Spent 7 years on submarines AMA

[teamquestnorth]

Also, how in the hell do you not become a fat fuck on a sub when you eat whatever you want and not much exercise? I would be wearing my fat pants lol

Its very common for guys to gain 10-20 lbs on deployment. With standing Watch, drills, and minimal sleep its hard to be motivated to try to work out.

On attack subs, we had 1 stationary bike and a few dumbbells and that was it. There wasn't any mini track to run around like Denzel Washington does in Crimson Tide.

The Trident subs have a little mini Nordic trac system from what I've seen while they've been in port ( I've done maintenance on their sonar suite but never went to sea on one). They do have a walkway around the missile tubes that they could potentially jog around. Not sure if that would be allowed because if the need to stay quiet and not cause any ambient noise.

 

[teamquestnorth]

@teamquestnorth do you remember when that AWACS plane went down in China? I think around 2001. I cant explain to people how frightening it is to KNOW your being tracked by a submarine. You assholes terrorize the surface fleet.


This is the incident im talking about
US Military: Spy Plane Crash in China

I do remember that. That incident, the USS Cole bombing, the Russian submarine Kursk sinking, and the US submarine Greenville incidents all happened around the time I was reporting to my first sub. Shortly after that 9/11 happened too. It was a pretty stressful time for a 19 year old TQN

 

[SongExotic2]

Does it still k on oars given the whole shower situation? Do you get used to it?

 

[teamquestnorth]

Does it still k on oars given the whole shower situation? Do you get used to it?

Couldn't understand this question

 

[SongExotic2]

Couldn't understand this question

Me too I just had to decode it for a minute.

It's says

Does it stink on board, given the shower situation? And when you go shoreside and board again does it stink?

 

[SongExotic2]

Couldn't understand this question

If you say it rich homie quan style it mek sen

Ooh ooh ooh

 

[teamquestnorth]

Me too I just had to decode it for a minute.

It's says

Does it stink on board, given the shower situation? And when you go shoreside and board again does it stink?

It doesn't stink too bad. We're allowed to take showers every day and there's a washer and dryer onboard that we can use once a week.

Very rarely, we have to cut down on water to where we couldn't shower for a few days but that's it.

We were still expected to keep showers under 3 minutes.

 

[teamquestnorth]

On a side note, the cooks have to do the officers laundry lol

 

[SongExotic2]

It doesn't stink too bad. We're allowed to take showers every day and there's a washer and dryer onboard that we can use once a week.

Very rarely, we have to cut down on water to where we couldn't shower for a few days but that's it.

We were still expected to keep showers under 3 minutes.

Did you have someone timing you or was it just a gentleman agreement on the 3 minutes?

 

[SongExotic2]

On a side note, the cooks have to do the officers laundry lol

Aren't they stewards?

 

[teamquestnorth]

Did you have someone timing you or was it just a gentleman agreement on the 3 minutes?

It was pretty much a gentleman's agreement. There wasn't anyone there timing you.

You had a limited amount if freshwater everyday and that included for cooking and showering, drinking, and cleaning dishes.

We would run out occasionaly and it sucked ass so everyone was on the same page to keep the showers short

 

[SongExotic2]

It was pretty much a gentleman's agreement. There wasn't anyone there timing you.


You had a limited amount if freshwater everyday and that included for cooking and showering, drinking, and cleaning dishes.

We would run out occasionaly and it sucked ass so everyone was on the same page to keep the showers short

Did you sometimes share showers then to save water?

 

[teamquestnorth]

Did you sometimes share showers then to save water?

No. Theres absolutely no room for that.

I've heard of British sailors going in 3 deep on shower time on sub's. Can't confirm it though

 

[SongExotic2]

No. Theres absolutely no room for that.

I've heard of British sailors going in 3 deep on shower time on sub's. Can't confirm it though

Oh yea that's true, we did that on shore too just to stay current

 

[ThatOneDude]

Oh yea that's true, we did that on shore too just to stay current

So what your saying is all the world's navys are 95% man love?

 

[Zeph]

On a side note, the cooks have to do the officers laundry lol

Was there much difference in cooks? If a good cook got reassigned, did you ever get a shitty one in his place?

 

[ThatOneDude]

On a side note, the cooks have to do the officers laundry lol

That's another weird thing in the Navy, the servitude to the officers. Just odd.

 

[BJTT_Pella]

I remember all of those events well. I had class mates in the engine room of the Cole. The reason I brought up China is because we left Hong Kong the day that plane went down. I was on a 30 year old destroyer that was independent steaming all by ourselves. Our navy and the Chinese navy thought it would be a good time to play fuck fuck games for the next 72 hours. We could hear the active sonar "report back" (or what ever its called). The CO explained to us that we were tracking Chinese Kilo class subs, tracking us. Those fuckers underwater had our entire boat worried. I remember thinking "this is it, we are gonna be sunk by a damn sub." I wondered what the official story would be lol. Its a nerve racking experience to hear the sonar ping something that could take us out. Just was a creepy experience. @teamquestnorth what are your thoughts on those Kilo class subs?


So I got the hell out of the surface fleet and traded in my coveralls for cammies and went to Assault Craft Unit 5 @ Camp Pendleton. That was a great idea, 1 month before Sept 11th.

 

[otaku1]

I remember all of those events well. I had class mates in the engine room of the Cole. The reason I brought up China is because we left Hong Kong the day that plane went down. I was on a 30 year old destroyer that was independent steaming all by ourselves. Our navy and the Chinese navy thought it would be a good time to play fuck fuck games for the next 72 hours. We could hear the active sonar "report back" (or what ever its called). The CO explained to us that we were tracking Chinese Kilo class subs, tracking us. Those fuckers underwater had our entire boat worried. I remember thinking "this is it, we are gonna be sunk by a damn sub." I wondered what the official story would be lol. Its a nerve racking experience to hear the sonar ping something that could take us out. Just was a creepy experience. @teamquestnorth what are your thoughts on those Kilo class subs?


So I got the hell out of the surface fleet and traded in my coveralls for cammies and went to Assault Craft Unit 5 @ Camp Pendleton. That was a great idea, 1 month before Sept 11th.

Creepy indeed.
Yes tqn let us know what you think of other subs nato or soviets.
Cheers

 

[lookoutawhale]

did the submarine ever collide with a whale or anything?

 

[Deleted member 1]

Do you really hot cot it with your bros, just swapping out and farting down the mattress all night?

Where's the hidden JO spot?


Stupid question, are women yet allowed on submarines?

 

[teamquestnorth]

Do you really hot cot it with your bros, just swapping out and farting down the mattress all night?

Where's the hidden JO spot?


Stupid question, are women yet allowed on submarines?

We would hot rack when you first got onboard for around a year. 3 people share 2 beds but the 3rd person is on watch for 6 hours so there would be 1 in each bed.

Don't know anything about a hidden JO spot. They had their staterooms in a little passageway adjacent to the wardroom.

When I was in, women weren't allowed onboard. I think they are now though

 

[BJTT_Pella]

My nephew is about to graduate fro nuke school and is intending to go on subs. Fack that bro.

 

[1372]

Great thread.

Interesting as fuck.

 

[Jesus X]

I was in NJROTC only made it to Seaman. if i would of joined at age 18. I wanted to be on a sub or on the guns on a ship, being a seal wasn't a dream of mine like most people,had a fear of heights, I could swim and knew the ocean.