Lighting in Fleet boats

[Radtgaeb]

So...the cabin lights on a Fleet boat were blue at night? Or wait...sometimes their red....wha-? :damn: What is factual?

[AVGWarhawk]

So...the cabin lights on a Fleet boat were blue at night? Or wait...sometimes their red....wha-? :damn: What is factual?

The S class did not sport the red light. The fleet boats did. All boats with exception of the S class should turn to red automatically.

[Radtgaeb]

But I have seen at times blue lighting in the cabin...generally when I'm submerged at night.

Also, I noticed that in Das Boot (I know, wrong side, wrong theatre) when they're running Gibralter (or...sitting at the bottom of Gibralter, rather) they're running blue lights, what's the story there?

[Chock]

I've heard two versions of the explanation for blue lights on German subs, one argues that it indicates Silent Running has been ordered, the other claims that it is a measure to preserve vision in particular lighting conditions, much like the red light is supposed to do that. Don't know if either is true, but the Silent Running explanation seems the most plausible to me. Of course, whatever their purpose, they may not have been used correctly in the movie 'Das Boot' (they might have just been used for dramatic effect in a situation where they would normally have been in red light for example), as Das Boot is not without its errors, there are quite a few goofs in it actually.

:D Chock

[Subnuts]

But I have seen at times blue lighting in the cabin...generally when I'm submerged at night.

Also, I noticed that in Das Boot (I know, wrong side, wrong theatre) when they're running Gibralter (or...sitting at the bottom of Gibralter, rather) they're running blue lights, what's the story there?

Because red lights, by themselves, aren't particularly interesting from a filmmaking standpoint. Not enough visual interest. No, seriously. They make these kind of concious decisions in movies all the time.

[The WosMan]

That is true. When filming Hunt for Red October the director intentionally had all the scenes with the LA class shot with the red lights as opposed to the Russian sub which were blue. They did this so people would have an easier time during the scene switching from one sub to the other. Also, rumor is the LA class in that movie was much more accurate a representation of what an LA looked like because the US navy let them in one. The set designer couldn't believe how low tech they were inside and that they resembled a WW2 boat quite a bit. Apparently when he made the sonar waterfalls for the movie they were so accurate that the US Navy asked him to change them as well.

[Chock]

Yup, colour palette switching is a common trick in movie-making. One of the most obvious ones you will see is in the (universally slammed) movie, Battlefield Earth. The alien shots use a blue palette to indicate cold and evil, also in an attempt to make it look like they are in a pressurised atmospheric dome filled with their 'breathe gas'. The human (good guys) get a warm palette, most often lit by fire with warm orange and yellow tones to indicate the warmth of humanity. This is a trick repeated in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies which also mix blue and yellow/orange tones for many of the shots, it also helps that these are complimentary colours, on the opposite sides of the colour wheel, which might have been another reason for the blue/red switch in many sub movies.

:D Chock

[AVGWarhawk]

Rig For Red – In submarines, to ensure all interior lighting is red and of low intensity so as to preserve night vision.

[Powerthighs]

A funny story related to this that I can't remember where I read (I think Clear the Bridge):

Before running with red interior lighting was standard (or before the red lights were turned on), they would wear red goggles for awhile before going topside to adjust their vision. A navigator was wearing the red goggles while using a map that had coral reefs as red lines. The sub ran aground.

[SteamWake]

A funny story related to this that I can't remember where I read (I think Clear the Bridge):

Before running with red interior lighting was standard (or before the red lights were turned on), they would wear red goggles for awhile before going topside to adjust their vision. A navigator was wearing the red goggles while using a map that had coral reefs as red lines. The sub ran aground.

Im sure it wasent funny at the time. ;)

On a side note theaters (stages) use a green light in their 'pits'.

As an amateur astronomer I switch to red at least 1/2 hour before I begin to observe. Even then it still takes really 1 1/2 hour before they eye opens fully.

One poof of white light and all that is undone in the blink of the eye.

[John Channing]

That is true. When filming Hunt for Red October the director intentionally had all the scenes with the LA class shot with the red lights as opposed to the Russian sub which were blue. They did this so people would have an easier time during the scene switching from one sub to the other. Also, rumor is the LA class in that movie was much more accurate a representation of what an LA looked like because the US navy let them in one. The set designer couldn't believe how low tech they were inside and that they resembled a WW2 boat quite a bit. Apparently when he made the sonar waterfalls for the movie they were so accurate that the US Navy asked him to change them as well.

I can tell you from personal experience on a Flight 1 LA boat (which was what Dallas is) that the waterfalls in the movie and the plastic panneling in the sonar shack is about as far from reality as you can get.

Well... that's really not true. The sonar screens in Crimson Tide were about as far from reality as you can get, but you take my point.

The Boat the Navy usually used for Hollywood and Press types (and game developers) was the USS Pogie (SSN 647), which was a Sturgeon Class.

JCC

[Chock]

I thought the shiny chromed Red October periscope was hilarious in that movie, it looked like the Cylons had created it - specailly designed to annoy everyone in the con station by dazzling them and reflecting annoying lights all over the displays. Still a good fun movie, and it doesn't really make any odds to the average viewer I suppose.

Incidentally, I just discovered that the dim blue lighting in the sonar rooms in modern subs is intended to minimise eye strain, so there you have it.

:D Chock

[Gino]

As far a a Gato class boat goes....

Pick your color... :D

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7899/blue2lw3.th.jpg (http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blue2lw3.jpg)

groetjes,

[DeepSix]

The engine rooms on Fleet Types stayed lit with white light even while the rest of the boat rigged for red (according to James Calvert and what they did on the Jack.)