r/NavyNukes • u/Smooth-Bad-5425 ET2/CVN-72(Plankowner)/LCDR, CEC ( Ret) • 4d ago

Evolution of Nuclear Power Training

This post is mainly for the folks that spent at least a 20 yr active duty career in the nuclear power program over a few years ranges:

1980-2000;

1990-2010;

2000-2020; and

2010-present

What I'm curious about is whether over the time period from 1980 to the present, the nuclear power program changed such as difficulty & entrance requirements.

For data purposes, I was an ET from 1986-1992. Back in 1986, ETs went through Basic Electronics & Electricity for around two months or so where we learned all about the subject and went through circuit board troubleshooting. ET "A" school had antenna theory, transistors & tube, and the SPS-10 radar system (not very nuclear related at all). For the newer folks, ET "A" school for nukes back then was 2200-0600 daily. That was rough. Nuke school was probably similar to current academics and prototype was attended at either Idaho, Ballston Spa, or Windsor CT.

If anyone can chime in and give me program info over the years that would be much appreciated.

In summary, I have a feeling that making it through the training pipeline is more difficult now than what it was 40 yrs ago (that is such a depressing idea!).

Thanks!

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u/BiscottiJunior6673 3d ago

We may have overlapped at Bainbridge. I didn't find NPS difficult, but I had some college and finished near the top of my class, so my experience may not be typical.

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u/cmetcalf7 3d ago

I would have started at Bainbridge sometime in late April or May, I think. I, like you, also had some college experience (3 years, though I wasn't very studious) and finished near the top of my class. Another point in my favor was that I liked the sciences (physics and chemistry) and had no problem with any of the math.

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u/BiscottiJunior6673 3d ago

You sound like my twin brother from another mother. Trying to remember dates... I finished prototype about April of 76. That means I must have started NPS around April 75. Were we classmates? I was an ET. What rate were you?

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u/BiscottiJunior6673 3d ago

I just realized my questions may invade your privacy. No offense taken if you don't answer, but there is a good chance we know each other.

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u/cmetcalf7 3d ago

No problem. We might have been in the same class. I was an EM. Which prototype did you go to? I know I was at prototype in October of 1975 because I remember watching the Red Sox play the Reds in the World Series from my quarantine room at the Naval Hospital in Groton, CT. And I'm pretty sure I was on the USS Vulcan around the first 3 months of 1975, so that would mean I would have started NPS sometime in late March or early April.

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u/BiscottiJunior6673 2d ago

I went to the Ballston Spa prototype in upstate NY (MARF). What I can remember of the dates is that after completing prototype in 1976, I had a couple of months off before enrolling at the Naval Academy in July 1976. I think that means I finished prototype training in April/May 1976.

Finished boot camp in early December 1974, finished ET school in April 1975, and had no time at sea before starting NPS. My DD214 lists slightly different dates, but I think that is because they included leave time on top of each end date. If that date theory is correct, I started NPS on or after May 4, 1975.

I actually ended up at the same prototype (MARF) as an officer

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u/cmetcalf7 2d ago

We definitely at least overlapped at NPS. According to a brief search that I made, they started a new class at NPS every few weeks.

I'm curious, if you don't mind. How different was prototype training as an officer compared to enlisted training. I remember at S1C, there were always a few officers training with the rest of us. However, I had no contact with them as an enlisted trainee, though I did stand watches with them as an enlisted instructor. I would think that an officer at prototype might have to be more concerned with the big picture view of things. As in, how is changing this parameter on this system going to affect other systems. If you don't want to answer, understood.

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u/BiscottiJunior6673 2d ago

Some of the details have become fuzzy with time, but the training schedule was the same horrendous schedule until you got qualified that you experienced.

Yes, the orientation was more big-picture stuff in the sense that we were supposed to know what all the nukes in the engineering spaces were supposed to do. In the final practical test, you were invariably faced with supervising an evolution during which the technicians would ask to open a valve that would lead to a significant issue if you did not catch it and deny permission. Even though my two prototype experiences were over six years apart, training as a reactor operator was really helpful during officer training.

MARF had a funky reactor, but the primary plant was essentially identical to that on the 1960s vintage submarine I was assigned to.

We surely overlapped, though we may not have been in the same class. I do recall an EM who was always neck and neck with me and another ET for one of the top three or four spots in the class the whole way through NPS.

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u/cmetcalf7 2d ago

It has been a real joy for me communicating with you over our somewhat shared experiences. It brings back a lot of old and mostly good memories. I can remember carrying those huge tech manuals into the S1C engine room to get a hands-on view of the various systems. I don't know how MARF was, but the S1C manuals were massive. I once saw an officer trainee carrying 3 or 4 of those things coming back from the engine room. That had to be at least 15 pounds.

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u/soljouner 1d ago

I was sent to the Vulcan (forward engine room) waiting for class to open, through not at the same time you were there.

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u/cmetcalf7 1d ago

The USS Vulcan was a real piece of work. I was deployed on it for around 3 months in early 1975 waiting to start NPS. I think I was in the aft engine room, though I'm not positive. That might be the ship where I first heard the saying, "Get a bigger hammer". We were trying to remove a bearing from a motor, and it was not coming off. So the fellow I was working with said something along the lines of "We need to go get a bigger hammer". When I was an EM1 on the USS Virginia from '78-'80, I was trying to remove a bearing which, again, was not coming off. I told the bearing if it didn't move, I was going to get a bigger hammer. Amazingly enough, the bearing decided to come off. I still use that phrase to this day, rarely we any luck unfortunately.

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u/soljouner 1d ago

Yes the Vulcan was a real POS, confirmed for me that going subs was the correct decision. I was on it about three months, only once going to sea, to New Jersey. Being attached to the Vulcan would have been a soul sucking experience

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u/cmetcalf7 1d ago

I, fortunately, never got to sea on the Vulcan. In fact, when I was there, after a couple of weeks, I figured it didn't go to sea anymore. They just used it as a repair ship for the Norfolk Naval Base.

I just checked Wikipedia and realized the Navy got their money's worth out of it. It was built in the early 1940s for around $20 million. Commissioned in 1941, it was decommissioned in 1991, and sold for scrap in the early 2000s.

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u/soljouner 1d ago edited 1d ago

It sure didn't go to sea very often, I apparently got "lucky". When they lit off the boilers it was raining in the engine room from all the leaks. Nothing worked on auto, not the feed pumps, hot well levels, nothing, and it was hot as hell down there. I was surprised to hear much later how long it lasted, because when I left, I thought this thing is junk. Good times!

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u/cmetcalf7 1d ago

I guess the Vulcan didn't rank high in the list of the most anticipated sea duty in the Navy in its later days. And I was sure it wasn't seaworthy in 1975. I was probably not far off. Thanks for the great stories of one of my stops during my short 6 year stint in the Navy.

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