Five neat things about a submarine by Tony Green

Currently approximately 425,000 sailors serve in United States Navy. Of the only 7% are officially designated are submarine qualified. The submarine force is an all volunteer meaning a person must declare their desire to be stationed aboard a submarine. The submarine force tries to select the best and the brightest since the crews are on average smaller than other vessels its crew members are required to performed more functions than other sailors. For example on many surface boats a damage control party exists whose specific job is extinguishing any fires which may occur. The submarine crew has to put out its own fires which require some basic damage control knowledge so the crew is prepared for any emergency.

Due to its mission a good of deal of equipment is unique to submarines yet other gear common across the entire Navy is used. After four years aboard a submarine here are five neat things I recall which may not catch your attention initially.

Oxygen

The submarine creates its own supply of oxygen for the crew to breathe. The oxygen is produced by the hydrolysis of the seawater the submarine travels through. The water molecule, H₂0, is split up into its constituent molecules of oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen goes into the ships oxygen banks to be bleed off as needed to maintain levels for breathing while the hydrogen created from the process is expelled overboard.

Water

The ships drinking water, potable is also produced by the same process. Seawater distilled by vaporizing the water drawn from the ocean using heat to produce fresh water. The principle is the boiling point of the pure water is lower than the ordinary seawater due to its higher content of salt. The desalinated water is collected then separated and stored for use. This is normally conducted under vacuum in order to reduce the heat required make the process more efficient. On our boat the distiller was typically referred to as the 10K evaporator. Clear water goes to the ships potable supply while the concentrated salt (brine) gets pumped back into the sea. If you wonder about the flavor of the drinking water I can vouch and say without hesitation the water is better than the water that comes out of your tap.

Comes equipped with a power plug

Whenever the submarine is in port is nuclear power reactor which provides power while the ship is underway is by and large shutdown. What keeps the lights on and the equipment functioning? The answer is the submarine in strange sense has a plug. This “plug” is much larger than the one that powers your refrigerator. The cable is referred as the shore power cable. This refers to the three large cables which are screwed into the places designated in the aft escape hatch that allows power for the base to provide electricity the submarine.

Battery and Diesel included

A battery is included as well as if there was not enough apparatus aboard the submarine. Even though rechargeable, this battery is not similar to the battery on your Toyota Prius hybrid but a robust lead acid battery which provides power only on the event of an emergency. A robust battery is needed while at sea as since the reactor/steam plant is your method of propulsion which keeps you afloat. A loss of the ability to move forward through the water can be life threatening if sustained for a long period of time. In addition a diesel generator to provide power in the event an additional mode of propulsion was needed. The generator is used in an emergency while the ship is on the surface of the ocean as a diesel needs air to produces the combustion which turns diesel fuel into electricity. I had the opportunity to visit a decommissioned diesel power sub from World War II and I could not help but smell the diesel even though this museum had not used its diesel generator for over 40 years. Can never miss the aroma of diesel……

No windows needed

Many tourists enjoy going on tour of submersible vessel which operates under the water in the same fashion a submarine does. Typically the captain takes the vessel down to a depth of 100 feet or so allowing the visitors to observe all of the colorful fish swimming about. This raises the question what the ocean looks like from a submerged submarine. Sorry to say at the depths which a submarine operates there is not much sunlight with the ability to penetrate to that depth so there would not be much to glimpse. Thus a submarine has no need for windows. Imagine being in a room with no windows for two months or so without a break. I and all submariners can as this is what you sign up for. For the record, I never said submariners were normal.

Many of the effects were designed to allow the submarine to complete its mission. The items I listed are a few of the interesting things I can mention about the operation of submarine. Imagine the things I signed piles of paperwork when I left the Navy not to mention……