Career Autobiography - Part 6: Later Submarine Years - Experience and Supervision

Part 5 is here:

The next phase of qualification for a nuke electrician is to qualify to stand watch as an Electrical Operator.  This watch station tends to be even more boring than standing watch on the throttles - unless there is a drill session.  In that case, it too, can be tremendously exciting and stressful.

The Electrical Operator sat in front of the right console.

The Electrical Operator is responsible for operating the ship's generators, tying them together and segregating them as needed.  He operates the electrical end of the ship's diesel generator, monitors temperatures throughout the reactor auxiliary equipment and ship's propulsion train.  Later, after a special qualification process, he is also allowed to charge the ship's main storage battery.

The guy below is starting a battery charge.  I can tell because he is cranking up both DC generator voltage knobs while watching the high-range battery ammeters, which are set high on the panel.

Below:  Some dude on watch as Electrical Operator.  Actually that's me, in a different life.  

Most of the time, the Electrical Operator watch was boring.  You took readings every hour, and they didn't normally change much.  However, if a battery charge was scheduled, or a test discharge was required, things got a bit more uptight.  If there were drills, things would get very hairy, very quickly.

If the Electrical Operator messes up, the ship could end up with no electrical power.  In a ship where everything runs on electricity, that is a bad thing.  Typically on an electrical drill, you would AT LEAST lose one SSTG, or Ships Service Turbine Generator.  So the majority of generation on either the port or starboard side of the ship would be lost, just for practice.

You had to quickly:

• Determine if there was an electrical fault that would knock off other generators if you tried to re-energize the dead circuits
• Isolate the fault, if possible
• Re-energize the circuit if possible, from the opposite side of the ship.
• Restart equipment that had been lost when the circuit went dead
• Deal with additional curve-balls the drill team threw at you as you tried to recover from the first thing.

Reactor scrams were a little different, in that you eventually lose both SSTGs because you run out of steam pressure.  At that point you remove the SSTGs from service, and the battery supplies all the ship's electrical power, at least until you can get to periscope depth, start the diesel generator, and supplement the battery until the reactor can be re-started.

Again, with enough practice, all of this activity became second nature, and the challenge was mainly not to get too far ahead of the drill scenario.

Following qualification as Electrical Operator, and alongside it to a certain extent, is Battery Charging Electrician (BCE).  This one is important, as the battery is vitally related to ship's safety.  When everything else is gone, you need to have the battery available to start things back up again.  If you don't have that, you're almost guaranteed to be toast.  With the BCE qualification, you learn the dirty details of everything anyone would ever want to know about a submarine main storage battery, its care, maintenance, and operation, as well as its charging and discharging limits. 

The final *required* nuclear qualification for an Electrician was Shutdown Reactor Operator.

Electricians are not allowed to *operate* the reactor, but they are required to stand watch on it when it is in a shutdown condition.  This arrangement roughly doubles the number of guys available to monitor the reactor in port, and allows the handful of reactor guys to have some time away from the ship.  There is quite a bit of detailed knowledge that has to be learned to stand this watch, because shutdown conditions can vary so much.  The final stage of qualification for Shutdown Reactor Operator requires you to have a one-on-one interview with the commanding officer.  It is the skipper who has the final say over whether you are fit to have responsibility over his reactor when it is most vulnerable to incidents.

The Shutdown Reactor Operator monitors the pressure and temperature of the primary cooling system, the pressurizer, verifies the control rods are staying put, and monitoring source range neutron levels.  In addition, the Shutdown Roving Watch (a Machinist's Mate) also reports the status of the propulsion plant to you.  You are in charge when no officer is present - which is most of the time.  Although this watch station is frequently boring and the mid-watch is awful, it can also be stressful.

In port with the reactor shut-down is when major maintenance happens.  Frequently the entire primary coolant system needs to be cooled down.  During the cooldown process, there are very strict pressure and temperature rates that must be obeyed.  This rate of cool-down and heat-up is set by manually adjusting valve positions.  You have to be on your toes, focused, and ready to respond quickly if someone messes up.  If you depressurize or over-pressurize the primary coolant, it's very ugly.  An incident is most likely to happen when you are outside of normal operating conditions and doing maintenance, so you need to know your stuff and stay on point.

At the same time you have been struggling to complete the nuclear qualifications, you are also required to complete submarine qualifications.  Below is the insignia you earn for qualifying Submarine Warfare - Called "Dolphins"

Officers wear the gold, and enlisted wear the silver or pewter.

Source: United States Navy - from wikipedia images, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7882390

To qualify and earn the right to wear dolphins, have to learn pretty much everything about the ship. and this takes a while.  Theoretically, any submariner should be able to perform almost any of his shipmate's important tasks.

To wear these then, means you ought to have learned how to load and fire a torpedo, how to identify a sonar contact and state its relative bearing, how to start the diesel generator, how to dive and surface the ship, how to target an enemy vessel using the fire control system, etc, etc, etc, etc.  You definitely had to draw from memory the ship's hydraulic, water and electrical systems, know how all the ship's equipment worked, and what to do for any kind of emergency.

I completed the nuclear and ships qualifications at about the same time, and before very long, found myself getting bored.  As I got more and more experience at the senior watch stations, they became a bit repetitive and not very rewarding.  At the same time, my superiors had decided that I was probably seasoned enough to begin working towards a supervisory role.  At that point, I asked if I would be allowed to qualify for a supervisory watch, and was told to begin the process.  These are optional watch-stations that you can volunteer to qualify for.

There are two supervisory jobs that a nuclear-trained enlisted guy could do, and those were Engineering Watch Supervisor (EWS) and Engineering Duty Petty Officer (EDPO).  These are junior to the nuclear-trained officer in charge, the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW), or the Engineering Duty Officer (EDO)

Engineering Duty Petty Officer is a shutdown supervisory watch.  The EDPO splits supervisory duties with the EDO while in port.   In routine situations, this involved reviewing the logs of the Shutdown Reactor Operator and the Shutdown Roving Watch, and performing scheduled inspections of the propulsion part of the ship.  Sometimes it could be more involved, when maintenance required certain operating conditions.  You would need to supervise other watch standers and communicate to the EDO in maneuvering.  You would act as the officer's eyes and ears, while he and the Shutdown Reactor Operator monitored the meters in maneuvering.

If the ship is preparing to get underway, the Engineering Duty Petty Officer becomes the Engineering Watch Supervisor, which is an operational watch.  Shortly before the reactor control rods are pulled, a pre-critical checkoff is performed, then the "Engineering Watch" is stationed.  This means that each space has a man assigned to watch it, and every panel in maneuvering has a man assigned, and the roving watches are all assigned.

At that point the control rods are pulled, the reactor comes up to power and starts making heat, and steam can be drawn off to warm up the turbines.  The Engineering Watch Supervisor (EWS) is the eyes and ears of the officer as all of this takes place, as well as for casualty drills.  There is no room for incompetence, errors, or mistrust, so I always felt it was quite an honor to be in this position.  It's also an honor to supervise a team of such highly trained, competent and intelligent people.


I became more and more familiar with the supervisory end of the propulsion plant.  With that familiarity came a clearer understanding of each watch-stander's duties.  I better understood the  responsibilities and immediate actions required for each type of casualty drill, and how all of these interacted to keep the propulsion plant working and the reactor core safe.   

I've never felt so rewarded and humbled as I did when learning from, supervising, and assisting such an amazing group of guys.

After a time, even this really awesome watch-station became a little bit stagnant, and I wanted some fresh challenges.  I decided that I wanted to qualify as a Sonar Technician and Diesel Generator Operator.  They told me in no uncertain terms that I would NOT be allowed to stand those watches even if I were to become qualified.  I told them that I understood that my skill set was more valuable in the engineering department.  I also explained that I didn't expect to stand these watches, but that I needed additional challenges, and that I might be able to assist in a pinch if necessary.

I had mostly finished the Sonar and Diesel Generator qualifications, before I could complete them, my enlistment expired.   They weren't too keen on allowing me to qualify for those watches anyway.

When it came time to end my Nuclear Navy career, I had a big internal emotional and logical battle.  I knew that being a submariner was incredibly harsh: It was hard on your social life.  It made having a stable relationship nearly impossible, and it eliminated a shot at the American Dream.  On the other hand, they wanted me to stay in, and would pay a large bonus to keep me.  Also, there was no guarantee that I'd find a good job once I got out of the Navy and be able to support myself for the first time ever.

The captain called me into his stateroom and earnestly asked me to re-enlist.  I had tears in my eyes when I said that if I could spend the rest of my career under his command that I would.  However I had to tell him that although I had the greatest respect for him, I couldn't bring myself to keep going like this.  He said he understood, and I believe he was touched by that.

That commanding officer, who at the time was a mere submarine captain, went on to become a Vice Admiral in the Navy.  He was tasked with consolidating the Atlantic and Pacific Submarine forces at the end of the cold war, and went on to run the Idaho Nuclear Engineering Lab.  Truly a great and admirable man.

I separated from the Navy a couple of weeks later, and managed to pick up a really fascinating job the following month. 
 
The let-down and depression that I experienced when I returned to civilian life was unbelievable.  Rambo had it pretty much right - afterwards everything seemed so meaningless, nobody much cared about honesty or excellence, and typically your life was in no danger if you screwed up.  Nothing mattered much, there was no intensity, and everything seemed pointless.  Fortunately, these feelings peaked after a couple of months and rapidly faded - they never engulfed or defined me.  But man, I can relate...