Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: I wonder how many other PCU 637s had near misses
I know the Seahorse came within a few inches of suffering the MINSY Mudpuppy's fate about 6 months earlier - I was there! The issue was that prior to flooding the bow outside the sonar sphere, a platform was constructed topside, forward of the forward hatch, and lead weights were stacked up on it to maintain fore/aft trim.
Come time to flood the bow, to check for water-tightness of the zillion stuffing boxes on the sphere, and 'someone' from the yard is supposed to compensate by pumping forward trim tank water either overboard or to after trim. That didn't happen properly, but one of our PCU crew noted the odd down angle and popped his head up through the forward hatch for a look-see - to be greeted by the sight of the River Thames less than a foot below hatch level!
And of course, being in new construction there was a slew of hoses and electrical lines going into the boat through that same damn hatch, so absolutely no way to clear that crap out of the way and close the hatch.
Our guy screamed at to idjit yardbird to secure flooding the dome, then ran down the yard guy who was supposed to be compensating via trim adjusts.
I always figured a similar scenario got the Guitarro. There, but for the grace of God ....! |
