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John Clayton: They're building our boat
By JOHN CLAYTON
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
I wanted to check up on an emerging slice of New Hampshire history last week, but to do so, I had to drive down to Connecticut.
Groton, to be specific.
That's where the PCU New Hampshire -- a $2.4 billion Virginia Class nuclear attack submarine -- is taking shape inside a vast manufacturing bay at Electric Boat, which is a Division of General Dynamics Corp., on the Thames River.
By way of verbal bookkeeping, you should know that, in time, the sub will be called the USS New Hampshire. However, until it is fully commissioned, the sub's official prefix is PCU, which is an acronym for Pre-Commissioning Unit.
That official commissioning and christening of the New Hampshire will take place over the course of the next year. Meanwhile, the ship is already "manned up," with a pre-commissioning captain and crew overseeing the installation of the many systems that will make the New Hampshire the most sophisticated sub in the Navy fleet.
At 377 feet, the sub easily exceeds the length of a football field, yet she will be able to dive to 800 feet below sea-level while traveling in excess of 25 knots with 134 officers and enlisted men on board.
And yes, in the U.S. Navy, the submarine detail is all male.
The New Hampshire's array of armaments will include Tomahawk land-attack missiles, Mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes and advanced mobile mines. And let us not overlook the sub's complement of Navy SEALs, who qualify as armaments unto themselves.
Those SEALs are the reason the New Hampshire is already outfitted with a nine-man lockout diving chamber that also can accommodate a mini-sub (called the Advanced SEAL Delivery System) for clandestine operations. And then there is the relatively expansive torpedo room -- the smidgen of open space within it is known as the "dance floor" -- that can be reconfigured to offer berthing for 41 additional special-ops troops.
"It already looks to be the most capable of the Virginia Class," said Commander Michael J. Stevens, a 1990 Naval Academy graduate (and 17-year veteran of the sub force) who served most recently as executive officer aboard another Virginia Class sub, the USS Texas.
"A key for us is to have the people of New Hampshire think of this as their boat," Stevens added. "The ship is coming along fast, and we hope to be out to sea by late summer or early fall next year."
The skipper also expressed hope that the New Hampshire might have its official commissioning ceremony at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard -- Electric Boat spokesman Robert Hamilton reiterated that hope -- but there's a lot of politicking to be done in the meantime.
Modular assembly
There's a lot of ship-building to be done, too.
"In the past," Hamilton explained, "building a submarine was like building a watch through the stem-hole. The hull would be complete and intact, and then the materials for the different systems would be brought in through the hatches."
These days, modular assembly is the rule.
In its earliest incarnation, the New Hampshire was a sub in four parts. The four separate modules -- bow, stern and two midsections -- were fabricated by Northrop Grumman, an Electric Boat competitor, in Newport News, Va.
Those four modules were then transported to Groton, one by one, on a massive barge called the "Sea Shuttle." Before the modules were linked together, operating systems were installed in the separate sections. The result is monumental efficiency.
"We use a time ratio of 1-to-3-to-8," said Chris Lane, a strategic engineer at Electric Boat whose unofficial title is "He Who Knows All."
"If it takes an hour for us to do something on the (shop) floor," he explained, "it will take three hours to do the same procedure onboard the closed sub. Then, after the sub has its shakedown, when it's time for repairs, it takes eight hours to do what took us an hour at the beginning, simply because of the space constraints on board."
Hence, the nuclear reactor that will power the ship was in place before the modules were joined together. Same for the propulsion machinery, the living quarters known as the "habitability area" -- full galley included -- and the combat hub known as the Command and Control Center.
Ordinarily, that's where you'd find the periscope.
Not on the New Hampshire.
"No periscope," said engineer Stephen Breyer, who walked me through the sub.
"The ship will have fiber optic cables at the top of the mast. Those cables will deliver surface images to two display monitors in the control room. The advantage is that, instead of one man on the 'scope, everyone on the bridge can see the images at the same time."
The sub will also be able to "see" with its ears.
Subs in the Virginia Class have been dubbed "the ultimate eavesdropper," able to pick up signals that satellites are unable to detect. It also features "SONAR All-Around," which will enable it to map the ocean floor, detect enemy mine fields and, most importantly -- thanks to a towed array that trails the sub -- protect much of the "blind area" behind the submarine.
"That's part of the reason the Virginia Class is so impressive compared to the subs from the Cold War-era," Commander Stevens said. "This sub is designed for littoral action, close in to shore, and these systems enable us to know where the New Hampshire is at all times."
New Hampshire crewmen
There are men from New Hampshire on the New Hampshire.
Jim Guild, 33, is from Portsmouth. He's a Petty Officer, 1st Class. He's already served aboard the USS Virginia, the USS Columbus and in the Deep Submergence Sub-Rescue Unit, which makes him a confirmed submariner.
"Subs are different," said Guild, who'll be working on hydraulics, air systems and oxygen controls. "It's not like serving on an aircraft carrier, where you could be one of 5,000 guys on board. There, you're a number. On a sub, you're part of a family."
That would mean that Jim and Tom Chase are related.
Chase is a 24 year-old graduate of Farmington High School (Class of '01). He enlisted six days after graduation and was stationed aboard the USS Philadelphia off the coast of Bahrain -- he's a nuclear reactor operator -- when he heard that the USS New Hampshire was in the works.
"I filed my '1306' the next day," he smiled, with "1306" being the Navy's "request for transfer" paperwork. "If there was going to be a 'New Hampshire,' I wanted to be first on board."
In Navy terminology, that would make Chase a "plank holder" -- part of the first crew to take a new ship to sea -- and he's very particular regarding the type of ship on which he'll serve.
"In the Navy, there are boats and there are targets. Surface ships are targets. We're on a boat," he grinned -- a boyish grin that should get him carded in bars until he's 50. "Really though, it's about the independence. On a submarine, once you're gone, you're gone. You get the chance to do the job that Joe Citizen is paying you to do, and you do it to the best of your ability."
And speaking of pay . . .
"As Electric Boat completes portions of the ship, they turn them over to the crew," said Glen Kline, Chief of the Boat for the New Hampshire, "but the date everyone is waiting for is the date they declare that the ship is habitable. Once we can move onboard, that's when sea-pay starts. The whole crew gets a raise."
Spirits will rise accordingly.
But the true test of the New Hampshire and her crew will come a year hence when, at last, she slides beneath the surface and takes her place in the modern, nuclear Navy.
By JOHN CLAYTON
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
I wanted to check up on an emerging slice of New Hampshire history last week, but to do so, I had to drive down to Connecticut.
Groton, to be specific.
That's where the PCU New Hampshire -- a $2.4 billion Virginia Class nuclear attack submarine -- is taking shape inside a vast manufacturing bay at Electric Boat, which is a Division of General Dynamics Corp., on the Thames River.
By way of verbal bookkeeping, you should know that, in time, the sub will be called the USS New Hampshire. However, until it is fully commissioned, the sub's official prefix is PCU, which is an acronym for Pre-Commissioning Unit.
That official commissioning and christening of the New Hampshire will take place over the course of the next year. Meanwhile, the ship is already "manned up," with a pre-commissioning captain and crew overseeing the installation of the many systems that will make the New Hampshire the most sophisticated sub in the Navy fleet.
At 377 feet, the sub easily exceeds the length of a football field, yet she will be able to dive to 800 feet below sea-level while traveling in excess of 25 knots with 134 officers and enlisted men on board.
And yes, in the U.S. Navy, the submarine detail is all male.
The New Hampshire's array of armaments will include Tomahawk land-attack missiles, Mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes and advanced mobile mines. And let us not overlook the sub's complement of Navy SEALs, who qualify as armaments unto themselves.
Those SEALs are the reason the New Hampshire is already outfitted with a nine-man lockout diving chamber that also can accommodate a mini-sub (called the Advanced SEAL Delivery System) for clandestine operations. And then there is the relatively expansive torpedo room -- the smidgen of open space within it is known as the "dance floor" -- that can be reconfigured to offer berthing for 41 additional special-ops troops.
"It already looks to be the most capable of the Virginia Class," said Commander Michael J. Stevens, a 1990 Naval Academy graduate (and 17-year veteran of the sub force) who served most recently as executive officer aboard another Virginia Class sub, the USS Texas.
"A key for us is to have the people of New Hampshire think of this as their boat," Stevens added. "The ship is coming along fast, and we hope to be out to sea by late summer or early fall next year."
The skipper also expressed hope that the New Hampshire might have its official commissioning ceremony at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard -- Electric Boat spokesman Robert Hamilton reiterated that hope -- but there's a lot of politicking to be done in the meantime.
Modular assembly
There's a lot of ship-building to be done, too.
"In the past," Hamilton explained, "building a submarine was like building a watch through the stem-hole. The hull would be complete and intact, and then the materials for the different systems would be brought in through the hatches."
These days, modular assembly is the rule.
In its earliest incarnation, the New Hampshire was a sub in four parts. The four separate modules -- bow, stern and two midsections -- were fabricated by Northrop Grumman, an Electric Boat competitor, in Newport News, Va.
Those four modules were then transported to Groton, one by one, on a massive barge called the "Sea Shuttle." Before the modules were linked together, operating systems were installed in the separate sections. The result is monumental efficiency.
"We use a time ratio of 1-to-3-to-8," said Chris Lane, a strategic engineer at Electric Boat whose unofficial title is "He Who Knows All."
"If it takes an hour for us to do something on the (shop) floor," he explained, "it will take three hours to do the same procedure onboard the closed sub. Then, after the sub has its shakedown, when it's time for repairs, it takes eight hours to do what took us an hour at the beginning, simply because of the space constraints on board."
Hence, the nuclear reactor that will power the ship was in place before the modules were joined together. Same for the propulsion machinery, the living quarters known as the "habitability area" -- full galley included -- and the combat hub known as the Command and Control Center.
Ordinarily, that's where you'd find the periscope.
Not on the New Hampshire.
"No periscope," said engineer Stephen Breyer, who walked me through the sub.
"The ship will have fiber optic cables at the top of the mast. Those cables will deliver surface images to two display monitors in the control room. The advantage is that, instead of one man on the 'scope, everyone on the bridge can see the images at the same time."
The sub will also be able to "see" with its ears.
Subs in the Virginia Class have been dubbed "the ultimate eavesdropper," able to pick up signals that satellites are unable to detect. It also features "SONAR All-Around," which will enable it to map the ocean floor, detect enemy mine fields and, most importantly -- thanks to a towed array that trails the sub -- protect much of the "blind area" behind the submarine.
"That's part of the reason the Virginia Class is so impressive compared to the subs from the Cold War-era," Commander Stevens said. "This sub is designed for littoral action, close in to shore, and these systems enable us to know where the New Hampshire is at all times."
New Hampshire crewmen
There are men from New Hampshire on the New Hampshire.
Jim Guild, 33, is from Portsmouth. He's a Petty Officer, 1st Class. He's already served aboard the USS Virginia, the USS Columbus and in the Deep Submergence Sub-Rescue Unit, which makes him a confirmed submariner.
"Subs are different," said Guild, who'll be working on hydraulics, air systems and oxygen controls. "It's not like serving on an aircraft carrier, where you could be one of 5,000 guys on board. There, you're a number. On a sub, you're part of a family."
That would mean that Jim and Tom Chase are related.
Chase is a 24 year-old graduate of Farmington High School (Class of '01). He enlisted six days after graduation and was stationed aboard the USS Philadelphia off the coast of Bahrain -- he's a nuclear reactor operator -- when he heard that the USS New Hampshire was in the works.
"I filed my '1306' the next day," he smiled, with "1306" being the Navy's "request for transfer" paperwork. "If there was going to be a 'New Hampshire,' I wanted to be first on board."
In Navy terminology, that would make Chase a "plank holder" -- part of the first crew to take a new ship to sea -- and he's very particular regarding the type of ship on which he'll serve.
"In the Navy, there are boats and there are targets. Surface ships are targets. We're on a boat," he grinned -- a boyish grin that should get him carded in bars until he's 50. "Really though, it's about the independence. On a submarine, once you're gone, you're gone. You get the chance to do the job that Joe Citizen is paying you to do, and you do it to the best of your ability."
And speaking of pay . . .
"As Electric Boat completes portions of the ship, they turn them over to the crew," said Glen Kline, Chief of the Boat for the New Hampshire, "but the date everyone is waiting for is the date they declare that the ship is habitable. Once we can move onboard, that's when sea-pay starts. The whole crew gets a raise."
Spirits will rise accordingly.
But the true test of the New Hampshire and her crew will come a year hence when, at last, she slides beneath the surface and takes her place in the modern, nuclear Navy.