Zen_Hydra
Moderator
Born with a heart full of neutrality
Posts: 2,625
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Post by Zen_Hydra on Oct 5, 2020 13:04:48 GMT
I'm an Army vet, and at my size the thought of serving on a submarine is nightmare fuel, but I just read something interesting about the unexpected bouquet of fragrances which permeate the internal atmosphere of US submarines.
The CO2 scrubber in the atmosphere control system uses a chemical compound commonly known as an amine, which has a strong, distinct odor which tends to permeate everything (including the sailors' skin). It is with no small amount of irony that the odor of these amines (and thus also associated with the crew of a US submarine) is usually described as distinctly "fishy." Amines are one of the compounds in actual fish which contribute to their olfactory fishiness.
The amines, combined with the other fragrances from the press of humanity, food smells, waste systems, and mechanical lubricants, largely have no place to go while the vehicle is submerged. I'm sure the perception of these smells largely fades into the background for submariners after a while, but those early days have to be pretty rough.
Do we have an naval vets with firsthand submarine crew experience on these boards?
If so, I would love to find out more about the aspects which are uniquely "submarine" in nature (things you don't experience on any type of boat).
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Post by RufusScorpius on Oct 5, 2020 13:35:22 GMT
I'm sure the submariners get used to the smells in the same way soldiers stop noticing the baby-puke smell of Army canvas and diesel fuel.
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Post by Curtis_Louis on Oct 5, 2020 14:34:29 GMT
Interesting. I live close to Great Lakes Naval Station and worked with many retired "submariners". I've listened to countless stories (AKA tales of woe) and can't remember anyone mentioning the smells on board.
When I would chime in with my own "tales of woe" from the Army, I mentioned going eight weeks without a shower. The very first thing they commented on was how "ripe" I must have been. I told them after the first week you stop smelling yourself, second week you stop smelling each other, almost completely nose blind at the one month mark. People who where not with our detachment where physically bothered by our fragrance on the rare occasion we encountered someone.
Also, some of them seemed very interested in my sword collecting hobby. I even took four of them with me to KOA one afternoon to check the storefront out (when they had one). One of them bought a set of throwing knives, but none were interested enough to go out there with me again.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Oct 5, 2020 16:18:25 GMT
I was a Sub sailor from 1984 - 1990. Nuclear fast attack sub. Zen, on my boat, we all called the smell 'boat funk' After deployment we'd scamper to the barracks and shower, wash everything (clothes etc). This took 99% of the smell away. But we still stunk, as you say. Every day as you approach the hatch to go onboard, the air system would blast the Funk out the open hatches. After about an hour or two, you wouldn't notice any more. So we would be seriously 'nose dead' to it. Here's a tidbit for you. We'd leave port, sometimes for months, and the only outside we saw was thru the periscope. When bringing on fresh air, we would always note how much the sea air stunk... Ah, and our jump suit uniforms were universally known as 'Poopie Suits'
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Zen_Hydra
Moderator
Born with a heart full of neutrality
Posts: 2,625
|
Post by Zen_Hydra on Oct 5, 2020 18:17:05 GMT
I was a Sub sailor from 1984 - 1990. Nuclear fast attack sub. Zen, on my boat, we all called the smell 'boat funk' After deployment we'd scamper to the barracks and shower, wash everything (clothes etc). This took 99% of the smell away. But we still stunk, as you say. Every day as you approach the hatch to go onboard, the air system would blast the Funk out the open hatches. After about an hour or two, you wouldn't notice any more. So we would be seriously 'nose dead' to it. Here's a tidbit for you. We'd leave port, sometimes for months, and the only outside we saw was thru the periscope. When bringing on fresh air, we would always note how much the sea air stunk... Ah, and our jump suit uniforms were universally known as 'Poopie Suits' That's fantastic. Thank you. When you were immersed in the "boat funk," was it more difficult to sense other smells (a general anosmia), or had you just developed a specific tolerance to the funk of your boat and any "foreign" smells still came through just fine? Did you ever experience any feelings of panic from the claustrophobic atmosphere? Where you taught any specific coping exercises for the stresses of living in such a cramped lifestyle?
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Post by RufusScorpius on Oct 5, 2020 18:45:02 GMT
Interesting. I live close to Great Lakes Naval Station and worked with many retired "submariners". I've listened to countless stories (AKA tales of woe) and can't remember anyone mentioning the smells on board. When I would chime in with my own "tales of woe" from the Army, I mentioned going eight weeks without a shower. The very first thing they commented on was how "ripe" I must have been. I told them after the first week you stop smelling yourself, second week you stop smelling each other, almost completely nose blind at the one month mark. People who where not with our detachment where physically bothered by our fragrance on the rare occasion we encountered someone. Also, some of them seemed very interested in my sword collecting hobby. I even took four of them with me to KOA one afternoon to check the storefront out (when they had one). One of them bought a set of throwing knives, but none were interested enough to go out there with me again. Yup. Came back from a mission in Central American and about 6 of us went to the TMC for a check over. We went inside the nice, clean TMC and couldn't figure out what that nasty smell was. It took us a minute to figure out the horrible stench was from US, we just couldn't smell each other until we got somewhere clean. Pretty girl medic too. We tried to sign our paperwork from as far as arms reach would allow, lest we caused her to pass out. I never could get the funk out of the uniform- washed it 7 or 8 times before giving up. At least the bugs left us alone after day 4 or 5.
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Post by treeslicer on Oct 5, 2020 19:32:30 GMT
I was a Sub sailor from 1984 - 1990. Nuclear fast attack sub. Zen, on my boat, we all called the smell 'boat funk' After deployment we'd scamper to the barracks and shower, wash everything (clothes etc). This took 99% of the smell away. But we still stunk, as you say. Every day as you approach the hatch to go onboard, the air system would blast the Funk out the open hatches. After about an hour or two, you wouldn't notice any more. So we would be seriously 'nose dead' to it. Here's a tidbit for you. We'd leave port, sometimes for months, and the only outside we saw was thru the periscope. When bringing on fresh air, we would always note how much the sea air stunk... Ah, and our jump suit uniforms were universally known as 'Poopie Suits' That's also what aircrew call exposure suits, quite understandably.
Zen_Hydra , FWIW, every sealed or semi-sealed environment stuffed with people and equipment, that I've ever had experience of (and I've been exposed to quite a selection), gathers its own characteristic funk, that seems to bond into the surfaces, and can't be scrubbed or renovated away.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Oct 5, 2020 20:19:45 GMT
I don't remember that it dulled other scents. One time I dug out a baggie of spice tea after a month or so at sea. I opened it in crews mess, and everyone smelled it within about 10 sec or so, and started asking 'whats that awesome smell'. And that was before I got it into a teacup.
"Did you ever experience any feelings of panic from the claustrophobic atmosphere? Where you taught any specific coping exercises for the stresses of living in such a cramped lifestyle?"
As to this...no. The Navy did NOTHING to teach or reduce any panic attacks etc. So ZERO coping mechanisms. But we used alcohol to huge self medicate. And I was never claustrophobic, until about my 2nd year in. But mine is based on people being too close. So lines at Disneyland make me CRAZY. Small spaces still don't bother me at all.
Did you know you can crawl down a torpedo tube? Thats fun.
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Post by RufusScorpius on Oct 5, 2020 20:26:02 GMT
I don't remember that it dulled other scents. One time I dug out a baggie of spice tea after a month or so at sea. I opened it in crews mess, and everyone smelled it within about 10 sec or so, and started asking 'whats that awesome smell'. And that was before I got it into a teacup. "Did you ever experience any feelings of panic from the claustrophobic atmosphere? Where you taught any specific coping exercises for the stresses of living in such a cramped lifestyle?" As to this...no. The Navy did NOTHING to teach or reduce any panic attacks etc. So ZERO coping mechanisms. But we used alcohol to huge self medicate. And I was never claustrophobic, until about my 2nd year in. But mine is based on people being too close. So lines at Disneyland make me CRAZY. Small spaces still don't bother me at all. Did you know you can crawl down a torpedo tube? Thats fun. Were you the underwater screen door repair tech?
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