While You Were Sleeping

Is that a Dry Deck Shelter on the Dallas? If so, doesn't that imply they've got SEALs onboard? Odd, if that's a "routine" deployment

Posted by Ben at July 25, 2004 4:11 PM

Yes, that's a DDS on her back. SEAL boats do deploy routinely you know. Since all the dedicated SEAL boats (Polk, Kamehameha, some fasties) are gone, we have to make do with 688's modified to carry DDS.

Posted by Derek L. at July 27, 2004 2:54 PM

Well, you learn something new everyday - I was under the impression that DDSs were attached on an as-needed basis, for actual missions. Does that mean that the Dallas is cruising around with SEALs onboard, or the DDS is there "just in case"/for training?

Posted by Ben at July 27, 2004 4:28 PM

It's expensive (~$50-60,000) and intensive (a bunch of guys and anywhere from two days to a week) to remove or change out the DDS. So the force has to trade off the ship's performance hit with the big drag on it against having to put the thing on in a hurry (and what if the shelter is there when you are here?).

My old boat kept 'em on almost all the time. It depends. Check or search my site for way too many details on DDS and SSN.

Posted by Chap at July 31, 2004 9:27 PM