Voyage of the Devilfish

VARIABLE BALLAST TANKS Tanks used to hold seawater for added weight, or conversely, seawater tanks that can be pumped out or blown out to lighten the ship.

VARIABLE YIELD Yield is a nuclear warhead’s explosive power in kilotons or megatons. A warhead with variable yield can dial in the desired explosive power by changing the shape or size of the implosion charges or by altering the geometry or concentration of the fissionable (or fusion) material.

VECTOR Any quantity that has both magnitude and direction. Example: a velocity vector is speed (number of miles per hour) and direction (north).

VENT To release trapped air from a system.

VERTICAL SURFACE When a hovering submarine blows water from a variable ballast tank to establish a vertical velocity and then rises vertically from the water. Generally only used to surface through the ice.

VICTOR A class of Russian attack submarines built to counter the threat from the Piranha class of submarines.

VICTOR III A class of Russian attack submarines that are much more refined, quieter, and faster than the VICTOR class (only a few VICTOR II’s were built, and may be considered experimental models of the VICTOR Ill’s). Built to counter the Los Angeles class submarines. Precursors to the AKULA class attack submarines.

VITAL BUS A group of electrical loads supplied off the same motor generator breaker, able to be fed either from a turbine generator or the battery. These few loads are vital to the survival of the ship. Examples include primary ship control circuits, slow speed reactor main coolant pumps, reactor protection circuitry, and the wardroom coffee maker.

VLF LOOP An antenna capable of receiving VLF transmissions at depths down to several hundred feet.

VLF (VERY LOW FREQUENCY) Radio transmissions on a longer wavelength than LF but not as long as ELF.

VLS (VERTICAL LAUNCH SYSTEM) New missile launch system on later Los Angeles class attack submarines, in which space in the forward group of ballast tanks has vertical torpedo tubes for launching Javelin cruise missiles. Allows torpedo room space to hold more torpedoes.

WARDROOM (1) Officers’ messroom. Used also as a conference room, briefing room, reconstruction room, junior officers’ office, movie screening room, and place to converse. (2) The group of officers assigned to a ship.

WARSHOT A weapon that is used to sink an enemy ship or inflict damage on a target. As opposed to an exercise shot.

WATCH/WATCHSTATION A watch is an 8-hour shift during which a group of men at specific stations run the submarine.

A watchstation is a person’s station or assignment during the watch.

WATCHSECTION A collection of watchstanders who run the submarine for an 8-hour shift called a watch.

WATER SLUG Shooting a torpedo tube when it is only full of water. A “slug” of water is ejected from the tube.

WATERFALL A display of broadband sonar with bearing on the horizontal and time on the vertical. Broadband noise traces fall down the screen, looking like a waterfall.

WIGGLE RANGE TMA range obtained by the wiggling of an advanced sonar system’s towed array hydrophones due to the tow cable moving in the water flowstream. Each hydrophone has accelerometers and instrumentation to determine its position and motion with respect to the contact and own ship.

WIRE GUIDE CONTINUITY A low electrical resistance in the wire guide to a torpedo, indicating the wire is still intact. Loss of wire guide continuity means the weapon got fouled in the wire and cut it, or that the weapon has exploded.

XO (EXECUTIVE OFFICER) Officer who is second in command of a nuclear submarine, responsible to the captain for the administrative functioning of the ship. At battle stations, the XO coordinates the firecontrol team and makes recommendations to the captain.

ZIG A term used to describe a target’s maneuver, either a turn, speed change, or both.

ZIRCONIUM A metal used as cladding on uranium fuel elements because of its corrosion resistance and low neutron absorption characteristics.

ZULU Same as Greenwich Mean Time.