# Are military submarines limited in diving depth by their windows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856 "2014-11-06T06:13:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/1 "2014-11-06T06:13:08Z")
I look at some big military submarines of the Zwaardvis class and other kinds and see that they have glass windows on their sails. Isn’t that a major area of structural weakness, when facing the immense pressure of the ocean’s depths? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/2 "2014-11-06T07:42:35Z")
I think you will find the windows are in the unpressurised area of the sub which floods when it dives. The windows are only used when the sub is on the surface. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/3 "2014-11-06T09:19:27Z")
What **Princhester** said. The sail of a submarine is not subjected to a pressure differential. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/4 "2014-11-06T09:37:04Z")
Makes more sense than a screen door on a battleship. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/5 "2014-11-06T16:24:22Z")
While the answers for military submarines is correct, don’t forget that the true deep diving sub (like ones that went deep somewhere for 15 minutes in 1960) have windows that can stand the pressure. They’re like a foot thick and cone shaped to distribute the load, but they are there. And I have read that if they do fail, the pressure will drive the broken parts clean through the back of the sub! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/6 "2014-11-06T17:48:09Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Makes more sense than a screen door on a battleship. 😉 They do have screen doors for subs … [they go over the hatches so someone can’t drive by and toss a grenade in.] [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/7 "2014-11-07T12:10:47Z")
How many grenade attacks on submarines have there been? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/8 "2014-11-07T12:19:02Z")
[Cuban missile crisis](http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB75/subchron.htm) > [@](#): > > Saturday, October 25, 1962–1729 (local time): The Cony also challenges the submarine contact (B-59/C-19) by dropping five hand grenades. Although aware of the U.S. notification that practice-depth charges would be used, the initial impression of the Soviet submariners was that they were under attack. (Deck Log Book of Cony, 10/27/62; Huchthause, p. 169) And thus began the nuclear armageddon that wiped out human life on the planet earth – with five grenades and a submarine. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/9 "2014-11-07T14:04:50Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > How many grenade attacks on submarines have there been? Proof that the screen doors are effective. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-military-submarines-limited-in-diving-depth-by-their-windows/703856/10 "2014-11-07T17:02:25Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > How many grenade attacks on submarines have there been? [Funny you should ask](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rXc9FUGfEU) (YouTube video of Anti-submarine grenade launcher.)