A comment by XCOB in the previous post got me thinking about people falling off submarines while tied to the pier. While there's no doubt that going overboard is very dangerous when the boat's underway, and can be dangerous when moored, I was thinking more of the humorous inadvertent dunkings. Here's my favorite:
On the morning of the first deployment of the good ship USS Topeka (SSN 754) in August 1992, we had a new guy reporting to the boat straight from "A" School. He basically checked into Squadron that morning, and sent him right over to the boat to go on the deployment. (This had all been worked out in advance.) He comes down the gangplank carrying his seabag with everything he'll have for the deployment -- after all, this is his first time on board the boat. For some reason, he couldn't get around the sail on the starboard side (where the towed array housing gives you a place to put your right foot so you're walking basically level) and, being a NUB, he went around the port side of the sail, lost his footing, and fell into the water -- along with his seabag packed with all his belongings for the next 6 months. We fished him and his seabag out of the water, and for the first night of our underway, all of his clothes were draped over steam piping in the Engine Room. (The dryer broke down as it started on first load of the run, as is normal on LA-class submarines.)
Can anyone top that?