40-01/02

A Trip in a Hunter Killer Submarine

From a Fore endie’s, (Torpedo compartment)) and Grumpy Corner view (late 80’s)

By Mark Hudson 

We work 6 hours on 6 off starting at 7 am till 1 pm then on at 7 pm till 1 am and so your counterpart works 1am till 7 am and  1 pm till 7 pm. This routine starts from when the submarine dives after leaving port and stops when harbour stations are piped when we come alongside. We could be going to sea for a week or 3-4 months but this is still our routine. 

The department is closed up to set sail, all members are present, we have checklists which are carried out and reported to the control room. When all departments have checked in, we set sail. When we reach deep water they announce “stand by for diving stations”, all watertight bulkheads are closed, the upper and lower hatches on the conning tower are closed and when ready we dive. 

The next pipe will be “do you hear there we are now at 50 feet—check all hatches and report”. When this is done, the boat’s trim is checked and then we make the first deep dive and if there are no problems we fall out from diving stations and the 6 hour watches start. Depending on the time you might only be on watch for a ½ hr when you are relieved by the next watch. 

In the time that you are on watch various tasks have to be completed. Cleaning up for rounds takes place in the evening watch for a week then moves 6 hours for the next week so everyone has to clean up for rounds and no-one does it all the time. 

The first week normally has all the exercises to get the crew up to scratch: fires, floods, hydraulic bursts, air bursts. These last are the worst as a member of the wreckers crew will come in and plug a blank connection into an air line and then turn it on. In a submarine 100 psi IS VERY LOUD AND YOU CANNOT HEAR YOUR SELF THINK LET ALONE SHOUT TO ANYONE. (You cannot wear earplugs in a sub). A real air burst could be up to 4,000psi. Normally the person who would be in the compartment with the problem will become a victim so that someone else has to go in and isolate the “burst”. 

Fire exercises are frequently carried out and everyone from the wardroom stewards to the motor room watch keepers have to know how to isolate the electrics, hydraulics and air to a compartment. The submarine’s lighting can be reduced dramatically and some of the fire fighting gear has tape put over the visors so you have to really know a boat to be able to get around in the dark and smoke filled atmosphere.   

Once all the crew has demonstrated that they are up to scratch the exercises become less frequent but they do not stop. 

In the Fore Ends we will load “practice” torpedoes which do everything except go bang. These fish are used in exercises with other subs and are recovered by surface vessels after the exercise. Before a fish is loaded and after the tube is drained down after being fired, someone has to do a tube crawl. This entails climbing into the tube with a flash light and a greasy rag to check that the guide rails are clean and that there is no damage to the tube. The tube rails must be kept spotless from rust and paint; this requires frequent cleaning and greasing. (There are no real claustrophobic Fore Endies)  If the tube has to be cleaned and the sub is deep they tend to shut the hatch behind you. (This is why you must trust your shipmates). 

In your 6 hours off watch you have to eat, sleep, wash and if you are a trainee learn the various compartments and safety procedures throughout the submarine. You have 3 months from joining the sub to do this; if you do not you can lose privileges and also your submarine pay. If you are studying for promotion this also has to be done off watch. If you have any remaining time and want to you can watch movies in the “mess” (no trainees), play cards etc.  

Once you are proficient in your own department (as a Fore Endie) you can be moved to another department, this is usually the Control Room, where you join the control room watch keepers, also known as Grumpy Corner. This entails learning the submarine to an even greater extent than the normal crew man.    When in the corner you have to be qualified to sit at the control room watch keeper’s panel from where the boat is trimmed, hydraulic pumps are run, the high pressure air is controlled and much more.  

As a grumpy you have to know how to line the submarine up for diving and surfacing, how to “blow slop drain and sewage” how to  do a multitude of other jobs like changing the sub’s ventilation system for various tasks such as getting rid of smoke during a fire, bringing fresh air onboard at periscope depth etc. When the boat comes along side in a foreign port you have to man the panel as a member of the watch keepers so you tend to have more time off depending on the crew manning levels. 

This was just some of the things we do in an average day. A busy day is even more fun. If we were on a ‘sneaky’ the exercises are cancelled and so are the films, music etc as the noise has to be kept to a minimum.    W                            

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40-01/02

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