A Ron Sagaert Story
"A Whale of a Tale: A Razorback Story"
May 1963
Ron Sagaert in the after engine room by the #3 engine. April 2015 |
“The greatest fear aboard a
submarine at sea is fire. Sometime in
May 1963, while at sea in WestPac on board the USS Razorback, we experienced an
AER [After Engine Room] fire that, while bad and truly scary, could have been a whole lot
worse.
Flash (K. D.) Brenton and I were
on watch during a surface transit with both #3 and #4 main engines
running. Flash had been my oiler for a
long time at this point and we fit well together, communicating non-verbally
while the engines were running. My short-timer
calendar was posted on a locker door bolted to the pressure hull above #3 and I
was about 30 days from departure from the boat to begin discharge from the
Navy.
Suddenly, we both noticed a wisp
of smoke at the forward end of #3 behind the gage panel and near the exhaust
elbows. We peered around to see better,
the Flash edging around the forward end of the panel to slip outboard to
investigate. I was looking over the control
quadrant when an instant flash of flame billowed up engulfing the forward end
of #3 main engine. I ran aft and yelled
‘Fire in After Engine Room’ as I jumped through the watertight door into
Maneuvering Room. I dogged the hatch
shut tight. The EM’s on duty remotely
shut down the engines and reported to Control regarding the fire.
I told them that Flash may still
be in the room but they said that FER reported that he was there, having
stepped in there at the same time I was racing aft. The fire raged for a few minutes before
starving itself of oxygen. An officer
had come aft from Control and when he couldn’t see anything but black smoke
through the portlight in the FER/AER watertight door, he undogged it and swung
it open. Unfortunately, the fire sprang
back to life and smoke rushed into the FER.
Re-dogged and secure, the door was left alone for a good half hour while
the AER cooled down. We slowly
re-entered the compartment to a smoky and sooty mess. After the AER was ventilated, we began the investigation
and cleanup process.
The copper line feeding fuel
pressure to the gage on the main panel was the culprit and a pinhole was
discovered in it. The line was replaced
and the engines restarted. I found the
remnants of my dungaree shirt lying across the counter where I had taken the
shirt off just prior to seeing the wisp of smoke. I had a government issue mechanical pencil in
the pocket and it was melted nearly beyond recognition.
We cleaned and cleaned for the
next 30 days marking my last month on the boat.
Some of my clothes were beyond redemption but I was still able to leave
the boat in Sasebo, Japan in June 1963 and head back to San Diego for
discharge.”
Ron Sagaert EN2(SS)
The mechanical pencil from the fire. |
Author: Allison Hiblong
Story Submission: Ron Sagaert
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