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To: CodeToad

The guys in the sonar rooms did not take off their headphones, or take their eyes off the screens (even in the 1980s) until the oncoming watch was fully briefed and up to speed.

The submarine navy in the 1980s was literally on a hair-trigger, no different than sappers belly-crawling across no-man’s-land in WW1 trench warfare.

I never in my life experienced such focused professionals. They understood that mistaking some subtle difference between natural fish/whale/commercial ship sounds and an enemy submarine could mean their death, and that their survival would come down to coming to the correct conclusions and making the right decisions, literally in seconds. Minutes might as well be hours in that kind of warfare.

Not to mention the pressure of knowing that any mistakes in any direction could result in accidentally triggering WW3, or conversely, getting wiped out in an enemy first strike.

Those guys were so professional, I can’t even convey their level of focus. Surface warship CIC’s were somewhat relaxed by comparison.

The submarine guys lived in a universe of seconds, not minutes.


21 posted on 06/22/2022 4:06:03 PM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

All the tactical/space operations centers operated the same way: Every second was a detail not to be missed. Shifts for the scope dopes were sometimes even just 30 minutes at a time based on demand load. Within the mobile crews, it was even more intense because they were also their own security, just like the boomers. There HKs were there but that was an iffy proposition at best.


32 posted on 06/22/2022 4:33:21 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm up! They Have!)
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