sgarland 2 days ago

Though as I found out firsthand as a young sub sailor, this tradition is not intended for use by nuclear-trained personnel. Whoops.

Somewhere in an archive, there exists a midwatch entry in poem for Shutdown Reactor Operator on a Virginia-class boat.

  • bluGill 2 days ago

    More likely a commanding officer who didn't care/know about tradition and incorrectly told you no.

    • sgarland 2 days ago

      I don’t think the CO (technically it would’ve been OIC, as at the time we were not yet commissioned) ever found out. The Engineering Duty Petty Officer lost his mind when he did a log review around 03:00, and then later in the morning, I got a talking-to from various leadership.

      The fact that I was fresh out of “A” School and a non-qual probably helped. Nub shields are real.

      • bluGill 2 days ago

        I don't know your situation but it has happened to others who were able to find the right hermission and get the [whatever] in truoble for making up rules.

  • macintux 2 days ago

    Any chance that non-tradition is related to loss of the Thresher?

    • sgarland 2 days ago

      Doubtful; Thresher’s main posthumous contribution (RIP) was SUBSAFE. To her credit, it has so far worked splendidly, as the only other nuclear sub lost was Scorpion, which was not SUBSAFE-certified. Also, of course, there remains controversy over Scorpion’s loss, and some possible causes like a torpedo battery explosion wouldn’t have been covered by SUBSAFE (though a functional emergency blow system, which she didn’t have, _would_ be covered by SUBSAFE).

  • sandworm101 2 days ago

    Ya, they said that about Norad's santa assistance program too. Now it is a vital part of christmas.

  • mlacks 2 days ago

    someone tried did this in maneuvering on an 88 in pearl i was stationed on. Nothing crazy like NJP but ENG was not happy at all

    • sgarland a day ago

      To be fair, ENG is never happy.

rbanffy 2 days ago

We must never forget our humanity, least of all in times of conflict. Art, in all its forms, speaks to it, and reminds us we are not, and shall never be, machines.

jmclnx 2 days ago

Very cool, I hope this will continue on and maybe get popular again.

bluGill 2 days ago

No link to this years poems?

I didn't look because my understanding is they all need to be checked for classified information and thus the public can't see them until late in the month.

  • psunavy03 15 hours ago

    Not just classified . . . anything that indicates "this boat was in this spot at time X" is kept close-hold for obvious reasons until no longer deemed as relevant.