do people still use a compass?

[Roadking Larry]

ditto, we had just sold a number of them (SS 560s range) to the Iranian navy when I served in subs. The boat I was assigned to was NEARLY as old....USS Shark. And even though it was a nuke, it still had a diesel for backup power. And yes everybody used (gyro)compass in those days, backed up by NAVSAT, LORAN-C and shooting the stars / sun.
:-}

If nothing else them Scrapjack class boats were fast.

I was on the Haddo and Flying Fish with a tour in Groton as an instructor between boats.

 

[dilligaf]

I was in when the last were decom'd. Never rode one but still I served with quite a few DBFers :dance:

SS368 Plank owner She was stricken 6/1974

 

[SeaTR]

SS368 Plank owner She was stricken 6/1974

That makes you ~88 + or - yrs young ??
How many war patrols...which theater(s)?

 

[SeaTR]

If nothing else them Scrapjack class boats were fast.

I was on the Haddo and Flying Fish with a tour in Groton as an instructor between boats.

...yes, VERY FAST (faster than those brand new 688s at the time)... but noisy !! We had more sound shorts than you could shake a stick at.

Not to hijack this thread TOO much from Troutman, ..."instructor" for which school(s) / course(s) ? And you served on the Haddo during WWII in the Atlantic or Pacific ?

 

[Roadking Larry]

...yes, VERY FAST (faster than those brand new 688s at the time)... but noisy !! We had more sound shorts than you could shake a stick at.

Not to hijack this thread TOO much from Troutman, ..."instructor" for which school(s) / course(s) ? And you served on the Haddo during WWII in the Atlantic or Pacific ? Also understand if you don't want to talk much about it.

The Haddo I served on was SSN-604
I instructed (teaching implies that learning is in fact taking place) an ET "C" school for an ESM system.

 

[Happy Dolphin]

Wow, I'm wore out from the Ego issues? Spend a few bucks for a compass, get a GPS or take the one from your car, get a chart for your sailing area(s) because USGS is to stop printing soon, and get a VHS radio. Assuming you are on a budget, search craigs list and EBAY or go to a boat salvage yard for good deals!
Have Fun searching for equipment and updating you vessel. Take Power Squadron courses and be safe!

 

[dilligaf]

That makes you ~88 + or - yrs young ??
How many war patrols...which theater(s)?

Understand if you don't want to talk much about it.

Decom. Crew 1974

 

[SeaTR]

SS368 Plank owner She was stricken 6/1974

A Plankowner is part of the Commissioning crew NOT decom crew. Hence the source of my confusion on what you stated.

 

[SeaTR]

... you can get lost, add fog or heavy rain and the chances go way up. I use a map, compass and GPS.

Chart(s) (electronic ones are FREE these days from NOAA for a limited time, as you may already know), compass (hand bearing or binoculars with integral compass), and GPS is a winning combo. You don't have to get too complicated with features on the GPS. Most of my sailing is by DR.

 

[dilligaf]

Chris, It's not so much the (inane & obvious) topic of 'compass on a boat' as it is the varied 'piping up' responses, on and off subject.

Dilligaf's reference to DBF = "Diesel Boats Forever" ... harkens back to the days of WWI and WWII, when submarines spent a majority of their time as 'surface craft' that only occasionally dove under the waves to attack / avoid detection...powered by diesel engines on the surface (until the invention of the snorkel) and batteries under the waves.

OBTW, dilligaf = "does it look like I give a F*&%"

So, I give, what does DBFS stand for?

DBF means "Diesel Boats Forever" from a Submarine Sailor when Submarines were powered by Diesel/electric from WWII and now powered by Nuclear Power. The last of the WWII boats were decommissioned in the '70's of which my boat U.S.S Jallao was stricken in 1974

 

[FB111A]

Many years ago when I was part of a search team in Maine to find lost persons in the woods we never had to search for anyone who was using a compass , we usually searched for people who "knew" these woods. The compass on the boat is just part of the cross check to make sure that the Radar/plotter/visual make sense.