Blueprints & Submarine Acronyms Glossary

Nautilus Blueprints/Layouts Glossary

Courtasy of D.W Twiggy from SSN-571 USS Nautilus: helps when you dont know what something means. If in doubt ask me.

Just saw this… Regarding the sonar window… Just going to guess here… Sonar is a free flooding area. I’m guessing the “window” may be something other than steel (plastic? Fiberglass?) to allow return sound waves to penetrate the hydrophones without distorting. OR it could be where the active transducers are housed.

Closure Plates – Sometimes you have to get large pieces of equipment into or out of the boat during overhaul… like a Mk 18 Angle Solver. These plates are welded on the pressure hull and need to be cut open for access. There is a HUGE on above the engine room for obvious reasons. Access is under the teak decking.

Correction from previous… WRT = Water aRound Torpedo. Used to flood or drain torpedo tubes.

I have another schematic, overall in worse condition but some things are a little clearer…

a) WRSR = Wardroom Stateroom, typically officer’s room with 2 or 3 racks.

b) WR = Wardrobe Closet, pretty sure. Only the CO had a private head

c) WC = Water Closet i.e. Shitter or Toilet

d) Guessing at the following: WT FT Hatch = It’s a hatch, obviously, WT usually means watertight, as for the location the FT probably means Foot Traffic because I remember walking on many. They were only opened for a specific purpose like loading stores from one level to another, battery compartment access, etc.

1. Lavatory (multiple sinks)

2. Shower Flat Over (no clue)

3. WT BHD = Watertight Bulkhead

4. 12” x 16” WT FPMH = Watertight Forward? P? Manhole typically for tank access.

5. WRT Tank = Water Retention Tube (or Torpedo) Tank. After flooding the tube, when you close the outer door you need to drain the water somewhere.

e) 15 x 23 WT FT Hatch = same as d) above.

f) Your CMP is actually upside down and reads WT BHD = Watertight Bulkhead

g) Believe it or not, it says STEP