This Texas lady is a high-tech killer
By MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
GALVESTON — The long, black cylinder sits baking at water's edge in the oppressive coastal heat, its upwardly protruding wedge making it instantly recognizable as a machine not to be trifled with.
A raft of images comes to mind: tense moments of confrontation with the enemy inspired by a score of old movies and television shows. The sonar operator makes contact. The captain orders the ship to periscope depth. Everyone in the crowded command center watches the depth gauge. Finally, he climbs a few steps up to the conning tower, pushes a button and a sleek metal pole rises toward the surface.
Wait a minute ... wrong sub. That's your father's submarine, the USS Cavalla, permanently berthed a few miles away at Galveston's Seawolf Park.
This dark tube is the latest and greatest the U.S. Navy has to offer: a $2.7 billion, state-of-the-art, fast-attack sub bearing a nuclear power plant, a formidable array of weapons and every electronic bell and whistle imaginable.
But no periscope. That has been replaced by a "photonic mast," essentially a fancy digital camera that displays what it sees on a large screen. An operator moves the camera with a joystick. Submarine movies will never be the same.
The 377-foot SSN 775, to be formally commissioned as the USS Texas in a dockside ceremony this morning, is to the diesel electric subs of yore as today's F-16 is to the P-51 Mustang that battled over the skies of Europe. Both have lethal potential, but ...
The Texas' command and control center, for example, is a dark, cool and quiet place. But for its cramped quarters, it could be the nerve center of any high-tech operation. Flat-panel displays cover the walls. Highly trained technicians sit at consoles, communicating via headset. Nobody barks orders.
Like any nuclear sub, it can remain submerged for weeks at a time. It has machines that create oxygen from seawater and other machines to clean the recirculating air. The only things that compel it to surface other than a medical emergency or mechanical breakdown are food and sanity.
The Texas is the second of 10 authorized Virginia class fast-attack subs. Its home port will be in Groton, Conn., where it will serve in the Atlantic fleet.
Virginia class
The Navy has three iterations of fast-attack vessels — the fourth sub class, the Ohio, carries ballistic missiles and is much larger — with each new version featuring improvements in design and hardware. The ultimate goal is to build an attack sub that can be reconfigured for different needs, can perform a variety of missions and can be built for $2 billion.
The last goal has proved the hardest to attain.
The Virginia class, the first without a traditional periscope, has improved sonar arrays and electronic surveillance equipment, significantly more integration among the various information systems and a more flexible platform that allows it to carry special operations forces for ground missions. Its large "lockout chamber" — an airlock that allows up to nine people to move into an attached mini-sub or into the water — is a first.
"The Texas has really impressed me," said Capt. John Litherland, who will relinquish command soon as the ship goes through the final year of preparations before deployment. "Everybody says it's a revolutionary sub, but this is an incredibly new and different ship. It gathers more information together in the control room than ever before. You had to do a lot of that manually in the past."
Like all attack subs, the Texas will carry torpedoes, mines and vertically launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. Its stated speed is a vague "in excess of 25 knots," though it is widely known that attack subs can travel underwater at twice that speed. It carries a crew of 134, with no women allowed because of privacy issues.
For all its improvements — from a better backup diesel engine to a new computer-controlled oxygen generator to easily upgradeable off-the-shelf commercial computer equipment to a roomier torpedo bay — the Texas shares many traits with Cavalla and subs everywhere.
The passageways are narrow, accommodations are tight, and you can bump your head just about anywhere. Anyone needing privacy had best serve on a carrier. Even the captain's quarters on the Texas would not make for a respectable closet in most homes.
"It takes a special person to serve on a sub," said Lt. Chris Lee, the boat's chief weapons officer whose fire control system also has been improved. "Not everyone is cut out for it."
Few creature comforts
Those who choose subs get longer deployments, up to six months, and fewer creature comforts. No workout rooms or theaters on board. Sunlight and fresh air become a distant memory. One's personal space is a bunk that measures roughly seven feet by three. It does have a curtain, though.
The good news is that because of enhanced communications equipment, sailors on the Texas can now receive e-mail almost daily. Before, weeks could pass with no communication from home.
Originally Posted by Okla-homey
