Book on NR-1 208
snStarter writes "Hyman Rickover created NR-1 for a variety of purposes, one of which included doing science from a nuclear-powered vessel capable of sustained deep operations. Back in the '70s I really wanted to be on the crew of this puppy but all crew members were required to qualify as second class divers and that was hopeless for me. A new book, and web site, discusses NR-1 and is the most complete information on the boat I've seen in one place."
NR and underwater Archaeology (Score:5, Interesting)
A UVic researcher is among a National Geographic Society team of oceanographers, engineers and archeologists that used a nuclear submarine to discover the largest concentration of ancient shipwrecks ever found in the deep sea. Dr. John Peter Oleson (Greek and Roman Studies) viewed the site off southern Italy and examined artifacts retrieved from 2,500 feet beneath an ancient Mediterranean Sea trade route by the remotely operated submersible Jason.
More on it here. [communications.uvic.ca]
Then read about Richard Gere's Ass Zoo! [lostbrain.com]
tcd004
Incompetent pilot? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maurer added still more water to the forward ballast tanks, which brought the bow down and put both wheels back in contact. Unfortunately, the extra ballast made the boat so heavy that the maximum upward force from the combined fore-and-aft thrusters would not be able to lift it. We rolled ahead.
Why didn't the idiot pilot add a little water to the bow tanks and release some from the aft tanks? He was either totally incompetent (highly unlikely) or this "teaser" is made up... oh well..
Re:Creepy... (Score:2, Interesting)
Really cool, nonetheless. It must have been thrilling to be looking out the funky viewports at things that no human had ever seen before at the bottom of the ocean.
Not Soldier....Sailor....Not Sailor....A Nuke.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:About the Book (Score:2, Interesting)
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Maurer added still more water to the forward ballast tanks, which brought the bow down and put both wheels back in contact. Unfortunately, the extra ballast made the boat so heavy that the maximum upward force from the combined fore-and-aft thrusters would not be able to lift it. We rolled ahead.
Wruble suddenly noticed a slight change in the character of the ocean floor, and then saw what looked like the edge of the world crawl beneath the little window. The front wheel ran off a precipice and Wruble heard a loud whummpp as the boat lurched and his head smacked some overhead pipes that sliced a cut in his scalp. The sound he heard was the bottom of the NR-1 scraping along a canyon rim. Blood ran down his face as he yelled into his microphone, "Go back! Go back! We're going over the edge!"
But our forward, downward momentum made that impossible and over we went, slowly sinking into an unknown cavern. Wruble felt his stomach turn over, as if he was falling from a great height, for he saw nothing but blackness below. The weight that had glued us to the bottom now pulled us inexorably into the void, nose first. The submarine was a half mile deep, nearly a ton too heavy, and falling.
What the sub was probably REALLY used for (Score:2, Interesting)
Gee, I WONDER what the sub was doing around that cable! Yep, they were just wheelin' along and "Whoa! Look at that! A trans-atlantic phone cable! How'd we get near one of those with all this fancy nav gear?"
Oceanography, indeed. Note all the comments about sonar systems being used to "identify" and "home in on" objects. I think we've just found the sub that was rumored to be able to splice into various undersea cables. Seriously- what do you need 300+ day run capability, secure comm equipment, and more types of sonar than you can shake a stick at?
Does anyone actually believe that this thing was built because the USN wanted to take pretty pictures of crabs? If so, where's all the scientific equipment for measuring ocean conditions, collecting samples(I've always been a big fan of those critter-slurpers), all the normal "Zeee heello, I am Jacques Cousaeu!" stuff?
Sorry, the thing has "spy toy" written all over it. Pathetic that our tax dollars went into it. Sounds to me like someone's trying to justify the money. "Well...uh....look! Some of the pictures have crabs in them! We did some oceanography while we were tapping that line!"
Re:Creepy... (Score:5, Interesting)
NR-1 was never designed for long duration operations. It was designed more as an ego booster for Rickover. The other nukes were small, but you still had about the same personal space as one would have on a destroyer. My vote for those people who had it toughest were the people who either (a) get shot at more often than submariners (army/marine corps infantry) or (b) operate such high power machinery that they only have a 75% chance of living to retirement age (air force/naval/marine/army aviators).
Pass the caramel sauce!
Perfect for cable operations (Score:5, Interesting)
Even today, when America has almost nothing in the way of global powers about which to spread FUD and justify massive military spending on a project such as this, NR-1 would still be extremely useful as an intelligence gatherer operating against foreign corporates in the interests of American compaines, via taps on shallow and deep-water data lines.
Kind of makes you wonder if all those cable cuts in the north of Australia were really caused by ships anchors, or by FUBAR'd operations by boats such as the NR-1
Interesting tidbit (Score:3, Interesting)
Luckily the Navy builds their reactors in a safer fashion.
Re:Interesting tidbit (Score:2, Interesting)
The army actually had a wide range of working small nuclear reactors of various sizes. They stopped only because the Vietnam war sucked up all the available money and there wasn't funds left over to continue non-war related research.
A Beowulf cluster... (Score:3, Interesting)
The NR-1 has two AN/UYK-44 military digital computers. The main computer is normally used for navigation, ship control and guidance, and the auxiliary computer is used as a backup or scientific computer, depending on user needs or mission requirements. In addition, a 80486 PC serves as an interface with the main and auxiliary computers for data reduction and graphics. The terminal is designed for dedicated scientific use, and is user programmable.
Ah yes, the time delay involved in getting equipment mil and spy spec'ed. I remember a Tempest-spec'ed PC in 1989. It might have had a 286, and ran MSDOS 1.2. (That's what had been approved, no additions or substitutions allowed.)
These days, for civilian missions at least, I bet they bring along some kick-ass laptops.
Re:Interesting tidbit (Score:2, Interesting)
What actually happened with the control rod was in fact an accident. That plant was shut down and was cold and depressurized. They were doing some maintenance on the rod drive mechanisms and were attempting to reinstall one of the rod drive mechanisms. To do so required that the control rod be raised a very short distance to reengage the mechanism. The rod stuck when he tried to move it. He pulled harder and it came unstuck and moved a short distance quite rapidly. Unfortunately the amount of reactivity from control rod movement is a function of the speed with which the rod is moved. The speed here caused the reactor to go critical just in the portion of the core at the bottom of this control rod which generated a very high localized temperature causing the moderator, i.e., the water at the bottom of the control rod channel to turn to superheated steam which because the rod mechanism was not installed served to eject the rod rapidly from the core and impale this poor guy on the ceiling far above.
When I went through Naval Nuclear Power training this was one of the accidents we studied. They had pictures. The funniest one was the poor guy who had his mop head go critical when he mopped up a uranium containing solution (I think it was uranium hexaflouride) and then put it in the bucket's squeezer. The mop actully went critical and heated up to the point of steaming. He died a slow death over the next few days from the massive radiation dose.
The SL-1 incident (Score:3, Interesting)
The people working on the design knew it, and the reactor control rod system was being redesigned when the accident occured. This was a little reactor, developed as a crash program for a military project, and deliberately installed in the middle of nowhere so that should the worst-case accident occur, the effects wouldn't affect anybody other than those directly involved at the test site.
HOW TO SIMULATE SUBMARINE LIFE AT HOME (Score:5, Interesting)
Surround yourself with a few people you don't like. Close all windows and doors tightly, close curtains. Seal any openings to the outside world with a proper vault. Unplug all radios and TV sets to cut yourself off completely from news, football games, Saturday Night Live, the Muppet Show, etc.
Hourly monitor all operating home appliances, if not in use, log as secured. If using the bathroom, do not flush toilet for first two days to simulate smell of blowing sanitaries and venting inboard. Then flush daily.
Wear only approved FBM coveralls, or proper Navy uniforms. No hats, special T-shirts, etc. Cut your hair once a week ensuring that you make it look like hell. Work 18-hour day intervals to ensure your body really gets confused. Listen to the same cassette over and over until you can't stand it anymore, and then put in one that you can't even listen to without acute nausea setting in. Set your alarm to go off just as you fall asleep, with alarm set at loud, or buy a special alarm clock with various settings, (i.e., "Man Battle Stations, Fire, Flooding in the Basement").
Prepare food with a blindfold on to simulate what real submarine cooks do. Then take the blindfold off and try to get your dog to eat it. Then break out a can of tuna and/or peanut butter.
Cut your bed in half, and enclose all but one side using the dimensions of a small casket as a reference. When not in bed, make up blankets properly so no one will see or care.
Periodically, for want of excitement, open main power breaker and run around yelling, "Reactor Scram", until you are sweating profusely, then restore power. Buy yourself a snorkel and mask, and again, periodically, just for want of nothing else to do, put it on and pretend you're in a smoke filled room with no way out. For added variety, hook up the garden hose and pressurize it.
To enable yourself to handle anything, constantly study wiring diagrams and operating instructions for various home appliances (stove, refrigerator, can opener). For no reason at all, at specified intervals (monthly, weekly, etc.) tear one item apart, just in case it was going to break down.
Paint everything around you gray (Navy FSN gray, no substitutes) or off-white. To be sure you are living in a clean and happy environment, every Friday, set alarm on loud for a short but hated drill sound, then get up and manned with only a bucket and sponge and greeny, clean one area over and over, even if it was already spotless. Then make out a discrepancy list.
Once a day, after normal programming hours, plug in TV and watch one movie being careful that it is (a) at least five years old, (b) made long enough prior to showing to be sure that you've seen it at least once before, or (c) be so bad you have to install a seatbelt in your chair to keep you there until it is over.
Since no doctor will be available, stockpile Band-Aids, aspirin, and Actifed as these are proven cure-alls. Practice if necessary on your dog (surgery, dentistry, or death).
When commencing this test simulation, lock your family, friends, and anything that means anything to you outside. Tests will run for at least two months with no end in sight.
Re:Creepy... (Score:4, Interesting)
Neither job is for the risk-adverse, I'm afraid.