When I was on a "boomer" in the mid sixties in Charleston heard a great story about the USS Trigger SS-564 first Emergency Main Ballast Tank blow after her subsafe overhaul. Seems that the blow rates for the port and starboard ballast tanks were not the same, somthing about strainers icing up I think, anyway she started into a starboard list on the way up. With the upward momentum of empty ballast tanks and full speed rung-up, the sail continued to drag the boat over until she surfaced. As told to me she hit the surface with over a 30 degree up angle and over a 40 degree starboard list. The snap-back to even keel on the surface caused injuries to several crew members and tossed a lot of loose gear around. This was Charlestons first subsafe overhaul. The yardbirds riding the boat for sea trials said they would never go on another submarine sea trial, and the Captain is supposed to have said the @#$%^&*! boat would sink before he ever used the EMBT system again.

We got a partial subsafe on Andrew Jackson SSBN-619 at Charleston during PSA 63-64. Got EMBT blow system. I was aboard through November 1966 and during that time we only tested it alongside the pier-once-very impressive! Never tested it at sea while I was aboard. Hearing the story about the Trigger did not inspire confidence in EMBT blow system, or the charleston Naval shipyard.