by the book when it comes to launching a 3700 pound mark 48 acoustic homing torpedo with a 650 pound high-explosive warhead there's no room for error so she's done still penetrate there are typically two four-hour sessions a day with 40 hours of total training before they're ready for the real thing from torpedoes to transportation our next stop is the bridge it is a giant simulator with a 360-degree view so realistic after a few minutes you'll start to sway here they learn above water navigation both into and out of port watching for boat traffic or any other hazards because slowing down 33 million pounds doesn't happen quickly different programs prepare them for any port in the Pacific so wherever they surface they'll already have working knowledge of the landscape this is affectionately called the dive and drive this is where sailors learn to drive while submerged and run through a series of steep angle maneuvers stabilizer we go back down to 600 there are two main reasons for this exercise not just for safety but for silence underwater if you're moving around and something falls and hits the ground that makes noise and that gets put out in the ocean so I will make sure everything is it's Stoke correctly every order given here in the trainer is exactly what you would hear on a SUP in a little more than one minute the sub has ascended 400 feet then it's back down to 600 a situation in which we'd operate the emergency blow system 600 feet to the surface in one minute flat as the crew leans forward to compensate for the severe up angling topside footage is hard to come by but you get the idea from the 1990 movie The Hunt for Red October all this training prepares these men and women for the real thing life aboard a Trident submarine about a hundred and sixty of America's finest will spend three and a half months on each deployment they'll have a crew on the submarine out at sea while that other crew is here training and getting ready to get certified to take the boat back to ensure that the boat is out at sea as much as possible constant training to maintain constant readiness on board one of the most revered and powerful weapons on the planet we're 560 feet long and what you can see from the surface is about 1/3 of the submarine so it's about 2/3 of it that underneath the water when this sub puts to C there will be 15 officers and roughly 145 enlisted crew on board with the gold crew recently into port it's the blue crews turn to ship out led by Commander Ken Roman if you look here you know it is just submarine dolphins and so through our entire qualification process to get your your dolphins or to qualify in your specific rate we have years of training that take place that build up to that and so you become an expert on board the boat each member of the crew has a specific role working on a first Resident Director is not a simple project petty officer Justin Mon is a nuclear mechanic from Huntington Beach California stationed at Bangor for three years like everyone else on board he stays busy rebuilding dolls repacking valves doing all kinds of maintenance pulling all kinds of huge things apart as we work our way through the sub you'll notice no space is wasted everything has been laid out with a purpose just down the passageway I'm 81 Michael Romero this is sickbay and Romero is the guy you come to see if you don't feel well we carry everything from your common cold medicine so we've got cough drops tylenol ibuprofen the usual type stuff but we also have narcotics on board as well he's also trained on using everything from an IV to a scalpel people will hit their heads on things this is where being tall means being vigilant especially as we make our way down some steep stairs to the third level where the crew sleeps so this area here actually is our birthing areas so to the left and right we have birthing for the crew so obviously there are pretty close quarters on a sub this size nine people actually live in this room and all of their stuff is either stored in one of these cabinets or in the small space under the rack and speaking of their rack or their bed they're not very big especially if your guy might ice that's it right there we return to the forward compartment then down to level four the torpedo room I'm the leading fire control chief petty officer on board as in firing weapons chief Ronald skramstad has called Puget Sound home for 19 years he runs the show on this floor and is the enlisted advisor for the entire weapons department on board in our previous story we showed you how crews trained on base with a mock-up torpedo room 40 hours worth before every deployment that training continues on board so the trainer is a way to certify a team without using actual live ordnance but for long periods of time between one trainer period in the next period if we didn't handle we'd lose proficiency an undisclosed amount of mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes are kept in the belly of this beast an adequate supply to defend the ship in all situations lower through a hatch on to this center tray some can be stored below others store to either side once we get the weapon into the treati tube we can convert it for different configurations close and lock the breech door and then the weapon ideally is ready for launch top to bottom this sub and its crew are prepared for battle they're motivated dedicated professionals but also armed with the knowledge that a successful mission means never firing a shot everyone on board knows their role as a peacekeeper tons of training with daily drills to ensure an American Way of life which takes this high life on a boomer can be stressful but also rewarding I look for people I want to come in try hard you have a good effort and then you want to be part of a team

Channel: KING 5 Seattle

Views: 24,339

Keywords: Navy, Submarine, Bangor, Washington, Military, Trident, nuclear, sub

Id: SCosIdji4Tk

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2019