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Post by oldsquid on Apr 15, 2013 7:47:32 GMT -8
Wow - I had no idea people were still using gear I used in the Navy in the early 1970s... I got here out of curiosity about the twin-90s I dove with on our boat (SSBN boomer 617 Gold crew out of Rota, 1969 - 1972). Found all the info - very informative. Short history - Key West UWSS class in October, 1970. My swim buddy was a Recon Marine, name of Emrich - he's the buff dude on the right in the photo. A fine Marine and I hope he made it through VN. Other class members were Army Rangers, other Marines, some USAF PJs and a few other sailors from the fleet. Never could figure out what Rangers were doing in SCUBA school. One very memorable classmate was a Marine LT who had part of his foot blown off in VN but made it through the class - one very tough Marine. I made many dives on our boat in Rota (some interesting experiences - good thing we were trained well - survived it). Once discharged from USN as an MT1(SS)DV I went to Ohio State, got an engineering degree and finally managed to retire. Never made another dive after the Navy but enjoy reading about it... Nice forum, nice folks. Bob
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Post by oldsquid on Apr 15, 2013 7:54:10 GMT -8
Here's the photo... Attachments:
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Post by nikeajax on Apr 15, 2013 8:19:18 GMT -8
Ahoy mate, welcome aboard! Gosh, that looks just like one of Searat-John's photos! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun talkin'!
Jaybird
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Post by duckbill on Apr 15, 2013 20:48:16 GMT -8
Welcome to the forum, oldsquid.
Hang around here enough and maybe we can inspire you to get a few more dives logged:-)
-middleagedjarhead
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Post by nikeajax on Apr 16, 2013 7:43:38 GMT -8
 Yarrrr, more pix matey!Jaybird |
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Post by oldsquid on Apr 16, 2013 9:57:39 GMT -8
More pix? Well, unfortunately I don't have any from the dives I made on the boat in Rota - that was Cold War patrol time and I never got a photo topside of diving activities. It is probably a good thing - one of the first dives I made on the boat was off the turtleback and you had to jump WAY out to make sure you didn't hit the hull underwater when you landed. I got too much forward motion and windmilled my way into the water. Must have been hilarious to watch but highly embarassing! But here's a shot at UWSS when I wasn't an old squid - way back then I was a young squid... Attachments:
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Post by oldsquid on Apr 16, 2013 9:59:33 GMT -8
And to finish off the photo thing, I was cleaning closets after retirement in preparation for our move and found my old jumper. It no longer fits... BR, Bob Attachments:
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Post by nikeajax on Apr 16, 2013 10:51:04 GMT -8
"I got too much forward motion and windmilled my way into the water. Must have been hilarious to watch but highly embarassing!"
Uff da! I guess that's the only thing you can do, is laugh, when (expletive deleted) like that happens.
So what kinda gear ya got now...
Jaybird
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Post by duckbill on Apr 16, 2013 19:43:41 GMT -8
Great pictures, Bob. Thanks for sharing those.
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Post by oldsquid on Apr 17, 2013 10:21:03 GMT -8
"So what kinda gear ya got now..." I have no gear - I made my last dive in 1973 and the wet suit, mask, fins, knife, etc, went the way of all things years ago and essentially lost track of anything having to do with diving (living in Arizona for 10 years probably helped that). When we moved to Michigan 7 years ago (southwestern part of the state about a mile from Lake Michigan) I bought a sailboat (Sabre 28) and enjoyed sailing on the Lake. There is a chandlery not far from us with a pretty complete dive shop attached to it. Every time I went into the chandlery to pick up something for my boat, I had to walk through the dive shop and started to look at the equipment - quickly realized most of what I was seeing I had no idea existed - at least it didn't when I was diving. A real Rip Van Winkle experience... The other day I was reading a book written by a Navy Seal (Brandon Webb) and he was talking about his teenage years and diving "with no buoyancy compensator and twin steel 72's". I tried to recall what we used and all I could remember was "twin 90's", which I Googled and wound up here. You guys run a cool forum and I am enjoying seeing folks use the 'state-of-the-art' of the early '70's. Bob PS - although it doesn't have any diving scenes, here's a video of the sailing out here on the Lake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpH61S3ooY8&list=UUFoUzD-K2_8RjOiWI_41HWQ&index=19 |
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Post by sitkadiver on Apr 17, 2013 15:43:41 GMT -8
Thanks for sharing the pictures Oldsquid. I got a chuckle out of the shark photo.
I hope you find your way back into the water, I've never been to the great lakes, but it sounds like the wreck diving is top-notch.
Cheers,
Dave
PS: I tried to find the answer to the poll question and found this site. Lots of interesting photos.
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Post by duckbill on Apr 17, 2013 18:10:54 GMT -8
All the newfangled gear with all the trappings and gizmos are just marketing hype. Don't let it throw you. The internal mechanics are still essentially the same; Just the exterior facades look different. Every few years, some new trappings become the new fad. Probably the only thing that would be new to you would be the buoyancy compensation device. I have to admit they do come in handy when wearing a thick wet suit.
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Post by JES on Apr 22, 2013 4:14:44 GMT -8
Welcome aboard and thank you for your service!
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Post by SeaRat on Apr 28, 2013 20:06:33 GMT -8
Bob, great having you drop by, and thank you for your service too. Subs must have been fascinating. Does any of this look familiar?  Key West Dock doing zero visibility diving.  Open water ascent, Naval Underwater Swimmer's School.  Exiting off Key West.  Another photo of that dock dive, and my buddy Means doing our compass swim. I went through the U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers in 1967, but I bet much of the same gear was still in use when you went through in 1970. Concerning those aluminum twin 90s, they were discontinued about the time you got out, as they could not be hydrostatic tested and were replaced by the twin 80s that were becoming available. Both were 3000 psig systems, but the aluminum 80s were made with a different technology, and did not have the rounded bottoms of the twin 90s. They also did not have the plug in the bottom. Years after I got out, I found out that a local school had bid on and won the bid for a batch of these tanks. One guy brought two to our local dive shop, and the dive shop called me about them. I did research and found out they had been condemned, and had the dive shop drill them. The school was using them to practice welding on aluminum. John |
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Post by oldsquid on Apr 30, 2013 15:04:05 GMT -8
Hi John,
Those are very familiar photos! Thanks for posting them. About the only difference I see has to do with the compass - we used a compass board for the 1,500 meter night swim but I don't recall using a wrist version.
Diving on the boat was generally benign. In port alongside the sub tender during refits I would make as many as 5 dives a day. Usually only down to about 40' which got me under the keel with room to spare. Subs are actually deep draft vessels. Nearly all dives were solo although our ship's doctor, an MD, was also a diver and we made a few dives together.
One in particular was FUBAR. He dove with a sinus condition and after surfacing he looked like a reverse-video raccoon with a black mask around his eyes and everywhere his mask fit. He couldn't equalize. While we were under the keel ( and it is murky and nothing but black steel everywhere above your head) I got too close and his fin kicked me full in the face. Knocked my mask completely off and my hose out of my mouth. At that moment you are truly thankful for every second of Navy dive school training - especially the harassment phase to make sure you can handle SNAFUs without panicking. Anyway, got squared away and finished the dive.
Enjoyed the photos!
And thanks for the service of all the vets on here - must be quite a few.
Bob
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