OleToothless

/r/submarines AMA Questions:

/u/Subresqpilot:

1. What is the coolest feature or piece of equipment in the Falcon that doesn't get enough attention?

2. Does the Falcon have a test/operating depth as well as an estimated crush depth like a submarine, or just a lower never-to-exceed limit? Can you provide figures for that?

3. Since the C-5 pilot in Red Star Rising believes that the DSRV they load onto his plane is a "ship", how do you feel about calling the Falcon a boat vs a ship vs a vessel, etc?

4. Do you ever get scared inside of the Falcon? I remember reading about the Trieste dives and wondering to myself what those guys were thinking on the first deep dives... That, and what kind of motivation would spur a man to jump in a metal ball attached to a giant gasoline-filled baloon just to go look at mud and some ugly little fish.

5. I know you really can't see much below a couple hundred meters even with lights, but what's the strangest or most interesting thing you've seen on a dive?

/u/MacEast2nd Submersion Podcast Team:

1. What's the best submarine movie of all time and why is it Down Periscope?

2. Outside of the usual suspects, what are some of the better submarine books?

3. How's your morse? Mine is pretty rusty. ...-- -.... -.. -.. / ..--- ..... / ...-- ....-

/u/NavHistWriter12 Iain Ballantyne:

1. Sell me on your book "The Deadly Trade" - what was the greatest innovation in submarine warfare in the last 100 years aside from nuclear power and moving to an Albacore-esque shape?

2. Sell me on your book pt. 2 - what's your favorite little-known tidbit of submarine history or submarine story?

3. In your opinion, who was the greatest submarine captain/commander of all time?

/u/OceanGateInc Stockton Rush:

1. Can I drive the Cyclops? Had to ask.

2. What are your thoughts on the prospects of the public-private partnership in the realms of the deep seas, specifically in comparison to the huge success in the last decade of space launch partnerships?

3. Aside from the obvious problems inherent with the extreme pressures experienced by your submersibles, what was the most difficult engineering challenge?

4. What about the most unexpected engineering challenge?

5. What are your thoughts on the future of manned deep sea exploration/exploitation? Do you expect all or almost all large and deep-diving submersibles of the future to be unmanned?

/u/JoshDean66 Josh Dean:

1. Going straight for the important questions here... Do you know how much of K-129 they actually recovered and just couldn't say so in the book? Come on, you can tell us here, we're all friends.

2. Confession - I haven't read you book yet but it is on my Amazon list, so I apologize if the answer to this question is in there. In '86 the Soviets lost yet another submarine, the K-219 in the middle of the Atlantic. Supposedly in '88 when they went to check on the sunken vessel, the Soviets discovered that the nuclear-tipped missiles it carried where gone. Do you have facts or an opinion on what happened to the weapons of K-219? Did they simply tumble out of the broken and battered boat, or did Clementine have a younger sister that was a little bit better at the grabby-grabby task?

/u/whibbler HI Sutton:

1. Of all the drawings you have created over the years, which one are you the least certain of in terms of accuracy to the genuine article?

2. Of all the drawings, which were your favorite and least favorite ones to work on?

3. Which submarine class do you find to be the most aesthetically pleasing?

4. Have you ever considered doing reactor plant illustrations inside of the submarines you draw? Have you not done so because of a lack of reference material, you think it could get you in some kind of trouble, or a little of column a, little of column b?

/u/Vepr157:

1. Where the hell do you get your pictures??? I'm at the point where I've just downloaded your imgur albums as I rarely find any photos that aren't already in one of them. Exception being, Chinese boats. Do you have an album for them?

2. On the note of Chinese boats, I really enjoy reading your comments comparing the development and capabilities of US and USSR subs. Have you ever put thought into how PLAN subs stack up to the Russian boats they are largely based upon?

3. What's Mr. Polmar like in person? I've got several of his books and have seen many of his lectures, always very informative. Is he as much of an amenable nerd in person or just when he's working?

4. Given your knowledge of modern DE/AIP subs, what class(es) are the most capable and/or show the most promise for future improvement?

/u/KingNeptune767 Thanks for putting this on, I've been looking forward to it since it was announced.

"A whale, Beaumont, a whale!"

That's a pretty great story though. Imagine what the whale was thinking...

Well, one of the questions I submitted was "Iain, sell me on your books..." My Amazon cart is now three items larger.

What was the cheating incident and the firing of the CO like? Did it shock the crew members that weren't part of the fraudulent stuff going on?

Ouch. Were you on board at the time? What about the explosion in 2007?