Mr. Tirante
by Bill Enneis, STS2(SS)Greetings to all my fellow boat sailors! As we all know, qualifying in
submarines is a big, time-consuming deal for NQPs. I still have my qualcard and take it out now and then and look at it, remembering....!One episode stands out in my mind, which I like to tell over and over, embellishing as necessary. We were on our way to Gitmo onboard USS TIRANTE (SS 420) in the winter of 1967, and I was working on getting checked off on the Control Room. I was almost qualified, but not quite, and Control was a big check-off, worth lots of points, etc.
I asked Terry Stein, EN1 (SS), to take me through Control when he had the watch. He had just made Chief, and was considered by all on board to be "Mr. TIRANTE" because he knew the boat inside and out. He was a no- nonsense, highly competent, and dependable submariner. The guys thought I was crazy for asking Stein-that he would eat me alive. My thinking was that if I made it through Control with Stein, that I would really know Control.
We started forward at the hatch leading from the forward battery, worked our way aft, from port to starboard. He asked me a whirlwind of questions about everything in the compartment, and I had to answer, explain, demonstrate, and expound on a myriad of subjects, systems, valves, piping, gauges, levers, how-to's, and the like. It was pretty thorough and intense (as indeed it should have been!) As things were winding down a bit he brought me to the middle of the compartment, and up in the overhead amongst a system of pipes, he had me put my hand up in there and feel a small valve.
His question: "What is that?"
My answer "An inline relief valve for--". (I don't remember now what it was) He was visibly impressed.
Next question: "What does it relieve at?"
Answer: "26 pounds". After a few seconds, he said, "Bring me your card. I'll sign you off". He did.
The guys were astounded that I made it through Control with Stein. Later on that month after I qualified, he took me through the boat on a below-decks check-off so that I could stand below-decks watches.
The Navy was what it was, and the submarine service was what it was because of the Terry Steins.
If you have any comments for the author, he can be reached at enneis@aol.com
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