What about submariners?

The Life of a Submarine Soldier

The Underwater Life of a Submarine Soldier Probably anyone who sees a submarine for the first time will have this idea: Such a big "black fish" is so small. How do soldiers live in this space? The above questions are not difficult to answer. After reading this article, you will definitely have a new understanding of the basic necessities of life for submariners. Eat well. Before the submarine goes to sea, it must be supplied with fresh water, food, fuel, full of electricity, gas, and all kinds of machinery, documents, and paperwork. In terms of food, submarines need to carry a large amount of canned food, vegetables, and fruits that can be stored for a long time, such as tangerines and bananas, as well as rice and noodles. Since fresh water is limited, the rice, vegetables, and fruits carried on the submarine have been processed in advance and can be directly put into the pot and eaten. Generally, rice, noodles, vegetables, and fruits are eaten first, and canned foods are eaten at the end. Usually officers and signal officers will eat in the conference room (lounge), and sailors will eat in two shifts (the other on duty) in the accommodation room. After returning from a combat readiness cruise at sea, soldiers often enter the spacious and bright crew restaurant. They are greeted by various snacks, meats and colorful fruits, piles of bread, large glasses of fresh milk and various steaming , fragrant dishes. So, why do we need to take great care of the submariners in terms of material support? The reason is that the living conditions of submarine soldiers are difficult, and rich food is essential to maintain the physical strength and morale of submarine soldiers. Wearing very little, almost running naked. Since the submarine is sealed, the mechanical equipment dissipates a lot of heat during navigation and cannot be discharged outside the boat, so the temperature inside the cabin is very high. In order to ensure safety, the cabins of submarines are also airtight. Since the heat emitted by the machines in each cabin is different, the temperature inside the submarine cabin is also different. Even the temperature of the "cool" cabin is above 30 degrees. The temperature in some cabins is often as high as 50 degrees (such as the engine room). Although air conditioning is now available, sometimes in order to save energy, you can save as much as you can. Because it was hot inside the boat and it was impossible to take a bath, in this case, all officers and soldiers, regardless of their position and age, wore blue-gray loose, baggy linen pants and vests. Although linen fabric feels rough and hard, fortunately, it has strong sweat absorption, is easy to evaporate and does not stick to the body. Even if it is worn for ten and a half days, it will not smell like sweat.

Sleeping is the worst problem. The submarine cabin space is very small: you need to use a removable sling for sleeping, put it on when sleeping, and take it off when you get up, otherwise it will affect normal passage or operation. The canvas bed where sailors sleep is connected up and down with hanging chains. It has three or four floors. You can only lean in between the layers. It is not easy for a person to turn over. The second cabin, also called the bow battery cabin, is known as the "officer cabin" because all the officer bunks on the submarine are here: there are three rooms on the starboard side known as the "presidential room", one each for the captain and political commissar, and there is also a post office. Low-ranking military officers also enjoy "presidential" treatment, that is, as translators. This is related to the nature of their work and the secret code. Other officers' bunks are on the port side, and they call themselves "leftists", while the captain, political commissar, and translator are called "rightists." The bow torpedo room is the largest room in the submarine, but it is not much better during long voyages. The torpedoes and loading devices in the two rows of blood torpedo racks fastened with fixed straps take up the main space of the cabin, and the torpedo body is covered with paint. Butter and propellers are covered with black tar, which is inevitably rubbed on by people passing by. It sticks to the body and becomes sticky and uncomfortable. It can only be wiped off with diesel fuel. It is precisely because the bow torpedo cabin is spacious, easy to get up and down, and cool that it is inevitably "coveted" by others. If you meet the talkative chief of the fish and mine department (the head of the cabin), the cabin will be filled with vegetables and food when you go to sea. , many "extra bunks" will also be built on the spare torpedo racks, and some "outsiders" in other cabins will sleep here to cool off. Many people think that submarine soldiers live on boats at all times. In fact, this is not the case. When not on mission, submarine soldiers live in the same barracks as the army, which is different from surface ships. There are many advantages to living in a sailor barracks. First of all, the living environment is relatively spacious, so you can keep more personal belongings. Secondly, there is no need to suffer in the sun-scorched room below the deck in the summer, and there is no need to be woken up by the cold steel walls when sleeping in the winter. Seemingly ordinary things like using water, bathing, washing and drying clothes are all problems on surface ships, but submariners don't have to worry about this. In terms of "accommodation" under special circumstances, submarine soldiers are still more comfortable and convenient than surface ships. Be extra careful when walking on a submarine. "Walking" on a submarine is very important. People must have "eyesight", otherwise they will run into obstacles everywhere and get bruises and bruises. The low cabin roof, branches and hard machinery will leave some "memorials" on your head at any time. Before you take care of your head, you have to take care of your feet. If you are not careful with your feet, you will miss your foot and fall into the hatch. For example, if the water filling valve or bilge drain valve cover is not tightly covered, you may even lose your footing and fall into a trap-like bilge.

As soon as the road becomes more stable, you have to pass the "hatch gate". There is a round watertight door not much larger than the washbasin between the cabins. When passing this door, you must first use the door handle to issue a signal. Knock the signal to ask people in the adjacent cabins who are close to the waterproof door to move out of the way to avoid being injured by the door's handle, and then lift the handle to stagger the teeth of the watertight door away from the hatch. According to regulations, the communication cock between cabins must be opened in order to equalize the air pressures of different sizes between the cabins due to their respective sealing. However, the communication cock is not much larger than the thermos bottle plug, so it is inconspicuous, but sometimes inconspicuous things Don't look down upon it. A little negligence will give you some color.

There was a time when the call cock was not opened, and someone did not notice the pressure difference between the two cabins and opened the waterproof door rashly (at this time, the waterproof door was like a pressure cooker lid that was full of gas), and was knocked out by the waterproof door. This is no better than being beaten in Thailand. Sen's punch felt much better. Therefore, experienced submariners should check to see if the cock is open when passing through the cabin door. After the waterproof door is opened, bending down, lowering your head and lifting your legs when "passing through the door" can be done in one go. If you are not coordinated, you will hit a bump on your head or bruise your leg. You can't take a shower after boarding the submarine. As soon as the submarine leaves the dock, the crew has to suffer a little. First of all, there is the worry of lack of water. Fresh water on board is especially precious during a long voyage, and the faucets are managed by dedicated personnel. In addition to drinking water, the water used by submariners for washing every day is measured in tea cups, including washing face and brushing teeth. They often use a towel dipped in a little water to wipe their face after brushing their teeth. The most difficult "job" on a submarine is that of an engineer. Their working environment is hot and noisy. The noise of the "dong-dong" diesel engine or mechanical rotation will make the heart of the person operating it very uncomfortable. Just imagine: if you were in a small, airtight room, sandwiched between two rows of loud drums beating wildly, for several hours at a stretch, you would at least suffer from a temporary arrhythmia or even schizophrenia. The most comfortable people on the boat are the torpedo soldiers. Their cabin is at the bow end of the submarine, farthest from the engine room (the farthest end of the submarine), so it is the coolest and quietest. They sit comfortably when on duty and only need to stay in the cabin. The communicator only needs to move the mouth. They only have work to do when submersing: swinging open the front cover of the torpedo tube to fill it with water so that the submarine can submerge. Even this task is eliminated when carrying torpedoes. Foul-smelling, turbid and harmful air is another annoyance. Body odor caused by not taking a shower for a long time, seasickness, vomiting, the smell of spoiled food, the smell of garbage, waste oil, and waste water... These smells can make people shudder, and what's terrible is that because the submarine cabin is airtight, these smells Can't get out. If you walk into the cabin of a submarine that has just returned from a long voyage, the strong smell may knock you over on the spot! Furthermore, after a torpedo salvo is fired, the torpedo cabin will have pungent and toxic exhaust gas emitted by the torpedo engine, which is absorbed by the bubble-free device of the torpedo launching system. Of course, life on a submarine is not without its merits. For example, on days with high winds and rough waves, a submarine sailing underwater is extremely stable. It will definitely make those sailors who are vomiting and dizzy are envious. Breathing is also a luxury thing

How do submariners who sail underwater breathe? The submarine sailing underwater is isolated from the air because it is surrounded by the surrounding seawater. Therefore, the crew mainly breathes oxygen produced by the "oxygen regeneration device". The core of the submarine is the "oxygen regeneration medicine board", which has a very chemical composition. Simple: potassium peroxide or sodium peroxide, which absorbs the carbon dioxide exhaled by the crew and releases oxygen. The structure of the "oxygen regeneration device" is actually very simple. It looks a bit like an oven, layered one by one. Of course, the size is much larger. The "oxygen regeneration medicine board" is in the shape of a gypsum board. When using it, the usually sealed medicine board is unsealed and inserted Just put it in the tank of the "Oxygen Regeneration Device". . Each cabin of the submarine has a carbon dioxide analyzer. When the carbon dioxide concentration reaches 0.8%, the "oxygen regeneration device" must be activated. On powerful nuclear submarines, electrolysis can also be used to directly electrolyze seawater to produce oxygen. If the submarine is diving to a deep depth, it can also introduce overboard air through the underwater air inlet pipe, and provide outboard air to each compartment through the ventilation system on the submarine, that is, ventilation while sailing on the surface. There is also an oxygen tank, but people on board rarely mention it because it is a last resort. Smoking is very dangerous. Because a large number of batteries on a submarine will release hydrogen, and when the hydrogen reaches a certain concentration, it will explode when it encounters a spark, causing the boat to crash and kill people. Therefore, smoking is not allowed on the submarine. At the same time, measuring and eliminating hydrogen is also an issue that submariners must pay attention to. . When a submarine is docked at a dock or sailing on the water, you must pay attention to the ventilation problem in the cabin. The purpose is to discharge the hydrogen in the boat out of the boat. Since there is no ventilation when sailing underwater, when the hydrogen reaches a certain concentration, the hydrogen eliminator must be started to eliminate the hydrogen in the cabin. When it comes to smoking, only when someone is on the water for a long time and has a craving for cigarettes and it is absolutely necessary to smoke, can they smoke in a designated corner of the engine room. The number of crew members who can smoke each time is limited. Watching the deafening engine, smoking in the heat and sweating, the taste can only be felt by those who have experienced it personally. Be careful about being "sprayed all over your head" when you are convenient. Being "convenient" on a submarine is also a science. If anyone asks someone: "Will it be 'convenient'?", he must be laughing at people, but this sentence is true on a submarine. But it’s a serious question, because the bathroom in a submarine is very troublesome to use: when using the toilet, you must first check whether there is any residual gas in the dirt reservoir. If there is residual gas, you need to open the vent valve to let it out. Otherwise, it will be "convenient" later. When you step on the pedal, the toilet just now will become "champagne" with the lid opened, but the stuff sprayed out is not so attractive. The correct procedure is to check whether there is any gas left in the dirt reservoir before going to the toilet. After using the toilet, open the sea valve to flush the dirt into the dirt reservoir, close the inlet valve, and then open the front cover to the outboard. , unscrew the air supply valve and blow out the dirt. You have to open and close the valve multiple times in the last toilet. If the operation sequence is reversed or the valve is ignored, the dirt in the toilet will spurt out, which will probably become the laughing stock of your life. . There are other regulations on the use of submarine bathrooms: for example, submarines are prohibited from being used while floating and diving; they cannot be used when in contact with the enemy or in enemy waters. The purpose is to prevent air bubbles generated during sewage discharge from exposing the target.

The toilet paper used in submarines is specially made and can quickly decompose and dissolve after being discharged from the boat and encountering water, so that the target will not be exposed. When a submarine is sailing on the surface, it needs to use water to use the toilet. The water toilet is located at the bottom of the bridge. It is undoubtedly the favorite use of submariners, because there are not so many complicated "procedures" to use the water toilet, and there is no need to worry about sitting down. "Jet type", here you can breathe fresh air, and you can also take the opportunity to enjoy the blue sky and sea on the bridge. The water toilet is very convenient. After use, you only need to flush it into the sea with a hand pump, and peeing is even easier. Much easier.

Always sneak in the dark. When a submarine sails underwater, it is basically impossible to see the underwater scenery, because the thick seawater blocks the sun. At the depth where the submarine operates, the surrounding seawater is chaotic. Even if it is underwater, You can't see very far even with bright lights, and in order to make the submarine strong and arrange the mechanical equipment as much as possible, submarines generally do not have portholes. At this time, the submarine relies on charts to avoid underwater obstacles. In addition to underwater navigation, submarines will also sail on the water, firstly for ventilation and secondly for charging batteries, especially diesel-electric submarines. It is much easier for a submarine to sail on the surface. In addition to the above two sailing states, submarines sail more in the periscope state because this is the depth used for attack. If a submarine sailing in a water depth of more than 40 meters looks up with a periscope, the sea water will be hazy, as if looking through frosted glass; if you look straight up, the sea water will look like dark green emeralds blocking your eyes, because the penetration of sunlight in sea water is limited. . If the sailing depth is any deeper, the eyes will be pitch black. When the submarine is sailing, the lighting in the command module is dark red to facilitate the operators to maintain dark adaptation. Observing the air during the day is a chore: rotating the periscope in a wide range and all directions to search, and soon the eyes will be filled with stars. It is extremely difficult to detect anti-submarine aircraft in the sky. Observing the sea surface with a periscope at night is even more of a chore. At this time, the periscope has the function of a night vision goggle. It is very uncomfortable to use night vision goggles to see things. It is fine when the weather is good. If it encounters rain, fog or bad weather, it will What’s worse, it won’t take long for your eyes to become sore, and your eyes will feel as if you have trachoma. If you observe for a while, you have to move your eyes to rest. After a few rounds, you will usually feel dizzy. It will be a "disaster" if it catches up with the fishing season. The fishing boats going back and forth are hard to guard against, especially those small wooden boats. The navigation lights (kerosene lamps, battery lights) they hang are very dim, and the periscope may hit them if you are not careful. The man fell on his back and his horse fell over. In addition, since the submarine cabin is airtight, shifts are changed every 4 to 6 hours during long voyages, which will quickly mess up the human biological clock. Therefore, the clock in the submarine cabin rotates once every 24 hours. You won’t mistake 10pm for 10am.