In The Navy (On the Boat), Part 23

Submarines have to make their own fresh (Potable) water when they are out to sea. My Boat had one main distiller and a smaller secondary unit, these turn sea water into fresh water by cooking it. On this run, the main distiller broke down and broke hard. It was down for over a week.

The secondary distiller didn’t have the capacity to produce enough potable water for everyone’s needs. The first thing they do in these situations is secure the showers for enlisted men, not officers. They literally shut off the water feeds to the showers and hang up tags announcing that they are off line.

Being sailors, we had no choice but to have a stink contest. We asked the Chief of the Boat (COB) to officiate. Since none of the enlisted men were going to be showering any time soon, all of us were contestants.

Some of the heavier guys had a natural advantage and the guys who worked back aft in the Engine Room and the A-Gangers did too. They worked in the hottest spaces on the boat. I forget who won, but the whole Boat was very stinky for good while, you got used to it though. A few of the guys got reminders from their Chiefs to go wash once the water was back on. It was like we enlisted didn’t care about it anymore.

Showering on a submarine is real different. You get instructed on how to do it. You get in, get wet, shut off the water and soap up. Turn on the water and rinse quickly. Water conservation was a major issue. Water run time on the boat was about a minute total for a typical shower.

As this run progressed, all of the canned food in the berthing areas was used up. We were still an Ocean away from home and the food was getting tight. We were having “sliders” a lot. These are frozen hamburger patties that get tossed on the griddle en-mass. They call them sliders because they slide around in the lake of grease when you cook them and on your plate. At least they could make the bread and buns fresh, though it’s not the same when they are made with powdered eggs. Still, the baking made a nice smell around the boat.

We ran out of salt too, which is key to a lot of cooking. The Nukes took to distilling sea water and made sea salt (probably with the brine from the distillers). It was green, but tasted ok, just a little bitter. I didn’t want to think about it…you just make due.

We were finally told we were being relieved of tracking the Diesel and everyone sighed when we broke contact for the last time. Another Boat was on station, ready to take over our chore. I assumed they had all of our intel and background on the target (seems logical right?).

We headed towards Scotland, but were quickly called back to that station, probably 15 or 20 hours after leaving; the Boat that relived us couldn’t maintain contact with the Diesel. I think this boat that relieved us was mentioned in a movie with Sean Connery, maybe. We stayed a few more days and I guess relayed more detail on how we were able to do this, to the other Boat, via transmissions (not Boat to Boat, over the satellite and through operations back on land…secret stuff).

Finally, we had to leave, we had no more food! We were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost exclusively, until the jelly ran out. Then just peanut butter sandwiches. I like those, so I didn’t complain. That and Iced Tea and I was good to go. I will note that the peanut butter is was normally real heavy and dry, like the middle of a Reese’s Cup. We ran out of that and the cooks blended up canned peanuts and added a little Vegetable Oil to make more peanut butter, it was better than the regular stuff. Navy cooks HAVE to be creative.

I never heard if the Boat that relieved us ever figured out how to track the Diesel, but I figured that they couldn’t have lasted much longer anyway and would have to head home to refuel and restock them selves (the Diesel that is)..

We made it to Scotland, though through some very horrible seas. We had surfaced as we headed into Faslane. I recall being in my rack and the Boat was rocking side to side so bad, that when I looked directly across from my rack, I was actually looking straight down. I had never been so sea sick in my life, almost everyone was feeling ill, even the tough guys. It’s hard to explain I guess. The Boat wasn’t rocking up or down, but side to side, like an elongated bobber. Nor-Easters are a bitch!

The farther inland we got, up the Firth Of Clyde, the better the seas got. If you look here;
http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=faslane&sll=55.776573,-4.658203&sspn=1.279073,2.834473&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=12&ll=56.030814,-4.796906&spn=0.079418,0.289764&iwloc=addr
you can see all of the locks (not like Panama Canal, just different lakes) we had to navigate to get to the base. If you click the Map button and zoom out, you will see it was a short 20 mile train ride to Glasgow.

The morning brought sunshine and the landscape we sailed by was the most beautiful lush green hill sides I had ever seen, as we went up the Firth. Really, ever seen. The water in contrast, was dark blue. I want to go back there some day in the summer and see it again.