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[PSUBS-MAILIST] FW: Navy's Reliable NR-1 Research Vessel Won't Be Easy To Replace

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Title: Navy's Reliable NR-1 Research Vessel Won't Be Easy To Replace

New London (CT) Day
July 21, 2007
Pg. 1

Navy's Reliable NR-1 Research Vessel Won't Be Easy To Replace

Deep-Diving Submarine, In Service 40 Years, To Be Deactivated In Fall 2008

By Jennifer Grogan

Groton — The unique work environment on the NR-1 attracts some of the best and the brightest in the Navy.

“Sailors get to do things that they're not able to do on other Navy commands,” said Cmdr. John P. McGrath, officer in charge. “NR-1 has done a great job of giving the top guys opportunities to excel.”

But starting next year, these sailors will have to find other places in the fleet to hone their skills.

The Naval Research Vessel (NR-1), which is homeported at the Naval Submarine Base, is scheduled to be inactivated in fall 2008 after almost 40 years in service. It is the Navy's only nuclear-powered, deep-diving ocean engineering and research submarine, and the Navy does not currently have plans to build another.

“It will be a challenge when the NR-1 is gone for the Navy to find ways to provide opportunities for the top people, the real performers, to stand out,” said McGrath, who was also the engineer officer on NR-1 from 1997 to 2000.

One of the “top people” to spend time on NR-1 is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani was the officer in charge from May 1982 to April 1985.

At the change-of-command ceremony in June, the outgoing officer in charge, Cmdr. Enrique “Rick” N. Panlilio, said the ship was still in “wonderful shape and able to conduct its missions.”

The reactor core would last until 2012, but the Navy has not budgeted for the normal maintenance to run the ship until the end of its life, said Lt. James Stockman, public affairs officer for Submarine Group Two.

“It's kind of a shame we never built an NR-2, but money is money,” said Ret. Capt. Guy Mendenhall, who was officer in charge of NR-1 from May 1979 to May 1982.

If possible, remotely operated vehicles and other tools will be used to complete NR-1's former missions, Stockman said.

But those may be able to conduct the types of missions the NR-1 has performed, like retrieving pieces of the space shuttle Challenger when it blew up after takeoff in 1986, and the engines from Egyptair Flight 990 when it crashed off the coast of New England in 1999.

“The NR-1 can dive deeper than any other regular submarine and has more endurance than a submersible,” Mendenhall said. “If something is on the bottom of the ocean and you want to find it, look at it or pick it up, if you don't have the NR-1, you're going to have trouble doing that.”

NR-1 has searched for shipwrecks around the world, including a long-lost Israeli submarine that vanished in 1968. Its crew has also worked with Robert Ballard, founder and president of the Institute For Exploration at the Mystic Aquarium, to search for evidence of early Native American settlements now underwater.

McGrath said NR-1's schedule will not “taper off” prior to inactivation. Several operations are still in the planning stages, and NR-1 should go on its next mission in the fall, he said.

“I'm experiencing the end of an era,” said Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Robert Sanders, the log room yeoman.

NR-1 has been at Electric Boat for maintenance since May, but that work is almost finished, McGrath said.

Electrician's Mate Chief Petty Officer Zach Montello said he felt honored to be a part of the last crew that is going to serve on the NR-1.

“I enjoy working with the elite of the submarine force,” said Montello, the interior communications and digital systems officer and sonar officer. “It's a very unique experience, and I get to do things on this submarine that I would never get to do elsewhere in the Navy.”

Montello's most memorable experience, he said, was exploring a shipwreck this spring in the Gulf of Mexico dating back to the War of 1812.

“I was driving the boat when we flew over it, and seeing the wreck in the camera was awesome,” he said. “I was looking at something that most people never see, that has been down there for close to 200 years. It was a great experience.”