Mistakes
are an integral part of our lives- professional or personal. The end
state can be - Well, mistakes just happen or we try to reduce them with
our experience under various situations. The inevitability of mistakes
and Murphy's endeavors can be cut down with deliberate actions and
remembering the correct drill for the corresponding situation.
Circa Jan 1998, I was a young Lieutenant having entered my 5th year of
Commissioned Service. Barely out of the Submarine School, I had the
unique honor of carrying out the duties of the Electrical Officer (LO)
of a Kilo Class Submarine without having received my Dived Watch Keeping
Certificate. The CO (Ol' Man) was in his 2nd Command and we had worked
hard to bring the boat out of a 09 year long lay off in a Refit. The
Ol' Man was a tough task master but also a jolly good fellow when
ashore. He would drive us hard when on-board and would be all love and
affection when we partied with him.
The boat was still coming to terms with her operational status. Her
machinery and equipments were still trying to synchronize to achieve the
sea going efficiency. I had the honor of being the youngest officiating
HoD on-board and I had a talented but slightly wayward crew as they
were also trying to sync together. For my Submarine hardened crew, I was
a new kid just off from the Sub School about 06 months back and was
officiating as the LO as their original LO had fallen sick and was a med
cat. My sea legs were two sea experiences of 01 month on-board mighty
Carrier Viraat and a 04 month Watch Keeping on-board a Leander Class
Steam Frigate Krishna. I had the good fortune of running Krishna as a
Deputy LO and so I was also not low on confidence. My responsibility as a
LO spanned from the Ist to the 6th Compartment on-board the majestic
Kilo.
The routine was tough for my section as virtually everything had
the Electrical part in its operation. The torpedoes, FCS, pumps,
diesels, batteries, generators, communication, navigation,
sonars,converted supplies- name it and my boys were on job everywhere
and every time. We had successfully completed our Sea Qualifying exam as
a Crew and soon enough the Shore bosses wanted us to sail out for a
longish duration with the Fleet and fire a torpedo. We came back from a
short 2 days outing and were told that we were going back to sea next
day at 1600 hrs. After the customary Ward Room de-brief (which included a
swig of Beer too!), I set off to my boys and took a quick count of my
problem issues. The synchronization of a submarine's equipment after a
long refit is tricky and can be a complicated phase. My team reported
two dozen plus areas meriting urgent support from the Shipyard and Sqn
Staff. The biggest activity between the short harbor stay and the
sailing next day was the Battery Charging.
I laid out the plan for my Section-in-Charges and my Asst LO and we
set the tasks into the motion. At 1300 hrs , the next day, my batteries
were fully topped up and the Shipyard and Sqn Staff had put in their
bit and buttoned my section up to the best that they could. I was left
struggling with the Fire Control System, a low insulation all over the
boat , 02 HF sets not tuning to their optimum efficiency and missing
vital frequencies, some faults with the Diesel Auto Controls, tuning
issues with the main sonar and a erratic accommodation space AC plant
motor. The Section-in-Charges were on the job and I was moving from one
compartment to the other to review and chip in with my bit.
The Ol' Man came on-board at 1400 hrs and sought my position. As I
was going up the well to the Sub's casing to brief him, a young
Artificer who was operating as my Nav Eqpt In (NAVEA) reported that the
Depth Gauges were not operating!! Murphy was it his best. As I climbed
up the ladder , my mind was racing. I found the Sqn LO standing with my
Ol' Man on the casing and both were in an animated discussion. "Yes, LO,
what's your position now?", said the Ol' Man. I was racing my brain at
the pace of a Ferrari and had calculated my hunches. At 1400 hrs, we
were at least 08 hours away from the diving area. These 08 hours were
crucial and I had my hunch that we cannot call this sailing off. I
briefed the Ol' Man about my major issues and also gave him an alternate
solution in case the equipments malfunctioned. "We can meet the
commitment Sir. We have time till next day before we RV the Fleet ships
and we would be able to rectify the issues," The Sqn LO and the Ol' Man
looked at me with a big stare and then the Ol' Man gave me the thumbs up
sign. " XO (2-I/c), we cast off on schedule.", said the Ol' Man.
I came down below and my Section continued with their trysts. By
1600 Hrs, the positivity started returning as Murphy decided to climb
out the Control Room- he was left with no option by the crew. My major
problem huddled around the faulty depth gauge system and the Fire
Control Computer. The boat casted off sharp at 1600 hrs and I had ripped
open the Fire Control Computer and NAVEA was trying to figure out the
Depth Gauges. I had asked the NAVEA about the electrical fuses of the
Depth Gauge system when he had reported the fault. His reply was that he
had checked the fuses personally. I kept the concentration on NAVEA
through the hand held communication as we patiently sat buttoning up the
tricky Fire Control Computer.
Soon enough, the Navigator came to me and reported that they
would be diving in about 45 minutes time. I came up to the Control Room
and summoned the NAVEA along with my Senior EA. We got down into the
Control Room hold and laid open the system diagram in the congested
space. The holds of a Submarine and especially the Soviet Submarines are
a maze of pipelines, greases, oils and valves of various sizes. One
visit to the hold and you can be rest assured that you are not going to
smell good till you take 3 showers at home with the best of the soaps. I
and the Senior EA inspected the valves of the Electro-Mechanical
system. I personally operated the vales, the system did not budge.
Control Room reported no movement of the gauges. They were still lying
dead!!
I came up from the hold and again asked the NAVEA about the electrical
supplies. He shook his head in affirmative. I opened up the fuse box.
The system has five fuses. I opened the first fuse holder-it had a
working fuse, the second fuse holder also had its fuse intact, the third
reported same, the fourth fuse was also found to be working-my mind was
racing again as the sailing was on my commitment. I opened up the fifth
fuse holder and it was the Murphy's final hide out. The fuse was simply
missing. I let out a whistle to let my patience return back to normal.
NAVEA was shivering behind the Senior EA. "NAVEA, Fuse please.",I calmly
ordered. A fuse was brought and I put the fuse into its holders and the
depth gauge system fired up. I heard the Ol' Man's thundering voice,"
XO , prepare the boat to dive."
I came to the Control Room and reported the details to the Ol' Man.
Does the NAVEA need to be punished-asked the Ol' Man. No Sir- was my
reply. The NAVEA was a young man who went about his task mechanically
and did not open the last fuse box. I had to avoid such complacency
forever. A punishment at that stage would not have augured well for my
stretched crew as we were working over time always to stitch various
equipment's performances and the young NAVEA had a long way to go in the
Service. The Ol' Man understood my point of view and from that sortie
onwards we always carried out a deliberate check of critical equipments.
The NAVEA never forgot to check his system's fuses from then on. The
incident was raised as an acquaint for the Shore Team. The Submarine met
the 10 day long sortie with aplomb and I fired my first Torpedo. Murphy
came again and again but the boat dived and surfaced always on time. We
had enough issues on our platter but the mistakes reduced drastically
with the deliberate actions.
Take a pause, check and then carry out the action-even if it is a signature on a mundane document!!
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