so who won? i mean who was right?

1)Don't know if this is 'classified', but how long would it actually take to get a boomer up from about 1800 ft to launch depth? Seemed to take quite awhile in the film...granted the damage to other areas. Long enough to grab guns and run about the ship at any rate :)

Remember they were trying to go up silently. The faster one goes up the more noise is made, not only through flow noise around the hull of water rushing past, but the popping and other sounds from the hull as it expands as pressure is released.

1800' is not a depth any sub is regularly going to come up from as that is well below test depth and near the estimated crush depth.

No matter how quickly they do try to get up, they have to slow down and take their time when getting close to their desired launch depth to avoid accidentally going past it and maybe even broaching at the surface.

Keep that in mind and in all honesty I do not know exactly how long it would take. it would be some minutes for sure. The film did not seem to be unreasonably or unrealistically long. I did not serve aboard Subs. I was in the Navy, true, but I was a Surface Warfare Sailor, not a bubblehead. My knowledge of subs comes from a)my Naval knowledge on things that are the same for both subs and surface ships, b) Talking with those who were submariners, and c) My own extensive reading and research on subs and their capabilities and technology. Michaelnewman, which you see answering on these boards was a submariner, an Officer actually, even though a reservist. He would know more than I on how long it would take.

The following video was taken aboard a sub as she does an emergency surface. This is when you see the subs nearly fly out of the water like a leaping dolphin. Skip to about 1:45 to cut out most the screwing around while waiting for the emergency blow to begin.
1:54 Word passed for Emergency blow.
2:24 First noticeable up angle as the sub starts for the surface.
5:06 broaching the surface.
This was from an unknown but deep depth and they were not slowing up to level off at any launch depth but right on up through the surface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLLtb0uzcwY

2) Is the XO typically a Commander, or typically a Lt Commander? I believe Hunter was a Lt Commander.

For SSN's a CO is quite often a CDR, but for SSBNs, the CO is often a CAPT
THe XO would be a rank or two lower, so CDR would typically be an XO aboard a sub like Alabama, but it could be a LCDR as well. Yes, HUnter was a LCDR.

3) Hackman's character was cut a lot of slack at the end, it would seem. I mean, to the letter of the law at the time, he was correct to proceed with confirmed orders in hand, and correctly disregard a fragment EAM. But, he also dismissed Hunter 'illegally', he struck him twice, and he held a gun to Weps head and to another crewman's head under threat of death. So, early retirement (I'd assume honorably) seems a sweet deal. Obviously, his service as a whole must have weighed heavily in that decision. Your thoughts?

My thoughts are just that. An opinion. The navy wanted to cover up the whole mess and not make it public. Not only was Ramsey's whole service taken into account. Anything other than accepting his early retirement, would expose WHY he was receiving additional punishment. Lets say they did go after him for his threatening the life of Petty Officer Hilaire. They keep the whole mutiny thing quiet surrounding the launch of nukes but still punish him for the gun incident. This would expose the mutiny as well because they would have to answer WHY was Captain Ramsey threatening to shoot PO Hilaire? To keep everything quiet, they had to go with everything together and accept his request for early retirement. Ramsey could always cite personal reasons for wishing an early retirement and no one would be none the wiser.

4) Spin up four missiles fore and four aft...for even weight distribution after they've flown, yes?
Yes, So the boat remains in trim fore and aft. However it was 5 missiles forward and 5 aft. "Spin up missiles 1 through 5 and 20 through 24"

5) Looks like Zimmer's career went in the can, based on his storm-out of the hearing. I'd imagine COB came through allright and was just questioned. What about Gandolfini's character? He's the only one on the boat who seemed a bit 'evil' in a way, and even still was simply loyal to his captain. Yet he seemed to be 'chief rabble rouser', IIRC?
Again like question 3, just an opinion but in order to maintain silence about the incident, if they were to go after any individual officer they would have to invent a false charge cause any charges stemming from what actually happened would expose the incident they are trying to keep quiet about. And so too punishing any subordinate officer when they are letting the two senior most officers which the subordinates were following would be wrong, and to do so would invite that subordinate to blow the whistle for being treated unfairly.

6) Just a little one...can you even jog on a sub (Hunter)? And is it even allowed, since it's so tight in there?

Back during my visiting tour of USS West Virginia, there was a guy jogging around the missile compartment. But this was inport at Port Canaveral. Underway when silence is required (remember how Hunter's feet were banging along on the steel gratings?) I don't know if it is allowed or not. Again that would be a question best suited to Michaelnewman who served aboard SSBNs.



I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!