|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Air Manifold
Diving Planes
"Christmas Tree" Diving Station
Chief "Mac" McClure 10/69 |
Glenn Duncan The control room is located near the center of the boat and below the conning tower. Access to the control room is from the Forward Battery, After Battery, Conning Tower when operating at sea. There is a hatch in the forward, port corner of the control room overhead This hatch opens into the gun access trunk. During battle stations surface, the forward five inch and 40 mm gun crews were staged in this trunk and control room. The trunk has a side door providing rapid access to the main deck and the forward topside guns (Note: The deck guns and access trunk were removed during the '60's "Guppy" conversion. The only surface guns at this point were small arms ((M-1's, Thompson submachine guns and 45's)). During the Gulf of Tonkin run, Spinax carried 2 50 caliber machine guns). The control room is the nerve center of the boat when at sea and operating on the surface or submerged. The Chief of the Watch manned his station at the hydraulic manifold in the forward port corner of the control room when on the surface or submerged.. The hydraulic manifold controlled the critical hydraulic vent valves in the ballast, fuel ballast and bow buoyancy tanks, floods and vents in the safety tank, and the flood valve for negative (buoyancy) tank. This manifold also controlled the 36" main induction valve that supplied air to the engine rooms through external pipes to the engine room. Above the manifold was a Christmas tree with a red and green light for each of the hydraulic valves operated by the Chief of the Watch. Going around the Control Room to the left is a large wheel to control the bow planes. This station is manned submerged by a lookout. Controls and Instrumentation for the bow planes are, a hydraulic lever, low and to the right, to rig out and in the bow planes, when the boat submerged and surfaced. The bow planes man controlled the boat depth since the planes were near the bow of the boat. The instruments for depth control are a shallow and a deep depth gauge and a narrow and wide range inclinometer at this station. These instruments kept the planes man aware of the boat depth and angle as the boat responded to his bow and the stern plane control movements. The large wheel to the left of the bow plane control wheel is the stern plane control station. This is also manned by a lookout. The stern planes man controlled the angle on the boat due to the stern plane location behind the propellers. His instrumentation is the same as the bow planes. The two planes men operated together under the direction of the diving officer positioned at the base of the conning tower ladder and behind the planes men. To the left of the stern plane station is the trim manifold. This manifold is a vertical manifold internally divided and connected by piping to all of the trim tanks, the trim pump and a sea valve. When submerged the operator came from the forward engine room to man the manifold. With this manifold he could pump from and to any of the internal trim tanks and flood sea water in or pump water out of the trim tanks to sea. Since a submarine is like a blimp it must maintain as close to a neutral buoyancy and trim as possible. Once a neutral buoyancy( no up or down drift) and trim ( bubble holds steady with minor plane movement) is established, changes such as five people moving from the center of the boat to the forward torpedo room must be compensated by pumping water from the forward trim tank to tanks amidships or the after trim tank to maintain trim. Buoyancy is affected by leakage into the bilge's and filling of sanitary tanks which requires a discharge of an equal amount of water from the tanks to sea through this manifold to maintain buoyancy. A change in the temperature or salinity of the water may require flooding sea water in or pumping water out to maintain neutral buoyancy. The buoyancy of a submarine also changes with the temperature/density of the surrounding water. For example a submarine passing close to a fresh water river entering the ocean could become rapidly heavy due to the fresh water, since the boat is trimmed for salt water. Against the after wall is the Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) equipment. This equipment was used to search through the electromagnetic frequencies to detect any electronic radiation or radar that could pick up the boat. The off lookout manned this station when surfaced and there was a need for ECM operation. Inboard of the stern planes was the SS radar located up against the port side of the periscope wells. This radar could be used surfaced or by raising the mast when submerged. This station was manned by a radar man, or off lookout when on the surface. A radar man when submerged. In the center line of the control room from forward is the emergency steering wheel, speed enunciators, a compass repeater and the auxiliary compass. Submarines go into water deeper than 6' so they are equipped with an auxiliary gyro compass, at least that is what we always told the Coast Guard Cadets that visited the boat when stationed in New London, CT. In the center is a general purpose table that covers the master gyro compass. This compass is against all present U S Environmental Department design policies since the gyro is setting in MERCURY. How did our crews ever survive with out the environmentalists to tell us not to polish our pennies, nickels, quarters and half dollars with mercury, during the master gyro servicing. Next there are the wells for no. 1 & 2 periscopes when housed , and the radio shack. Along the starboard side of the control room from forward is the Instrumentation and Control panel (I&C). This panel has switches that powered the instrumentation throughout the control room and conning tower. The Gyro Control panel, provided the power and controls for the master gyro. The trim tank blow manifold, provided an internal vent for the trim tanks and a method to use compressed air to transfer water between the trim tanks if required by a trim pump failure. The large manifold is the three thousand pound tank blow (bow buoyancy, safety and negative tanks), six hundred pound ballast and fuel ballast tank blow and three thousand pound air bank control valve manifold. Next is the ten pound blow manifold and overhead piping. This blower was used when surfacing and the bridge hatch was open. The blower took air from inside the boat compressed the air and sent it through the manifold and piping to the ballast tanks. By using the blower the boat could conserve high pressure air and still empty the ballast tanks of water. This blower was also used during rough weather. As the boat rolls air would escape from the ballast tanks and the boat would settle lower in the water. By using the blower for a ten minute blow, each four hour watch, we could replace the air lost, discharge the water and bring the boat up to normal surface draft. Pump room and dry goods storage. A hatch to the port side of the master gyro opened to a dry goods storage room below the control room. A hatch by the Trim and Drain manifold opened to the pump room. The pump room was an equipment room built around the periscope wells in a "U". The trim pump, priming pump was at the bottom of the ladder, next the trim pump, two air conditioning machines set on a frame that went from port to starboard along the after bulkhead. On the starboard side, along the hull, was the refrigeration machine and the low pressure blower. Along the periscope wells on the other side of the walkway was a motor generator. |
