Monday, March 20, 2017

Answers to Submarine Q.O.T.W. from 17 MAR 17

Related information and links for questions are found in the original posting here

Questions of the Week (Q.O.T.W.) with ANSWERS

1- Was current President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin's father a submariner?  ANS: Yes , Putin's father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s.

2-  Did the U.S. navy require Cold War submarine volunteers to have their sound wisdom teeth extracted in order to prevent the possibility of mission interference / interruption?

ANS: Yes, authors here were some of them.

3-  Is it true that submariners are superstitious and as so unable to cope with deviations from daily routine for their fear of tempting fate?  ANS: Certainly NOT.  Just consider the number of subs sunk during WW2. By necessity and selection, submariners are among the least superstitious and most cerebral of any branch in the armed forces. As Juan Caruso says in the first line of his poem Extreme Creatures, “... (they) Who suffer no attrition upon news their kind are sunk”. More Examples.

4- How recently was the snow-flakey assertion in question 3 published? ANS: On March 17, 2015 an author remarked, "Submariners are a superstitious lot at the best of times and any deviation from this routine is an unacceptable risk in tempting fate."


Submariner's Quote of the Week
... [F]ood rationing at that time was a challenge because it got to the stage where breakfast was just one sausage with a teaspoon of beans and dinner was pasta and tomato sauce, but we had to get on with it as there was an important job to carry out.
 
5- The man quoted above received his fleet's commendation for (inter alia) "excellent work in difficult circumstances".
-a) Is he a culinary specialist? ANS: No, he was a communications and information systems engineering technician.
-b) i - In what navy does he serve? ANS: The U.K.'s Royal Navy.

-b) ii - Name the type of commendation awarded.  ANS:  The award was a Fleet Commander Commendation.
-c) For service aboard which sub (ship's prefix and name) was his coveted commendation awarded? ANS: The commendable service was rendered aboard HMS Torbay.
-d) During what period of time (approximate) did the underlying submarine mission take place?  ANS: His commendable efforts were performed in late 2015 and the first half of 2016. 
NOTE:  Excerpts leave no doubt that he fully deserved his commendation, in our opinions he performed far above expectations at critical times: 
"‘During this prolonged and uncertain period of operations, Blackburn’s leadership, mentoring, guidance and development of his team was instrumental to delivering the communications capability of the submarine and contributed significantly to HMS Torbay’s effectiveness. ‘Despite facing numerous technical and procedural challenges throughout a number of operations, he worked effectively to deliver this key operational capability, displaying characteristics expected of a far more experienced and longer serving individual. ‘Indeed his performance, attitude and ability matched and often exceeded that of his qualified and more senior peers despite the high intensity and challenging operations the Torbay was conducting at that time, which included the adoption of food rationing to prolong her endurance in response to continued tasking.’"  source
Blackburn

Read more at: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/special-fleet-award-for-daniel-1-8442241

in late 2015 and the first half of 2016.

Read more at: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/news/special-fleet-award-for-daniel-1-8442241
What is slightly troubling is journalism's unfamiliarity with some privations of submarine service. For instance, outages of potable water and food limitations have been experienced more widely than some journalists may be aware.  Generally, one survives without food for 3 weeks; and even without drink for 3 days. Submarine service has never been acceptable for  'snowflakes'.

 -e) - What is the official ship prefix used by Russia's Navy?  ANS:  Neither Jane's Fighting Ships nor the International Institute for Strategic Studies list a ship prefix for Russian Navy vessels.  The Russian Navy does not use a ship prefix convention (e.g. HMS, USS).







Submarines are always silent and strange.

 

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Friday, March 17, 2017

Submarine Quotation & Related Questions of the Week - 17 MAR 17

Background

Should "snowflakes" or prima donnas ( = very temperamental people with inflated views of their own talent or importance) be recruited for submarine duty?  That decision is up to each navy. Vladimir Putin's navy does not think so. The U.S. Navy once agreed and even administered psychological tests to eliminate the patently unsuitable among its less suitable submarine volunteers.

The Center for Naval Analysis had found that the "unplanned loss" rate (23 to 25 percent) for female sailors was more than two-and-a-half times the rate for men (8 to 10 percent). Proportionate loss rates on submarines, combined with surfacings and evacuations made necessary by disciplinary problems, can obviously compromise stealth missions typical of submarines. 

Since the Fall of 1999, however, new submarine designs have been required to include berthing and privacy arrangements appropriate to mixed gender crews. The gender example does NOT serve to dismiss all women as unsuitable sub sailors, but illustrates convincingly that our U.S. Navy now finds itself compelled to marginalize some of its once prized recruiting standards despte the Russian Federation Navy's trend toward the opposite.  Either way, the inevitably in such stark choices seems bound to result in grit for future notes.  Loosely related QOTW follow.

Q.O.T.W.

1- Was current President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin's father a submariner?

2-  Did the U.S. navy require Cold War submarine volunteers to have their sound wisdom teeth extracted in order to prevent the possibility of mission interference / interruption?

3-  Is it true that submariners are superstitious and as so unable to cope with deviations from daily routine for their fear of tempting fate?  

4- How recently was the snow-flakey assertion in question 3 published? 

Submariner's Quote of the Week

... [F]ood rationing at that time was a challenge because it got to the stage where breakfast was just one sausage with a teaspoon of beans and dinner was pasta and tomato sauce, but we had to get on with it as there was an important job to carry out.
  
5- The man quoted above received his fleet's commendation for (inter alia) "excellent work in difficult circumstances". 
-a) Is he a culinary specialist?
-b) i - In what navy does he serve?
-b) ii - What is the official ship prefix used by Russia's Navy?
-c) Name the type of commendation.
-d) For service aboard which sub (ship's prefix and name) was his coveted commendation awarded?
-e) During what period of time (approximate) did the underlying submarine mission take place?

Submarines are always silent and strange.





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Wednesday, March 01, 2017

China Confirms Likely Answer to a Superficial Submarine Question

The Submarine Question:

[13 FEB 2017]  "Does China Have a Nuclear Submarine That Could Beat the U.S. Navy?"  

China's Simple Answer:

[20 FEB 2017]  "China wants foreign submarines to stop traveling below the surface in the vast waters it claims"

*************

 So much for the U.S.'s technical superiority, then? NOT

Submarines are always silent and strange.

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