We were operating in Fleetex 86 as Orange forces. I spotted an intermittent contact
on the LN-66. We were in total emcon with the prairie masker operating. I asked CO Nick if we could go active
on the 26. I knew it had to be a periscope riser. We did and chased a "non-player" US nuke for over
an hour until SUBLANT told us to "back off" because we were giving away the location of a "non-player"
in the exercise. Targets my butt! CERTSUB #1 baby!
Our corpsman also had the only
other CERTSUB contact in the exercise on approach to the carrier with a sick crew member. He told the pilot, "Hey,
is that a submarine?" It was trailing the carrier. CERTSUB #2 baby!!
Pretty good
for playing the "bad guys". Lots of good memories on the "Chuck".
Oh
yeah...Charlie "Fat Man" Ellis sunk a 3 pointer with time expired and the "Chuck Team" beat the French
National team by 1 point during the 86 Med deployment. They toasted us with LOTS of good champagne afterwards. Great
sports. Again...lots of good memories on the "Chuck"!
Van Sullivan
CDR (Sel), USNR, DAV, RET