A career in the Submarine Service (UK, but all welcome to answer)?

Question

Hi from the UK. I am interested in getting a Naval commission and serving on Submarines and would love to hear from anyone who went before me, perhaps with stories I wouldn't have encountered in the recruiting leaflets?!

Serious answers only please- thanks!

Answer 1

They will subject you to severe screening before assigning you to the silent service as they want to make sure that you can take the long hours being confined with the other guys when submerged for weeks at a time.

I know that the UK has an excellent Royal Navy, although I never served with them, I had wanted to join the US Navy and be assigned to the Silent Service as a diver, but my Dad had other plans for me in so far as service life goes.

Wound up in the USMC, but if I had been allowed to select the branch to enlist in, I would have chosen the US Navy, since I already knew how to scuba dive, underwater photography and some demolition work.

Good Luck in the Royal Navy and remember it takes team work to win.

Answer 2

Actually a good question. I tell would be Naval people subs are the way to go. After your service you can get well paid employment as sub drivers in the recreational sub industry. I am talking around 250 thousand p/year plus benefits. Some of the subs from ussubs are 213 feet long and are like the tin cans of WWII except they are more technology inclined than ever before. They can stay down for two weeks with 24 passengers, have diver access and move at 10 knots 1000 feet down. Good thing to have on your resume when the time comes. And crews are only 4 people including yourself.

Answer 3

Go for it. It may be hard and dangerous, but dying a little bit everyday in some 9-5 ticking trap is a worse way to go. My father had to wear his foulies inside a RN sub in the 1960s due to condensation dripping from the hull, but things have improved a lot since then.

Answer 4

Both my father and my husbands were submariners, they are a warped bunch you know!