Tails of a Submariner - then a little laughter - true - honest.
During his time in the Royal Navy Glen had many experiences that ranged from the humorous to one which was actually life-threatening.
Glen recalls “After my first submarine patrol, we were all issued with our 90 day rations of rum, a tradition of centuries. This amounted to 3 bottles for each crew member. We were not permitted any alcohol while we were at sea, so the rum was given out just prior to disembarking.
You can imagine after being cooped up for 3 months, with no daylight, poor food, 18 hour working days, no washing, only 3 sets of clothes, we were exhausted and people would move away from us. We were ready to break loose once on shore, so started on the rum as soon as we were secured alongside. What I did not know, as this was my first tour of duty, was that the rum was almost 100% proof,” says Glen. “If you’d set light to it there would have been an explosion.
I don’t remember a whole lot about the trip home, but one of my mates must have been in better shape than me, and managed to steer me through two long bus rides in the right direction. None of us could afford a car in those days.
Apparently I was so drunk that when we got off the bus my legs gave way, and this poor bloke carried me for ½ a mile along a dirt road to home. He dropped me on the front doorstep, rang the doorbell and said to my wife, “Does this belong to you?”
My wife made me strip all my clothes off and burned the lot. She got me into a bath and left me there.
I often wondered if the expression “stinking drunk” came from similar situations in earlier naval times. It certainly applied to us.
*****
All our patrols were secret and we never knew where we were going or exactly how long we would be away except that it was generally around 3 months. In the 1960’s it is hard to imagine what the submarines were like. The space was extremely limited. The nine of us in the attack force slept in 3 lots of 3 tiered narrow bunks with barely any room to turn over. We had a system of how to get down on the floor without treading on each other.
There was no fresh food on board in those days. All the food was packed in tins, 250mls square. There was so little space that these tins were stacked along all the walkways, put in any corners in fact any space available in any part of the sub. This meant that when we went to sea, most of us could not stand upright because of the layers of tins we had to walk on. We used to joke how much taller we were all growing, the longer we were at sea. The simple fact was that the food was gradually being eaten and the tins were being removed so the aisles became clearer the further we were into our tour.
There were no showers. We had one wash basin for 68 crew members. The smell was pretty bad for awhile but then because we all smelt bad we got used to it. We had 3 sets of clothes. You wore one set for the first week. Then……
There was an alternative to going to sea in a “sinking sewer”. It was to paint rocks white, in prison, for 3 months. Not as bad as 3 moths dived. The trouble was, after 3 months in prison, the same officer who gave the order was at the gate, with the same result, again. Very few tried that route.
*****
There was a time when we surfaced and pulled into shore in a small township on the African coast. There was a jetty, not very stable looking to which we were moored.
This tiny, unstable pier and our two and a half thousand ton submarine. It’s a miracle we did not pull it over. Anyway, there were two large buildings where we were to be accommodated. One was a 3 storey hotel and the other a large single storey square structure. I was one of those fortunate enough to be placed in the hotel, simple though it was, because the other place was not too flash looking.
The next morning we wondered why all the blokes who’d stayed the night in the other place were laughing and carrying on. Could not wipe the smiles off their faces when they told us they had been housed in the local brothel!!! What more can I say.
You might remember the food tins I spoke about earlier. Once the contents had been used, they were crushed flat and packed in a special underwater gun where they were later ejected with great force into the ocean with no markings so no one could detect who had been where.
Well, we were due to leave this little African town, when the mayor and his entourage, none of whom spoke English, wanted a tour of the sub. We had two guards posted at the gangway with weapons, (but no bullets) and they indicated that the mayor was not permitted on board. The mayor was determined he would come aboard as there was an audience of the whole population of this town, who’d see the Mayors visit. His entourage were all armed with submachine guns and they had ammunition in their guns so there was little our chaps could do but let them on board.
Our captain was a smart man though and was not going to be intimidated, so he gave the mayor his tour of inspection, finally coming to the area where the compressed cans were stored and gave the order for all the tins to be released. Chaos reigned. The tins exploded like a bomb blast from the submarine into the air some 100 feet above the pier, the mayor and his group fell over themselves to get off the sub and the 1,000 people on the pier ran or jumped into the water as the tin missiles flew through the air above their heads. We certainly left them with a memorable impression.
*****
The life on board submarines in the 60’s was very unnatural. You were deprived of any form of comfort and even the most basic of human needs. It’s living in isolation from the world when you are beneath the sea and most submariners of that time were affected psychologically to some degree. It was recognized that 4 years of submarine service in the 60’s was about the limit for most men before they started suffering psychological problems, or in some cases going crazy. For captains the time was usually around 18 months of service.
On one of my last tours, about half way into the tour, the chef went crazy. He raced up to the hatch and tried to open it when we were dived. It took three men to drag him away and the coxswain, who doubled as a type of medical officer, had to sedate him and the poor bloke was kept that way until we finished the tour. Never heard what happened to him.
*****
And Now a Little Laughter – True – Honest.
The Noble Art of Expunging.
Prior to making a opinion on the Expunge or Expunger there is a need to understand why these incidents occurred. Given enough cause and authority, a person in an extreme situation will sometimes make extreme decisions. That person is not at fault. Nor is the organization that caused that situation. We make the best of a bad situation we can, at that time.
Dictionary Definition
Expunge - 1. to strike or blot out; erase ; obliterate. 2. To efface; wipe out or destroy.
The noble art of Expunging is bought about to protect those involved in life and death incidents who made the best of a bad situation. The skill is that if an incident never occurred then there can be no jurisdiction or decision on it and nobody gets the blame. A lesson is learnt and the skill base is improved.
All very well but ships logs are written in indelible pen, unless of course you are told otherwise...
*****
We were on a war games exercise with other friendly ships. I was aboard an A Class Diesel, World War Two submarine, very quiet, armed to the teeth, fully active. Always in a war situation. In these exercises everything is recorded.
We drew up perfect firing Solution on the target ship. This time using active torpedoes in the exercise. When they sense metal they go active, start running their own sonar and chase the target.
This is great, providing the torpedo is traveling faster than you and is on track, so it can’t come back at you….Another calculated risk plus or minus human error…
There are safety devices fitted on the sub. They consist of two legged humans who watch dials. I was one of them and when there is a remote chance a torpedo can come back on us we give a warning.
In the control room there are eleven men in the attack team. Orders are always repeated back. I saw that one of the six torpedo settings was dangerous to us. So, following procedure, I gave the order “Do not fire, torpedo angle, danger situation.” The skipper does not respond so I gave the order again and this time he responds and acknowledges but does not alter torpedo angle setting.
By now its getting very hairy so I give the command, “Do not fire imminent danger. We are in imminent danger from our own torpedoes” The Captain has a Solution on an Aircraft Carrier. He is a determined Man. So He gives the order Fire1, fire 2, fire 3, fire 4, fire 5, fire 6. So I Fire all six torpedoes – dummies with built in run limit then sink commands. The Captain knows the risk to us and orders Flood Q, full dive on both Hydroplanes. Q is a very large buoyancy tank flooded at extreme speed. We dive at 25 degrees down angle in Group Up battery configuration (batteries in series for war footing speed) doing 22 knots and hanging on for dear life. Within a few seconds we are approaching our design maximum depth. The Alternators drop off the Power Supply Board and emergency lights come on. We are in battery powered, very dim light. The Captain orders “Reverse planes. Full astern”.
Really dangerous situation. Seals started to leak and we started getting “damp” as water trickled in. Fortunately we were able to get out of the situation and survived to tell the tale.
We bottomed out deeper than we’ve ever dived and beyond the sub’s designed depth.
Damage done to the sub was considerable due to the compression at such a depth and we went into a floating dock for 3 weeks.
However, we believe we sunk the Aircraft Carrier. The Board of Enquiry did not.
Another expungee.
*****
Due to another incident where safety became prominent, a team of men turned up with an X-ray machine to x-ray the hatch surroundings in the hull. They left after 3 hours having x-rayed the forward hatch never to return. No more x-rays were conducted and we later found out that they had found so many cracks around the hatch the practice was discontinued. Probably worked on the theory “ignorance is bliss.”
Expunged!
*****
Our A class Sub was fitted with a radar receive only detecting horn assembly. It was called the Super High Frequency Direction Finding Equipment, “shufduf” as we nick-named it. It gave us the torpedo angle in degrees. We would raise the shuduf and had an approximate bearing for the torpedoes.
We needed better accuracy. So devised a directional receive only radar detecting horn. It had very good accuracy. The people who built this device had worked with limited funds so while the device worked when we left port, immediately we dived it died as it let water in. Because it was an experimental trip we broke the rule and surfaced. I am then perched 40 feet up the top of this mast, in a heaving sea with a safety line attached, banging against the dammed periscope. Anyway I repaired it and it was working okay. The reason it leaked was insufficient seals and it had filled with water.
So we dive again. It floods again, so back into harbour to get it fixed.
This time the captain, who had received instructions from “higher up”, instructed me not to fix it. Being the person I am and always taking my superiors orders (well, most of the time) I obeyed these instructions. Off we go to sea again and 3 days later we are back in port with an even worse situation. There was enough time to render the direction finding device into a jellied mass through electrolysis.
The makers built a new device with double seals and pressure tested which when fitted worked perfectly.
The moral of the story is for the product to undergo thorough testing under all for all conditions.
*****
Then there was the time we were doing war Exercises. During the Exercise our Captain had a clear Solution (direct and absolute certainty of at least 4 of 6 torpedo hits). The target was a large aircraft carrier. She was surrounded by a fleet of other warships for protection. Well the other Navy refused to believe Him. Said it was impossible for a 68 men, in a 25 year old, diesel electric submarine to penetrate a fleet and sink a large aircraft carrier protected by a fleet. So our Captain left the Exercise. He felt certain she must go into port after the Exercise and there was only 1 port within 500 miles. We signed off and left the area making just enough noise so they could track us. Then very gradually went silent.
We remained silent and headed for that port, a large deep river. To seaward of the entrance, we sank into the mud. A bit dangerous as you can get stuck there. We waited several days. Eventually we heard the aircraft carrier and Her protective fleet. They passed over head with the aircraft carrier still in the middle of the screen.
We rose out of the mud just as she passed overhead and took station just below her propeller turbulence. Maintained that position until inside the harbor. Sank to the seabed and waited for the aircraft carrier to be secure to the wharf. Then from a range of 150 meters fired six torpedo tubs at the aircraft carriers stern underwater area. The torpedo tubes were full of water. They were 18 inches wide and 8 feet long. The force created a massive tide surge and ear shattering noise. The aircraft carrier bounced against the wharf and all hell broke loose.
We never got out of the port but our Captain made his point. 68 men in a sinking sewer against a large aircraft carrier with screen of warships, can succeed. This dogged calculated persistence produced the SeaBis. It took 14 years but we got there.
Another Board of Enquiry and expunging! There is quite a skill with these Board of Enquiries. Being the authority that constitutes the Board helps.
Regards,
Glen Bishop.