We made barbells out of barstock and TDU weights. We wrapped them in foam and electrical tape so that if they got dropped they would not clank.

In the engineroom, we had designated pull up bars on various pipes. They had signage posted so you knew it was a safe place to workout without getting burned or electricuted, or create a soundshort. You could do a pushup just about anywhere you wanted to as long as it was not in a passageway. If you could hook your toes you did sit-ups where you could.

The one thing you could not do was run. Instead we had an excercise bike stashed in the mezzenine over the shaft in shaft alley. We also had a stairmaster port side aft of the main electric switchboards. It blocked a ladder access, but you could work around that.

You got creative in working out. You just adapted and figured out a way to do it.

On the 637 class we used to do push ups using the port and starboard torpedo racks. the center isle was spaced between those by about 3.5 feet. Depending on our weapons loadout we would strap extra aluminum racks here also, usually when we had "spooks" on board (yes, I said spooks...) Junior NFG's usually got these racks.

The nukes on both the Archerfish and the R.B. Russell never had to to crank. In my mind that worked for me because I will be quite frank here. The nukes bust their butts in many different qual aspects than the coners did. Next to the nukes only the A-div worked as hard. I remember the one question that we like to ask on a qual board was..."You are a molecule of sea water, now explain how you become carbon monoxide once inside the boat...?

We would ask "You are a molecule of H20, explain how you get into the boat and out again."

This was also an intelligence and motivation test. We did not ask for any specifics. As you know, there are MANY ways to get on and off the boat as a molecule of water. We wanted to see if this prospective submariner would take the easy way or the hard way. Would he choose something related to his divisional duties/resposibility? Or would he cop out and use something real easy. Would they be creative and give you something diffrerent? (<= more on this in a later post maybe)

You could tell what kind of shipmate you had by this ONE question and see how he considered his answer.

Good stuff, good stuff. Okiedokie, here's another a couple more...

1)If you had to bring just *one* luxary item (besides pictures of family) onboard the submarine what would it have been? A picture of the sky? Extra sweets? A favorite video game?

2) Hypothetically, say you could change the design of the boat to include *one more creature comfort* for the submariners onboard without impacting the function of the boat. What would it have been? The inclusion of a exercise gym (about the size of the torpedo room)? A hot tub like the Typhoons supposedly have? A rack for every submariner so no one had to hot bunk? What would it be?

? How can a molecule made of hydrogen and oxygen become a molecule containing carbon? There's no carbon in H20.... I think I would have failed. :doh: :dead:

2 pounds of gummy bears. It was so nice to have something sweet and fruity to bring a smile to my face. Also, these were not your 5 pounds for $4.99 kind. No sir, these were the $10+ a pound ones. The GOOD ones you had to go to a sweet shop for.

Later, when I had a key to the supply lockers (the chop trusted me), I cleared a supply locker that was accessable via my rack (yes, the door was in my RACK!) and lined it with foam and stored 6 CASES of various soda's in it. There was NOTHING like sitting at a movie on the backwatch eating my ration of gummy bears and pop the top on a soda. Granted, I only did this AFTER the soda machine ran out of sryup or invariably broke.

A room, not very large, were you had a COMFORTABLE chair, non-florecent lighting and soundproof. Someplace where, for maybe 15 minutes, you can not hear the incessant hum of a fan, people chatting. Maybe put in a scent of growing grass, maybe a sea scent. Someplace were you could be alone and AWAY from the boat, even for a few minutes

Short version:

You come in via the aux seawater system bonded with two of you buddies know as hydrogen. You then go to a device that ensure that nothing but you and your twins get through; the rest goes back overboard. You then go to the O2 generator and get divorced from your H2 partners and then you are then stored in a large bottle for a while till they let you out. Then you float through the air till you are inhaled by a carbon based life form. You then are used to facilitate the conversion of matter to energy in said carbon based life form after which you are exhaled with the byproduct known as carbon you have now become bonded to.

And there you go, that is how a oxygen molecule becomes carbon dioxide.

No one on the boats I served was spared. I cranked for only about 3 weeks :lol: , then overhaul started and the galley and mess deck were ripped out.

Aye. But the question wasn't how do a oxygen atom become part of a carbon monoxide molecule. It was how does a H2O molecule become a carbon monoxide molecule. Now if you assume that the question was pertaining not to the molecule as a whole, but the invidual atoms of the molecule, then yep, the question is doable. But if you assume that the "molecule" itself, must be perserved, then its a non sequitur.:p

Indeed. I loved being the only ESM ET and being on call when on missions where we transited a lot and seldom went to PD. They couldn't make you hot-bunk, and you could make it to EVERY meal. Never got so much sleep and watched so many movies. That was the life! :rock:

Son are you trying to be a smart ass with this qual board? I think I am going to have to rip up your qualification card and let you start all over? I am sure when you return we can expect you to have a little more respect for you superiors!

:rotfl:

We actually had one nuke who not only cranked but later volunteered to crank a second time when we hit the point that all non-quals had cranked already. He was a little strange and seemed to be an outcast in the backend. He earned a lot of respect from the junior personnel up front though. I recall many of us lending him a hand cleaning up the mess decks and shooting trash out the TDU and such.

I never realized how fondly I would look back on some of those very difficult times.

I remember on TM chief that loved to ask, ok so everything is made of atoms and they are spaced relatively far away from each other. So why can't I put my hand through this table? He would also make you go into detail explaining the difference between Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Neutron radiation and identify appropriate shielding/containment of each. It is suprising how much I learned about such things without really having to use much of it in doing my rated work. Of course when you get down to damage control and weapons security guard stuff it really is good they make sure you know so much. I always felt a comfort level with such things that I don't think skimmer squids get.

Yep RIP, I agree that being a submariner was a different animal. I had a short tour of neutral duty on the Simon Lake and had to work in the R-9 (repair shop). It was downright scary working with those guys. They did not know much of anything and were doing major repairs on mostly boomers. Some of them did not know the difference between a pipe wrench and crescent wrench. When I reported back to my boat I think i kissed the HY-80 and vowed i would never set foot on a tin can again after the experience I had with the AS-33. I am eternally grateful for having been a bubblehead. I would not be where i am today had i not taken that route in my life. In fact many years later I am going to look up the recruiter providing he is still amongst the living and buy him the best steak dinner. He told me if i went into sub duty that I would make rate quicker, that I would get the best schools and pay the Navy could offer. He did not lie...oh and the chow was incredible...

:oops: No disrespect intended.

Now I am sure you would have made a good bubblehead.

One of my favorite qualification endeavors was "the walk around". There were a number of types of qualifications that included a walk around, and they could be some of the most challenging things to get past. Essentially you would stroll around the boat with whoever was supposed to "sign off" on you and they (as well as anyone in the are when they passed) would drill you. What is this? Where can I find this? How do I secure the power/water/etc to this? If the insert alarm went off right now, what would you do? Where are you supposed to go? What would be happening right here where we are standing? You get the idea. Can be close to torture and some of them went on for legendary lengths. I had one that almost went for a whole watch. Of course the guy was on watch so he wasn't in any hurry.:doh:

By the way. Much appreciation for all the responses. The way it "really was/is" is so fascinating to all us civillian sub enthusist.

Here's a random question:

Have any of you RL submariner (Rip, BH, Frame, Rex, Henson, SubGuru, and all others) ever considered writing a fiction novel? Something drawing on your naval experience to produce a naval warfare or sub novel. The book market is sore in need of good modern sub fiction. Its hard to find good reads. *hint, hint*:know:

I for one would love to write such a thing. I'm just not that good of a writer. I have the imagination just not the literary skills. It would be cool to work on a joint project with a bunch of like minded individuals. The hard part would be finding the person with ability to put the story into an enjoyable book format I imagine.

Just keep posting, and soon somebody will get inspired enough.

Except it's going to be comedy, 'Down periscope' style :rotfl:

New here, but I have a few questions for you RL submariners.

1. While out to sea but surfaced, is the "main deck" (the upper surface of the hull) off limits, or can you climb down and walk about in reasonably calm weather (assuming you're wearing some kind of safety harness)?

2. I take it that various marine life forms collide with, and live on, the outer hull. Does the hull smell because of this? Knowing how the "wet" part of my parents' boat smelled when we hauled it back onto land at the end of the season, I can only imagine how bad a huge submarine hull would smell, but does it really?

3. Ummm, I had a third one, but it got lost somewhere in my brain...

When you leave the dock and bring the linehandlers down, you rig the escape trunks for dive. From that point on you can not break the 'rig for dive' without the OOD's expressed permission. If you DO break rig for dive, it had BETTER be for a dang good reason as it takes two people to sign off on it..

Actually, i does not smell that bad at all. The deep ocean does not have a 'smell'. When you are at sea, that 'sea smell' is refered to as the smell of LAND. Thats right, while at sea, you do not have much of an ocean smell at all. That is limited to the more littoral waters

I've no idea what "linehandlers" or "escape trunks" mean...

So, short answer seems to be: No, unless there are extraordinary circumstances. Right?

Ah! Cool!