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One-minute showers, a message from family once a week and a pong to wilt your periscope - what it's really like to spend seven months UNDERWATER on a nuclear submarine
[MAIL] With a sense of disbelief, I waved to my children through the February drizzle. I was not going to see them again for ten months.My mission as captain of HMS Turbulent was taking me to sea until December — a 286-day submarine deployment, with only brief stopovers to break up the voyage. The regrets were pushed to the back of my mind from the moment I was aboard 'Turbs', a nuclear-powered Trafalgar-class attack submarine with 130 men — crews were single sex back then. There is no time for any of the crew to dwell on the family life they are leaving behind. Coming back to the real world after months at sea is just as disorientating. The crew of HMS Vengeance, one of Britain's four submarines armed with Trident nuclear missiles, will have experienced it recently as they returned to home base at Faslane in Scotland after a reported 201 days at sea without any break at all. I'm a veteran submariner, with 23 years service, but the thought of that makes me quail. Posted by: Skidmark 2024-03-25 |
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