Mystery Sub on the Mississippi

A Friend that is a commercial boat/ship Captain sends this image of a Mystery Submarine on the Mississippi.

"mini sub that passed me in the icw Mississippi"


(Click Here for Larger Photo)

Doubt its fully functional, but has a Jet Ski. Anyone else seen or know of this boat? Hope it isn't one of those new Iranian submarines posing under an American Flag.

Eric
TheSubReport.com

Submarine Movie Web Site

I'm trying to remember if I ran across this website before, but I don't think so... I probably have and just don't remember. I blame loss of brain cells from exposure to ionizing radiation and massive beer consumption while active duty. Its well worth the look though submarine fans. SubmarineMovies.com




Whats Your Favorite Submarine Movie?

Prepare to Dive the Ship!

Fay continues to pound us with torrential rains here on Florida's Space Coast.

Local6.com: 'Historic' Rain Forces Families From Neighborhoods In Canoes, Airboats

National Guard Activated

Flash Flood Warning Titusville Florida

TheSubReport.com Command Post's cable systems have been compromised. Blasted Floods!

'Grounding on the Starboard Buss!'

So my Son tells me he is getting shocked from the computer, so after some ground isolation procedures, I tracked it down to the local TV cable service which also supplies our Internet. The outer shielding is most likely grounded, as in under water at a junction box somewhere. (How do I know this? Because it tingles when I touch the cable) So if your reading this from a local affected area you might want to check and unplug the cable from your electronics. At least the ones you like anyways.

That is the only casualty we have sustained so far.....

Now this is just my opinion, you will see a lot of flooding in the newer housing communities due to the back room deals with developers that let them build in low lying area's and swamps over the past 15 years.. Luckily most of the houses in my community were built during the Apollo moon race days. Nice solid houses on high ground. I do have a drainage ditch next to my place, but it seems to be doing OK so far. It will probably be flooded out by the morning for my previous comment.

Anybody got any Hushpuppies to go with the Catfish!?


Eric
TheSubReport.com

TSR Tours the USS Texas (SSN 775)

Lets just say that volunteering for the community has its perks once in awhile.

A good friend of mine that works for USA (United Space Alliance) asked me if I would like to tour the USS Texas. I'm like, are your kidding. The USS Texas was in Port Canaveral Florida for a Liberty visit and did tour exchanges with NASA. So the crew got a behind the scenes tour of NASA and likewise for NASA employees and their families for the Boat. My friend Glenn Davis volunteers with me at Astronaut High School. He ironically has some kind of public affairs/liaison type job with the real Astronauts. Now Astronauts don't attend Astronaut High School, that's just the name the school received because of the Space Center community it is located in, Titusville Florida.



A couple things of note that I found interesting on the tour. There is free flooding grates along the bottom of the sail, which I figured might cause sound transient problems. But they say its no problem at all. They have a new hull coating that is called MIP or mold in place material instead of the tile type material on the LA Class subs. A new type of O2 generator that appears smaller and easier to maintain. It no longer has the name the "Bomb", apparently much safer to operate. The control room is smaller than I thought it would be, but very Star Trek high tech looking, just like the photos the Navy has put out so far. LT. Sierpien noted by having all the rates in the same room such as Navigation, Sonar and Fire Control, it makes it easier for the (OOD)Officer of the Deck to not only receives reports but also observe all work stations simultaneously to make quick tactical assessments.

Our tour guide also revealed that the newer Virginia class subs are being built with 2 Tomahawk canister type tubes that you see in use on the Ohio SSGN class instead of using VLS Tubes.

The boat is very cramped except for the Torpedo room in which you could probably put 4 ping pong tables in there and play comfortably. You can tell that tactical weapons are the main business of the Virginia Class based on the large space and functionality of the Torpedo Room.

Click Here for Tour Photo Slide Show (80 Images)


We were greeted Topside by our USS Texas Tour Guide LTJG Jim Sierpien.


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The Commanding officer Cmdr James Gray was also giving a tour.


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Some of the other crew members we met on the tour:

Chief Evan Davis (FTC/SS)


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YN3/ss Alexander Kuen


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ET3/ss Joe Gladney


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I didn't get these two crew members names, but they said they were busy monitoring vital in port ships functions via a Play Station 2. I told you the Virginia Class is high tech. Talk about the use of COTS (Computer off the Self Technology)!


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USS Texas topside watches or pier guards, not sure which.
Not your hey, shipwreck types either. These guys mean business.

ETSN Fisher and MMFN Robb



Special Thanks to LTJG Sierpien and the Commanding Officer CMDR James Gray for a fine ship and crew and a great tour.

Click Here for Tour Photo Slide Show (80 Images)

Here is another interesting related link:
Ship Control Stations on different class of submarines


Eric
TheSubReport.com

Who's Better Looking?

I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the USS Texas (SSN 775) this Sunday at Port Canaveral Florida. I have plenty of photo's to share, just give me a day or 2 to go thru them and get something together to post on TheSubReport.com. Let me tell you submarine fans, these Virginia Class boats are a sight to see..





Eric
TheSubReport.com

Why George? Couldn’t you have just stuck with ER?

Why do we even pay attention to these people? I’m talking about these Hollywried nut jobs, and the Rich and Famous. Yes, the ones that tell us to drive small cars to save the planet while driving Hummers themselves. Even the high and mighty that advocate the removal of our guns while having there personnel body guards and security forces armed to the hilt. OHH! And they make such great role models for are children too. Who is sleeping with who. The drug and alcohol binges and their touching, sad multiple recovery stories at the Betty Ford Clinic. I also love the various incursions with law enforcement with minimum punishment. Then they have to get involved with Politics and tell us how to think and expect us to give them some sort of credibility. AHHH forget it!! I’m done with the lead up rant for this story here:

Clooney Plans Movie of Bin Laden's Driver

I just have one question. Why?

Update: Just had a thought that these Hollywood folks make us Sailors look like Saints. Someone should pull their liberty pass. Anyhow, heard on the Radio this morning that the New Ben Stiller Movie Tropic Thunder is suppose to be a satirical comedy on some of the excesses of Hollywood. Seems relevant. Here is the trailer.

TSR Tweaks and Adjustments

I am making some changes to TheSubReport.com. Just some tweaks and adjustments. One of the biggest changes is auto news feeds in the first news section. This will ensure up to the minute news on submarine events as they hit the Internet. The drawback is that you will see an occasional irrelevant story in the mix. I'm also incorporating this feed to reduce my site update times. I will look for news items that the feeds do not catch and post them on the left and in the next news section under the Robert Melly Books advertisement. I have also adjusted the video feeds at the bottom of the page and incorporated a Voxant News video product as well. Just be patient with me as I look around for some new tools and gadgets to better the website and keep it free as possible for the TSR communtiy. I would love to use a CMS product and go into a tradition full scale news site that is interactive, but the software is expensive and server cost would escalate. So were stuck with what we have for now. I hope everyone has enjoyed TheSubReport.com over the years. This has always been a one man show and hobby of mine which I have enjoyed doing for fellow submariners around the world. If you are feeling a little rich one week, please drop a buck or two in the donation section for the cause. If you have any ideas, or know of any widgets and web tools you think that might benefit the site please drop me line. eric@thesubreport.com

Eric

TheSubReport.com

Nuke sub spewed radioactivity for 2 years

The USS Houston saga continues. Now after a few articles of vindication, I want to pick my favorite headline from USATODAY.

Nuke sub spewed radioactivity for 2 years

Spewed it says!! Don’t even bother going to the link. I figure we could just help them write the story for that crazy headline. Here’s mine:

After bottling and distributing reactor discharge coolant to several orphanages in Japan and Guam for drinking water, the Crew of the USS Houston also admitted that they removed and used the reactor core as a fishing lure in several foreign ports while going active on their sonar system killing thousands of whales and dolphins around the world.

If your going to have a headline like that, might as well go for broke..

You can add your story additions in the comments.

Eric

TheSubReport.com

When Your Friends are Skimmers

So I pull up to a friends house before church and this is what I'M greeted with.

What Grass?



I like this Graphic for a T-Shirt which I found here:
http://www.subshipstore.com/tshirts.htm

The Air Boat Ride @ Midway

My Niece's and Nephew are down from up North, so we took them over for a Air boat ride at AirBoat Rides @ MidWay. Now this place use to be kinda run down, but the current owners have done a bang up Job of restoring the place to Ship Shape status.

(Photo Slide Show of Photos from Visit)
The last photo in this set the snake moved on me when I touched it.

Then and Now

The Air Boat Ride was a very enjoyable experience. The guides are very knowledgeable and are able to talk about the things you see during the ride over a headset and mic system in which everyone has one to communicate questions too.

I highly recommend this place if you are down this way in Central Florida.

Its on Hwy 50, right on the St Johns River. Just east of Orlando..

Here is the website http://www.airboatridesatmidway.com/

Tell them eric @ TheSubReport.com sent you and I'm sure they will not know what the heck your talking about.

SiteMeter Causing Blog and Website Internet Explorer Failures

For all fellow Sub bloggers and Submarine website Owners. If you are seeing Internet Explorer failures when trying to view your website, You are also most likely using Site Meter as your tracking and stats counter. You need to log in to your control panel and temporarily remove the Site Meter Code.

Story Here:

Site Meter causing Internet Explorer failure

Took me awhile to figure that out as TheSubReport.com was compromised as well. Man, I thought the CIA was after me for sure this time and I was on my way to Club Gitmo.

Hey CIA/Men in Black guys, I didnt say anything about USS Houston. Look at Joel at TSSBP, he released the details before I did, It wasnt me...lol

Hopefully Sitemeter will have their problem figured out shortly and you can restore the page element later.

Eric
TheSubReport.com

Shipmate! Like Music to my Ears

Blunoz has a great blog entry on the use Of Shipmate.

Apparently the use of the term Shipmate has become derogatory and some would like to see it disappear into the PC cesspool.

I for one Love the word Shipmate. I use it on a daily basis in CivLant. I even call my Co-workers who are former Air Force weenies Shipmate, which probably does the term an Injustice.

Here is couple great examples of the use of Shipmate.

Who is the Shipmate that secured the EM Log.

OR

Hey Shipmate! When is the next 'hey,shipwreck' episode coming out.

See, there is nothing wrong with the term here.

So be sure to head over to Blunoz's place and read his Article on Shipmate.

Carry on Smartly Shipmates!

Eric

TheSubReport.com

Summer Vacation Safety Stand Down

The Source that passed me this video says that no one got hurt in this incident. Hard to believe though. Click the Image to watch.
(About a 2mb Download)


Lets Be Safe Out There ShipMates!

Eric
TheSubReport.com