Seawolf: Newest version of Navy fast attack submarine.
SERE: Survival, Evasion, Rescue, Escape; required school in pipeline for aviators.
Shirts: Color-coded Nomex pullovers use by flight deck and aviation personnel for rapid identification of a sailor’s job. Green: maintenance technicians. Brown: plane captains. White: safety and medical. Red: ordnance. Purple: Fuel. Yellow: flight-deck supervisors and handlers.
Shoe: A black shoe, slang for a surface sailor or officer. Modernly, hard to say since the day that brown shoes were authorized for wear by black shoes. No one knows why. Wing envy is the best guess.
Sidewinder: Anti-air missile carried by US fighters.
Sierra: A subsurface contact.
sonobuoys: Acoustic listening devices dropped in the water by ASW or USW aircraft.
Sparrow: Anti-air missile carried by US fighters.
Spetznaz: The Russian version of SEALS, although the term encompasses a number of different specialties.
spooks: Slang for intelligence officers and enlisted sailors working in highly classified areas.
SUBLANT: Administrative command of all Atlantic submarine forces. On the west coast, SUBPAC.
sweet: When used in reference to a sonobuoy, indicates that the buoy is functioning properly, although not necessarily holding any contacts.
TACCO: Tactical Control Officer: the NFO in an S-3.
Tactical circuit: A term used in these books that encompasses a wide range of actual circuits used onboard a carrier. There are a variety of C&R circuits (coordination and reporting) and occasionally for simplicity sake and to avoid classified material, I just use the word tactical.
tanked, tanker: Navy aircraft have the ability to refuel from a tanker, either Air Force or Navy, while airborne. One of the most terrifying routine evolutions a pilot performs.
TFCC: Tactical Flag Command Center. A compartment in flag spaces from which the CVBG admiral controls the battle. Located immediately forward of the carrier’s CDC.
Tombstone: Nickname given to Magruder.
Tomcat: The F-14 fighter operated by the seaborne military forces.
Top Gun: Advanced fighter training command.
Undersea Warfare Commander: In a CVBG, normally the DESRON embarked on the carrier. Formerly called the ASW commander.
VDL: Video Downlink. Transmission of targeting data from an aircraft to a submarine with OTH capabilities.
VF-95: Fighter squadron assigned to Airwing 14, normally embarked on USS
Victor: Aging Russian fast attack submarines, still a potent threat.
VS-29: S-3 squadron assigned to Airwing 14, embarked on USS
VX-1: Test pilot squadron that develops envelopes after Pax River evaluates aerodynamic characteristics of new aircraft.
White shirt:
Wilco: Short for Will Comply. Used only by the aviator in command of the mission.
Winchester: In aviation slang, out of weapons. A winchester aircraft must normally RTB.
XO: Executive officer, the second in command.
yellow shirt:
