re: Russian sailors who died fighting fire on nuclear submarine averted planetary catastrophe

quote:

---

i dunno what is considered a high officer ratio, but my first hand observation is that there are a crap ton of enlisted men aboard an SSBN.

when you say officer, are you referring to commissioned officers only or including Chiefs?

---

I served on subs a long time ago. Our ship's roster had 120 total crew. Approx. 12 were officers. I dunno how the ratios have evolved since I got out in 2000.

quote:

---

US does the same thing I’d imagine.

---

Define "Much". 10%?
Captain, Executive Officer, Weapons Officer, Ast. Weapons Officer, Communications Officer, Navigation Officer, Engineering Officer, and a couple more in the Engineering Dept. (Reactor Engine Room)
Crew was about 115 men
That was on an FBM Sub back during the cold war.

Accidents will happen.

We were in Dry Dock changing out a Reactor core after several years/patrols.
There power power cords, airlines, oxygen lines and acetylene lines running all over the ship. There were craftsmen grinding and others welding at several stations. One evening, at changing of the watch, a sailor walked aboard, smoking his cigarette, ready to assume his watch duties. As he walked aboard his newly lit cigarette burned down to the filter. He was properly trained, so immediately he recognized there was an extremely high oxygen content in the atmosphere in that area. He immediately sounded the alarm and over the MC system he ordered all grinding and burning to cease, and all Shipyard personnel to vacate the ship.
After an investigation it was discovered that one of the craftsmen had connected his pneumatic grinder to an Oxygen manifold.
The spent oxygen was collecting in the compartment.

No more Russian hoopties allowed in the water.

quote:

---

This is gonna make a great mini series in 25 years

---

LINK

quote:

---

The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear power reactor in the United States that underwent a steam explosion and meltdown on January 3, 1961, killing its three operators. The direct cause was the improper withdrawal of the central control rod, responsible for absorbing neutrons in the reactor core. The event is the only reactor accident in the U.S. that resulted in immediate fatalities.[1] The accident released about 80 curies (3.0 TBq) of iodine-131,[2] which was not considered significant due to its location in the remote high desert of eastern Idaho. About 1,100 curies (41 TBq) of fission products were released into the atmosphere.[3]

The facility, located at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) approximately forty miles (65 km) west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was part of the Army Nuclear Power Program and was known as the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR) during its design and build phase. It was intended to provide electrical power and heat for small, remote military facilities, such as radar sites near the Arctic Circle, and those in the DEW Line.[4] The design power was 3 MW (thermal),[5] but some 4.7 MW tests were performed in the months prior to the accident. Operating power was 200 kW electrical and 400 kW thermal for space heating.[5]

During the accident the core power level reached nearly 20 GW in just four milliseconds, precipitating the steam explosion.

---

Was it a German sub?

quote:

---

That's freaking incredible! Hopefully the dude received a commodation for saving lives that day.

---

He did. It pains me that I can't remember his name. He was Machinist Mate 2nd class.

quote:

---

i dunno what is considered a high officer ratio, but my first hand observation is that there are a crap ton of enlisted men aboard an SSBN. 

when you say officer, are you referring to commissioned officers only or including Chiefs

---

Going back to the Soviet era, Russian Navy policy has been that anything important is done by officers. This is in part due to implicit distrust of enlisted men, and in part because Russian conscripts served two year terms. By the time an enlisted sailor was beginning to be proficient in his rating, he was out the door and back in civilian life. Career NCOs were practically nonexistent. NCOs were conscripts too, with a little extra training, and subject to the same two year term.

The Russian military has been trying to move toward a more professional structure. Clearly it's not there yet.

This reminds me of when we dropped a nuclear bomb over North Carolina

quote:

---

That's freaking incredible! Hopefully the dude received a commodation for saving lives that day.

---

was probably going to be disciplined for smoking while approaching the boat, initially

the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.