SSBN. ETV. Will not respond to questions about sensitive or classified subjects. My views are my own and I do not represent anyone.
Hi there!
Edit: since this has been asked several times:
SSBN stands for “submersible ship, ballistic missile, nuclear powered”. That is, the same overall type of ship as the Red October.
ETV stands for “Electronics Technican, Navigation”, because N was already taken by Nuclear Electronics Technicians. I work with everything from interior communications and announcing circuits to Electronics, shipwide atmospheric monitoring, navigational inertial gyroscopes, strategic nuclear missile navigation, and tank level indicators to basic underwater submarine navigation using the voyage management system and even helming the ship itself.
Silver metallic with black handles. My specific class of ship still had the old analog electro-hydraulic steering wheels instead of the fancy XBox controllers.
8 weeks of boot camp to become a sailor, 8 more weeks of basic submarining school, a month of rating specific apprenticeship school, a month of SSBN specific school, and then on the job training from there. The on-the-job training and qualifications process never stops, and you're expected to be constantly working on certifications and qualifications for new roles, reading technical manuals and publications, memorizing regulations, and getting to know your equipment even better than when you woke up. Every year we get general naval training requirements, such as basic operational security and counterintelligence, and every time we return from a deployment we have to undergo recertification to return to sea as a crew at the training simulators.
Outside of "field day" aka cleaning quarters, not often. During field day, every single time I crawl into a space that has a single speck of dust and thus needs to be completely overhauled according to the nearest Chief. They didn't design these places for humans, clearly! Ripped a fair number of good coveralls doing it too, and lost an uncountable number of good pens.
No, I'm not much into horror games! But it does sound like fun from what I've heard.
No brig, no space for one; if we need to confine someone, we just have them stay in their bunkroom in their rack, watched by an armed sentry, until we can schedule a BSP (brief stop for personnel) to get them off the ship and into the custody of the Fleet.
Yes, we can get a little kooky in the head after a particularly long underway, and there were times where a passageway of submariners waiting for lunch suddenly burst into nonstop hysterical laughter for no reason and couldn't stop for almost ten minutes. We also had someone snap one time and get into a physical altercation which resulted in one submariner unconscious and the other BSP'd off the ship under armed guard.
Normally, however, we handle things at the lowest possible level first before escalating using the chain of command, and usually by the time it gets to a petty officer to petty officer discussion, the issue is resolved. Sometimes it has to get to a Chief first, which nobody wants. Worst case, the two are brought to a Disciplinary Review Board, and if necessary, the Captain's Mast for Non-Judicial Punishment, whether that might be getting demoted in rank, confined to quarters, or given extra military duty for a month or two.
I am not OP, but am a submarine veteran that retired 10 years ago. I was a MMC/SS (nuclear) (Machinists Mate Chief, submarine qualified) which means I led a division of approx 14 other mechanics as a middle manager on fas attack (SSN) Submarines.I am willing to answer questions and maybe give a different perspective (different ships, different career path) .
Subs have crew members who have formal Navy diver training as a collateral (extra) duty. I think it came with some extra pay. They are there for emergencies, and have to do extra work to maintain their qualifications. They are there if we are away from home port and need underwater work done on the ship. Pretty rare, only happened twice on the boats I was on.
People yell, yes, and most of the time we don't mind loud noises UNLESS it involves hard objects hitting either the deck or the bulkheads (floor or walls). The reason is that most of the time everything is padded and sound insulated anyways, so something like the fans, pumps, motors and so on can spin up and do their thing without exposing our presence. Something like a hammer or wrench getting dropped into a bilge, on the other hand, transmits straight into the water, and that's when there's a manhunt to find out who did it, since Sonar hears that instantly and reports it to the Officer of the Deck.
Usually there's a movie playing in either Crew's Mess or Crew's Lounge, or a videogame tournament like Super Smash Bros or COD2. Personally, I'd rather go to my rack (personal bunk the size of a coffin), draw the privacy curtain, and read a book or get some sleep in. Sleep can be a luxury after a long period of maintenance, and underway with all the pressure and salt water, there's plenty of that. There's also stationary bikes, free weights and other exercise equipment available on board, usually stowed in the aft machinery room or torpedo room, for people to work out if they feel like it, and snacks at the salad line in Crew's Mess next to the galley.
I've been aboard when a fire was called away in the torpedo room, and once more when there was a fire called away in the forward machinery room. Fortunately, nothing came of either situation, as you can tell since I'm posting today. As far as cool things, other than drills in which we simulate the launching of thermonuclear weapons, not really - the SSBN fleet does everything in its power not to do anything cool or exciting, so as not to endanger the strategic weapons systems!
SSBN stands for "submersible ship, ballistic missile, nuclear powered". That is, the same overall type of ship as the Red October. ETV stands for "Electronics Technican, Navigation", because N was already taken by Nuclear Electronics Technicians. I work with everything from interior communications and announcing circuits to Electronics, shipwide atmospheric monitoring, navigational inertial gyroscopes, strategic nuclear missile navigation, and tank level indicators to basic underwater submarine navigation using the voyage management system and even helming the ship itself.
I love the Hunt for Red October! It's a classic, and great Hollywood to boot. That being said, as others have no doubt already mentioned, Down Periscope is more "accurate" as to everyday submariner culture when we're not in some kind of dead serious situation. Can't survive 120 days underwater stuck with 100 other people without a sense of humor.
Have you ever dove with someone you couldn't stand? How'd you deal with it? Are there precautions taken to ensure crew comparability before getting underway?
Also, how's the food? During ww2 I heard that submarine crew got the best food in the fleet for moral, is that still the case?
Professionally. No, there's no screening, so we have to deal with one another professionally. In a submarine there is no time for petty squabbles. The mission is your life. Dissent is literally death, because every moment of every day, the sea and the ship wants to kill you. So if you can't stand a person, deal with the sailor in a professional manner. Procedures are procedures. Regs are regs.
Food really depends on the cook, but in the whole, from what I've heard from surface sailors, yes, our food is still the best!
Yes! I've never played any of those although Subnautica is on my to-do list, but I really like underwater levels in games. The 3D aspect is the main draw for me, which is also why I like games that allow you to scale walls, like Assassin's Creed games or the Tomb Raider series.
Awesome, I haven't played Subnautica either, and I'd be honest I feel a bit of thalassophobia about it, but the design alone makes me want to give it a try regardless!!!
You finished your sub quals yet? If not, your dinq! Don't miss school of the boat. Oh and before we can hit the rack COB says we get an extra hour of field day. Hooyah.
I've only ever felt claustrophobic during the initial dive after a long period in port, and occasionally during cleaning periods when I find myself crawling in between heavy machinery and pipes to clean some dripping oil, and feel myself getting squeezed from all sides. I just stop and let the feeling pass as I take deep breaths, then continue.
Terrible, but expected, fate given the severe lack of oversight and safety measures. Thing was a death trap to begin with.
Yes actually. There's a shocking number of submarine collisions that have occurred over the years, almost always because someone wasn't paying attention or was being overconfident. No matter how advanced your technology and sensors, a ship is only a good as the officers and crew manning it at the end of the day.
Do your subs have proper first-party Xbox controllers instead of Logitech knockoffs? /s
More serious questions if you can answer them: How long is a typical amount of time you spend in a sub? (I don't mind vague ballpark ranges) How do you prepare yourself physically and mentally for your longer journeys?
For us boomers, we usually submerge for about 3 to 4 months at a time before returning to port for a refitting and repair period, then swap with a counterpart crew that takes the ship underway again. We are subject to the annual physical readiness test and physical fitness assessments, as far as physical fitness goes, and mentally we are required to undergo recertification in the training simulators before they let us touch the controls again. Psychologically, we have our loved ones give us "halfway night" boxes to bring with us, which we open when halfway through the deployment, along with pictures, letters, and so on. It's never easy, but it makes it bearable.
What is the worst consequences and minor consequences for mistakes and errors on your part? I suppose you have a lot of on your shoulders. How do you deal psychologically with that ?
What do you do to alleviate stress of the job?
Are you allowed to fart ?
BTW: I think that's very very cool of you to do this AmA! Thank you!
Worst consequence - got myself sent to Disciplinary Review Board with the Chiefs for talking about wanting to commit suicide during a depressive period. Minor consequence - scared the entire chain of command and the Control Room because I set the Fathometer (depth reader) wrong and called out a "red sounding" that we were in danger of hitting the bottom of the ocean.
After the major incident I went to mandatory counseling with the Fleet and Family Support Center. Other than that, I play videogames, read books, and call my family.
In general, Destins (sp?) Videos on submarines are very good. However, they are the barest glimpse of life on a sub. You don't recalibrate so much as enter a different frame of mind. When the hatch goes shut, all the clocks are shifted to a set time (generally Zulu, which is a few hours off whatever local time is) and then your in the rotation, 6 on 12 off, until you surface, open the hatches, and reset to local time. After a little while, it's just a way of doing things, no calibration required, it just is.
Source-MMC/SS (Ret) 4 fast attacks, 21 years AD.
Have you heard or seen someone experiencing a panic attack on a sub? What was the training like to filter through candidates prone to claustrofobia and other unwelcome mental sensitivities?
What the other guy said. Without CO2 scrubbers, O2 generators and constant atmospheric monitoring, you may accidentally enter a bubble of fumes and never even know it before you're dead. When we do have to enter a tank or void, we always make sure there's someone at the entrance of the tank regularly calling in and waiting for a response, and if they don't hear anything, to not enter and immediately call for help.
Not sure what your asking, but in general enclosed spaces that do not have proper ventilation can fill with toxic or non breathable games. If you enter those spaces without either a. Properly ventilating and testing or b. Proper breathing apparatus, you can be overcome, lose consciousness, and die.
How about the boat itself? I've read some pretty critical takes of the atmosphere, though a lot of that was early -- like, diesel fumes wouldn't be a factor on your SSBN.
This is more modern. Here's a guy who said that he was on two 688s:
how is the "air" in a sub ? Dry ? Humid ? I know there are oxygen systems, and I've read here that the air is cleaned all day long so - is it like living in an aircon flat ? does it smell (oil, grease, metal, food, etc ?)
The air sucks. Straight up huffing lightly oiled air that smells like a fart rusted. If you're not on the boat for awhile you can smell it as soon as you get down the hatch. Then you get used to it after awhile. My first long deployment I thought there was something wrong with my washing machine. No matter how many times I washed my uniform it smelled like a mix between amine (ammonia) and something vaguely metallic (like you licked a nickel, but a smell instead of a taste). Underway the air is usually moist because once you get deep enough, no matter where you are in the world, the water is coooooold (no sunlight). So most people usually bundle up pretty tight, especially if you work around electronics (like sonar or fire control); they keep these spaces extra cool to make the electronics happy. We do have "air conditioning", but like I said, these are more for the electronics. I remember one underway putting my shoes on day after day for watch, and each passing day my shoes went from dry, to moist, to damp, to wet. No matter where I put them to dry they wouldn't, resulting in prune feet that wouldn't stop peeling for a few weeks.
An Royal Navy submariner in the same thread:
I'm an ex RN submariner but I still work in the business, so to speak.
I was on a boat still in build a few months ago and it already smelled of boat, which leads me to believe that not only does the smell come pre-installed, but it must be part of the original design requirements.
So, not just submariner fart and hydraulic oil. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Someone on the USN side again:
The boat does get pretty smelly, yeah. On VA--at least when I was in--SONAR stood lookout while surfaced. It's the best watch, chilling out on the sail... fresh, moving air...
Until you have to come back below. It's like a giant fist of farts and ballsacks and fried hamsters dragon punching you in the face as soon as you get back into the hatch... hell just leaning over the hatch. Only time I ever came close to retching on a submarine.
Man, was in army (conscripted), and there were some guys I interacted with who definitely could do with a forced supervised shower. Cannot imagine that level of hygiene in a sub.
Like true men (and now women) you bury that shit until you get to port, and then drink like a fish.
Really, everyone copes in different ways. While I was AD, there weren't a lot of great options. You could try talking to your crew mates, but we were all in the same boat, literally. I escaped through reading, video games. And writing letters to my wife, and eventually emails. Others used other tactics. Some people decided it wasn't for them and found a way out. Others committed suicide when they couldn't cope.
The Navy has never done a great job dealing with mental health and my first comment is the most common result.
What the Chief said. There's PowerPoint slides they make you sit through about stress reduction, but nobody follows them and there's nowhere and no time to apply them while on mission. When you can, you look for the root of the anxiety and try to deal with it, such as studying harder if you're anxious about a qual exam, or joking about it otherwise, but besides that and talking to Doc, there aren't that many other outlets besides exercise, videogames and trying to lose yourself in the routine.
Speaking of ratings; Are you looking ahead at the civilian side of the industry (like MSC) to do when, or if, you get out of the Navy? Is that even a desirable life to a Submariner?
Honestly I'm just trying to apply to OCS. Failing that, I'd ideally find a decently paying job with similar benefits and coworkers that are motivated and driven to learn and succeed on their own without the threat of petty firing looming overhead. Just a dream, but who knows.
There is a joke I heard in the Army that 100 sailors go down in a submarine, and 50 couples come back up. How prevalent is sexual harassment in the Navy? What is being done to reduce all that?
Depends entirely on the command and the crew. Regulations forbid it. Tools exist to counter it. Training is regularly conducted to inform about it. But it can still happen. We have sexual assault prevention and response as a program to help victims, along with victim advocates to help deal with the aftermath. We have support groups, regular speeches, mandatory courses. But there will always be bad apples.
How is food handled/stored? Given you can be out for months I assume this is actually very crucial and critically handled? Does it taste worse than what is served in the regular meal halls?
We have fresh food for the first two weeks. After that, it's all taken from the Dry Stores, Chill Box or Freezer. That being said, it's actually rather high quality meals, compared to other branches and the surface (except Air Force and Space Force, they're special cases). We get hot dogs and chili on Wednesdays at the lunch meal, burritos on Tuesdays, burgers and fries on Friday lunch meals, and pizzas and wings on Saturday dinner meals. Breakfast is usually pancakes or waffles with bacon and eggs and occasionally sausage gravy on biscuits or toast. Other dinners can rotate between meatloaf, peas, and mashed potatoes, and pork chops, asparagus and bread rolls.
That being said, it really depends on the cook on duty in the galley. We had one cook that could not follow a recipe card and made decisions that ended with mixing 10 minute rice with 30 minute rice and trying to cook them both for 20 minutes, or trying to substitute spaghetti sauce with ketchup. That went over about as well as you'd think.
Posted this in a different answer, but SSBN is submersible ship, ballistic missile, nuclear powered. Aka, "boomer" in bubblehead parlance. ETV is electronics technician, Navigation (nuclear ETs took ETN already).
Honestly the big thing is, and I do not condone the downloading of copyrighted content of course, movies and TV shows... and h-games. Let's just leave it at that.
Honestly, a McDonald's double cheeseburger and fries. Burgers on a submarine tend to be hit or miss. (Except yours, ITS 1. Your burgers were always the best!)
Did you mean to post in "Ask meany thing" or "ask me anything"? Because I want to ask if you can still hear banging down there, but only if you wanted a meany thing.