Juliett 484

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Photo: Cadets scramble from their racks in the early morning hours

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2004
Contact: Frank Lennon
(401) 831-8696

REVEILLE, REVEILLE. ALL HANDS TURN TO AND CLEAN UP THE SHIP!

Rhode Island's U.S. Naval Sea Cadets perform an overnight training exercise aboard JULIETT 484

Photo: Cadets scramble from their racks in the early morning hours.

PROVIDENCE, RI - They arrived from all corners of west bay Rhode Island, finding themselves standing at attention on a pier in a rapidly-darkening evening that was quickly becoming mind-numbingly cold with the wind howling off Narragansett Bay. It didn't take much prompting to get the 27 U.S. Naval Sea Cadets hustled over the brow and into the relatively warm confines of the lower decks of the Russian guided missile submarine, JULIETT 484.

The Sea Cadets were on board to participate in a unique experience - an overnight training exercise on a warship that was considered a deadly enemy less than a generation earlier. While many of the Cadets had shipboard experience before, none had ever stayed aboard a submarine, of any flag. While eagerly anticipated, the Cadets knew early on that this was to be no simple visit, but rather a rigorous immersion in the life and routine of the submarine sailors of the Soviet Navy.

Indeed, the very first exercise mirrored the opening sequences in the movie K-19: The Widowmaker, a Harrison Ford suspense thriller where the Juliett-class submarine played a central role. That was the arduous task of moving all their gear on board - using human chains to pass and carry bedrolls and seabags from pierside to the berthing areas below decks. This basic experience of every sailor's shipboard existance was learned early on - with the bitterly cold wind being the only external stimulus necessary to keep things moving along.

Photo: Cadets inspect the engineering spaces on the submarine.

After a safety lecture by the Saratoga Museum Foundation's Chief of the Boat (COB) and Engineer Jim Eastwood III, and under the watchful eye of C/1st LT Michael Isherwood from the Marine Corps Cadet Academy, the Cadets set to with the first ship's evolution of the evening - the mandatory Fire Drill. Within the space of a few minutes all Cadets were pierside - back in the cold wind - and then the real work of the evening began. This was a "stem to stern" tour of every open compartment on the boat - including those areas that regular visitors normally don't get to see. The COB and C/1st LT Isherwood gave a rolling lecture on the submarine - its history and mission, its evolution in capability and lethality during the years of the Cold War, ship and fire control systems, and stark portrayals of what life was really like for the sailors and conscripts that served as crew aboard this submarine.

It was not all work, however. The Cadets ended the evening activities with below-the-waterline pizza party and watched the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. Lights out came relatively late - it was nearly midnight before the last Cadet finally hit the rack. Not all the Cadets, however - hourly watches were manned and Cadets performed the routine watchstanding duties that they had trained for.

Dawn arrived all too soon, though that fact was a bit more difficult to grasp since the rising Sun was a universe away from their subsurface sleeping quarters. After early morning reveille, the Cadets turned to and set about on a familiar duty - stowing their gear and cleaning up the ship. As the day brightened, all hands stood topside for a final tour and lecture from the Chief of the Boat, where exterior details of the submarine and many of its unique features were explained.

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Last Updated:
3/14/04