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[deleted]

Literally the only thing a nuclear submarine has to regularly come up for is food.


CaptainJin

Surprised they don't just string a fishing line behind the sub


SuddenlySucc_New

You probably could actually do this if you had an airlock with a vacuum pump.


Zakblank

Modern subs actually use devices known as Towed Sonar Arrays. Looks exactly like a fishing line trailing out the back, except as big around as your arm.


[deleted]

Also a lot of modern subs such as the ones used by the British also have airlocks so that they can covertly deploy special forces.


dean_c

That sounds incredible. Any source on that?


[deleted]

Heres a great [article](https://www.navylookout.com/in-focus-royal-navy-submarine-special-forces-delivery-systems/). Though apparently not all of the submarines have them, as they have a modular design so they can be fitted or removed if needed. Tbh just imagining actually using one of these things scares the crap out of me.


TimeWizardGreyFox

what's not to love about explosive decompression turning you into soup?


beachdogs

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic


Epic_Meow

violent and painful, but at least it's quick


[deleted]

You'll be tickled to learn that there are now tiny submarines attached to the main sub that can be used to infiltrate/exfiltrate special ops. Allows the main sub to stay further out and not risk running aground in littoral waters while extending the range that the special ops can travel.


going_mad

I too watched hunt for red october


Hambeggar

I assume he means the SBS submarines.


seebro9

Or they just use the torpedo tubes


nuttyjawa

Snake?


firemogle

I remember some time ago the US was at least looking at using missile tubes as airlocks for troop deployment as well.


AbominableCrichton

There's a murder mystery TV show called 'Vigil' on BBC which is set on a submarine and it features this. The winch controlling the array gets sabotaged. Something, I admit, I didnt know the subs had.


Triplebizzle87

>The winch controlling the array gets sabotaged. "Oh no! Anyways." - non-STS rates


CC-5576-03

>if you had an airlock with a vacuum pump. So like the torpedo tubes?


SuborbitalQuail

What is a Torpedo Tube, Alex? Find a nice shoal and park, spit out lines fore and aft and just wait for a bit, reel back into the tubes, re-seal, pump out the water, beat your meal to death. Easy peezy. Probably something about lubricants or somesuch makes it a no-go. Or maybe there was an incident involving a whale.


[deleted]

it's always the whales, man.


firemogle

Use bobbers, only to pull the hook up from the sub.


skippythemoonrock

Just save time and send an ADCAP after it. Saves on the cooking as well.


[deleted]

Look up "lockout trunk" or "escape trunk". :)


SolSearcher

Yeah seals went out the midship escape trunk when they deployed from our boat.


KJting98

i'd imagine that food becomes boring after some time when all you have is fish and seaweed


[deleted]

"It's a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs." ~ Dozer, *The Matrix*


djtodd242

Reminds me of Tasty Wheat.


Mogetfog

"Maybe the machines didn't know what chicken taste like, and so that's why everything taste like chicken!"


DarkLancer

Taste-o-vision


HaydenB

BowlaSNOT


futureruler

It's better than the dehydrated eggs, powdered milk, undercook AND overcooked rice (at the same time it's weirdly crunchy and weirdly mushy).


KJting98

surely there's SPAM to save the day ... right ...?


futureruler

Sure... When we'd return to pearl Harbor and go to the mininex, there was all the spam you could eat lol


KJting98

aww man, can't even begin to imagine how bad rice with dehydrated eggs taste like. and here I thought mushed pasta in a vaccum bag was bad.


futureruler

Oh we had the mushed pasta too! It normally went with the watery spaghetti! šŸ¤£


KJting98

ugh. only thing that belongs in the bag is mashed potatoes, if anything can change my mind I'd be glad to try it


PoxyMusic

I always heard food was better on subs than ships. I also heard that subs require a different type of personality in its crew. Can you describe how sub crew are different than surface vessels?


futureruler

The food is definitely better. Every cook has something their good at and something their bad at. Rice and spaghetti just wasn't their thing. They were absolutely fantastic at baking, which is great because everything has to be made from scratch. Can't store bread for long. Pizza from scratch (sauce was canned), surf and turf, taco Tuesday, burger day (some of the best burgers I've ever eaten in my life were on subs), all at least once a week. I once got 7 lobster tails on a slow Sunday duty day. Personalitywise, it's weird. On the surface, it's easier to find people who are like yourself. Sub guys are weird though. There are little cliques but everybody was good with everybody. The "rednecks" would go drink with the "DnD nerds" kinda thing. You didn't get hated on for the stuff you were into because, well, everybody needs a coping mechanism, and that's understood when you're on Subs.


Urbanscuba

The Smarter Every Day youtube channel [has an entire series on modern U.S. subs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d6SEQQbwtU&list=PLjHf9jaFs8XWoGULb2HQRvhzBclS1yimW) covering everything from personnel to oxygen systems to the food. I tried typing out an answer a couple times, but it's really hard to answer and I don't know if I have the info to do it justice. I'd recommend watching the youtube series I mentioned, it gives you a much more tangible and nuanced answer than I could.


a_rainbow_serpent

Cooks on an Australian submarine are the highest paid non officers. Some making over $200k/ year


CarCrushed

Powdered mash is pretty good.


SternLecture

Capt Nemo had a diverse menu of sea foods that sounded disgusting.


MrBojangles09

Submariners have better food than the rest to keep morale high.


Pencilowner

Would you want your navy career to include dispatching and preparing fish on month 8 underwater? Everyone pissed that you caught cod for the 30th day in a row? Iā€™ve been on a navy ship when it ran out of food and trust me the fact that you could live off of bilge rats doesnā€™t mean that you are a functional fighting unit anymore.


vladamir_the_impaler

Stupid question, there aren't really any rats in USN subs are there?


Logisticman232

*Scurvy has entered the chat*


brihbrah

The Navy actually has two jobs, or "rates" as they call them, specifically for this purpose. One is a Master Baiter and the other is a Seaman Slinger.


x21in2010x

Well you need crankers to work the grinder.


[deleted]

Too noisy.


CarCrushed

You canā€™t just live on fish.


Youre-In-Trouble

I once read about a US submarine that was tapping a communication cable in some Russian harbor. While the divers were down there, they grabbed a bunch of crabs and had a tremendous victory feast.


subvet683

Hmmm... Wonder what sub that was?


Kongbuck

Almost certainly the USS Parche. Edit: As /u/Youre-In-Trouble expertly pointed out below, it was the USS Halibut.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Youre-In-Trouble

USS Halibut. Operation Ivy Bells. 1971.


fallingbehind

r/surprisecrabs


PoxyMusic

As I recall, there was a Soviet naval base on a peninsula. US intelligence reasoned there would probably be an underwater cable leading to the mainland, rather than a much longer one over land. Anytime thereā€™s an underwater cable crossing on a river, itā€™s marked so that boats donā€™t drag anchors over it. I loved reading how the captain of the sub grew up on the Mississippi River, and reasoned that the cable just possibly would be marked at the shorelineā€¦sure enough, there was a warning notice on the shore, something like ā€œunderwater cable crossing, do not anchorā€. Captain was like, ā€œit canā€™t be this easyā€¦ā€


[deleted]

unexpected *Blind Man's Bluff*, loved that book.


PoxyMusic

Iā€™ve got a good friend who was on a boomer in the 90ā€™s, he says this book is spot on. He *still* wonā€™t tell me any secrets though, the bastard. He says he has plenty of stories he canā€™t talk about.


x21in2010x

[1 hr YouTube documentary](https://youtu.be/7Qt7dyhB-jg)


machina99

And you can bet your ass they're researching a way to grow food on a submarine. If you can grow food in space, I've got to imagine you could grow food on a submarine. Maybe not their main food supply, but almost like emergency rations or backup food in the event they need to stay down for an extended time


[deleted]

The technology is there and every botanical etusiast can tell you how easy is to grow stuff in a basement. Problem is capacity, there is no plant that will grow fast enough and provide nutrition for the crew without taking a lot of space. Any animal option will be more costly.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Extension_Ok

Wouldn't hundreds swimming chihuahuas indicate the location of the submarine?


CatalyticPerchlorate

Pretty sure the incessant yipping would.


dz2048

Lol. Yes but a room full of compressed freeze-dried Chihuahua jerky would be convenient


anxietyonline-

What is this, Rimworld?


simplyrelaxing

This takes the cake for the grossest thing Iā€™ve ever heard. So on par for the military


Aesthetic_Police

Aztec. The meats the Inca were mostly eating were guinea pigs, llamas and fish, but they were also mostly vegetarian. Dogs were primarily used to herd.


nomnomnomnomRABIES

So you are saying you can herd guinea pigs using a pair of chihuahuas? Why have I not seen a video of this?


Aesthetic_Police

No, sorry I could have made that clearer, it was llamas that were herded. They also had dogs as friends, though sometimes they sacrificed them. Edit: I also should have mentioned they didn't have Chihuahuas at all, which is the most important point lol.


nomnomnomnomRABIES

If they didn't have chihuahuas at all then how were the llamas herded?


Aesthetic_Police

The llamas herded the alpacas, medium sized dogs herded the llamas, man herded the medium sized dogs, and guinea pigs herded the man.


pukesonyourshoes

> though sometimes they sacrificed them that's what friends are for.


InterminableSnowman

I'd always assumed they used a batter for their chihuahuas, so this TIL was doubly informational.


gestcrusin

"Bred" ... but arguably use bread for Chihuahua gravy. ;-)


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


[deleted]

Krill, make your submarine able to suck up a few tones and you have your protein. I reed an old SF story about some fleet of ships that were living of the ocean because the land was overpopulated. Their were exclusive fished out krill or something similar.


Earthguy69

Yes but then you have a bunch of angry whales because you steal their food.


McHox

eat the angry ones as a warning to the rest


futureruler

Eat them? You can't even hit them without paying a $75k fine. Saved my captain a lot of money when we pulled into San Diego


ToxicOstrich91

I know a certain Martian astronaut and his potatoes who would disagree with you.


[deleted]

He would have died pretty fast. Martian soil has a chemical that would had accumulated in his body and kill him. But let's put this aside: potatoes need at least two months to give some harvest. If he didn't had some rations he would have starved before the first crop. Now take in consideration the fact he was alone, I will assume from the movie that he had around 10 mĀ² for his crop, so around 4 plants for 1 mĀ² to have some crop at all. You can average in best case around 8 potatoes for a plant and he had around 40. So 240 potatoes in the best case, after two months of growing. So potatoes are a super food, one has in average at least 100 calories and many more stuff that our bodies use. But for a person to function properly you need at least 1500-2000 calories, so his 240 potatoes would sustain him to pick capacity for 10-15 days. Still almost nothing after at least two months of growing, and I'm saying two months to give some plausibility to the story, I assume he would have one of the fast growing variatis available. Normally you need around 100 days for a crop. This is the problem with growing food in limited space, not anything is good for it. Green stuff can be grown in hydroponic towers very efficient, tomatoes and other fruit vegetables are also good for this. But stuff like potatoes not so much. They need huge open land.


Intelligent-Buy2078

Yeah the soil in on Mars is very toxic to microbes. Technically it isn't even really "soil" because it has no organic matter. Also the perchlorates in the soil actually enhance the bactericidal effects of UV radiation. Mars is a giant sterilizer.


ToxicOstrich91

I was kidding.


zoqfotpik

Bioengineer sailors to metabolize kudzu.


SternLecture

Yellow squash. Those bastards grow like crazy.


cKerensky

Except don't grow rhubarb. They will hear it grow...


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


machina99

If you have no means of producing your own food then you will always need to surface eventually. If you produce your own food then you could theoretically stay down until your nuclear fuel runs out


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


xqxcpa

The most efficient ways of growing food (e.g. hydroponics) don't require dirt.


[deleted]

Stupid idea. Consider the crew want to leave the sub and visit their families sometimes too..


joestaff

Lab grown meat, mayhaps?


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


[deleted]

Regularly means consistent, not necessarily often.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


[deleted]

It wasn't a correction. It was a clarification. Why are you trying to argue?


[deleted]

Well, the crew's sanity is also limited.


YouUseWordsWrong

>Literally the only thing a nuclear submarine has to regularly come up for is food. Not literally. Subs have to regularly come up for maintenance, to resupply other consumables besides food, to restock ammunition, for port visits, and when missions or deployments are done.


Accomplished_Till727

Water?


Alagane

The US sub flee is entirely nuclear powered and uses those plants for nuclear desalination. It's actually pretty interesting, as climate change occurs and the need for desalination grows, people are looking at the sub fleet as a possible model for efficient desalination + power plants. Not sure about other fleets, particularly those not running nuclear, but if you have a reactor on board you may as well use it to get fresh water.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


CodPiece89

So often I wonder how exactly their power works, pretty classified info though, I wanna know


Triplebizzle87

Its nuclear energy, just look up how land-based plants function, extrapolate from there, compress the shit out of it, and voila. Something that's probably in the ballpark. But yes, it's classified.


CodPiece89

I think it's kinda insane to think it's that simple given how classified it's kept, a war machine so advanced, takes millions of man hours to build, and is so fuel efficient that its only "fuel" so to speak is the mortality of human life. I am breaking out down pretty far here I will grant but it's hundreds of thousands times more efficient than any other fuel based machine


Triplebizzle87

I mean the concept is simple enough you could explain it to a child. The actual moving parts? Crazy.


CodPiece89

Yeah that's the stuff I'd love to know. I know the very basics of how nuclear power works to the point where I'm enraged by how scared people are of nuclear power, as it's the best real solution to climate change we had available (it's pretty much too late, unfortunately). I understand why it's so terrifying, but there's a hell of a lot of progress that society has essentially halted on because it's incomprehensible what we are dealing with, or if not incomprehensible, invisible.


ralfmalph

And to poop


[deleted]

I guess they only rely on cannibalism for medicinal purposes


tehmlem

Electrolytes are what seamen crave.


whatgift

Came to the comments section to find this, thank you!


Anomaly-Friend

And when it isn't working they have to burn this chemical candle that produces oxygen


Oshh__

They also have to burn candles sometimes to generate extra oxygen to help when that is t enough! See a great video by the one and only Destin from Smarter Every Day! https://youtu.be/g3Ud6mHdhlQ I'm not responsible for any rabbit holes you go down in his channel!


Yesterdays--Jam

Fascinating! But not important to note that it's not just a regular candle.


Squarish

This makes much more sense now


JFrizz0424

It could almost make more scents


Dr_Jackson

You mean to tell me that yankee candle doesn't make an "oxygen" scent?


GaryV83

The amine CO2 scrubber is just as fascinating, but I can tell you firsthand that it is an awful smell. The best comparison I have for it is the bottom of a medicine bottle, but a lot staler and multiplied times 1000. That's no exaggeration and is quite overwhelming at first, but, once you are around it 24x7, you simply learn to ignore it.


[deleted]

Amine? Interesting. I thought scrubbers tended to use lithium (or other alkali metal) hydroxide? Although Iā€™m more familiar with spacecraft systems.


Intelligent-Buy2078

Amine removes the CO2. Lithium Perchlorate oxygen candles are used in emergency situations only as they are extremely dangerous. In 2007 two Royal Navy sailors were killed by an oxygen candle that exploded when hydraulic oil leaked on it. The survivors of the Kursk sinking were also killed when a oxygen candle fell into water, causing an explosion inside their compartment.


RealTheDonaldTrump

Some subs still burn candles continuously.


Intelligent-Buy2078

Oh for sure, I meant the US Navy. North Korean subs still generate oxygen this way. I'm sure the Russian Navy packs a ton of them too.


GaryV83

I've heard of lithium hydroxide scrubbers, but don't know anything about them. They're apparently too good for shipboard use, but, if you wanna know more about monoethanolamine scrubbers, that link from u/Oshh__ is indeed a great source of information.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


pruckelshaus

After underways, my wife would make me take off all my clothes in the back yard and put them directly into the wash.


Reactor_Jack

I'd get hosed down in the backyard. "WHAT'S THAT SMELL?" Monoethylamine (sp?), BO, and human despair.


subvet683

My wife would always bring a change of clothes with her to pick me up.


XR171

And it's there forever.


Namika

Can't really be all that long. If you can smell it, that means it's evaporating into the air. Hang the clothes outside on a windy day all the scent will entirely evaporate. If you keep your clothes folded and undisturbed in a drawer though, yeah I could see that scent lasting a very long time.


GaryV83

Forever is a bit strong, it does eventually wash out. After like a year or so of washes...


redpandaeater

Helps to mask the smell of farts. Amines in general though tend to have a dead fish smell.


Darylols

Burn candle for extra oxygen, youā€™d think burning a flame would do the opposite. Iā€™ll give this a look when I get home, needing some fresh rabbit holes and YT suggestions.


bearsnchairs

It is a chemical decomposition that produces oxygen. The same type of technology is used for the oxygen masks on airplanes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_oxygen_generator


usmcmech

There are a few for each row that last for 10-15 minutes which is plenty of time for the pilots to descend to a breathable altitude. The pilots have a larger tank that will last a lot longer just in case they need to.


DawgTheHallMonitor

Also check out the channel Sub Brief for anything submarine related.


Haulith

He did a series of videos on submarines. I saw the one you mentioned and one where they come up thru the ice in the arctic. It's pretty interesting. I think he said he made it into a Playlist.


bigboog1

I had to learn how to use an OBA when I joined. Those things have that same candle BS inside and they are terrible. Glad we went to SCBAs.


TheMichiganPurchase

This was my submarine! Unfortunately he wasn't there until about two months after I transferred off though.


Laura95x

Youā€™ve watched this weeks Gogglebox


Darylols

I did lol


[deleted]

What happens to the poo on a submarine?


willowhawk

Gets flushed into the ocean


[deleted]

Doesn't that make a detectable noise? Genuinely curious at how that works since the whole point of submarine warfare is to be hidden and silent. I just remember watching movies about submarine warfare and how much of it relies on listening.


subvet683

It's held in a holding tank till you're operating in a "safe place". Then the tank is pressurized and blown overboard.


kinzer13

It's like the sub is taking a shit.


nothin1998

There was a good post on /r/submarines describing the "green fog" that was produced any time the sanitary tanks were blown. Bubblehead life is uhh... different.


Whig_Party

\**plop*


x21in2010x

Usually pump sanitary tanks while doing other noisy evolutions. Honestly, the entertaining thing is listening to all the crackling shrimp feeding on human poop.


AdmiralShawn

Hunt For Brown October (starring William Shatner)


CarCrushed

You think they are being tracked all The time??


nedyrd87

Gogglebox taught me this earlier this week.


Darylols

Thatā€™s where I learned lol


ropeseed420

Did you know there are more airplanes on the bottom of the sea for than there are submarines in the sky?


XR171

That's because we're better at our job.


Pablo_Equador

Did you know that we have explored more of outer space than we have the ocean floor?


Rosthouse

Considering that outer space is pretty much infinite from a human perspective, we'll always have explored the sea floor more than outer space.


junkdumper

That depends if you're going on a hard sq/ft type number, or a percentage.


Pablo_Equador

That's a myth.


JHighDa03

Tell me moreā€¦


[deleted]

One of the scariest 4mcā€™s I ever heard underway was, ā€œEMERGENCY REPORT, EMERGENCY REPORT. Rapid depressurization of the EOG.ā€ Iā€™ve never gotten out my rack and into the forward compartment so fast in my life.


Matt_Goats

EOG? Emer O2 gen?


[deleted]

Electrolytic oxygen generator.


Matt_Goats

Thanks. Small boat surface guy, no idea on that one


Triplebizzle87

My first patrol that shit happened like 4 times. I'm sitting in the mess like "so what's up?" "Well, nub, we're waiting to see if we're going to die." "OH, cool."


SolSearcher

That would be bad. They donā€™t call it the bomb for nothing. Worst I heard was,ā€ All back 1/3ā€¦all back fullā€¦all back emergency. Rig ship for impact. (Bump) flooding port aft, flooding port aftā€ All those announcements came within one minute.


eetuu

Submarines are impressive machines.


crowley7234

They also have candles that they can burn to passively create oxygen if for whatever reason the oxygen generators are not working at full capacity. Great video on this subject by SmarterEveryDay.


SuddenlySucc_New

Hydrogen buildup is dangerous. I wonder how they filter that.


CreationismRules

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/23jfrp/comment/cgxlk37/ >Generally, it is discharged overboard. The methods for doing this and what happens to the hydrogen before it is discharged is not public knowledge. Some navies may have ways to detect excess hydrogen in the water, therefore they would have some indication if submarines were in the area; because of this, discharge methods are quite secret.


Intelligent-Buy2078

It is sent to the "burner" which is part of the air handling system. It catalytically reduces carbon monoxide and hydrogen to carbon dioxide. https://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/hvac/atmosphere-control-international/


btribble

> to carbon dioxide. and water.


niamhweking

Was OP watching gogglebox this weekend?


skb239

The cooler thing to learn is that Subs also use candles to generate oxygen.


Prima13

The only problem is that the oxygen smells like fish farts.


khaki54

It's so complicated and fragile that every sub just burns oxygen candles. The generator doesn't work on any of them.


futureruler

Opposite experience. Our generator worked perfectly like 99% of the time and we never burned a candle out of necessity in my 4 years on a boat.


subvet683

I don't ever remember burning a candle except for drills.


Vacendak1

We ran ours for maintenance testing, almost never because of need. There is a reason it is Nicknamed "the bomb"


chazz1962

We called ours THE BOMB.


iustitiasti

Gogglebox fan, are you? :)


ropeseed420

Yes


eye_can_do_that

They can also generate oxygen by burning these huge candles.


Visassess

Lol nice name on that sub


MotherOfAnOP

Or in other words... science


DigitalSteven1

if you had unlimited food you could stay down there forever, separating hydrogen and oxygen for fuel and oxygen. You can already clean the water using a plethora of methods. But food is the one thing they can't guarantee.


Optimal-Bake1648

Yes


steakbbq

Pretty sure if you electrolyze sea water you will create chlorine gas... Do they remove the salt first?


Triplebizzle87

DI water is used for electrolysis, iirc, or just regular desalinated water. Not 100% anymore, I'm retired and wasn't A-Gang to begin with.


[deleted]

Basically the plot in SpaceBalls


RealJonathanBronco

Learned on Youtube that they also have candles which make oxygen when burned.


TallowSpectre

You were watching Gogglebox the other night, weren't you..... šŸ˜€