Around the World Submerged by Edward L. Beach Read Free Book Online

cases when a submarine was lost, seriously damaged, or suffered loss of life because of an improper rig somewhere.
    “How is your trim?” I asked.
    “I’ve pumped it all in,” Thamm said. He added, “I guesswe’ll find out how good the trim is as soon as we pull the plug.”
    The indicator lights on the Ballast Control Panel showed that we were ready to dive, except that our main air inlet pipe and the bridge hatch were still open.
    “Shut the induction, Tom,” I said.
    At Thamm’s signaled order, Fitzjarrald, hovering over the Ballast Control Panel, moved the control toggle switch to the shut position.
    I picked up the microphone controlling the speaker on the bridge, told Brodie to reduce speed and shift his watch to the conning tower. There was a “clink” of annunciators, a clatter of feet on ladder rungs, a thump as the bridge hatch slammed shut. The Ballast Control Panel indicated that the last important hull opening was now closed.
    “All clear topside!” Brodie’s voice came from the conning tower, where, according to plan, he would be manning the periscope.
    “Bleed air, Tom,” I said.
    Thamm picked up a microphone in his turn. “Engine room, this is control. Bleed high-pressure air into the ship!”
    For our first dive, we were using the so-called “safe-diving procedure.” For the moment, we were driving along on the surface, entirely sealed, with no one topside. In the meantime, high-pressure air was being released from a connection in the engine room to increase the air pressure slightly within Triton ’s hull. If air could not leak out of the ship, then presumably water could not leak in. At the Diving Control Panel was a barometer which would indicate the pressure inside the ship. If this pressure rose and did not drop back after the air valve was shut, the ship had to be airtight.
    Thamm, Fitzjarrald, and I inspected the barometer closely. The needle rose a short distance, then stopped rising and remained rock steady.
    Tom took a long minute to watch it carefully. Finally satisfied, he nodded to me. “The ship is tight, sir.”
    An interested group of observers had silently gathered in the control room. All experienced submariners, some of them tops in the field of submarine construction and design, every visitor aboard had a keen interest in Triton ’s first dive. I gave Brodie the order to sound the diving alarm, and a raucous, automobilelike horn reverberated through the ship. Fitzjarrald, his hands on two of the control buttons on the Ballast Control Panel, was watching Thamm.
    “Open the vents,” Tom ordered.
    Swiftly, the Chief ran his fingers down the panel of switches opening Triton ’s main vents to the sea. The rush of water into the tanks could be heard through the thick steel plating of the ship’s hull.
    Thamm waited several seconds, then ordered, “Shut the vents.”
    This also was by prearrangement. Our purpose on this first dive was to ease Triton down into the depths easily and gently. Should something be radically wrong with the compensation, or should the controls somehow fail to function properly, we wanted to be able to regulate things immediately. Eight thousand tons of insensate steel running out of control could be a frightening, possibly disastrous experience.
    Another long moment went by while Thamm checked all his instruments. Though lower in the water by several feet, Triton was not yet submerged. Again Tom ordered the vents reopened, and again he shut them. The third time he opened them still longer, and as we felt Triton angling down at the bow, he opened them all. It had taken us several minutes to dive, but we were all well satisfied; our ship had performed exactly as we had predicted. Later, of course, we would strive for a faster diving time.
    The submerged trials started out simply, but rapidly increased in severity. Soon we were running the entire gamut ofsubmerged operations, and our feeling of pride and confidence in our ship grew steadily.