A Submarine Service question...

[Dickie]

I've searched google and this site (as well as the RN one) but can't seem to find an asnwer to this. If you join as a Warfare Officer, could you end up serving on a submarine? Or is this only for people who specialise as a SWO? Also, do they have Hydrographic & Meterological Officers within the submarine service (and yes, I know it doesn't rain underwater...)?

Ta again,

Dickie

[OMSSMretd]

Dickie sorry mate I was a humble sonar operator on subs when I was in the mob so I cant give you a definite answer for the first question. However we did not carry a met officer. The navigator would have had responsibility for these type of tasks.

[OMSSMretd]

Incidently though you can detect rain squalls on the surface with passive sonar!

[Dickie]

Yeah, I was doing my PADI diving thing when it came on to rain - it was so noisy just swimming under the water! I can't imagine what it must be like for whichever poor sod has to listen to that for hours on end :p

And thanks mate! Do you think I'd be able to apply as a Warfare Officer, and try to get into the Submarine Service and then specialize at a H&M Officer or a Diving Officer?

Ta again!

[skoot]

I've searched google and this site (as well as the RN one) but can't seem to find an asnwer to this. If you join as a Warfare Officer, could you end up serving on a submarine? Or is this only for people who specialise as a SWO? Also, do they have Hydrographic & Meterological Officers within the submarine service (and yes, I know it doesn't rain underwater...)?

Ta again,

Dickie

They tell you when you apply that they reserve the right to put you on subs if they don't have enough volunteers to fill the required places.

[Dickie]

So I could try and join as a WO, and volunteer for subs, and then later specialize in H&M or as a Diving Officer and that would be fine? Would I end up on surface ships then or something? I'd like at some point to get involved with the surveying side of things (dream job - Antarctica!), so can you volunteer for that, or is that a thing they give you to do? And as a H&M Officer, or any other officer for that matter, is there potential for something like scientific research expeditions?

And yet again, thanks for the answers. I only wish there was something I could do in return, so sorry guys!

Dickie

[OMSSMretd]

Dickie, I was not a submarine officer but I did serve 6 years on boats as an sonar operator. With boats you find that (especially seaman / warfare?) officers take on extra roles not specific to their job title ie the casing officer may also double as the communications officer. I see you have an interest in diving so if you were a qualified diver on a boat you would be asked to be part of the boats dive team, obviously and as long as there’s not an officer in charge already you would be become the diving officer as well as any other duties you might have. I think the point to bear in mind is that if you made the decision to volunteer (1st rule of the services never volunteer, only joking!) for boats as an officer or a rating for that matter you must be prepared to be flexible. A good example is a medical assistant would also be expected to be trained as a plainsman ie steering and controlling depth when dived.

[Doc]

Submariner officer training course day One according to manual

Repeat our loud 1000 times


"One ping only number one!"

[OMSSMretd]

Officer training day 2

When you require a rating to carry out a task quickly stand over him and ask repeatedly how long the task will take. This in fact will not improve the speed with which the task is completed but it will allow you to believe that you are actually in control.
see also the section on teaching your granny to suck eggs.

[Dickie]

Oh dear, do SS Officers have a bad reputation then?


By a 'qualified diver' do you mean a PADI Open Water course? I'm finishing one at the moment (just my last open water dive to do, in some freezing quarry in Wales. Why didn't I go and do it abroad?!).

I don't think driving the boat (why the hell are they called boats? 170m long things are not boats! A boat is something tiny!!!?) would be for me. I've got my driving test next week and stopped at a green light last week lol. Just joking, I'm sure they don't have traffic lights underwater

[jockladfaejockland]

I don't think driving the boat (why the hell are they called boats? 170m long things are not boats! A boat is something tiny!!!?)

I can help here! they are called boats because they have no upper deck! and in reply to yer first question yes you can join as a submariner warfare officer its all up to you. you can volunteer for submarines or you might get draughted to one anyway so its your call.

[Sarastro]

Is that the RN definition jock? Was under the impression that there wasn't really a universal definition for the difference between a ship and a boat (not since the time of sailing ships at least, where 3 square masts or more = ship, anything less a boat...but that doesn't apply anymore even for masted vessels), and there is simply a generalised understanding that ships are ocean-going deep-water vessels, and boats are coastal vessels.

Also thought that submarines were tecnically called ships by the Navy, but commonly referred to as boats by submariners? ie US Navy subs are designated SSBN or SSN, for Ship Submersible [Ballistic] Nuclear, but everyone on the things calls it their boat.

[jockladfaejockland]

I heard it from my first coxwain and I have been spreading the word ever since hope it was a gen dit!

[OMSSMretd]

I was under the impression that the reason they were called boats dates back to when submarines first came into service the powers that be at the admiralty at the time believed to attack another ship by stealth was ungentlemanley so would not dignify them with the title of ship, since then obviously things have changed but subs now are called boats out of tradition.

[OMSSMretd]

Dickie sorry mate don’t take my above post to heart its just a ickle joke, its just that when I was in the mob officers seemed to come from the planet posh. Think of it like this, officers are in effect a bit like post grad trainee managers (especially when they have just come out of training). Now imagine you work on the factory floor, you’ve done this job since you left school you know it so well that your bored with it. Then the new trainee manager comes and stands over you and tells you how to do your job. This is how I felt when I was a young rating. In my naivety I suppose I didn’t give the officers the respect that was due to them and perhaps I resented their education. They had worked hard to get there degrees and even harder still to do their officer training.
As diving qualifications I think whether you’ve got a civilian diving qualification or not you need to do the ships divers course, In my day , although I never did the course, potential divers had to go to Whale Island and do the notorious mud run, no doubt that heath and safety would no longer allow this.