Mail Call (2002–…): Season 4, Episode 11 - Paratrooper Jump Gear/Weapons/Communications/Medical Gear - full transcript
Sit up, pipe down,
and pay attention.
It's time for "Mail Call."
Welcome to "Mail Call."
I got a boatload
of emails asking me
what it's like to live
aboard an attack submarine.
Well, we're some place
in the Pacific Ocean way
up high on the sail of
the USS Salt Lake City.
Oorah.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): A fast
attack submarine is definitely
the badass of the ocean.
Since she was already at sea,
I caught a tugboat ride out
to meet the Salt Lake City.
Permission to come aboard.
Permission granted, Gunny.
Semper fi.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
It's a real thrill
to meet the sailors
of the old SSN-716
because it takes a
special kind of person
to love this kind of duty.
And I couldn't wait to get
inside and have a look around.
This type of boat is called
a Los Angeles class fast
attack sub.
There's only three
decks, but every one
is packed with the coolest
gear you've ever seen.
Captain Tracy
Howard and his crew
welcomed me aboard
to spend a day
in the life of a submariner.
Skipper, what is the mission
of the fast attack submarine?
We can do anything from
launching Tomahawk cruise
missiles to strike land
targets, to taking on surface
or submerged contacts that we
may need to engage in wartime,
to simple intelligence gathering
to support a carrier battle
group or strike group that
maybe comes into the area.
We can deploy special
warfare forces, SEAL forces.
We can also, in some
cases, do mined warfare.
So it's a wide
variety of missions
that we're capable
of conducting.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): Think
of the crew of the Salt Lake
City as the utility
hitters of the Navy fleet,
ready for anything in combat,
support, or reconnaissance.
They are the silent
warriors of the sea.
And Jim in Raymond,
New Hampshire,
wants to know how long subs
have been battle assets.
Well, the first submarine in
combat was the American Turtle,
but its 1776 mission to plant
a bomb on a British ship
was a bust.
Civil war subs didn't
do much better.
The Union Alligator and the
Confederate Hunley both sank.
It wouldn't be until 1900
when the USS Holland became
the first true submarine
commissioned into the US Navy.
The builder was
James P. Holland.
He was considered the father of
the submarine, and the company
he founded--
Electric Boat-- still
builds America's subs
including the one we're on
today, the USS Salt Lake City.
How far down we going
to go today, Skipper?
Well, my favorite depth
to go to is 716 feet,
because this is the SSN-716,
but we can go down to 800 feet.
We'll probably
take you down there
and show you what it
looks like and what
it feels like to be that deep.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
So enough chit chat.
Let's get down to work,
and I do mean down
to the nerve center of the
whole shebang, the control room.
That's the heart
of the submarine.
Off the deck, last man down,
hatch secured, bridge rigged
for dive.
Very well.
This is the conn, the
control room of the ship.
They're going to let me
give the command to dive.
Watch these guys
spring into action.
Dive, submerge the ship.
Submerge the ship, dive high.
Two to the watch on
the 1MC, dive, dive.
Two blasts of the dive
alarm, dive, dive.
Over to 1MC, dive, dive,
two blasts of the dive alarm,
dive, dive, aye.
Dive, dive.
[alarm sounds]
Dive, dive.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): All right,
they didn't exactly
spring, but that's 'cause
every inch of this boat
is dedicated space.
Technology is numero uno, and
privacy is a distant second,
so we're packed
in like sardines.
Quarterback--
All vents open.
SAILOR: All vents open.
SAILOR: Ready, forward.
SAILOR: 37.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): And now
that we're diving, I can answer
an email from Eddie in Tucson,
Arizona, who wants to know
how does a submarine dive?
Now I ain't no nautical
engineer Eddie,
but basically, a sub works
a lot like an airplane.
See those wings on
the conning tower?
Well, they're called
planes, and the crew
uses them to move the
boat up and down, sort
of like an airplane pilot does.
But this is water, not air.
So as the sub dives,
valves and vents
are opened in the ballast
tanks to let in seawater.
When it gets to the depth
that the captain wants,
they close the vents.
That way the boat weighs the
same as the water around it
and the Salt Lake City
can fly underwater.
Now after I gave the
command to dive, here we go.
We going down.
We blow the ballast.
We go down.
You were saying that
we stop at 150 feet.
What's going on with that?
What we do is at 150
feet, we can kind of
stop and make sure all of
the systems and the submarine
are in a stable
state and are safe.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): If
there's one sailor on this boat
who knows it all, it's a COP.
That stands for
Chief of the Boat.
Master Chief Schell is the
senior enlisted man on board,
so I figure he's the guy to
answer an email from Brian
in Detroit, Michigan.
Brian wants to know how
deep can a nuclear sub go?
Now I notice
also on the console
that we've got a couple of,
I believe that's the depth
gauges, isn't it?
Why are they covered up?
Well, we don't
like to let everybody
know how deep the
submarine can go.
We like to keep that quiet.
Oh, I see, so it's
classified information.
It is classified information.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): But we do
know it can go at least 800
feet, which is our target depth
today.
Here are the guys who drive it.
The chief of the
watch communicates
with the rest of the crew.
The fair water planesman
makes the boat go up and down,
and the stern planesman keeps
the boat level as she descends.
Now a lot of you out
there seem to think
that a sub has windows.
How else could they see?
I thought my viewers
were smarter than that.
It's called sonar, people,
short for "sound, navigation,
and ranging."
Since sound carries a
lot better underwater
than in the open air, subs use
highly sensitive microphones
to listen for obstructions
and other vessels.
Basically sonar's the eyes
and ears of the submarine.
Tell you the truth,
everything on every screen
here looks like a bunch of
squiggly nothings to me.
Well, because of all
the squiggly lines,
those are actually noise spokes
that we can look and listen to
and by listening
to them and getting
the different information
from the contacts,
we can tell what they are.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Sonar operates in two modes,
active and passive.
Most of the time
the Salt Lake City
uses her passive sonar,
which means that she's just
listening.
Active sonar is when a sound is
generated from the sub, called
a ping.
The time it takes for the echo
of that ping to bounce off
the target and return to
the sub gives the crew
all the information it
needs, like heading,
speed, and depth if
it's another submarine.
Wow, lot of moving
parts on a submarine.
If you want to get your meat
hooks on any of these bells
and whistles, you're
going to have to enlist.
If not, stick with me.
We've got a lot more coming up.
Oorah.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): I'm
800 feet under the Pacific
with the crew of the
USS Salt Lake City.
135 sailors call this
nuclear-powered submarine home
for up to six months at a time.
And if you have a
hankering for some sunshine
and wide open spaces, don't even
think about signing on here.
You might not see daylight
for as long as 26 weeks,
and your rack's going to take
up less room than the torpedo
that you're sleeping on top up.
And speaking of torpedoes,
Maurice in Palos Verdes,
California, shot me an email
asking what kind of weapons
are on a fast attack submarine?
What puts the attack
in attack submarine?
You're looking at it,
this baby right here.
Ain't it a beaut?
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): This
is the Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo,
and the USS Salt
Lake City starts out
every deployment with more of
these than any other weapon.
The ADCAP, which stands
for "advanced capability,"
was introduced in the
late 1980s as a response
to the extremely fast
Soviet Alfa-class sub.
Clear.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Petty Officer Herrera
had been on board the Salt
Lake City for five years,
and he knows a lot about
how to blow stuff up
with these little honies.
Can you guide this torpedo
to the target from the boat,
or does it just
go to the target?
No, it is a
wire-guided weapon.
We can actually send signals
to the weapon and have it turn.
The torpedoes use both
active and passive sonars.
Passive is the
first to acquire it.
After it's acquired its
target, it will go active.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): The
Mark 48 torpedo is massive.
At 19 feet long
and 3,500 pounds,
it can still travel
over 30 miles an hour
and destroy a target more
than five miles away.
And it doesn't do
it with a direct hit
like you might think.
The Mark 48 explodes a few feet
under the keel of the enemy
ship.
The pressure from the
explosion literally
breaks the back of the target.
How big of a target
can this destroy?
Most of your small boys,
your DDDs or frigates,
ships of that size,
300, 400 feet long.
No problem.
Aircraft carrier
might take a few.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): The Mark 48
ADCAP torpedo is one of
the newest in the fleet.
But I got an email from John
in Puyallup, Washington,
asking what was the first
torpedo fired from a sub?
Well, back in 1866,
Englishman Robert Whitehead
produced something called
the automobile torpedo.
And pretty soon
after, Europe's navy
started experimenting with
firing them from a submarine.
But it was the Turkish
navy that got off
the first launch in 1886 from
their sub the Nordenfelt II.
Unfortunately, the recoil from
that torpedo sank the sub.
So if we're talking
successful torpedo launch,
it was the French Navy that
torpedoed a moving battleship
in 1901.
After that, navies
caught on pretty quick.
And by the time the Americans
got their meat hooks
into the torpedo game, we knew
we were on to something good.
And with every
successive war, we've
made dramatic improvements
in what these babies can do.
The Salt Lake City has
four compressed air tubes,
all forward at the bow
because our attack subs
don't run from anyone.
Since each Mark 48 torpedo
costs around $4 million,
the crew filled one
of the empty tubes
with water so I could
get a feel for what
it was like to push the button
that launches the real thing.
Just hold them there.
Now you're flooding
down that torpedo tube.
That noise that I
hear is water coming in.
Water coming into
the torpedo tube.
All right, torpedo 2 is now
flooded down and equalized?
We're going to open our
ejection front door.
Select the eject mode which
will tell the entire system
that we're going to
eject the weapon out.
So like a mine, it would
swim out by itself.
Now we'll open our muzzle door,
which you'll see the shaft move
over there.
OK.
Now that opens the
door on the outside?
That opens your
outside muzzle door, yes.
All right, Gunny,
whenever you're ready,
go ahead and shoot the tube.
- OK.
Shooting the water slug.
3, 2, 1, shoot.
Let it go.
[alarm sounds]
[water rushes]
Hear that?
I think it got something.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It's
basically a big squirt gun that
shoots whatever you
put in the tube.
And when a torpedo
won't get the job done,
the USS Salt Lake City
also has a handy supply
of Tomahawk cruise missiles.
These bad boys have
1,000-mile range,
and enough firepower to
destroy just about anything,
depending on what kind of
warhead it's got going.
Does an attack submarine
carry nuclear weapons?
I can neither confirm nor deny
the presence of nuclear weapons
aboard this submarine, but
we do have the capabilities
of carrying them.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
The Salt Lake City
fires all of her
weapons from the tubes.
But the newer subs-- starting
with the USS Providence--
also have vertical
launching systems.
That way, you can fire torpedoes
and a salvo of missiles
at the same time, making
our boats more lethal.
What other weapons do
we have onboard that boat?
Other weapons on board,
we carry the UGM-84,
which is your harpoon, as
well as your Mark 67 mine.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Weapons aren't the whole story
on this sub.
One of the Salt Lake
City's more secret missions
is to insert and
extract SEAL teams.
One of their favorite toys
is the SEAL delivery vehicle.
Mounted on the back
of the sub, the SDV
gives SEALS a global reach.
Back in the conn,
the boys wanted
to show me that their sub
is tough, but agile too.
So they went through some
evasive maneuver drills.
This is what they
call angles and dangles.
And if a guy was going
to lose his lunch,
I would think this
would probably
be the appropriate time, 'cause
we're coming up right now
at about 25-degree angle,
amazing stuff, and moving,
I don't know, probably 20
knots or so, coming right up.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): Underwater,
a sub moves a lot like a plane,
and if you don't brace yourself
like these guys do, you'll end
up with a dent in your coconut.
Gunny, right now we're
doing a high-speed turn.
We're simulating what we
may do if we were trying
to evade a torpedo.
We're using a large
rudder and high speeds,
causing the ship to
bank through the turn
and also we'll start to dive.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): And
what keeps the whole shebang
running underwater 24/7?
Well, the heart of the sub
is its nuclear reactor,
and that's where
I'm headed next.
Here I am in the machine
room of the USS Salt Lake City.
All I can say is, we have come
a long way from bicycle pedals.
Wonder what this does?
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It
takes a lot of high technology
and heavy metal to
keep the USS Salt Lake
City down and running.
And when I say heavy
metal, I mean heavy.
We're talking uranium,
baby, cause this sub runs
on nuclear power
that's generated
in a highly-secure
clean room deep
in the bowels of the submarine.
A lot of secret places on
this boat, I've got to tell you.
Nuclear reactor, yeah.
Hey Gunny, how you doin'?
How you doin', sailor?
Don't 'spose me and the
boys could get in there
and have a peek, do you?
No, I can't, security area.
Well then, could you just
tell us what's in there?
I can't do that either.
New "Mail Call" coin.
Very rare.
Not many of these
floating around.
How much is that ring worth?
Well, ring, not for sale.
All right, I'll keep this.
Hey, hey, hey sailor.
Sailor!
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): On
board the USS Salt Lake City,
the head honcho--
when it comes to nuclear
propulsion systems--
is the chief engineer.
Now sir, you're the
engineer, the big kahuna that
runs this engineering section.
How does this-- see, what's
the sequence of events that
makes this boat really go?
Navy nuclear power
is based on what
we call a pressurized
water reactor system.
It has basically two
loops-- a primary loop
and a secondary loop.
In the primary system,
you have the reactor core.
Water flows through the core.
As fission occurs, that
heats up that water.
That water is then carried
to a steam generator.
That steam is then used to
turn the main engines, which
are basically steam turbines,
and also the turbine
generators, which are used
to generate electricity
for the boat.
How often do we have to
refuel a nuclear reactor
on a submarine?
Well, that's the beauty of it.
Our newest nuclear
submarines in the Navy,
the Virginia-class
submarines, has a reactor core
that's designed to last the
entire life of the ship.
And I understand that
the core on this one
is designed to last
about 20 years.
Right.
We've been commissioned on the
same core since the early '80s.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
When did submarines
start going nuclear?
Well now, that's the question
from Rick in Atlanta.
Well, up until 1955,
subs like this one
ran on diesel fuel on the
surface, and on battery power
when they were submerged.
But when you ran out of gas
to recharge those batteries,
you were sunk.
Back in 1948, Admiral Hyman
Rickover changed all that.
He dreamed up the idea of a
ship that would never need gas
and designed the first
nuclear reactor for the Navy.
A submarine seemed to be
the perfect test platform
for the new system,
and in 1954, the Navy's
first nuclear powered
vessel was born,
and the Nautilus became reality.
Today, the United
States Navy has over 70
nuclear-powered subs.
But just like their
old granddads,
subs today depend on banks
of batteries located deep
in the engineering spaces.
They store the power needed to
operate all of the technology
packed inside.
Some of that technology
is located right here,
and believe me when I tell
you without these gizmos,
the Salt Lake City's crew
would be dead in the water.
This is where they make oxygen.
And Jack in Reno, Nevada,
wants to know how they do it.
We've been told
and we understand
that you can go under
the polar ice cap
and you can stay
there for months.
You don't have to
surface for air.
You have to surface
for fresh water.
How does that work?
We can make our own oxygen.
Water is made up of hydrogen
and oxygen, and
what we do is we,
you know, basically rip
apart the hydrogen and oxygen
and we keep the oxygen in
which we can then put back
to the ventilation system,
and then we, you know,
get rid of the hydrogen. And so
we're constantly revitalizing
the atmospheres on the ship.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
And they use the same system
to make fresh water.
We take salt water, boil
it off, turn it to steam,
then recondense the steam
back into pure water.
And that's your drinking
water and the whole works.
Drinking water, water we cook
with, water we take showers
with, everything.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): It's been
50 years since the Nautilus
first sailed and Commander
Cooper and his team continue
the tradition of excellence
in naval engineering.
Our last question comes
from Yancey out of Spokane,
Washington.
Yancey wants to know
what kind of chow
do you get in the
silent service?
Well, since submariners give
up sunlight and fresh air
for months at a time, the
Navy thinks that's worth
an extra prime rib or two.
So it's not surprising that
submariners get the best chow
in the Navy.
But here on the Salt Lake
City, they go even one better.
The Pacific fleet holds
a competition every year
to find out which command
has the best mess.
And this sub is
the reigning champ.
When you look
inside the kitchen,
it's smaller than the
one in most homes,
but this is one place
where size doesn't matter.
The culinary specialists on
this boat make magic in the mess
just to keep morale up for
those long lonely patrols.
When a boat like the Salt
Lake City gets underway,
she's loaded to the gills
with supplies, stacked
in the passageways, lockers,
and every nook and cranny.
The boat gets even smaller.
In fact, food is the only
limit to the length of time
a crew can stay submerged.
When chow time approaches,
the smell of the grill
fills the whole ship.
The waiting in the chow line--
only being able to go
in three at a time--
demonstrates how small
this boat really is.
Hi, Chief.
I've been waiting
for this all day.
Do you really think this is
the best chow in the military?
Best in all the military.
I don't know.
The Marine Corps feeds its
troops pretty doggone good,
you know.
Wow.
My compliments to the chef.
Semper fi.
Carry on.
Welcome to email.
OK, I want to get the
Atlantic in anyway.
I want to get the
Pacific in anyway.
MAN: It'll be a long day.
This is really something.
MAN: Don't hold on, Gunny.
This is amazing.
I got to hold on.
What do you mean, don't hold on?
I'll be pulled out
of the damn shot.
and pay attention.
It's time for "Mail Call."
Welcome to "Mail Call."
I got a boatload
of emails asking me
what it's like to live
aboard an attack submarine.
Well, we're some place
in the Pacific Ocean way
up high on the sail of
the USS Salt Lake City.
Oorah.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): A fast
attack submarine is definitely
the badass of the ocean.
Since she was already at sea,
I caught a tugboat ride out
to meet the Salt Lake City.
Permission to come aboard.
Permission granted, Gunny.
Semper fi.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
It's a real thrill
to meet the sailors
of the old SSN-716
because it takes a
special kind of person
to love this kind of duty.
And I couldn't wait to get
inside and have a look around.
This type of boat is called
a Los Angeles class fast
attack sub.
There's only three
decks, but every one
is packed with the coolest
gear you've ever seen.
Captain Tracy
Howard and his crew
welcomed me aboard
to spend a day
in the life of a submariner.
Skipper, what is the mission
of the fast attack submarine?
We can do anything from
launching Tomahawk cruise
missiles to strike land
targets, to taking on surface
or submerged contacts that we
may need to engage in wartime,
to simple intelligence gathering
to support a carrier battle
group or strike group that
maybe comes into the area.
We can deploy special
warfare forces, SEAL forces.
We can also, in some
cases, do mined warfare.
So it's a wide
variety of missions
that we're capable
of conducting.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): Think
of the crew of the Salt Lake
City as the utility
hitters of the Navy fleet,
ready for anything in combat,
support, or reconnaissance.
They are the silent
warriors of the sea.
And Jim in Raymond,
New Hampshire,
wants to know how long subs
have been battle assets.
Well, the first submarine in
combat was the American Turtle,
but its 1776 mission to plant
a bomb on a British ship
was a bust.
Civil war subs didn't
do much better.
The Union Alligator and the
Confederate Hunley both sank.
It wouldn't be until 1900
when the USS Holland became
the first true submarine
commissioned into the US Navy.
The builder was
James P. Holland.
He was considered the father of
the submarine, and the company
he founded--
Electric Boat-- still
builds America's subs
including the one we're on
today, the USS Salt Lake City.
How far down we going
to go today, Skipper?
Well, my favorite depth
to go to is 716 feet,
because this is the SSN-716,
but we can go down to 800 feet.
We'll probably
take you down there
and show you what it
looks like and what
it feels like to be that deep.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
So enough chit chat.
Let's get down to work,
and I do mean down
to the nerve center of the
whole shebang, the control room.
That's the heart
of the submarine.
Off the deck, last man down,
hatch secured, bridge rigged
for dive.
Very well.
This is the conn, the
control room of the ship.
They're going to let me
give the command to dive.
Watch these guys
spring into action.
Dive, submerge the ship.
Submerge the ship, dive high.
Two to the watch on
the 1MC, dive, dive.
Two blasts of the dive
alarm, dive, dive.
Over to 1MC, dive, dive,
two blasts of the dive alarm,
dive, dive, aye.
Dive, dive.
[alarm sounds]
Dive, dive.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): All right,
they didn't exactly
spring, but that's 'cause
every inch of this boat
is dedicated space.
Technology is numero uno, and
privacy is a distant second,
so we're packed
in like sardines.
Quarterback--
All vents open.
SAILOR: All vents open.
SAILOR: Ready, forward.
SAILOR: 37.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): And now
that we're diving, I can answer
an email from Eddie in Tucson,
Arizona, who wants to know
how does a submarine dive?
Now I ain't no nautical
engineer Eddie,
but basically, a sub works
a lot like an airplane.
See those wings on
the conning tower?
Well, they're called
planes, and the crew
uses them to move the
boat up and down, sort
of like an airplane pilot does.
But this is water, not air.
So as the sub dives,
valves and vents
are opened in the ballast
tanks to let in seawater.
When it gets to the depth
that the captain wants,
they close the vents.
That way the boat weighs the
same as the water around it
and the Salt Lake City
can fly underwater.
Now after I gave the
command to dive, here we go.
We going down.
We blow the ballast.
We go down.
You were saying that
we stop at 150 feet.
What's going on with that?
What we do is at 150
feet, we can kind of
stop and make sure all of
the systems and the submarine
are in a stable
state and are safe.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): If
there's one sailor on this boat
who knows it all, it's a COP.
That stands for
Chief of the Boat.
Master Chief Schell is the
senior enlisted man on board,
so I figure he's the guy to
answer an email from Brian
in Detroit, Michigan.
Brian wants to know how
deep can a nuclear sub go?
Now I notice
also on the console
that we've got a couple of,
I believe that's the depth
gauges, isn't it?
Why are they covered up?
Well, we don't
like to let everybody
know how deep the
submarine can go.
We like to keep that quiet.
Oh, I see, so it's
classified information.
It is classified information.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): But we do
know it can go at least 800
feet, which is our target depth
today.
Here are the guys who drive it.
The chief of the
watch communicates
with the rest of the crew.
The fair water planesman
makes the boat go up and down,
and the stern planesman keeps
the boat level as she descends.
Now a lot of you out
there seem to think
that a sub has windows.
How else could they see?
I thought my viewers
were smarter than that.
It's called sonar, people,
short for "sound, navigation,
and ranging."
Since sound carries a
lot better underwater
than in the open air, subs use
highly sensitive microphones
to listen for obstructions
and other vessels.
Basically sonar's the eyes
and ears of the submarine.
Tell you the truth,
everything on every screen
here looks like a bunch of
squiggly nothings to me.
Well, because of all
the squiggly lines,
those are actually noise spokes
that we can look and listen to
and by listening
to them and getting
the different information
from the contacts,
we can tell what they are.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Sonar operates in two modes,
active and passive.
Most of the time
the Salt Lake City
uses her passive sonar,
which means that she's just
listening.
Active sonar is when a sound is
generated from the sub, called
a ping.
The time it takes for the echo
of that ping to bounce off
the target and return to
the sub gives the crew
all the information it
needs, like heading,
speed, and depth if
it's another submarine.
Wow, lot of moving
parts on a submarine.
If you want to get your meat
hooks on any of these bells
and whistles, you're
going to have to enlist.
If not, stick with me.
We've got a lot more coming up.
Oorah.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): I'm
800 feet under the Pacific
with the crew of the
USS Salt Lake City.
135 sailors call this
nuclear-powered submarine home
for up to six months at a time.
And if you have a
hankering for some sunshine
and wide open spaces, don't even
think about signing on here.
You might not see daylight
for as long as 26 weeks,
and your rack's going to take
up less room than the torpedo
that you're sleeping on top up.
And speaking of torpedoes,
Maurice in Palos Verdes,
California, shot me an email
asking what kind of weapons
are on a fast attack submarine?
What puts the attack
in attack submarine?
You're looking at it,
this baby right here.
Ain't it a beaut?
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): This
is the Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo,
and the USS Salt
Lake City starts out
every deployment with more of
these than any other weapon.
The ADCAP, which stands
for "advanced capability,"
was introduced in the
late 1980s as a response
to the extremely fast
Soviet Alfa-class sub.
Clear.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Petty Officer Herrera
had been on board the Salt
Lake City for five years,
and he knows a lot about
how to blow stuff up
with these little honies.
Can you guide this torpedo
to the target from the boat,
or does it just
go to the target?
No, it is a
wire-guided weapon.
We can actually send signals
to the weapon and have it turn.
The torpedoes use both
active and passive sonars.
Passive is the
first to acquire it.
After it's acquired its
target, it will go active.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): The
Mark 48 torpedo is massive.
At 19 feet long
and 3,500 pounds,
it can still travel
over 30 miles an hour
and destroy a target more
than five miles away.
And it doesn't do
it with a direct hit
like you might think.
The Mark 48 explodes a few feet
under the keel of the enemy
ship.
The pressure from the
explosion literally
breaks the back of the target.
How big of a target
can this destroy?
Most of your small boys,
your DDDs or frigates,
ships of that size,
300, 400 feet long.
No problem.
Aircraft carrier
might take a few.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): The Mark 48
ADCAP torpedo is one of
the newest in the fleet.
But I got an email from John
in Puyallup, Washington,
asking what was the first
torpedo fired from a sub?
Well, back in 1866,
Englishman Robert Whitehead
produced something called
the automobile torpedo.
And pretty soon
after, Europe's navy
started experimenting with
firing them from a submarine.
But it was the Turkish
navy that got off
the first launch in 1886 from
their sub the Nordenfelt II.
Unfortunately, the recoil from
that torpedo sank the sub.
So if we're talking
successful torpedo launch,
it was the French Navy that
torpedoed a moving battleship
in 1901.
After that, navies
caught on pretty quick.
And by the time the Americans
got their meat hooks
into the torpedo game, we knew
we were on to something good.
And with every
successive war, we've
made dramatic improvements
in what these babies can do.
The Salt Lake City has
four compressed air tubes,
all forward at the bow
because our attack subs
don't run from anyone.
Since each Mark 48 torpedo
costs around $4 million,
the crew filled one
of the empty tubes
with water so I could
get a feel for what
it was like to push the button
that launches the real thing.
Just hold them there.
Now you're flooding
down that torpedo tube.
That noise that I
hear is water coming in.
Water coming into
the torpedo tube.
All right, torpedo 2 is now
flooded down and equalized?
We're going to open our
ejection front door.
Select the eject mode which
will tell the entire system
that we're going to
eject the weapon out.
So like a mine, it would
swim out by itself.
Now we'll open our muzzle door,
which you'll see the shaft move
over there.
OK.
Now that opens the
door on the outside?
That opens your
outside muzzle door, yes.
All right, Gunny,
whenever you're ready,
go ahead and shoot the tube.
- OK.
Shooting the water slug.
3, 2, 1, shoot.
Let it go.
[alarm sounds]
[water rushes]
Hear that?
I think it got something.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It's
basically a big squirt gun that
shoots whatever you
put in the tube.
And when a torpedo
won't get the job done,
the USS Salt Lake City
also has a handy supply
of Tomahawk cruise missiles.
These bad boys have
1,000-mile range,
and enough firepower to
destroy just about anything,
depending on what kind of
warhead it's got going.
Does an attack submarine
carry nuclear weapons?
I can neither confirm nor deny
the presence of nuclear weapons
aboard this submarine, but
we do have the capabilities
of carrying them.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
The Salt Lake City
fires all of her
weapons from the tubes.
But the newer subs-- starting
with the USS Providence--
also have vertical
launching systems.
That way, you can fire torpedoes
and a salvo of missiles
at the same time, making
our boats more lethal.
What other weapons do
we have onboard that boat?
Other weapons on board,
we carry the UGM-84,
which is your harpoon, as
well as your Mark 67 mine.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Weapons aren't the whole story
on this sub.
One of the Salt Lake
City's more secret missions
is to insert and
extract SEAL teams.
One of their favorite toys
is the SEAL delivery vehicle.
Mounted on the back
of the sub, the SDV
gives SEALS a global reach.
Back in the conn,
the boys wanted
to show me that their sub
is tough, but agile too.
So they went through some
evasive maneuver drills.
This is what they
call angles and dangles.
And if a guy was going
to lose his lunch,
I would think this
would probably
be the appropriate time, 'cause
we're coming up right now
at about 25-degree angle,
amazing stuff, and moving,
I don't know, probably 20
knots or so, coming right up.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): Underwater,
a sub moves a lot like a plane,
and if you don't brace yourself
like these guys do, you'll end
up with a dent in your coconut.
Gunny, right now we're
doing a high-speed turn.
We're simulating what we
may do if we were trying
to evade a torpedo.
We're using a large
rudder and high speeds,
causing the ship to
bank through the turn
and also we'll start to dive.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): And
what keeps the whole shebang
running underwater 24/7?
Well, the heart of the sub
is its nuclear reactor,
and that's where
I'm headed next.
Here I am in the machine
room of the USS Salt Lake City.
All I can say is, we have come
a long way from bicycle pedals.
Wonder what this does?
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It
takes a lot of high technology
and heavy metal to
keep the USS Salt Lake
City down and running.
And when I say heavy
metal, I mean heavy.
We're talking uranium,
baby, cause this sub runs
on nuclear power
that's generated
in a highly-secure
clean room deep
in the bowels of the submarine.
A lot of secret places on
this boat, I've got to tell you.
Nuclear reactor, yeah.
Hey Gunny, how you doin'?
How you doin', sailor?
Don't 'spose me and the
boys could get in there
and have a peek, do you?
No, I can't, security area.
Well then, could you just
tell us what's in there?
I can't do that either.
New "Mail Call" coin.
Very rare.
Not many of these
floating around.
How much is that ring worth?
Well, ring, not for sale.
All right, I'll keep this.
Hey, hey, hey sailor.
Sailor!
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): On
board the USS Salt Lake City,
the head honcho--
when it comes to nuclear
propulsion systems--
is the chief engineer.
Now sir, you're the
engineer, the big kahuna that
runs this engineering section.
How does this-- see, what's
the sequence of events that
makes this boat really go?
Navy nuclear power
is based on what
we call a pressurized
water reactor system.
It has basically two
loops-- a primary loop
and a secondary loop.
In the primary system,
you have the reactor core.
Water flows through the core.
As fission occurs, that
heats up that water.
That water is then carried
to a steam generator.
That steam is then used to
turn the main engines, which
are basically steam turbines,
and also the turbine
generators, which are used
to generate electricity
for the boat.
How often do we have to
refuel a nuclear reactor
on a submarine?
Well, that's the beauty of it.
Our newest nuclear
submarines in the Navy,
the Virginia-class
submarines, has a reactor core
that's designed to last the
entire life of the ship.
And I understand that
the core on this one
is designed to last
about 20 years.
Right.
We've been commissioned on the
same core since the early '80s.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
When did submarines
start going nuclear?
Well now, that's the question
from Rick in Atlanta.
Well, up until 1955,
subs like this one
ran on diesel fuel on the
surface, and on battery power
when they were submerged.
But when you ran out of gas
to recharge those batteries,
you were sunk.
Back in 1948, Admiral Hyman
Rickover changed all that.
He dreamed up the idea of a
ship that would never need gas
and designed the first
nuclear reactor for the Navy.
A submarine seemed to be
the perfect test platform
for the new system,
and in 1954, the Navy's
first nuclear powered
vessel was born,
and the Nautilus became reality.
Today, the United
States Navy has over 70
nuclear-powered subs.
But just like their
old granddads,
subs today depend on banks
of batteries located deep
in the engineering spaces.
They store the power needed to
operate all of the technology
packed inside.
Some of that technology
is located right here,
and believe me when I tell
you without these gizmos,
the Salt Lake City's crew
would be dead in the water.
This is where they make oxygen.
And Jack in Reno, Nevada,
wants to know how they do it.
We've been told
and we understand
that you can go under
the polar ice cap
and you can stay
there for months.
You don't have to
surface for air.
You have to surface
for fresh water.
How does that work?
We can make our own oxygen.
Water is made up of hydrogen
and oxygen, and
what we do is we,
you know, basically rip
apart the hydrogen and oxygen
and we keep the oxygen in
which we can then put back
to the ventilation system,
and then we, you know,
get rid of the hydrogen. And so
we're constantly revitalizing
the atmospheres on the ship.
R. LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
And they use the same system
to make fresh water.
We take salt water, boil
it off, turn it to steam,
then recondense the steam
back into pure water.
And that's your drinking
water and the whole works.
Drinking water, water we cook
with, water we take showers
with, everything.
R. LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): It's been
50 years since the Nautilus
first sailed and Commander
Cooper and his team continue
the tradition of excellence
in naval engineering.
Our last question comes
from Yancey out of Spokane,
Washington.
Yancey wants to know
what kind of chow
do you get in the
silent service?
Well, since submariners give
up sunlight and fresh air
for months at a time, the
Navy thinks that's worth
an extra prime rib or two.
So it's not surprising that
submariners get the best chow
in the Navy.
But here on the Salt Lake
City, they go even one better.
The Pacific fleet holds
a competition every year
to find out which command
has the best mess.
And this sub is
the reigning champ.
When you look
inside the kitchen,
it's smaller than the
one in most homes,
but this is one place
where size doesn't matter.
The culinary specialists on
this boat make magic in the mess
just to keep morale up for
those long lonely patrols.
When a boat like the Salt
Lake City gets underway,
she's loaded to the gills
with supplies, stacked
in the passageways, lockers,
and every nook and cranny.
The boat gets even smaller.
In fact, food is the only
limit to the length of time
a crew can stay submerged.
When chow time approaches,
the smell of the grill
fills the whole ship.
The waiting in the chow line--
only being able to go
in three at a time--
demonstrates how small
this boat really is.
Hi, Chief.
I've been waiting
for this all day.
Do you really think this is
the best chow in the military?
Best in all the military.
I don't know.
The Marine Corps feeds its
troops pretty doggone good,
you know.
Wow.
My compliments to the chef.
Semper fi.
Carry on.
Welcome to email.
OK, I want to get the
Atlantic in anyway.
I want to get the
Pacific in anyway.
MAN: It'll be a long day.
This is really something.
MAN: Don't hold on, Gunny.
This is amazing.
I got to hold on.
What do you mean, don't hold on?
I'll be pulled out
of the damn shot.