Wednesday, August 4, 2010

August 3, 1958

On AUGUST 3, 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine USS NAUTILUS became the first vessel to cross the NORTH POLE underwater.




Permanently Moored In Groton CT.


Claustrophobics Enter If You Dare...


My Grandson At The Controls


For Emergency Escape


So Many Contols, So Little Time


An Early 'Submarine'


Tight Working Quarters.


THE HEAD


For Our Freedom, They Sacrificed Time With Loved Ones.


GO NAVY

17 comments:

  1. What a trip back in time! I love these pictures and the voyage. Thank you for the reminder...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't think I could deal w/those tight quarters... Love the last pic... that says it all!.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've toured a battleship, but never a sub. It looks cool, but claustrophobic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SERIOUSLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC QUARTERS!!! I got a little nervous going down into the third level, but they had a Navy guy standing there who started talking to us (probably saw the look on my face...EEEEEK), and I forgot all about it.

    I took my Grandson here in Feb. but several years ago a friends husband got permission to give my kids and me a tour of the USS HARTFORD, a Fast ATtack Sub he was (still is) stationed on.

    It was way cool. We had to walk by guards with machine guns at the entrance to the dock, one stationed at the end of the dock. Once inside the Commanding Officer of the Sub came with us, all the crucial instumentation was covered with canvas covers (NO-ONE can know how DEEP they can really go!) and when we got to the missles (rented & reused) it was so cramped I had to slip between them sideways.

    The scary part was the O2 generator. It's HIGHLY flammable, and if the need to 'dump' while at sea arises it is an extremely dangerous operation, but avoids a possible catastrophioc explosion from whatever causes the 'dump' to be necessary.

    Now if only I could get my friend to get me on an aircraft carrier. I used to think that I could die happy if I got to see a PILOT hopping off a ship back onto the pilot boat. But I did get to see it years ago, got a pic, and now I am GREEDY! Gotta set foot on a carrier.. oh and see a Harriar (sp?) Helicopter.... I truly don't ask for much........ :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't think of a worst way to work and live, but like they say, someone's gotta do it.

    Actually, there are many who enjoy doing just that!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whoa - that looks really interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Claustrophobic...oh yeah! An amazing piece of equipment though...great post.

    I was going to send you this via email, but you don't have it attached to your profile. The link you tried to go to on my blog, is going to actually be the site. It's just a blogger page. I'm going to start posting from what I hope to be a non-fiction book pretty soon. It's the story of my wife's mother, who was a teen in japan during ww2, after the war she worked in the Ginza PX. that'w where she fell in love with a manipulative and dishonest GI who lured her to the US with lies. I'm still interviewing her, but I have so much info I'm going to start posting chapters pretty soon. Rough drafts, but I need to get them off of paper and onto the computer, so what better place than my blog. Her story is very interesting...

    ReplyDelete
  8. The ocean has always been creepy to me, it must take iron nerves to serve in a "steel coffin" like that. If you have ever seen the film "Das Boot", it REALLY gives the feel of how confining and filthy some of those old subs were.

    I would rather be 30,000 feet in the air than 3 feet under water any time!

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG...Waaay too tight in there for me! That helmet thingy reminded me of a show I used to watch when I was a kid called Diver Dan! Oh how funny! ;) Paulette

    ReplyDelete
  10. I admire people who can actually live and work on these. A tough job. That must have been quite something to go under the North Pole in 1958. We forget all these decades later just how big an event these things were - and it's not far past the 1969 anniversary of the first moon landings.

    Penny

    ReplyDelete
  11. That photo "For Emergency Escape" gives me the downright creeps. It stands to reason: I get claustrophobic on a two-story elevator.

    And Robert is right about the movie Das Boot.

    ReplyDelete
  12. During my two 'visits' to subs, I could not see how all those guys live in those extremely tight quarters.

    What came to my mind was the things were like sharks, killing machines (although they are truly there to protect us). Basically no creature comforts for these guys who serve.

    I found U571 an incredible sub movie. One that (if watched on a larger screen tv) actually makes you feel you know what it would be like to drown. Das Boot is great as well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That early submarine kind of looks like a replica of the Turtle.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Not designed for comfort or privacy! Looks like an interesting field trip.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, nice pictures. I'm flashing back to our trip to NY in March. My son wanted to tour the USS Intrepid, which is now a floating museum in the harbour. We also toured through the USS Growler submarine at the same site. Very clausterphobic indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Interesting to see the inside of a submarine. I could not live there. I'm even afraid to scuba dive. I wanted to ask you if your blog photo was taken in the Caribbean. The water reminds me of Belize?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Bonaire. My dream, my heaven on earth! I can no longer scuba dive due to ear problems (won't equalize below 12 feet anymore *SOB*) but I snorkle. Pink Beach there has been closed since the hurricane years ago (which is where that photo was taken) but I go there anyway, as do the locals. The 'beach' is nothing but fossilized seashells, I come home with suitcase fulls every time I go! I would post a pic for you but the latest thing to blow up (in July as well....) was the cord from the usb to my camera...it actually started smoking and I unplugged it before it fried my camera and computer. Venus must be in retro-grade......

    ReplyDelete