Behind the blog’s name, what does it mean?
What the heck does “RV Green Board” stand for?
So, we are getting ready to travel around the US in a new RV we are purchasing. We plan to be on the road for about three years and want to capture the travel in a Blog. As a retired Navy Nuclear Limited Duty Officer I wanted to bring in some of the Submarine terminology so I came up with Green Board, which is a term that we used when we had all the various openings in the submarine in a condition to allow us to dive the ship, a “green board”. So to me, the RV will be ready to set sail when we have everything stowed, sides retracted, satellite dish stowed, all connections removed, shore power stowed. I will create my own departure checklist to get me to a “green board” condition so I can depart the location I was and get underway….
Here is some detail on what a “green board” means:
The “Green board” refers to the “Christmas Tree” or Hull Opening
Status Panel found on the old diesel submarines (see below.) This
panel used red and green lamps to show whether hull openings
were open or closed. Red meant open, green meant closed.
Hence the name “Christmas Tree”. If all lights were green, meaning all
major hull openings were closed, it was safe to submerge the ship.
When this occurred the diving officer of the watch announced a
“Greenboard”to the officer of the deck. And he would order the ship
to be submerged, by passing the words “Diving officer submerge the ship.”
The diving officer, unless otherwise ordered, would order a standard down bubble,
Pass the words “Dive! Dive!” on the 1MC, and sound the diving alarm klaxon twice.