What it is like to live on a submarine for 12 months.

There is an awful smell about the boat that you quickly become immune to. That is because it permeates into your nasal cavity, your skin, & your clothes. Artificial lights everywhere since the sun does not shine on the inside of the boat execpt to open the Engine Room Hatch to tie in shore power so we can shut down the reactor safely.

Until you get fully qualified your time is not your own. Except maybe when you are doing your own laundry. If you are not Delinquent in your qualifications. If you are afraid of small spaces don't try to be assigned to Submarine Duty. The spaces inside are not very high for extremely tall people. Average height of American's is 5′ 10″ can have problems as well. The Engine Room can be hot but there is A/C on a Sub vice in a Nimitz Class Carrier Aux Machine Room or Main Machinery Room.

Your rack if you get your own and don't have to “Hot Rack” is your own little space and time machine. Most of crew sleeps the majority of time on under ways away. But one has to usually be fully qualified before getting that luxury. The rack is about the size of a coffin. Sitting up is not an option unless you have a top rack that has room to spare.

Food is good most of the time. However fresh milk is usually gone before you hit the dive point. Then it is Plastic White Death. Fresh salads are next to go away. Eggs are the next food item to disappear. But the eggs that most CS's can make are a huge step up from PWD.

Training and Drills can take up a lot of your time. The biggest bone job in training is to be the Leading Engineering Laboratory Technician (LELT) that poor person has to go to Department, M-Div, RL-Div, and Engineering Watch Supervisor (EWS/EOOW)/Engineering Officer of the Watch training. If he were lucky enough to be on watch, he would only be stuck with Dept and EWS/EOOW training after watch. Drills can affect everyone or just the nukes. Boat wide drills i.e. fire/flooding everyone is responsible for combating those casualties. But if is a Nuke Drill the Conners roll over in their rack and whine about the announcement that just woke them up. And then go right back to sleep.

So, now we all have an idea of what being aboard a submarine is like. It takes a special person to perform all MOS's in all branches of the military. However, the thought of being underwater for 4-8 weeks without seeing the sun and a load of nuclear missiles you are sleeping next two plus a nuclear reactor takes a special breed to complete this mission. It makes me proud to know there are personnel ready and willing to protect our shores. Silent but deadly. The U.S. Navy Submarine Corps. Thank you.