Northwest Passage

So I'm in Bangor, WA for the course of three weeks to complete two schools for my new assignment on USS HAWAII (SSN 776), unfortunately Tiffany wasn't entitled to accompany me on this part of the trip. I realize that this would be a great chance to explain what I do on-board a submarine for all you who don't know.

First off I'm a Navigation Electronics Technician or Nav. ET, which doesn't really provide and accurate description of my job at all. As you might assume I deal with navigation systems including GPS, Radar, and a Ring Laser Gyro (RLGN). GPS and Radar I believe most people are familiar with, the RLGN probably not. It is an inertial navigation system that utilizes a series of lasers and accelerometers, and electromagnetic sensors to equate ships movement into a position from a known location and provide the ship with an accurate position while submerged. The other part of my job is to monitor and maintain the ships electrical indications to include the ships control (steering/diving), atmosphere and internal communications. If you have any questions please feel free to email me and ask I really do love my job and talking about it.

I've completed the first school that was for an updated atmosphere monitoring system, after a little hiccup here on base. The second day I was here was the hottest in quite a few years here in the northwest we had a high of 95 F, not exactly a crisis down south but here it was quite dramatic. Unfortunately the "extreme" heat caused a fire in one of the power substations and took out power to about half the base, resulting in my five day course becoming three. I'm now starting class for our newest radar system which will take the remaining two weeks to complete. Both these courses are heavy on the practical application which is helpful to me.

Last weekend I took the oppurtuinity to catch a Mariners baseball game against the Yankees (see my blog http://thatguyssports.blogspot.com/ for more on that) with my friend James whom I served with on the USS FLORIDA. I took a couple of photos with my iPhone while on the ferry since I didn't bring a real camera. If you look closely in the center of the picture you can see Mt. Rainier which is over fourteen thousand feet high and about 50 miles away in this picture. I had some pictures of the baseball game but I've apparently lost them. The heat wave has stopped and it gets down in the low fifty's at night and beautiful sunshine during the day. I'm missing everyone back home both in Texas and Connecticut, love you guys.