Posted on 04/08/2011 10:24:44 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Life in a ‘rather cramped’ A Class nuclear submarine
MARTIN WILLIAMS
Share 9 Apr 2011
IT’S a cramped and monotonous lifestyle on HMS Astute, but they are conditions all submariners are trained to deal with.
That’s the view of those who have served on claustrophobic Navy submarines and who know what it is like to cope with the tight confines, the weeks away at sea away from their loved ones and the boredom.
The nuclear submarine yesterday became the centre of a major police investigation after one person died and another was said to be fighting for their life after a shooting on board at Southampton docks.
The state-of-the-art vessel and its 98-strong crew had arrived on Wednesday for an informal five-day visit after 46 days at sea, when a member of the crew allegedly used an SA80 assault rifle, shooting an officer and wounding an able seaman in a control room.
First of its class, the Astute is bigger than many submarines at 323 feet – the length of 10 buses – with four levels and weighs in at more than 7000 tonnes.
Built at BAE Systems Marine Barrow shipyard in Cumbria and launched by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2007, it is one of the most advanced nuclear submarines in the world, carrying an array of Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk missiles.
The nuclear reactor that never needs refuelled could power 10,000 homes, and provides energy for the lifetime of the vessel’s projected 25 years of service.
Since the submarine can purify water and air, it is said to be capable of circumnavigating the planet without resurfacing. It can only carry three months’ supply of food.
A Class vessels such as the Astute are least 38 feet longer than the Swiftsure and Trafalgar class submarines they were designed to replace, but require fewer crew due to the advanced technology on board.
One civilian who has spent a day on the Astute described how crew are only entitled to receive one 40-character message from home every week. He says conditions for the crew are “rather cramped but very well-equipped”. Stairs and corridors are narrow, ceilings are low and bunk areas that are the size of a reasonable double bedroom sleep up to 18 seamen.
Crew work in shifts of six hours, twice a day and every six hours there is a meal.
The kitchen menu is the same every week – a ploy thought to help crew determine what day of the week it is.
And spending so long under the sea, crew are advised not to drive a car for a while on their return to land – as their eyes are unused to seeing distant objects.
But Astute’s crew were to be the first to have their own bunk, to remove the need for “hot bunking” when one crewman would occupy a bunk vacated by another. It is understood hot bunking was still required, however.
And they have been equipped with plasma TV, DVD players and games consoles to allow those on board to relax when off shift.
Jim Rae, 76, of Scotston, Kincardineshire, secretary of the Scottish branch of the Submariners’ Association, who spent seven years as a telegraphist on four submarines in the 1950s, admits life on submarines can be stressful, but that crew are prepared for it.
He said: “When I was in the Navy we lived very closely together. You had a great bunch of boys and you could trust them with your life. When you were ashore and one of you got into trouble, you were all one crew so you just sorted it out amongst yourselves.
“Submariners are the same all over. Submariners I came across from Turkey, from all over the place abroad, all mucked in together – they are almost a breed apart.
“On the nuclear submarines they live like lords compared to the surface ships.
“There are times when you get bored out your skull, but you knew about it, you keep yourself occupied. The first three months I was in the submarine my bunk was on top of the veg, tatties, the neeps, the cabbage and so on. I had a different bunk every night because they would use some. It is not quite as bad as that now, but it is still fairly cramped.”
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If you choose your career as a submariner then you can forget about ANY form of privacy...even if you break wind ,I’m sure even the captain will get to hear about it eventually.Your self hygeine would have to be immaculate.
Even the thought of hot bunking would scare me to death!
I was on the USS Haddock SSN 621, a Thresher Clss (Changed to Permit) attack sub. We would go out to sea until we ran out of food. cruises lasted about 90-100 days. Sundays were periscope liberty days, where we could take one turn around and see the sky, ocean and usually the mountains of the Kamchakta Peninsula. We would memorize the lines of dialogue from movies like Stagecoach and ad lib the movie after seeing it for the 5th time.
Did you ever feel claustrophobic during one of your tours?
And how do they train those guys to deal with those close confines for so long?
Personally, I would go nuts....
It's all volunteer.
Personally, I would go nuts....
Would a normal person volunteer for sub duty?
One day after the shooting and we still don’t have the name of the perp, yet we are told repeatedly it is not terrorist related. This leads me to believe it is terrorist related.
Now the geniuses at the Pentagon plan to put women sailors in subs. How is that going to work? No matter how many rules and regulations the bureaucrats write, men and women in such incredibly close proximity will have serious problems.
For example —
“Commander, I think I’m pregnant. Can we please tell that Soviet sub to back off for a few hours so we can surface. You don’t want the baby to die, do you sir?”
My son serves on a SSBN, and says that despite the air scrubbers, a sub is still a “can of farts”.
Mines a “glow-worm” on a fast-attack boat. He’s 6’2”, and has lots of names for bulkheads.
I’ve toured a nuclear attack sub and quarters are tight.
That does not sound optimal. Never gettign 8 hours sleep?
Wouldnt 12 on-12 off be better?
We do - it's Ryan Donovan, an Able Seaman...who, it seems, flipped after being refused shore leave.
When we went through Sub School we were screened psychologically to get people out of the service that couldn’t hack it. There were still people who non-qualed after the first cruise.
I would have thought so, but apparently not. According to the submariners I know, you can start a patrol with any number of odd and/or bad habits, and at the end of the patrol you will still have them.
The stress for submariners is having to put up with all of it.
It all USED to be volunteer, but I understand the RN is so short of recruits that some people get “volunteered” now. However, they are all given extensive psychological screening.
Chill. The Brits are not usually quick at releasing names of people accused of crimes. The names have now been released. It isn’t terrorist related.
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