[ARC5] OT - USS COD Dry Dock pictures

[Mike Morrow]

I spent the absolute worst two years of my life working never-ending 100-hour work weeks as Ships-Force Engineering Duty Officer when USS Daniel Boone SSBN-629 was in extended overhaul at Portsmouth (NH) Naval Shipyard.  Almost all of that time was in drydock with holes and sections cut in the hull through which a semi-tractor could drive.  The USN also had floating drydocks for subs that were paired with every sub tender.  The unrelieved work schedule wore this 24-y-o out doing nothing for which I had joined the USN...I loved going to sea.  So drydocks bring back nothing but bad memories for me. :-)

SSBN-629 was 425 feet long, 33 feet beam, 8000 tons.  It was indeed pretty impressive to look at from the bottom of the drydock.  Today's SSBNs are another hundred feet longer and 10 feet wider.  Those are really monsters when out of the water.

The energency communications bouys attached to US nuclear submarines are called messenger bouys.  They are NEVER rigged for deployment except for some post-overhaul test dives.  They normally are held secured by welded brackets external to the hull.  There are public domain photos of wreckage of the USS Scorpion SSN-589 after its post battery explosion, 1500-foot-depth hull implosion that show the messenger bouy and coiled attaching cable.  There were 99 men killed instantly from the battery explosion, but it took more than 20 minutes to reach implosion depth.  That same week of 22 May 1968 there were 471 US servicemen killed in Vietnam.  Since WWII, US submarine service has been very safe duty.

The drydocking and maintenance of ex-USS Cod looks like a very expensive project.  I toured Cod a couple of times when I lived in Madison OH 36 years ago.  I have heard there has been an extensive restoration effort since I last saw her.

There can't be many Cod's original crew left.  My dad was drafted out of high school when he turned 18 in January 1943.  He was an Electricians Mate 3/C on USS Sawfish SS-276 in 1944 for war patrol 8, which accounted for two ships sunk and one USN aviator recovered.  The CO was awarded the Navy Cross for the patrol.  Although a youngster on board late in the war, dad would be 96 if he had not passed away 20 years.  I still have his original Submarine Combat Insignia along with the authorizing card that had to be carried whenever the insignia was worn.

Mike / KK5F

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill KA8VIT <ka8vit at ka8vit.com>
Sent: Jul 26, 2021 11:10 AM
To: SKCC at groups.io <SKCC at groups.io>, ARC-5 List <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [ARC5] OT - USS COD Dry Dock pictures

Thought off-topic I thought many of you would enjoy seeing the pictures.

Some of the COD&rsquo;s crew and a number of COD Base Sub Vets and families travelled to Erie, PA, this past weekend to visit DonJon Shipbuilding, to see firsthand the work being done on the COD.

These pictures just cannot convey the immenseness of both the COD and the shipyard dry dock.

It is absolutely HUGE !

The COD herself is 312-feet long and the dry dock simply dwarfs it.

I cannot relate how much of a honor, thrill and adventure it was to be able to visit the shipyard and see the COD out of water and up on keel blocks...

It was hard to comprehend it all even when standing right there in the middle of it.

And to be able to stand underneath her... and to be able to examine every inch of her hull.

It was almost overwhelming.

https://ka8vit.com/drydock/

73 - Bill KA8VIT/W8COD


====================================
Bill Chaikin, KA8VIT
Chief Radio Operator
WW2 Submarine USS COD SS-224 (NECO)
USS COD Amateur Radio Club - W8COD

ka8vit at ka8vit.com
http://ka8vit.com
http://www.usscod.org
====================================
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