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Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

theguardian.com

41–50 of 206 posts

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#41
post #27
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worry that MAD requires the other actors to have accurate information, and act rationally. When an “insane” person makes the call I fear the entire system of deterrence falls apart…

I don't think Putin is insane. If he were we'd all be dead by now. Also: Suicidal people don't go to lengths to murder former threats to make a point, like he did today with the Wagner Group leadership.

I dont think Putin is insane either, but megalomans can easily start thinking "after me the deluge".

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#42

there are things that happen in one's life that dramatically impact the rest of one's life from that point forward. when i was in school looking at college, i very nearly became a submariner. as it happens, i was third in the list, but they only took the top two. at the time, it was devastatingly disappointing. these oh so many years later with hindsight and all that, i'm no longer disappointed. i can't see how the d…

I almost did the same thing in the US after graduating college. The signing bonus for nuclear power school was intriguingly large to me, and the job would have meant a steady source of income which I didn't have many prospects for at the time.

Thank god I did not do that.

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#43
post #29
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Putin is insane. If he were we'd all be dead by now. Also: Suicidal people don't go to lengths to murder former threats to make a point, like he did today with the Wagner Group leadership.

> I don't think Putin is insane. If he were we'd all be dead by now. How do you know the next leader of Russia will also be rational? Or the leaders of all other nuclear armed nations that may retaliate against Russia's "rational" actions? > Also: Suicidal people don't go to lengths to murder former threats to make a point, like he did today with the Wagner Group leadership. If your days are numbered the consequences…

> How do you know the next leader of Russia will also be rational?

How do you know the next leader of the US will be? It's not like people get elected to the position, or appoint their subordinates based on their rationality.

That's the beauty of sovereign countries with enough nuclear weapons to kill the world, you don't.

Maybe we should look into this bilateral arms reduction thing.

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#44
post #5

This 2012 article mentions that the Royal Navy might have female submariners "next year". It happened in 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/female-submariners-make-h... And here's the next article I found on the subject, from last year, looks like it's not going so well: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-o...

Just in case anyone else hasn't heard of "Opindia" before (the second link):

> OpIndia is an Indian right-wing news website that frequently publishes misinformation. Founded in December 2014, the website has published fake news and Islamophobic commentary on many occasions. OpIndia is dedicated to criticism of what it considers "liberal media", and to support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva ideology. According to University of Maryland researchers, OpIndia has shamed journalists it deems opposed to the BJP, and has alleged media bias against Hindus and the BJP. In 2019, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) rejected OpIndia's application to be certified as a fact checker. IFCN-certified fact checkers identified 25 fake news stories and 14 misreported stories published by OpIndia from January 2018 to June 2020.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpIndia

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#46
post #5

This 2012 article mentions that the Royal Navy might have female submariners "next year". It happened in 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/female-submariners-make-h... And here's the next article I found on the subject, from last year, looks like it's not going so well: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.opindia.com/2022/11/women-o...

Years ago I did a bit of speleology so I'm not afraid of confined spaces but as a male I'd be scared to spend time on a submarine in cramped conditions and in mixed company. I reckon I'd be under constant stress in case I accidentally said something out of place unlike in all-male work environments I've worked in the past where banter and certain types of comment pass without thought. The nature and politics of the t…

[deleted]

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#47
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wondered why those Navy videos spend an inordinate amount of time showing how food is made and interviewing the chefs, it makes sense that is the least classified area and they aren't scared of bothering important stuff (not to downplay food).

Food has been historically one of the submarine fleet's strongest perks for seamen. Considering that it must be quite hard to live underwater for months at a time, with no outside contact with the world, the Navy really likes to play up how well you'll eat on your submerged cramped can.

Yeah but I'm a (casual) war nerd and I watch a ton of Navy videos, they interview the kitchen staff for a large portion of every warship video, not just submarines.

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#48

there are things that happen in one's life that dramatically impact the rest of one's life from that point forward. when i was in school looking at college, i very nearly became a submariner. as it happens, i was third in the list, but they only took the top two. at the time, it was devastatingly disappointing. these oh so many years later with hindsight and all that, i'm no longer disappointed. i can't see how the d…

I almost did the same thing in the US after graduating college. The signing bonus for nuclear power school was intriguingly large to me, and the job would have meant a steady source of income which I didn't have many prospects for at the time. Thank god I did not do that.

That's what I was trying for as well, via Annapolis. I like to say that the reason I got third was during the interview process, I went all goofy and could not remember the element Uranium. I just couldn't do it. They were trying to get it out of me with taunting questions "is it carbon? is it plutonium?" "No, but relevant isotopes are 235 and 239". They did acknowledge that I wasn't trying to BS my way through as I had already answered plenty of other questions. My brain just went night night.

However, in all honesty, it was the fact that I screwed off my senior year in literature class and dropped my GPA which I'm guessing had a much larger factor. Now I'm glad I didn't read any of those boring high school assigned books. It saved me in the end

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#49

>TCPO ‘Tug’ Wilson in the weapons room (AKA ‘bomb shop’). Crew members often hug the cruise missiles to stay cool while they sleep. Is it that hot in the submarine that you have to sleep naked and hug torpedoes to stay cool while you sleep? Is there no form of climate control? On US submarines it must be much cooler as everyone is wearing thick overalls[1] and even winter clothing in the torpedo bay. [1] https://yout…

Subs are weird, you’re either sweating hot or freezing cold, within the span of a couple of feet. Human comfort was def an afterthought

sounds like the typical cubicle farm office job

Re: Life on board a British nuclear submarine (2012)

#50
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't even get to the Astute class submarine that was run aground.

While not good isn't that kind of an accepted risk for submarines? We don't have complete maps of the ocean floor. Features shift. IDK the specific circumstances so maybe it was incompetence but the British submarine fleet isn't alone in running boats aground.

Better than doing emergency blows directly underneath a civilian vessel. Especially damning was the emergency blow wasn't even necessary and was from show boating.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville...

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