Day 23 - Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

"No phones allowed, no cameras...hard hats and CIA badges must be worn at all times."

This is what we were told this morning as we entered the gates of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Matt had rented a Zipcar and drove all four of us to Maine for this top-secret tour of the shipyard. Our escorts, Rick and Nancy, picked us up in a black van and drove us to their central office. Both were very friendly and gave us a presentation on engineering careers with the Navy. Portsmouth alone employs over 1400 engineers in nearly all fields of engineering. The Portsmouth Shipyard specializes in submarine maintenance and repair; subs from around the world are shipped to Portsmouth for repairs or even complete overhauls. Portsmouth also sends some squads out to rescue subs. Rick actually worked in rescue for years. He described a special suit that submarine operators would step into, and as they breathed out, they would float up to the surface, avoiding the bends.

The shipyard is like a city in itself. There are barracks, many massive machine shops, a chapel, a day care, a school, a tavern, a post office, fitness center, and more. Rick and Nancy took us on a very efficient tour. Our first stop was the materials testing labs, where they test the resistance of rubbers and metals to see if they meet regulations. We observed a machine stretching a piece of metal, saw the metal thin out gradually in the middle, and jumped as...BANG!...the metal broke in two.

We stopped by the weld shop, which contains massive welders and machines of an unimaginable scale. I had no idea that submarines could be so huge. The building itself probably spanned several acres and is tall enough to fit several heavy-lifting cranes. The weld shop was loud, with bright lights and sparks flying from many of the welders. There was a specially-designed machine to weld batteries and a brace to remove the entire front part of a submarine. I thought the weld shop was daunting, but I never imagined that the parts shop would be even more massive. As we entered, a huge hook crane attached to the ceiling slid past directly above our heads, causing me to duck automatically, though it was hundreds of feet above us. This machine shop was like a factory; it could make pretty much any metal part one might think of. The machinists followed orders and designs from engineers. There were machines that could cut, drill and shape parts weighing thousands of pounds from a simple piece of sheet metal. We touched a raindrop-shaped piece that was responsible for driving the ship underwater or angling it back up again. We witnessed real propeller shafts that spanned nearly across the width of factory and were held and spun by even larger props.

After this, we visited the motor/electric shop, where engineers overhauled submarine motors. First, they would remove a motor from a submarine or ship and wash it. Next, they would bake it in an oven to dry, then test the quality of the motor to determine what repairs are necessary. Sometimes they would replace all the metal bars on the rotating part of the motor, then dip it in a type of glaze for protection. Once glazed, the motors actually looked beautiful, like old lacquer furniture with a striped design.

We passed a submarine docking area that they were renovating. It's size reminded me of a lagoon or a channel. They built a number of platforms several stories high that they would attach to the sides of a docking submarine so that they can easily climb inside and get around without even having to step outside. We were lucky enough to see DSV-4 Sea Cliff, the sister ship to the Alvin and Turtle. Owned by the Navy, the Sea Cliff was retired from service in 1998. It was a 3-person research vessel that could dive up to 20,000 feet. They now keep the DSV-4 it in a storage warehouse, because some of the parts on it are potentially useful in other crafts. I wish I could go for a ride in a submarine someday. The shipyard staff were actually trying to recruit us to work for the Navy as engineers. It's something to think about for the future!

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Back at Sea Grant in the afternoon, I had to dump out all 15 bottles of tap water that I sterilized and re-sterilize 15 bottles of spring water. The starter cultures that I grew in tap water over the weekend did not fare very well, but the cultures that I grew in spring water on Monday are starting to look faintly green...