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Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)
- askiiart 3y ago(2012)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- placesalt 3y agoConfined farts and tea, A grand place to be! On board HMS Majesty For nukes a tour or' sea What kind of men are we? Who fly 'bove the floor? Hardy! and Strong! and Work all day long! and Sing a sweet song when we come back to thee.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- avar 3y agoThis 2012 article mentions that the Royal Navy might have female submariners "next year". It happened in 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/female-submariners-make-history https://www.gov.uk/government/news/female-submariners-make-h... And here's the next article I found on the subject, from last year, looks like it's not going so well: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-officers-sexually-and-mentally-harassed-on-submarines-in-british-royal-navy/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-o...
- msla 3y agoWorking link: https://www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-officers-sexually-and-mentally-harassed-on-submarines-in-british-royal-navy/ https://www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-officers-sexually-and-...
- hilbert42 3y agoYears ago I did a bit of speleology so I'm not afraid of confined spaces but as a male I'd be scared to spend time on a submarine in cramped conditions and in mixed company. I reckon I'd be under constant stress in case I accidentally said something out of place unlike in all-male work environments I've worked in the past where banter and certain types of comment pass without thought. The nature and politics of the times has to make this such a volatile work environment especially when one can't 'go home' during off hours. I've also worked in mixed company. Decades ago, I worked in a somewhat crowded building of some hundreds of people. My office was small and in an isolated part of the building and I shared it with three young attractive women who were part of my staff. Whilst I also had male staff they worked in other sections of the building. Working with these women in close quarters was very different to working in an all-male environment which I had been used to previously. I enjoyed their company and we got along well together, and I was always well behaved and there were no complaints about my behavior. In fact, as their superior, they'd gang up and bully me—they ruled the office, not me. Times have changed, there's absolutely no way I would accept working in that situation today as it'd be just too risky. Similarly, I wouldn't expect my employer to allow me to work for eight hours per day under such risky conditions. Sure, women have rights to equality and I'd never deny them that right, but it seems to me that mixed company on a submarine is an 'explosive' environment and it's inevitable there will be trouble. (A group of males locked up and isolated without sex for three months but still in the tempting presence of women isn't natural.) One has to feel some sympathy for all of those submariners.
- pbj1968 3y agoOr you just shut off the lizard brain and don’t think about your coworkers that way.
- 3y ago
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago>TCPO ‘Tug’ Wilson in the weapons room (AKA ‘bomb shop’). Crew members often hug the cruise missiles to stay cool while they sleep. Is it that hot in the submarine that you have to sleep naked and hug torpedoes to stay cool while you sleep? Is there no form of climate control? On US submarines it must be much cooler as everyone is wearing thick overalls[1] and even winter clothing in the torpedo bay. [1] https://youtu.be/UYEyhB0AGlw?si=XfZjsJdPCGMBYyhY&t=369 https://youtu.be/UYEyhB0AGlw?si=XfZjsJdPCGMBYyhY&t=369
- RosanaAnaDana 3y ago> overalls Coveralls, or poopiesuits.
- knodi123 3y agoIn the Smarter Every Day video, they're literally under a polar ice cap. I would think that location plays a big role.
- FirmwareBurner 3y agoHow much cooler could it be to make such a stark difference? 0C under the ice vs 4C in the Atlantic UK waters?
- knodi123 3y agosaline water can get colder without freezing. likewise deep water is under high pressure, which also lowers the freezing point.
- aziaziazi 3y agoI guess you mean 3D location. Now I’m wondering how fast the temperature change during dive/rise.
- imwillofficial 3y agoNot noticeable
- walrus01 3y agoThere's some pretty good video on youtube showing what the galley looks like on a US submarine, and meal prep/cooking for one meal. They fit a lot of stuff in a very tight space. obviously they have an interest in only filming the non-sensitive areas for public relations purposes... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWk7oFF1Ku0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWk7oFF1Ku0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-jyzwdmEIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-jyzwdmEIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7DqK0f8lI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7DqK0f8lI
- dmix 3y agoI wondered why those Navy videos spend an inordinate amount of time showing how food is made and interviewing the chefs, it makes sense that is the least classified area and they aren't scared of bothering important stuff (not to downplay food).
- phist_mcgee 3y agoFood has been historically one of the submarine fleet's strongest perks for seamen. Considering that it must be quite hard to live underwater for months at a time, with no outside contact with the world, the Navy really likes to play up how well you'll eat on your submerged cramped can.
- dmix 3y agoYeah but I'm a (casual) war nerd and I watch a ton of Navy videos, they interview the kitchen staff for a large portion of every warship video, not just submarines.
- dumah 3y agoThis is just propaganda. The food on US submarines isn’t a perk. Eating that food made you want to be home whether you were underway or in port.
- helsinkiandrew 3y agoThe SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel did a slightly more indepth series of videos aboard a nuclear sub, obviously still censored, but educational. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjHf9jaFs8XWoGULb2HQRvhzBclS1yimW https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjHf9jaFs8XWoGULb2HQR... The video on producing oxygen was particularly enlightening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Ud6mHdhlQ&list=PLjHf9jaFs8XWoGULb2HQRvhzBclS1yimW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Ud6mHdhlQ&list=PLjHf9jaFs8...
- tpmx 3y agoI think a nuclear deterrence against insane countries like e.g. Russia is of critical importance. I'm am also concerned about the quality of the work on UK's four nuclear subs. 2012: "British submariner tried to pass secrets to Russia" https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-russia-submarine-idUKBRE8BB0WP20121212 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-russia-submarine-... 2017: "Nuclear submarine sex and drugs scandal: Nine Trident crew expelled from Navy amid 'cocaine' and affairs allegations" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/navy-nuclear-submarine-sex-drugs-cocaine-hms-vigilant-trident-vanguard-women-in-armed-forces-a8024506.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/navy-nuclear... 2022: "British Submariners’ Emails Put U.K. Nuclear Deterrent At Risk, Judge Rules" https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/british-submariners-emails-put-u-k-nuclear-deterrent-at-risk-judge-rules https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/british-submariners-em... 2023: "Royal Navy orders investigation into nuclear submarine ‘repaired with glue’" https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/01/royal-navy-orders-investigation-into-nuclear-submarine-repaired-with-glue https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/01/royal-navy-o...
- walrus01 3y agoYou didn't even get to the Astute class submarine that was run aground.
- mulmen 3y agoWhile not good isn't that kind of an accepted risk for submarines? We don't have complete maps of the ocean floor. Features shift. IDK the specific circumstances so maybe it was incompetence but the British submarine fleet isn't alone in running boats aground.
- dylan604 3y agoBetter than doing emergency blows directly underneath a civilian vessel. Especially damning was the emergency blow wasn't even necessary and was from show boating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville...
- duxup 3y agoThe physical nature of constantly maneuvering around other people. I don’t know if I could get used to that.
- _8j50 3y agoHad a job like this once, didn't last lol. If you grew up in a big family or with friends that are always around you would do fine I think. It is not for anyone that has any level of privacy expectations.
- devnullbrain 3y agoIt's irritating enough trying to share a hallway with my dog
- imwillofficial 3y agoSeriously cool. Makes me wanna go back on a boat!
- gopher2000 3y agoPass
- overton 3y ago> The submarine's captain, Robert Dunn, feels they have been largely written out of the Libyan campaign and is keen his crew get their due. Interesting, how did that turn out for Libya and North Africa in general?
- dylan604 3y agoWhether this captain gets recognized or not does not affect the results of missiles launched. With that in mind, we know how it turned out for them.
- dylan604 3y agothere are things that happen in one's life that dramatically impact the rest of one's life from that point forward. when i was in school looking at college, i very nearly became a submariner. as it happens, i was third in the list, but they only took the top two. at the time, it was devastatingly disappointing. these oh so many years later with hindsight and all that, i'm no longer disappointed. i can't see how the divergence in lifestyles could not be any wider. i do still love to read some Tom Clancy and similar Navy scifi
- throwway120385 3y agoI almost did the same thing in the US after graduating college. The signing bonus for nuclear power school was intriguingly large to me, and the job would have meant a steady source of income which I didn't have many prospects for at the time. Thank god I did not do that.
- dylan604 3y agoThat's what I was trying for as well, via Annapolis. I like to say that the reason I got third was during the interview process, I went all goofy and could not remember the element Uranium. I just couldn't do it. They were trying to get it out of me with taunting questions "is it carbon? is it plutonium?" "No, but relevant isotopes are 235 and 239". They did acknowledge that I wasn't trying to BS my way through as I had already answered plenty of other questions. My brain just went night night. However, in all honesty, it was the fact that I screwed off my senior year in literature class and dropped my GPA which I'm guessing had a much larger factor. Now I'm glad I didn't read any of those boring high school assigned books. It saved me in the end
- jwithington 3y agoWhat did you end up selecting
- dylan604 3y agoi went to college for 3 semesters before dropping out because i couldn't afford it, and i didn't think going into debt with student loans was going to work. i took a part time job during the 2nd semester, and went full time hours during the summer. tried to schedule classes around work for the 3rd semester, but that didn't work well either. so i just decided to stop throwing money at school, and self-taught with a lot of OJT from some very cool engineers that seemed to enjoy some young kid appreciating their experience and knowledge. tl;dr i got lucky
- dijksterhuis 3y agoI read this title to the tune of yellow submarine. Send help.
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoThe BBC did a documentary in the 1980s on the submarine commander selection process. It is called "The Perisher" with good reason. I can only find Part 1 on YT but have definitely seen the whole thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1LF2I3fTbY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1LF2I3fTbY
- tnorthcutt 3y agoYouTube suggests this as part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5AW0enIRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5AW0enIRA
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoI don't think it is the same series. The Perisher series focused almost exclusively on the candidates and The Teacher.
- SeasonalEnnui 3y ago"How to Command a Nuclear Submarine" available on Prime Video.
- ricktdotorg 3y agolooks like there is a newer version (more recent) following potential sub commanders for the royal navy called "Submarine School". 4 parts, all are on YT. there is even a US navy submariner among the potential captains! part 1: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZBNFFaDkY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZBNFFaDkY Search for "Submarine School Episode <episode N>of4" for the rest.
- sklargh 3y agoA friend of mine once described his submerged time on a submarine as “like prison, but without the possibility of escape.”
- tpurves 3y agoI think about that sort of description when people talk about colonizing space, or mars or the moon. Would it even be ethical to bear children on such a colony who, not by choice, would have to live their lives confined to a cramped habitat that would probably feel a lot like living in a submarine?
- elzbardico 3y agoAt least on a spaceship you have portholes, and ocasionally could even do EVA. And probably it is far easier to ensure the integrity of a hull designed to keep an 1 atm pressure differential than at 14
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoThe other thing that space has going for it is that vacuum isn't salty or humid. You might have to drift quite a bit longer before rescue, however.
- monk1 3y agoI don't know about the ethics, but I'd argue that people still get born into terrible situations right here on earth. Think of all the children born in war-torn countries, into extreme poverty etc. Even in the midst of all this adversity, they will still find a reason to smile. And some will even make a huge impact in our world.
- Hendrikto 3y agoAs if the majority of children on earth had it better…
- AdamN 3y agoWe'll have Belters soon enough.
- jwithington 3y ago[flagged]
- monk1 3y ago>The watch officer and sonar operators are discussing an important philosophical question: would it be more painful to be struck by a whole tuna or a tin of tuna? Of course the tin of tuna would hurt more. And, I know this is not the question, but being hit by a can of tuna is more probable haha. But jokes aside, it seems all the monotony does get to them. And such discussions are necessary to maintain ones sanity. I would be a little conflicted if I had such a job. On one hand, the boring routine is the best case, because it means there are no active threats and thus no war. But then again, I'd be secretly looking forward to a bit of action - something to make me feel alive
- FredPret 3y agoYou must mean a small tuna. A bluefin weighs up to 250kg / 550lb according to a quick search. Then again, if that hits you hard enough, it won’t hurt at all
- monk1 3y agoThat's the point.. the whole tuna will most likely send you to eternal sleep
- pohuing 3y agoQuestion is if you lose consciousness before the pain hits
- jSully24 3y agoAlso where it hits you. If it swims through your leg I fear you will feel it for some time. Now if it hits you square in the chest, lights out.
- 4gotunameagain 3y agoBeing hard and small, the tuna can can produce much more localised and sharp pain. If the whole tuna is dropped on your lower body from the third floor and turns it into mush it would also hurt though. But I still vote for tuna can.