wade@ucs.ubc.ca (Doug Wade) (05/03/91)
From: wade@ucs.ubc.ca (Doug Wade) Two "stupid" questions... Does the USN have any nuclear powered craft other than submarines and aircraft carriers? From my days of youth I seem to remember there being nuclear cruiser(s). On a related topic whatever happened to the Savanah (sp?) - a nuclear powered merchant ship? Doug Wade (Internet: wade@ucs.ubc.ca Bitnet: userice@ubcmtsg)
chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey) (05/03/91)
From: Irving Chidsey <chidsey@smoke.brl.mil>
wade@ucs.ubc.ca (Doug Wade) writes:
<On a related topic whatever happened to the Savanah (sp?) - a nuclear
<powered merchant ship?
On # 2, They 'proved the concept' and retired it. I think it cost
much too much to run. The fuel was 'free', but the nuclear engineers to
use the 'free' fuel weren't.
--
I do not have signature authority. I am not authorized to sign anything.
I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government
to anything, not even by implication. They do not tell me what their policy
is. They may not have one. Irving L. Chidsey <chidsey@brl.mil>mdb@mtqub.att.com (Mark D Browning) (05/03/91)
From: mdb@mtqub.att.com (Mark D Browning) Yes, many cruisers are nuclear powered. As for the Savanah, when I was stationed on the F. S. KEY (SSBN 657) in Charleston SC the Savanah was there. The Savanah was a combined cargo/passenger ship. She was a failure, not because of any particular technical problems with the nuclear power plant, but because of her mixed mission. As a pure cargo ship she might have been economically successful, but she couldn't carry enough cargo to pay for the plant, and she wasn't a good passenger ship because she had to deliver cargo. When I was in Charleston from 81 to 83, the Savanah was a floating restaurant. Mark Browning
v059l49z@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (05/04/91)
From: v059l49z@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu
There are seven nuclear cruisers. The single Long Beach-class (first US
surface nuclear combat ship), two California-class (California and South
Carolina), and four Virginia-class (Virginia, Massachusetts, Alabama, and
Texas). The last four are unique in that were originally built with a helo
hanger under the flight deck and equiped with a elevator to it (like a
carrier has.) This feature was eliminated and a Tomahawk launcher placed
on the deck there because of corrosion and sealing problems (so I was told
by a person who served on the Virgina.)
[Repeat of information on the Savanah deleted. --CDR]
--
Real name: Paul Stacy V059L49Z@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
Alias: Joe Friday V059L49Z@UBVMSD.BITNET
SUNY Buffalo, Buff State College Best one->STACY54@SNYBUFVA.BITNET
Disclaimer: That which you read is not necessarily the opinion of the school,
the police dept., Chief of Detective Staff Brown, Planet
Spaceball, Starfleet Command, or the Pentagon.
[Can you cut back a little on the .signature, please? I never cut
disclaimers but I find this one suspect... :-) --CDR]fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary) (05/04/91)
From: fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary) In article <1991May3.063219.5127@amd.com> wade@ucs.ubc.ca (Doug Wade) writes: >Two "stupid" questions... Does the USN have any nuclear powered craft >other than submarines and aircraft carriers? From my days of youth I seem >to remember there being nuclear cruiser(s). Yes, there are a few classes of nuclear cruisers. They are used as the carrier escort crusiers operating with nuclear carriers, that way the main elements of a carrier group have similar supply requirments. Frank Crary UC Berkeley
wm1a+@andrew.cmu.edu (William Russell Matson) (05/05/91)
From: William Russell Matson <wm1a+@andrew.cmu.edu> When I was in Charleston in the summer of 1982 the Savannah was on what looked like permanent display along with the USS Yorktown and a diesel submarine. Tours were available for all three, anyone know if this is still going on? Bill
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (05/07/91)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: v059l49z@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu >... nuclear cruisers. The single Long Beach-class (first US >surface nuclear combat ship)... Minor side note on this: the Long Beach originally had provisions for Polaris tubes, at a time when there was talk of fitting some surface ships with them. I'm not sure how far they went towards actually putting the tubes and equipment in, but I'm fairly sure they never embarked real missiles, and I believe the space has since been used for something else. -- And the bean-counter replied, | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology "beans are more important". | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
jwstuart@ecst.csuchico.edu (Jesse William Leo Stuart) (05/08/91)
From: jwstuart@ecst.csuchico.edu (Jesse William Leo Stuart) The USN has many other nuclear ships, which include Destroyers, Cruisers (i.e. USS Long Beach), Reasearch Subs, etc...
deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) (05/09/91)
From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) jwstuart@ecst.csuchico.edu (Jesse William Leo Stuart) writes: >The USN has many other nuclear ships, which include Destroyers, Cruisers >(i.e. USS Long Beach), Reasearch Subs, etc... This is news to me. A DDN? Or would it be DDGN? Never heard of it.... Also, the only (commissioned) research sub in the Fleet is NOSC's own USS DOLPHIN (AGSS-555), which is diesel-powered. I believe she's the last commissioned diesel boat in the Fleet, since they retired the USS BLUEBACK (SS-581) a while back. BTW -- AGSS means "Auxiliary Research Submarine." You may recall the NR-1, though -- the nuclear powered research submarine. Of course, she isn't a USN boat to my knowledge. "It is the policy of the USN to make NR-1 available to all qualified agencies of the U.S. Government and accredited research organizations for use in deep ocean research," as the book says, but she isn't commissioned... -shane
ae627x07@ducvax.auburn.edu (05/10/91)
From: ae627x07@ducvax.auburn.edu > From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) > jwstuart@ecst.csuchico.edu (Jesse William Leo Stuart) writes: >>The USN has many other nuclear ships, which include Destroyers, Cruisers >>(i.e. USS Long Beach), Reasearch Subs, etc... > > This is news to me. A DDN? Or would it be DDGN? Never heard of it.... Its been a while since I had Naval History, but I seem to remember that the Long Beach was originally designated as a destroyer (DGLN I think). I also beleive that in the early stages of some of the subsequent nuke cruisers they too were considered destroyers. I'm not sure when the change took place classifying the ships as CGN's. At present, however, the Navy has only one class of destroyer - the Spruance - and it runs an a LM2500 Gas Turbine as do many of the DDG's. I don't think the Navy currently has any nuclear destroyers. .... But I could be wrong. Huey
sasdvp@mcnc.org (David V. Phillips) (05/10/91)
From: unx.sas.com!sasdvp@mcnc.org (David V. Phillips)
deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman) writes:
[ and mentions the NR-1, -- the nuclear powered research submarine. ]
At last, something this lurker knows something about. It's really just
some trivia about NR-1.
The NR-1 is incapable of transiting to its operational area under its
own power (well, maybe it could get to Block Island, but it would take
a while) so it requires a tow, usually (always?) from an ASR (that's a
submarine rescue ship.)
For some reason, the Ortolan (can't remember the spelling exactly, but
it's the catamaran hulled ASR on the East Coast) never gets the job, so
it usually falls to the Petrel or the Kittiwake (ASR-13) I was
stationed on the Kittiwake for 3 years, and was navigator during one
operation with the NR-1.
The NR-1 is indeed *not* a commissioned vessel, so it has an Officer in
Charge, instead of a Commanding Officer. It can be towed submerged,
and generally submerges as soon as the water is sufficiently deep.
When the operational area is reached, it releases the tow, and can go
to the bottom, where it can roll around (yes, roll, it has wheels on
the bottom.) The escort vessel stays in the area, and provides
periodic navigational fixes to help NR-1 verify its inertial navigation
equipment. After the mission is complete, it hooks up to tow (while
still underwater!..a neat evolution) and gets hauled back to port.
We took NR-1 to an area in the North Atlantic one September. After a
month of circling on station in some pretty nasty weather, we brought
NR-1 back into port. When we reached the point where NR-1 had to
surface, we still had seas running about 20 feet, with winds of 40 kts,
gusting to 50. We had been battered pretty badly for a month, and all
of our sailors came up to the open decks on the second level to watch
NR-1 wallow. There were lots of smiles as we watched it go through
what we had endured. Unfortunately, they were only surfaced for six
hours.
The Kittiwake (ASR-13) was 250 ft long, 40 beam, 3000 shaft horsepower
diesel-electric. 6-7 officers, about 100 men.
--
David Phillips sasdvp@dev.sas.com
"They that can give up an essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". -- Benjamin Franklin (1759)tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) (05/16/91)
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) In article <1991May14.051605.6857@amd.com> ae627x07@ducvax.auburn.edu writes: >At present, however, the Navy has only one class of destroyer - the >Spruance - and it runs an a LM2500 Gas Turbine as do many of the >DDG's. Currently, the USN operates more than one class of destroyers. Other than Spruance class DDs, there are the new Arleigh Burke class DDGs and the Isaac C. Kidd class DDGs (Spruance variant originally for Iran). The Charles F. Adams and Coontz DDGs are being retired, but I am not sure if they are all gone yet. -- Ted Kim Internet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu UCLA Computer Science Department UUCP: ...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek 3804C Boelter Hall Phone: (213)206-8696 Los Angeles, CA 90024 FAX: (213)825-2273