The Navy's taking me out on a submarine this week. For realz.

Just before Christmas, I got an e-mail from Jennifer Van Grove, the duchess of the San Diego blogging and social media community. Jennifer works with the U.S. Navy on arranging "embarks," or day-trips by local bloggers on U.S. Navy ships. Jennifer and the Navy invited me to take a ride on a submarine. It's this Friday.

How awesome is that? I'll tell you how awesome it is: Very.

So, bright and early -- very early -- you don't want to know how early -- I'll take a drive down to Point Loma, and climb on board a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine for a day of adventure, and lunch, on the high seas. Or San Diego Harbor, at least. Souvenirs will be sold. I'm not kidding about the souvenirs, either.

The preceding photo is from Wikipedia entry on Los Angeles-class subs, from which we learn that the Los Angeles class sub is a nuclear-powered fast attack sub that forms the backbone of the U.S. submarine fleet, with 45 on active duty. Top speed is over 25 knots, or 29 mph, with a maximum operating depth of 650-950 feet, depending on who you ask. It carries quite a lot of Tomahawk cruise missiles for settling disagreements. It's 362 feet long, about the length of a football field, and has a crew of 129.

The photo above shows the USS Greeneville, with an Advanced SEAL Delivery System attached. The ASDA is a midget submarine used for deploying special operations forces. It's kind of like the flying sub on the Seaview in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, except for the flying part.

The instructions I received this morning include the following directives:

Please ensure you have breakfast before our morning meet-up. There will be pastries available once aboard the submarine, but most guests tend to arrive very hungry.

For some reason this struck me as funny. A submarine with pastries.

Do not operate equipment or switches, position any valves, or enter any posted areas without prior approval from the ship’s force. Be aware of where you place your hands. Never grasp things such as cables or wires. When at sea, some components may become extremely hot.

"I wonder what happens if I press this button." Also: Do not taunt happy fun ball.

Emergency Procedures
In the unlikely event that an emergency situation arises, alarms will sound and the word will be given. You are requested to stay where you are and remain clear of all passageways and operating areas. Do not obstruct ladders, hatches, or watertight doors. Allow ship’s personnel to perform required action without interference. The member of the ship’s company in charge at the scene will explain the situation as soon as he is able.

They don't have to worry about me. If I hear the alarms, I'm hitting the deck and curling up into a fetal position. This strategy got me through junior high school, and I'm sticking with it.

In addition to Jennifer, and Lt. Garcia, and the crew of the submarine, my shipmates on this excursion will be:

Rob Marlborough, a/k/a/ DowntownRob, a/k/a the "semi-official ambassador of downtown SD" @downtownrob on Twitter. I've run into Rob a few times at various San Diego tweetups and social media hoedowns.

Chris Cantore. I don't think I know Chris. His site says it's about San Diego music/surf/lifestyle.

My pal Gina Trapani, duchess of the lifehacking and productivity-blogging community. Twitter: @GinaTrapani

Angie Swartz, a social media marketing strategist at Square Martini Media. She's @aawartz on Twitter. We've talked on Twitter occasionally, I don't think we've met in real life before.

Scott Kingery. He's @TechLifeWeb on Twitter, where we've talked a few times.

And Peggy Gartin, aka @ThePegIsIn, who is all-around excellent, and wrote about the excursion here.

This is a photo of the plastic assemble-it-yourself toy model of the Seaview, the submarine in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I put one of these together when I was 11 years old. It looks a lot better in this photo than it looked on the shelf of my childhood bedroom, where it was covered with blotchy gray paint and 11-year-old-boy fingerprints.

Comments

[Pathwaypr]

Looking forward to hearing how your adventure goes. Very cool. Maybe they will include LA based bloggers/PR folks sometime ;-)

[DowntownRob]

Looking forward to going on the sub! I miss Giligan's Island now... ;)

[Faryl]

Have fun! I'm envious!!

Can't wait to read about it!

(never knew Downtown Rob's last name before!)

[Adam]

How cool is that.

Definitely want to know how it is, how claustrophobic, if you can see what is around you in the sea. If the pinging sound can be heard constantly like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. If there is a sailor named Kowolski.

Watch out for the giant squid and don't get too close to the nukes.

[Jenifer Olson]

Hey Mitch!

Great post! How FUN is that?! Only wishing someone from the Waitt Institute was going, too! ;-) After all, we're neighbors (La Jolla), and totally dig all things submersible! :-)

Especially love the Gilligan's Island photo. On our last deep-sea expedition, our two AUVs were affectionately known as Mary Ann and Ginger -- check out a page from our mission log here and scroll down to see our ladies! -> http://log.searchforamelia.org/leg-two-begins

Looking forward to following your journey. We'd love for you to visit our site at http://searchforamelia.org and follow us at @searchforamelia! Have a great trip!

[Team Hampton]

Mitch,
USS Hampton looks forward to having you and your fellow bloggers on board our submarine.
Team Hampton