Crash dive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A crash dive is a maneuver performed by a submarine to submerge as quickly as possible to avoid attack. Crash diving from the surface to avoid attack has been largely rendered obsolete with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines as they operate constantly submerged and are unlikely to be found on the surface. However, the crash dive is a standard maneuver used during surfacing when a collision is believed imminent.
A crash dive in a diesel-powered submarine requires careful orchestration of the crew. On German U-boats of World War II, a crash dive would begin with the Captain or senior lookouts giving the order "Alarm!", which led to the Chief Engineer activating the alarm bell. All crewmembers would then immediately stop what they were doing and proceed to their diving stations. The crew would continue by flooding the forward ballast tanks of the submarine and, often, by having all available crewmembers move as far forward in the boat as practical (a "trim party"). This extra weight forward gives the ship a bow-down angle so its momentum helps pull it below the surface. A few seconds later the rear ballast tanks are flooded before the ship ends up with its stern rising out of the water. (An accident during the first patrol of U-505 caused just that when she crash dived to avoid an aircraft. Fortunately for the crew they weren't spotted while they got her back under control. The crewman who started flooding the rear ballast tanks late was subsequently given the nickname "Ostrich".) The entire operation would generally be coordinated by the Chief Engineer.
Before the hatches and air induction vents fall below the surface they must be closed. Before that, the diesel engines must be stopped or they will suck the air out of the ship in a matter of seconds. On submarines with direct drive, the engines are disengaged from the propeller shafts and the electric propulsion motors/generators are switched to motor mode. The motors are run at high speed to maintain the forward momentum. Once all the hatches and induction vents are closed the diving planes are used like the control surfaces of an airplane to pull the ship below the surface and level-out at the desired depth. In a World War II-era boat, the whole operation could take as little as about 30 seconds with a well-trained and experienced crew. In contrast, an Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine may take as long as five minutes to reach periscope depth from the surface.
In extreme emergencies submarines have had to crash dive so quickly that lookouts were left on-deck. Such was the only survivor of U-68 when the four lookouts were left top-side as she crash dived among exploding aerial bombs. Commander Howard Gilmore earned the Medal of Honor during World War II by ordering a crash dive ("Take her down!") while wounded and unable to leave the bridge of USS Growler (SS-215).
