Submarine ‘a huge tube of people’
Published on Saturday, May 03, 2008
By Michael Futch
Staff writer
WILMINGTON — About 5,000 people are expected this morning at the N.C. State Ports to view the commissioning of the $2.5billion USS North Carolina, the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine. But unless you’ve been invited, don’t even think about going. Because of heightened security, the ceremony is by invitation only. The public will not be allowed on the State Ports’ grounds.
The time-honored commissioning is when the Submarine North Carolina SSN-777 receives its official designation as the USS North Carolina. It joins the Naval fleet of more than 50 submarines and becomes the fourth USS North Carolina in history.
“Saturday is the day we become a U.S. ship. We become a war-fighting ship,” Capt. Mark Davis, the 47-year-old commander of the submarine, said Thursday. “Until the boat is commissioned,” Murray said, “we can’t go on a mission. It’s no use to the Navy at all.” Thursday morning, members of the media were invited to Wilmington to tour parts of the submarine and to interview some of the officers and crew. Small Coast Guard boats — with 50-caliber machine guns manned at their bows — patrolled the river.
On land, more security, including an armed crew member who stood guard by the gangway with an M-16 rifle and a 9-mm pistol. The terrorist attack on the USS Cole — eight years ago in the Yemeni port of Aden — has not been forgotten. The commissioning follows a christening ceremony that took place slightly more than a year ago in Norfolk, Va. That’s when Linda Anne Rich Bowman, wife of retired U.S. Navy Admiral Frank L. “Skip” Bowman, broke the traditional bottle of champagne on the ship’s bow.
Two weeks later, the sub was lowered into the water for the first time. In the year since, the craft has gone through testing. A series of sea trials — intended to ensure that all the equipment is working properly — followed. During the summer, the submarine will run a real-life operational mission, Davis said.
So what’s it like being on board the Navy’s newest submarine, when that sleek black vessel reaches speeds of more than 25 knots en route to the next secret destination?
Petty Officer Tyler Murray, who is 20 and from Garner, said he feels like a ninja in the deep. Machinist Mate 2nd Class David Reich of Greensboro likens it to “a huge tube of people doing their job.” Petty Officer First Class Tirelle Lee of Smithfield said, “It’s like being in an airplane with no windows. She banks in her turns like an airplane.”
The latest batch of 21st-century submarines, built on the premise that the United States must maintain military dominance, raises a question: With the Cold War over and the Soviet Union apparently out of the picture, who is the enemy and why is it important to produce such sophisticated subs?
“A lot of people think since the Cold War, there’s nothing to do,” Davis said. “I think it’s more so now. Now we have to go to the enemy. The advantage of my submarine — we can do any missions out there.”
The North Carolina — powered by a reactor plant that does not require refueling — has been docked since Monday along the Cape Fear River at the N.C. State Ports. She is expected to depart Wilmington on Monday. Few aspects of its design can be disclosed. Crew members carefully choose their words while discussing how deep the submarine can go.
Crew member Murray called the North Carolina the most modern submarine, by far. “Just the shape of the ship alone. It’s more aerodynamic,” he said. “When you look at the older subs, you think of it as a Cadillac. You think of this as a Ferrari.” Behind him, the sail and bridge of the sub poked out of the Cape Fear River. More than three-quarters of the craft lies underwater, unseen.
A crew of 140 officers and enlisted personnel operates the USS North Carolina, including nine homegrown sailors. The crew works in three, 6-hour shifts. “We’re all a team,” Lee said. “If we fail, we sink, which is not good.”
As you might expect inside a sub, it’s tight in places. “For every bathroom, there’s 20 guys,” said Fireman William Cramer, 21, of Findlay, Ohio. “We live in close quarters. If you don’t like somebody, you deal with it.”
With nuclear power, this sub can remain submerged for months at a time. It generates its own air and water. The standard mission lasts six months, and the sub can stay under water for up to 72 days. “After 72 days,” Chief Shawn Mason said, “everybody starts getting on everybody’s nerves. They’re rough-housing. They don’t think doing that is good anymore.”
The fast-attack submarine is able to strike targets ashore with precision Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land and shallow waters. The missiles have a range of 2,000 miles, give or take about 400 miles. “The technology we have on this,” Chief Jose Muniz said, “is far and above what we’ve ever had before.”
It seems fitting that the newest USS North Carolina gives a tip of the sailor’s cap to its namesake. The dining tables in the galley are named for UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina State and UNC-Wilmington. Ship personnel have a workout room, cable television, movies and a couple of Xbox 360 video games to relieve the stress away from land and family. With a grin, Greensboro’s Reich called the sub “the baby maker.” “When she docks,” he said, “wives get pregnant.”
Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529
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