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Originally Posted by Captain Vlad
Here's a weird one I've always wondered about: When operating in Arctic or otherwise cold conditions, can you feel the difference in temperature while submerged. IE: Through the hull, the ballast tanks, and other insulating stuff.
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When running on the surface in northern waters, the boat will get very cold. The main engines draw a lot of air through the boat. I remember many times having to wear a foul weather jacket while on watch in the control room.
But, once you secure the engines and pull the plug, the boat will get very warm. There are a lot of sources of heat inside: electrical systems, batteries, still warm engines, radar, sonar, 80 bodies, etc. While submerged there is no place for the heat to go as no air is exchanged with the outside. What cold that is radiated inward from the hull is quickly negated by these heat sources.
The major problem in northern waters is condensation. The increased heat loads and humidity levels lead to heavy condensation on the cold hull. This condensation then drips into everything, the biggest problem being fires from electrical shorts. The S-boats operating out of Dutch Harbor suffered terribly from this problem. There was cork insulation placed in many areas, but this didn't help much.
This is were air conditioning comes in. Contrary to what some people think, the A/C systems were installed primarily to control humidity levels and reduce condensation, not for crew comfort, although this was a happy side effect. This was a HUGE benefit and it greatly increased reliability in electrical systems and thus resulted in much higher operational readiness.