USS San Francisco almost ready for a new life.

[Ranb]

Back in early 2005 the submarine USS San Francisco (SSN 711) ran aground while transiting at high speed in the Pacific. It limped into Guam and was dry docked for temporary repairs to the forward ballast tanks before it steamed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Several crewmen were injured and one man died.

I remember first seeing it for the first time against the pier over two years ago. I saw buckled steel from the waterline on the sonar dome extending half way back towards the sail. It looked much worse then it actually was due to the way the forward ballast tanks extend around and aft of the forward part of the bow pressure hull. At first I did not know what the Navy intended to do with the boat. Scrapping would be a real shame as it had been recently refueled. I figured it would be reconfigured as a moor training unit and sent to Charleston SC to join the two old boomers there training Sailors. I was told due to the ship’s configuration, it would be cheaper to fix it than convert to a training unit.

Last year the sub entered dry dock along with the USS Honolulu (SSN 718). The Honolulu was due for decommissioning and the decision was made to cut the nose off of it and weld it to the San Francisco. I was working on the San Francisco for most of the last year. It was very interesting to watch the 718 nose getting pushed over in the dock to the 711 hull and welded in place. While the San Francisco was bring repaired, the Honolulu was slowly cut to pieces as part of the sub recycling program.

The San Francisco will pull out of dry dock later this year. I am hoping the crew come out with a “Franken-cisco T-shirt. An appropriate picture I think would be a picture of a sub with stitches and bolts holding the new nose on like in the Frankenstein monster movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_(SSN-711)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4527459.stm
http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn711.htm

Ranb

 

[ConspiRaider]

Interesting stuff there, Ranb.

I'm an ex-squid and my first duty assignment was a sub-tender for fast-attacks (like the SF). I've seen my share of boats and been aboard several. Including the Nautilus, first nuke boat, I believe SSN-571 if I'm not mistaken. Got a picture of her alongside, somewheres.

After the Navy, I was a contractor at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, computer operator, where they were refitting the battleship New Jersey.

Ever walk underneath an 80,000 ton aircraft carrier? I got to do that at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard when my carrier, USS America, was in drydock. I always thought it was kind of silly for them to make us wear hard hats while doing this.

 

[Pantaz]

Ever walk underneath an 80,000 ton aircraft carrier? I got to do that at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard when my carrier, USS America, was in drydock.

Although the chances of the vessel actually falling on you were infinitesimally small, wasn't it still a bit intimidating?

 

[RadioactiveMan]

Ever walk underneath an 80,000 ton aircraft carrier? I got to do that at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard when my carrier, USS America, was in drydock. I always thought it was kind of silly for them to make us wear hard hats while doing this.

But what if the ship fell? That hard hat would save your life and then you wouldn't be sneering.

 

[ConspiRaider]

Although the chances of the vessel actually falling on you were infinitesimally small, wasn't it still a bit intimidating?

Yes. You hoped the guys who jacked it up weren't negotiating a union raise or something. You hoped they were very happy, content, and that whatever football teams they rooted for - won. Always. You hoped their drinks were never watered down at the Ship Of Fools Bar For Fools.

RadioactiveMan is correct, those hard hats are stronger than they look. They were tested exactly 100 years ago, the Tunguska Event up there in Siberia. You know, the asteroid/comet that busted a nut in RusskieLand. The Czar of all the Russias knew that baby was coming and rushed some imperial hard hats to the region for double-blind testing. Too bad he wasn't wearing his when the Bolsheviks did their little maneuver 9 years later.

Walking under the carrier was odd, because you lost the perspective that that is what you were doing. It was like walking down a wide, straight, dark tunnel. The ship was about 6 and a half feet off the deck of the drydock, so me being 6 feet was able to walk under the ship without crouching. You look up, and there, six inches away, are lovely barnacles staring back at you. I felt like Harrison Ford: GET OFF MY PLANE! I MEAN - SHIP!!!

 

[casebro]

Yes. You hoped the guys who jacked it up .....

No, they don't jack them up. They arrange the blocking in an empty dry dock, flood it, bring in the ship, pump out the water, and the ship sits right on the blocks.

There was a Far Side cartoon of two guys talking, while in the background there is a fallen building supported on another worker's helmeted head. He is just standing there with the building sitting on his hat. The two in front "And that, Ernie, is why we wear hard hats."

 

[Ravenwood]

Thank's for the update, Ranb! I have two good friends who served on good old 711 back in the late eighties & got to go on board several times. I had no idea she was damaged so badly to require that type of repairs. Just hearing about my buddies old boat brought back memories of a lot of good times. I'm gonna call them up now & tell them the fate of 711

 

[Delvo]

When I was in college studying forestry, one professor told us that, for logging, you wear a hardhat so that, if a tree falls on you, they can easily find the spot where you got driven into the ground like a nail.

 

[Ranb]

Although the chances of the vessel actually falling on you were infinitesimally small, wasn't it still a bit intimidating?

The floating drydock (AFDM-6) in Pearl Harbor Hawaii was drydocking a 688 class sub back in the 90's. The dry dock crew forgot to or did not properly lock down the keel blocks on the right hand side (there are three rows of blocks) before the dry dock raised to bring the sub out of the water. When the sub was raised several feet above the normal waterline, the right side keel blocks slipped away and the sub rotated to its port side, but did not slip off of the blocks and into the bottom of the dock. One Sailor saw the sail coming towards her on the wingwall (the top of the dock) and jumped off onto the concrete pier some 10-15 feet below. She hurt her ankle but was not seriously injured. I saw a photo of the sub tilted at a ridiculous angle before it was re-floated.

Ranb

 

[Darat]

Hold on a moment - you are telling me that the USA is now "Cut and Shuting" submarines? We outlawed that for cars!




(Interesting story thanks for the links.)

 

[a_unique_person]

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=87073

The Aussies are out there and waiting for you.

 

[Ranb]

The Aussies are out there and waiting for you.

They might have to wait a long time. I was on a 637 class sub that visited Australia back in 1986. We had a small exercise with one of their diesel boats. We also exchanged a few crew members. The Aussie boat rigged for quiet running and hovered waiting for us to get to within striking distance, but they had to settle for listening to us search in vain for them right out side of their torpedo range. It ended in a draw.

Ranb

 

[doobiedoright]

Can we rename her please?
That city does not deserve to have a boat named for them.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Ranb, way cool that you fixed the USS San Francisco. I love your T-Shirt idea.

For doobie: Admiral Rickover once pointed out that the reason submarines were no longer named for fish was that fish don't vote. Naming of ships is a politically charged ordeal, but even so I am pissed that the next US Carrier, once America was put to rest, was not USS America. Screw naming them for politicians until we once again have USS America plowing smartly along, 30+ knots, on the high seas.

DR

 

[Gurdur]

... The Aussies are out there and waiting for you.

You mean like this time?

Edited to change and add:
The title above is On The Beach (a remake), but it is usually shown under an alternative title of USS Constellation.

 

[doobiedoright]

Ranb, way cool that you fixed the USS San Francisco. I love your T-Shirt idea.

For doobie: Admiral Rickover once pointed out that the reason submarines were no longer named for fish was that fish don't vote. Naming of ships is a politically charged ordeal, but even so I am pissed that the next US Carrier, once America was put to rest, was not USS America. Screw naming them for politicians until we once again have USS America plowing smartly along, 30+ knots, on the high seas.

DR

Agreed!

 

[ConspiRaider]

Ranb, way cool that you fixed the USS San Francisco. I love your T-Shirt idea.

For doobie: Admiral Rickover once pointed out that the reason submarines were no longer named for fish was that fish don't vote. Naming of ships is a politically charged ordeal, but even so I am pissed that the next US Carrier, once America was put to rest, was not USS America. Screw naming them for politicians until we once again have USS America plowing smartly along, 30+ knots, on the high seas.

DR

10-roger, Darthster. I check into the USS America vets page every now and again, and they were trying to get a big carrier named USS America again. But I think they chose Gerald R. Ford instead. Oh wonderful. Chevy Chase will be so pleased. I can't believe it. Ford was not elected, took over for an unindicted co-conspirator by default, tripped over everything, gave us the 55 MPH speed limit, lost to Carter. Was a fill-in president for a bit over 2 years. And they name a giant ship for him. Holy Christola! And of course it's in tandem with the USS George H. W. Bush.

Abso-bloomin-lutely unbelievable.

 

[joobie]

even better. they named the next class of aircraft carriers after ford.