BBS-045
Sid's
N T I N S Locker
A Few
Days in October
By Jerry E. Beckley, Chief
Surface Ordnance Technician, CWO-4, USN (Ret)
December 1999
I returned to Pearl Harbor for duty aboard
the USS GRAYBACK (SSG-574) in August 1962. As a former crew member of a
conventional fleet snorkel submarine, USS PERCH (ASSP-313), and also familiar
with GUPPY conversion submarines, I was never prepared for what I saw tied
up at the Sierra Piers. This was the ugliest submarine I had ever laid
eyes on. For those who had never seen USS GRAYBACK or her sister ship USS
GROWLER (SSG-577), imagine two grain silos secured side by side with the
domes facing aft on the forward deck, about twenty feet forward of the
sail of a SWORDFISH Class submarine. The large forward superstructure was
designed to cover two missile hangers, each the size of grain silos and
each capable of storing two Regulus I missiles, or one Regulus II missile.
The Regulus I missile, a transonic missile powered by J-33A turbojet engine
was capable of delivering a thermonuclear warhead to a target 500 miles
distant, at a speed of 550 knots.
The ugliness of this unusually configured
boat notwithstanding, this submarine, and the other four Regulus boats
were the only submarine Nuclear Deterrent Strike Force in PACFLT. Polaris
was not yet a reality in the Pacific and the Soviet submarine fleet sailed
from a warm water port to cover targets in Hawaii, Japan, Philippines,
and CONUS without anyone, other than us threatening their front door. In
addition, submarines had not yet received the MK 45 ASTOR Torpedo capability.
SUBROC was still on the drawing board. There was very little except a lot
of ocean between the guys wearing the white hats and those wearing black
hats.
I had departed Subase Pearl Harbor in 1959
after a two year tour at Guided Missile Unit #90 (the predecessor of GMU-10)
as a Gunners Mate Second Class (Submarine Service), for Nuclear Weapons
School at Great Lakes and Albuquerque, New Mexico. After a three year tour
in Nevada, where I frequently replied to the question, "what is a sailor,
and more especially a submarine sailor doing in the Nevada desert?", by
telling the person, "we are building a submarine in Lake Mead and will
float it down the Colorado River". Some bought the response, others didn't.
It wasn't much of a cover story, but it was all I could come up with to
distract from the distinctive insignia of rate I wore, a bomb dropping
through a helium atom. The "crow" attracted so much attention that the
rate was changed in 1961 to Gunner's Mate Technician, and the insignia
changed to crossed guns.
As a GMT1 with dolphins, I was soon to
become a member of a very restricted and unique group of warhead technicians
who rode the Reg boats (Regulus Submarines), and who, in the time of war,
would comprise the "two man rule", "Two men of equal knowledge, each capable
of detecting an unauthorized act by the other", and arm the nuclear warheads
if or when the balloon went up.
The Reg boats carried 120% of the crew
which we dubbed the "Black and Blue Crew", and tried to leave a few selected
people in each time we deployed. The selected people were crew members
with emergencies or schools, or any manner of problems that could have
been impacted by their absence. There were also those who would never be
part of the stay-in crew, and I was one of them, as the Captain would soon
explain to me as I was introduced to him. When I reported aboard GRAYBACK,
I was directed by the Chief-Of-The-Boat (COB) to the wardroom to meet LCDR
John J. Ekelund, the CO. During a short conversation, he mentioned the
120% and the stay-in crew. He also told me that anytime GRAYBACK got underway
with Blue Birds (tactical missiles), that he, the Warhead Officer, me,
the cook, and the Hospital Corpsmen would be on board, under any and all
circumstances. The reason the Warhead Officer and I were required on board
when the boat got underway while carrying tactical missiles was, because
we comprised the two-man rule. When it came to the nuclear warheads, he
and I might as well have been joined at the hip. There was no doubt in
my military mind that this was going to be "long and arduous sea duty",
because we would no sooner get into port, have a short refit, shoot Red
Birds (Fleet Training Missiles), and deploy again. The average in-port
period for a Reg boat was around three months.
Prior to the next GRAYBACK deployment,
I was getting acquainted with my new duties. I was not only the Warhead
Technician, but also the Deck Force PO. My primary duties were those of
the Assistant 1st LT. A few weeks after reporting aboard, I was notified
that I would be interviewed for the Personnel Reliability Program (PRP),
which was really a screening process for those of us who have responsibilities
for the missiles and warheads. I was called into the Wardroom with the
CO, XO, Missile Division Officer, and COB. These folks comprised the PRP
screening process. Considering I was the only person authorized to make
up the Two-Man-Rule with the Warhead Officer, I was asked questions pertaining
to how I felt about the mass destruction and death a nuclear detonation
would bring to the population of our target area. My response was simply
that when I was in the Army during the Korean War as an Infantryman, death
was more individualized and personal, but in wartime it makes little difference
if you kill one or a million, one must keep it in perspective. They seemed
to be satisfied so, I was now part of the GRAYBACK PRP.
On 7 October 1962, after the refit and
missile training, we slipped our moorings at pier S-9 and headed out for
my first, and GRAYBACK's sixth deterrent missile patrol. The diesel subs
made fuel stops at either Midway Island or Adak, Alaska depending on their
respective operating area.
We had only been on station a short period
when again I was called into the Wardroom with the same folks who were
present for the PRP screening. This time the Captain and XO were a little
more stern faced than before, and for what I was soon to learn, good reason.
The Steward was asked to step out of the Forward Battery and both hatches
were put on the latch (submariners know what that means). Captain Ekelund
stated that we had received a message that the Defense posture had increased
to DEFCON 3 (DEFCON 5 was normal), and he was to open the sealed Emergency
War Orders. The content of those orders, which for the sake of the security
oath I swore as far back as the 1950s and '60s, as well as the one I still
serve under, will not be revealed by me.
I will say that some of the orders were
directed to the Warhead Officer and myself, and what we were to do to prepare
the nuclear warheads for arming, and if necessary, missile launch. My task
was to remove over 60 Phillips-head screws securing an access panel on
the underside of each of the four (4) Regulus missiles, exposing the front
of the W-27 Warhead where the High Voltage Thermal Battery (HVTB) Pack
was bolted in the inverted (stored) position. I then removed the four (4)
bolts securing the HVTB, turned the battery around to the "potential use
position", reinstalled and torqued the bolts. After doing this to the three
other missiles, we were ready for the next order. The next day, thankfully,
we received new orders to relax the DEFCON and restore the warheads to
their War Reserve (Safe) condition. Few people alive today have a full
appreciation for how close this country (and the Soviet Union) came to
what was later to be coined Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). In addition,
few people, except for those of us who rode those old Regulus submarines,
some of which were literally held together with baling wire, have a full
appreciation for the sacrifices made by these Silent Service officers and
men, whose usual patrol period was 90+ days, and occasionally, a "Back-To-Back-Out-Of-Adak".
The Regulus II Program was canceled in
1958. The W-27 Warhead was the same warhead converted to the B-27 Bomb
by addition of a aerodynamic fairing and fins. It was carried in the B-52
Stratofortress throughout the Cold War.
About the author
CWO Beckley qualified in fleet snorkel
submarines in 1954 as one of the last Gunner's Mates to be accepted into
the Submarine Service. He served in USS PERCH (ASSP-313) and at Guided
Missile Unit #90. In 1959 he converted to Nuclear Weaponsman and served
onboard USS GRAYBACK (SSG-574), USS BARBERO (SSG-317), and USS HALIBUT
(SSG(N)-587). Upon appointment to Warrant Officer, he served as Special
Weapons Officer aboard USS HUNLEY (AS-31), and as Weapons and Diving Officer
at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. After retirement from the U.S. Navy, Mr. Beckley
was employed at the Polaris Missile Facility, Atlantic as a Management
Analyst and served in the Cruise Missiles Program in Washington, D.C. as
the Assistant Program Manager, Logistics, Submarine Launched TOMAHAWK Cruise
Missiles until his retirement from Federal Civil Service in 1988. He is
currently employed as a Senior Acquisition Logistics Engineer with OASN(RDA)
at the Washington Navy Yard.
On April 14, 2000, after 53 years supporting the Federal Government
through eight Presidents and one draft dodger I am retiring to calmer seas
and moving from Ground Zero (Washington, DC) to Martinsville, Virginia.
In Jul 1948 as a lad of 14, not wanting to go into the nineth grade,
I joined the U.S. Army and immediately fell into a rabbit hole that would
take over one half century to find my way out.
During my tours wandering about this Wonderland, I left the Army and
joined the U.S. Navy in 1951. I ran into a few Mad Hatters, a Cheshire
Cat or two, and a number of "Queens" of Hearts. I have been to a few tea
parties, and almost lost my head on a couple of occasions. In addition
to combat tours in Korea from 1950 to 1951, and again in the Navy from
1952 to the war's end in 1953, I applied for Submarine School.
In March 1954 I began the best career any person could ever hope for,
when I graduated from Enlisted Submarine School and tours aboard PERCH,
GRAYBACK, BARBERO, and HALIBUT. I was on the ground floor of the submarine
missile program with Regulus Missile School. I changed my rate from Gunner's
Mate to Nuclear Weaponsman and served the Mushroom God as a GMTCS(SS) and
for a short time the COB of HALIBUT.
I made pin stripe Warrant and left the good life for AS-31. Not wanting
to give up the Submarine Service, I spent 15 years at the Polaris Missile
Facility, Atlantic. I was asked by an old shipmate to come to the National
Confusion Center where I became the Assistant Program Manager for the Submarine
Launched TOMAHAWK Cruise Missile. After many twelve hour days we deployed
both the Torpedo Tube Launched and the Capsule Launched Systems (CLS) aboard
688 class submarines.
As the light at the end of the rabbit hole grew brighter, I left the
never never land of government for the very uncertain land as a contractor.
On the 14th of April I will stick my head out of the rabbit hole, regain
my sanity and move on down the road.
I will go deep and dark for a short period while I get my bearings and
find True North. In the meanwhile I will deploy my floating wire and copy
fox. I will be able to get familygrams. See you all in another life.
Gunner
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