Portsmouth submarine fire investigation

Called by a former student (then commander at Portsmouth) to help assess fire damage to submarine steel. The point of the anecdote: he couldn't get David Taylor to pay attention without going around them.

However sometimes you need the chief engineer to tell NAVSEA. Remember the fire up at Portsmouth, where the guys at the bar — they let you go home early. I got a call from a former student from this class, an assistant professor here — he said we've got a fire inside the sub. This was before it hit the news. He said we need someone to come help us figure out if the steel has been damaged. What he told me is, he couldn't get anyone at David Taylor to pay attention. He was in charge at Portsmouth — I think he was a commander. They're not going to pay attention. So they're not exactly someone you can call up and say, hey, help me out.