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Todd Tucker Collapse Depth

About the Author

TODD TUCKER attended the University of Notre Dame on a full scholarship from the US Navy. After graduating with a degree in history in 1990, he volunteered for the nuclear submarine force, and made six patrols onboard the USS Alabama. He lives in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Other Books by Todd Tucker

“Oh God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.”

Prayer of Breton fishermen. Given on a plaque to every submarine commanding officer by Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy.

Glossary of Acronyms

1MC — An announcing circuit heard by the entire ship

2MC — An announcing circuit heard in the engine room

4MC — An announcing circuit used exclusively to announce serious casualties

7MC — An announcing circuit for communications between the EOOW and the OOD.

AC — Alternating Current

ASR — Submarine Rescue Ship

BCLU — Battery Charging Line Up

BRI — Bearing Repeater Indicator

BST Buoy — “Beast” Buoys, an emergency communications beacon

CAMS — Computerized Atmospheric Monitoring System

CNO — Chief of Naval Operations, the highest ranking officer in the Navy

CO — Commanding Officer

COD — Carrier Onboard Delivery

CODC — Commanding Officer’s Display Console

COW — Chief of the Watch

DC — Damage Control or Direct Current

DCA — Damage Control Assistant, the junior officer in charge of the boat’s damage control gear and Auxiliary Division.

DOD — Department of Defense

DR — Dead Reckoning, an estimate of position based on course, speed, and time

DSRV — Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle

EAB — Emergency Air Breathing, a system of breathing masks that plug into fixed manifolds throughout the ship.

E Club — Enlisted Club

EDO — Engineering Duty Officer

EOOW — Engineering Officer of the Watch, the highest-ranking watchstander, and the only commissioned officer, in the engine room of a nuclear submarine.

ESM — Electronic Support Measures

ET — Electronics Technician, an enlisted rating

EWS — Engineering Watch Supervisor, the senior enlisted man in an operating engine room.

Fitrep — Fitness Report

GPS — Global Positioning System

Hipac — High Pressure Air Compressor

JO — Junior Officer, an officer on his first sea tour

LET — Logistics Escape Trunk

MBT — Main Ballast Tank

MCC — Missile Control Central

Medevac — Medical Evacuation

MM1 — Machinist’s Mate, First Class

MS1 — Mess Specialist First Class, a head cook

NATO — North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Nav ET — Navigation Electronic Technician, enlisted men in charge of the ship’s numerous electronic systems for navigation.

Navsea — Naval Sea Systems Command

Navsea-08 — The title given both to the office in charge of Naval Nuclear Power, and the admiral at its head.

NIS — Naval Investigative Service

NOAA — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NTM — Notice to Mariners

ODAS — Ocean Data Acquisition System

O-5 — An officer’s rank: A commander in the navy, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps

O-6 — An Officer’s rank: a captain in the Navy, a Colonel in the Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps

OOD — Officer of the Deck, the top watch officer on a submarine at sea.

OS — Officers’ Study

PD — Periscope Depth

POTUS — President of the United States

PRC — People’s Republic of China, the Communist Nation of China

PSI — Pounds per Square Inch, a unit of pressure

QM1 — Quartermaster First Class

RM1 — Radioman, First Class

ROC — Republic of China, Taiwan

ROTC — Reserve Officer Training Corps, a source of commissioned officers consisting of training units at colleges and universities

RPM — Revolutions per Minute

S1-C — One of a series of prototype nuclear power plants used for testing and training naval operators. S1-C was located in Windsor, Connecticut.

SAS — Sealed Authentication System, used to validated launch coded for nuclear weapons

SGWL — Steam Generator Water Level, pronounced “Squiggle.”

SOA — Speed of Advance

SRDRS — Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System

SSN — A nuclear-powered attack submarine

SSBN — A nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine

Subpac — Commander of the Submarine Forces of the Pacific

TDU — Trash Disposal Unit

TEU — Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, a measure of a cargo unit on a container ship.

TMA — Target Motion Analysis

USNA — United States Naval Academy

USNS — United States Naval Ship, a non-commissioned ship that is property of the US Navy.

USS — United States Ship, a designation given to commissioned ships in the United States Navy

VA — Veteran’s Administration

VHF — Very High Frequency

X1J — A phone circuit connecting the captain to the officer of the deck.