Sneaky bastards… LOL
At 0000 hours on 01 January 2000, USS Topeka (SSN-754) crossed the intersection of the equator and International Date Line, placing the submarine simultaneously in two years, decades, centuries, millenniums, seasons and hemispheres.
Kudos to them for thinking this up, AND for pulling it off! Any bets that higher had NO idea what was going on until after it happened???
Sneaky bastards… 🙂
Good thing no other submarine decided to do the same thing…
Golden Shellback moment .
The USS Carl Vinson crossed the equator at 00’00” Lat/Long on 28 April 1983 on her maiden voyage. The first navy ship to do so since WW2. During that around the world cruise, we crossed the line at least 4 times as we went from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, then around Africa to the Indian ocean. Side trip to Australia for a week, back to Gonzo station, then out of the IO through the 8 degree channel into the Pacific. By the last crossing, there weren’t any pollywogs left, so there wasn’t much of a celebration.
I’ve still got the challenge coin in my wallet.
Still, very few ships ever get to that part of the world, so congrats to them.
Technically, the new millennium didn’t start until 0000:01 on 01 Jan 2001.
But yeah, pretty neat story.
There’s always that guy…
00:00:00.0000 on 01 Jan 2001
Corrected it for you. It is a zero based numbering system, 0 to 23 in whole numbers. Analogous to the century being a 1 based numbering system, starting with 1.
When the 2000.12.31 23:59:59.9999 crosses into 24:00:00.000 it is 2001.12.31 00:00:00.0000.
I just wondered if there someone else that did it on 2000.12.31 23:59:59.0000
The fact that there is no initial Year Zero is true, but immaterial.
Somebody would have to be an over-educated idjit to place the year 2000 in with the rest of the 1900s. Ditto for th4e Year Zero of every subsequent century or millennium.
Because there is a Year Zero every century after the first one, and it comes at the beginning of the century/millenium, not at the end of it. (Just because the First Century got short-changed, mathematics doesn’t dictate every other century must be similarly abused out of “fairness”. No sale.)
So no.
But nice try.
It’s like trying to tell people “Y” and “W” are sometimes vowels, or that the Designated Hitter Rule is a good idea, or that you can revoke Pluto’s planetary status on a whim. No matter how valiant the effort, the objections are overruled.
It is the silent service…you don’t want to telegraph your punches.
I was always amazed at how quickly those guys could disappear when they got tired of playing with us. Sub-time was rare even back then and we had lots of sucess tracking them, then all of a sudden, poof… And they were gone.
Higher didn’t know?
Isn’t that the reason Sub Commanders are some of the most powerful people in the world?
“One ping only”.
Francis- Isn’t it though!
Bos’n- True!
Ray- LOL, yeah that would wear you out!
Jeff/ODG- True, but still a great story.
LL- Good point.
Flugel- Yeah, they could…sometimes…
GB- Oh, they new the basic track, but I doubt anybody actually cross checked time/position for the midnight posit from higher.
Higher doesn’t want to know 99.9999% of the time. They trust the CO will get his boat to the designated places at the designated times. Other than coming into or out of port Mums the Word.
There ain’t no ATC or traffic control at 200ft under so there isn’t anybody we need to talk to anyway.
I’m only aware of us reporting to higher while at sea once, but we were already out of the op area heading for a short refit at an advance port. They wanted to confirm our available food to see if we could be extended. When we reported ~2 weeks remaining we allowed to proceeded to refit as planned but a few days behind schedule.
Can’t do that in an underground missile site, and I’ve been on duty in 33 of them and visited one that was completely different from those 33. I have visited a docked submarine.
very cool
“Sneaky bastards… ”
Well, yeah. We’re submariners aren’t we?
(((PING!)))
PS: Sam L, I was on three different missile boats. I was doing the seagoing version of your job. When we were tied up to the pier, I guess we were technically a “docked missile silo”.
Rick- Y’all do file ‘sail plans’, but that is for a specific reason.
Sam- LOL, at least yours wasn’t moving, and when you got off, you got to go home.
Roy- 4kts to nowhere.
Got to admire those guys, sneaky or not.
BZ!