Keeping Kings Bay armed and ready

Most of the torpedoes, which end up on the submarines, are produced in Yorktown, Va., and then transported to NSB Kings Bay to be fully fitted with Torpedo Mounted Dispensers that are produced in another state. Once this is done, the torpedoes are fully inspected and their electrical components tested to ensure that the boat receiving the "fish" gets a dependable set of machines.

"We carefully inspect and test every single piece of ordnance that we receive here," said DOSF Work Leader Daniel Garrett. "If we did not provide this service for the submarines, then our submarine force would not be fully ready to deploy to defend our country."

All the daily operations at DOSF are controlled from their administration office within a highly classified environment to ensure the safety of the weapons, equipment, as well as the security of the submarines themselves. Specifications of the weapons and countermeasures are always kept a carefully guarded secret using additional identity badges, closed circuit cameras and vigilant post watches. According to GM1(SW) Garrett St. John, who is the leading petty officer of DOSF and one of only two gunners mates at Kings Bay, the post watch keeps a careful log of all daily operations and visitors to the location.

According to DOSF LPO GM1(SW) Garrett St. John, the convoy is guarded carefully by security, including a lead vehicle, warning drivers on the road to pull over, and a trail vehicle driven by the conventional weapons handling supervisor, warning motorists not to attempt to pass the convoy. In the middle are slow-moving Dock Mules resembling fork lifts, which have enough power to pull a dozen or more torpedoes necessary to load on any submarine prior to it going under way. MCSA Dmitry Chepusov

"It is very important to keep a detailed log of everything that happens in case something goes wrong," explained St. John. "This is especially important when we have a convoy transporting torpedoes, countermeasures or Tomahawks to the waterfront."

According to St. John, the convoy is guarded carefully by security, including a lead vehicle, warning drivers on the road to pull over, and a trail vehicle driven by the conventional weapons handling supervisor, warning motorists not to attempt to pass the convoy. In the middle are slow-moving dock mules resembling forklifts, which have enough power to pull a dozen or more torpedoes necessary to load on any submarine prior to it going under way.

"We can usually load approximately one dozen torpedoes onto a submarine in one day, depending on weather conditions and the efficiency of the crew receiving the weapons," stated St. John.

"It is a lot of work to load one torpedo onto the boat, because we have to go from a horizontal to a vertical position in order to fit the torpedo through the small hatch in the submarine. When lifting something that weighs almost a ton or more, being such a serious piece of equipment, the most extensive efforts are made to ensure that no damage or injury occurs. If our tests reveal problems, we figure out what is wrong and fix or replace it. We want to give the boats a quality product because people's lives depend on what we do here."

After completing two full ordinance transfers for the USS Wyoming (SSBN-7XX) and the USS Florida (SSBN-7XX) last week, the Defense Ordinance Support Facility Crew use this week as an opportunity to hone their skills in electronic troubleshooting on a dummy torpedo. LPO GM1(SW) Garrett St. John connects the electronic reader pins to the torpedo while Ordinance Equipment Mechanic Jeff Stahler takes the reading and Work Leader Daniel Garrett supervises by the book.

The countermeasures shop located next to the main DOSF building is responsible for several types of submarine countermeasures, launched from the sides of a submarine to confuse sonar and radio receptors, and also tests and repairs the submarine emergency communication beacons. These beacons are programmed to launch automatically within certain critical parameters or if not reset once an hour. If they are launched their purpose is to deliver a short message via Morse code of the submarine's location and last action performed.

Besides taking care of conventional weapons, beacons and countermeasures, DOSF takes care of the ammunition and flares that are used aboard a submarine for handguns and rifles in support of submarine security when topside. When asked why even the ammunition needs to be removed from a boat during refit, St. John explained that " during refit everything that can possibly be moved out usually is to make room for the work that needs to be done, be it upgrades, repairs, or smaller adjustments."

"One spark in the wrong direction can set off anything that is meant to explode, including a bullet, so that is another reason we have to change out the torpedoes and missiles with each new crew boarding or through every refit period."