I think potential wannabe submariners are subjected to pretty rigorous psychological and attitudinal screening before allowed to be aboard a sub. I would imagine they screen the more emotional, conflicted and less mature “morale” risks out.
Or alternatively what stranger said a few minutes before I did - :o (note this an embarassed simley not an offer to orally service Stranger because his answer was so much better and sooner than mine.)
Threads like these are why I love this site.
Nothing to add, just lurking but I appreciate Testy’s comments.
I had a question about submarines: do they get grungy smell after a while? You’re talking about airtight hulls packed with people, the various substances a human body can emit, and the bacteria and molds that grow on them. Sure they must clean regularly and air out the sub in port, but I would imagine subs could still smell like a locker room combined with a nursing home.
How do subs receive the doomsday message if they’re underwater? And what stops an unauthorized launch?
My impression is that Subs recieve certain types of rays(Ultra low frequency) that penetrates water(but apparently makes the tympahnic membranes of sea mammels). Apparently, all nuclear weapons require special codes to launch, though I don’t know exactly how the process works.
That’s what I’ve been wondering . . .
To expound apon the topic of elitism among submariners; a majority of the rates (your “job” in the navy) require a higher ASVAB score when compared with surface ships. This means that on submarines most of the crew had to score a lot higher on our entrence exam in order to get a job on a submarine. I can also say that we drill harder and carry out more missions than surface ships, which can add to this elitism.
T-hull is in fact another name for the Ohio class SSBN, as well as Boomer, trident, slow approach and “there aint no pride in a trident ride”. Boomer was actually a name for the older pre Ohio class of SSBN but it still works today.
Submarines do carry a funny odor but this has nothing to do with the crew…well usually shouldn’t at least. The ventilation systems are very capable systems, especially when you consider that as well as circulating air around the boat they also have to be able to de-smoke the ship very quickly in case of fire. This system also has a large set of activated charcoal filters to deal with any funny smells created by the crew. What you can smell on a submarine is Monoethanolamine (sp?). This is the chemical used to remove CO2 from the air and carries a distinct smell. The smell is easily carried in your clothes and anyone who has had any experience with this knows the smell immediately
Several ways from what I understand , one happens to be that somewhere in Idaho or Iowa , the navy has a place that transmits ELF signals , sub receives a short message saying come to periscope depth , raises antenna . then the full message gets sent in a short burst , and the sub then crash dives while reading the mail.
I asked a buddy of mine on another board ,and the crimson tide scenario could not take place ,as there is a quorum of officers that have to agree that its a valid launch order, any one disagrees,no launch, and presumeably the boat comes to periscope depth again ,and some admirals are informed.
Declan
So hypothetically if all of those officers were in agreement they could launch an independant strike?
I had an ASVAB score of 99… almost went int the Naval Acadamy. I have much respect for submariners. I don’t think I could stay down there for a length of time.
That you would have to ask a real sub type about, only a qual could ansewer that with any degree of authority.
My guess , is that its been thought about and some safegaurds , both technical and personel have been built into the system.
Declan
I Trident submarine could NEVER launch its missles under its own decision
And you cross train, do you not so that anyone can do any job?
There’s some truth here about officers, too, kind of. When my husband was in Supply Corp School, the top grad in each class got to pick his or her next orders. Most of the male top grads chose to go to subs. This is because Suppo on a sub is about the only Department Head billet available to an Ensign. So, most submarine Suppos were probably top-of-their-class in Supply Corp School – another cause for elitism. And I’ll bet this is true of other submarine Department Heads too.
My husband would probably argue with you about whether or not a submarine ‘drill[s] harder and carr[ies] out more missions’ than an aircraft carrier, though. But that’s just more of that community competitiveness I was talking about!
The most prevalent smell is the smell of the amine used to scrub the carbon dioxide from the air. You don’t notice it after a few days, but as soon as you leave the sub you become aware that every scrap of clothing you brought on board is permeated with the smell. It’s not terribly unpleasant, kind of a bitter pungent smell. My wife always commented on it when I dragged home my seabag of dirty laundry upon returning to port.
You do get some grungy smells from sailors who don’t bathe enough, whether forced to or by choice. :rolleyes: Whenever the main seawater evaporator went down, showers were secured for all crewmembers except the cooks. Some people just never bathed enough, though, because they were lazy. I actually had to order one of my petty officers in my division to go take a shower once. :dubious:
Ballistic missile subs are required to maintain constant (one-way) radio communication with higher-ups. Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves and Extremely Low Frequency (LF) radio both penetrate water.
HPL you’re mixing up radio with active sonar. Sea mammals do not have problems with radio, regardless of how low the frequency is. (Whales don’t have built-in radio receivers yet. 
) Active sonar, which utitilizes sound waves in water, have caused problems for some sea life.
While this has been discussed in recent years, last I heard was that no permissive action links (PALs) have ever been required for submarine launched ballistic missiles.
Well, hypothetically, yes. And hypothetically, they could all decide to commit suicide, scuttle the submarine, or melt down the reactor. All of these scenarios are about as equally likely, which is to say, not at all.
The most important safeguard is that no one person can ever decide to launch. A coded message comes in, and a team of officers (not including the captain) decides if it a valid set of orders or not. If it is, they proceed with their orders. Period. Note that an incomplete or partial message (as was depicted in Crimson Tide, IIRC) is NOT a valid set of of orders. Were this not the case, an adversary could screw up our whole SIOP system by attempting to send out incomplete sets of orders to confuse us.
I think it basically boils down to elitism. Submariners do a very difficult job in very trying circumstances. And my morale certainly sank at times. In general, though, every time I sat back and thought about what we were doing (such as cruising beneath the Arctic pack ice), it kept me going.
I was generally too busy to worry about anything other than doing my job, trying to keep up with my quals, and trying to get some sleep.
Damn bubbleheads going on and on about how good they have it.
Bah! I say. grumble grumble just because my rating didn’t have any billits on a sub. Give me my nice roomy target -er Aircraft Carrier any day.
You could tell when some guys came off a cruise, they did have a certain funk to them. I wouldn’t say locker room, I notice the machine and oil smells. But then I was an engineer and that’s what I associated it with.
They were fun to party with, after saving up a few months worth of pay and throwing a good drunk, look out.
Before I became a Seabee, I was a BB Stacker on an aircraft carrier in the yards at Newport News and we would ride the same bus as the bubbleheads on our way to work in the morning. They were definitely the most “Go Navy” of anyone I have ever seen. You could pick out a sub-surface warrior at 100 paces at a shopping mall by his American flag jacket and command ball cap.
P.S. In the navy we never call them “submarines”, because nothing is lower than a Marine! 