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I know this doesn't answer your question but I believe it's a long-standing tradition on many navy and civilian vessels across the world. I only know mariners o

I know this doesn't answer your question but I believe it's a long-standing tradition on many navy and civilian vessels across the world. I only know mariners on oil-producing vessels in Australia but they have all talked about that 6-hour roster. Others will know more than me, but I don't believe this is unique to US Navy.

ethbr0 4y ago
Well, I'd imagine the 3 shifts are pretty set, due to habitable space design. So X / 3 = watch duration 24 / 3 = 8 hours, which does seem long to be kept on hair trigger while performing physically and/or mentally taxing tasks. I'd like to think the military did studies on performance with respect to watch duration. Or they could have just pulled them out of a hat. Also, it seems like they might have indeed switched to 8-hour shifts: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchkeeping#US_submarine_system_with_three_sections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchkeeping#US_submarine_sy...