Thread by @AshTheWiz

Life inside a Submarine
By-
Niranjan Kaggere @nkaggere.
(Though the article was published in Bangalore Mirror on 16 October 2011 under ‘The Sunday Read’ section, the narrative continues to be the same)
Long, but worth a read. In his own words...
#SubSunday #SubmarineSunday
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Even hardcore sailors think ‘they’ are crazy, but they do so with great regard. Any man with the Dolphin pin on his lapel deserves all the respect and some more, for they are submariners; men who volunteer to lock themselves up in a windowless, cramped steel contraption...
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of a vessel to work tirelessly for one and a half months at a time with 250 ft of sea above them. When they enter the submarine and the hatch closes above them, they know fully well that there are no exit doors for them in the event of danger. Yet, they step down the ladder
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bravely with their heads held high. Spending a few hours inside INS Sindhugosh, one soon realizes that submariners are a special breed indeed!
Subs dock at particular jetties inside ports for replenishment and refueling. Sindhugosh was on one such ‘replenishing trip’...
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to the port when we got a chance to partially experience life inside the sub.
From the jetty, one would walk through a launchpad to the top deck of the sub; towards the conning tower. Here is a cylindrical staircase dropping 10 ft down into darkness. As we climbed down,
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we could feel the air being sucked out of our lungs - call it the psychological effect of entering a sub. Beyond the stairwell was man’s modern marvels cloaked in jet black valves, gadgets and machinery all required to help the submariners guard the waters of the country.
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The heart thumps and the lungs expand, greedy for oxygen. One cannot help but look up at the hatch — the last source of sunlight.
Once everybody climbs down, the door at the conning tower is sealed and secured. Now, you feel like you are inside a fully packed tube.
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If you are claustrophobic it is at this point that you are willing to meet your Creator. If not, you would fill your lungs with as much air as you can (though you can actually breathe normally inside a submarine) and proceed bravely. The submarine is filled to the brim
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with machinery and a few men. You have to squeeze your way from one deck to the other with your heads bent down; when you pass through the circular passages of each of the seven decks in the submarine you are quite literally making the journey on all fours.
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You tend to get nauseous as the submarine makes its way down the ocean & when it is nearer the surface of the sea. But it is relatively calmer once it reaches the depth of around 280 ft.
Irony Aboard
Surrounded by water, the most precious commodity inside the sub is water.
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“None of us takes a bath till we reach a port for replenishing,” explains a junior officer of the Indian Navy. Since water is precious, it is used only for drinking and cooking.
Even though there is a provision to convert seawater into potable water, it is only used as a
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last resort. The crew uses disposable, medicated clothing, which they change once in four days.
Close Quarters Space inside the submarine gives the phrase packed-like-sardines-in-a-tin a new meaning. Filled with gadgets, valves, gauges and other instruments, there’s hardly
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any space for the crew. “In some areas, you cannot even walk straight as you collide head-on with the heavy equipment,” explained a Chief Petty Officer.
Even though the entire submarine has an air cooling facility, only two decks are air-conditioned. The temperature
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in the rest of the submarine is around 30-35 degrees and the crew works in sweltering heat. The quality of the air is monitored constantly for impurities. Yet, as we expose ourselves to chemical gases at the same temperature for several weeks, our hair acquire a brown tint.
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Lack of sleep and intense work makes our eyes swollen.” Lack of sunlight for longer periods of time also affects them.Though submariners are provided with berths to sleep, many often sleep where they work.
“Once you are inside the sub, there is nothing which can be defined
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as private. The berths are nothing but a dormitory of not more than 15-20 sq ft space per sailor to sleep & keep his belongings.”
“It so happens that we often stand in a queue waiting for our turn to use one of the two toilets available inside the submarine for ablutions,”
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explained an officer. A sub usually carries up to 75 personnel on board during its journey into the sea.
Though submarines are equipped with entertainment facilities (satellite channels, DVDs, music) there is not much time left to enjoy those facilities.
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“The entire unit is run on diesel power and it is important to conserve fuel and energy for offensive & defensive purposes. The electricity is generated through batteries that are charged by switching on the engine,” explained an electrical officer of a submarine.
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So they are always conscious about the use of ‘power’.
Cooking up a storm:
Preparation of food is yet another challenge. “Space is a constraint inside the 300 ft long and 30 ft wide 3-story sub, but still we have a galley spanning 4X6 sq m equipped with minimum devices
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to cook decent food for the crew. Cooking begins every day at about 3:45 am; there are two cooks on board. Though it is hot on the other decks, it is hotter inside the kitchen with temperatures going up to 38 degrees. Other than packed food, we do prepare chapathis, rotis,
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pizzas, bread, rice, dal & other cuisines. Sailors usually take turns to eat because of the limited space at the dining hall,” explained a cook attached with the submarine.
Regular workday:
A submariner goes to work the minute he steps inside one.
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Every day is a weekday, till he reaches port after three months. A normal work day inside a submarine is not the same as the 24-hour regime that we adhere to on land.
“For the functioning convenience, the crew is divided into three groups. Our days are made of 18 hours.
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Each of the three groups will work for six hours at their designated locations and spend the remaining 12 hours keeping a watch. On a few occasions, we hardly sleep. Otherwise, we do sleep for four to six hours,” reveals a submariner.
Dolphin family:
Submariners may have
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different last names, but inside the submarine, they are a family. They might live in silence for months together and speak only when necessary, but they are bonded by the invisible chord of trust. “Everybody is family in here. There is a strong bond that ties us all.
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There is no privacy or secrets here. We talk to everybody otherwise isolation will eat into our lives,” explains an officer newly commissioned into the submarine wing.
The chosen ones:
It's not that anybody can work in a submarine.
It requires systematic mental & physical
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conditioning, which helps your body cope with the hardships of submarine life. “You are an astronaut of the deep and with the kind of technology we have onboard our submarines, experience is akin to that of any space shuttle. Being part of the submarine fleet will
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test your limits & endurance,” explained a senior officer of the submarine wing of the Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command at Mumbai. The submarine service is a voluntary service for any sailor or officer of the Indian Navy. The only opportunity for the submariners to
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get a breath of fresh air is when the sub goes for snorting at periscope depth. “Sometimes to recce the surface water the sub comes up to surface level & launches its periscope above the water surface. Through the periscope, you get a 360-degree view of the sea surface
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and the sky. At the same time, fresh air is also sucked into the sub through a snorkel,” explained a technical officer. Losing count of their body clock within a few days of joining the service; long periods in closed quarters with no fresh air or sunlight; being away from
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family & friends; following a work-life routine very different from the regular; loss of appetite, all these are said to make submariners dull, reticent & constipated men. Yet, submariners are an exception; they are sharp as a whip & their reflexes are close to being
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super-human.
These men with a dolphin badge are one of the striking forces of our naval strength with razor-sharp senses, ears and eyes. They function and strike at the enemy target at a pace, which is faster than that of a second needle of the clock.
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Sitting inside a menacing contraption, deep under the sea, fully aware of the dangers lurking in the waters, submariners are the bravest men of our country, safeguarding our nation from seaborne threats.
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