Gator swims up, swallows submarine
November 5th, 2009 | Historical Maritime operations Science and technology Ships Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
The dock landing ship Carter Hall could be the first amphibious ship to transport a nuclear submarine in its well deck // MCSN Derek Poole / Navy
Have you ever looked down at the well deck of an amphibious ship and thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we tried to put the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile down there, or a Fleetwood Pace Arrow, or a giant mobile Tim Hortons? Admittedly, this is kind of silly — those things would obviously all fit at the same time, with plenty of room for actual green gear.
The dock landing ship Carter Hall actually is getting ready to try out carrying some crazy cargo in its well deck: This week this ship arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, with the mission of gulping down the decommissioned research submarine NR-1, which is riding on a support barge. Carter Hall will transport the legendary sub to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, where its reactor will be dismantled. Wrote Foster’s Daily Democrat:
The barge and NR-1 will be guided into the well deck of Carter Hall utilizing a combination of tugs and the ship’s capstan system — a rotating machine that is used to lift or pull heavy objects with the assistance of lines or cables.
After that, it’ll be a long, slow trip around the continent. After that — maybe NR-1 will become a museum ship.