The crew of a submarine needs to breathe - how do they get enough oxygen? Well, submarines have special machines that make oxygen from ocean water. They use a process called electrolysis, which means using electricity to break apart H20 molecules to get oxygen.
You could spend a week on a yellow submarine breathing the same air without suffering any ill effects. The research is reported in the latest edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Journal of Environmental Monitoring. Modern submarines can stay underwater without coming to the surface for several days.
A submarine is a sealed container that contains people and a limited supply of air. There are three things that must happen in order to keep air in a submarine breathable: Oxygen has to be replenished as it is consumed. If the percentage of oxygen in the air falls too low, a person suffocates.
The Submarine Force is often called “The Silent Service” because of how it operates. Submarines can submerge more than 600 feet below the ocean's surface for up to four months at a time, constantly patrolling and working classified missions.
The cans are ejected from the submarine using a trash disposal unit (TDU), which is a long cylindrical, vertical tube connected to the ocean through a ball valve.
A submarine has huge tanks, called ballast tanks, that allow it to dive and to surface. The tanks fill with water to give the submarine the weight it needs to sink. When the submarine is ready to surface, the ballast tanks release the water and fill with air.
Most of the time, ships use passive sonar, essentially listening to the ocean. But active sonar, which bounces high-intensity sound off an object, is more accurate. The Navy's own studies have shown the impact active sonar has on marine mammals. Even large blue whales will turn away from ships using it.
The showers on a submarine are set up much like the ones in your home, well kind of. They have hot and cold water access with a recirculation pump so that the water stays hot so that you can use it quickly and efficiently by minimising water usage. Reducing water usage is a constant major driver for submariners.
For a recent deployment the Jefferson City loaded up with 9,800 pounds of flour, 1,200 pounds of chicken, 1,000 pounds of prime rib, 1,000 pounds of ground beef, 800 pounds of potatoes and 100 dozen eggs. In all, the submarine will typically carry about 15,000 pounds of food, or about 110 pounds per sailor per patrol.
The source explained: "Because it's a working environment everything gets positioned and the body will be lifted and put in the fridge, not in the torpedo tube like on Vigil, photographs are also taken as it's classed as a crime scene.”
Even though the entire submarine has air cooling facility, only two decks are air-conditioned. The temperature in the rest of the submarine is around 30-35 degrees and the crew works in sweltering heat.
Since submarines don't have access to municipal water systems or wells, they have to find a way to maintain a fresh water supply for drinking. Most ships have special equipment that can remove the salts from seawater to turn it into fresh drinking water. This process is called distillation.
In the enclosed atmosphere of the submarine, these pollutants can build up and pose a health risk. Therefore, aerosol cans (such as hair spray, shave cream, spray deodorant) are not authorized to be brought on board.
No, it will be fine. Pressure inside the submarine is well controlled and essentially the same as regular atmospheric pressure.
The inside of the submarine is maintained at normal atmospheric conditions, and so it feels no different to being on the surface. Therefore even at the bottom of the ocean your ears will NOT be affected.
There is a small gym onboard for exercise and alcohol is permitted, in limited quantities, although most abstain.
James Lind is remembered as the man who helped to conquer a killer disease. His reported experiment on board a naval ship in 1747 showed that oranges and lemons were a cure for scurvy.
Ectopic pregnancies, which are not statistically rare, would create additional emergencies requiring immediate, extremely hazardous, evacuations, sometimes in midocean. Britain, Canada and the U.S. Navy do not put women on submarines primarily because of these irresolvable health risks and operational complications.
Female officers have been going to sea in submarines since 2011. Three years later, the plan to incorporate enlisted women was announced, which took lessons from the past 40 years of integration of women into other Navy communities.
The crew constantly trains to handle various casualties, such as fire or flood. In addition to keeping the crew ready for any emergency, these drills also help shipmates pass the time. A submarine "day" lasts 18 hours and is split into three six-hour shifts.
The fearless cookie-cutters have even disabled the most dangerous ocean creature of all—the nuclear submarine. They attacked exposed soft areas including electrical cables and rubber sonar domes.
When not engaged in combat, attack submarines patrol the open ocean or a “forward area“—for the United States this commonly includes the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, the Western Pacific, the Soviet Arctic, and the Sea of Okhotsk. Patrols usually last for 30 to 60 days.
In November 1990 the pelagic trawler Antares sank in the Firth of Clyde with all four crew members on board all losing their lives. The loss of the vessel was immensely controversial as it emerged that the Antares was sunk when its nets became tangled with a Royal Navy nuclear submarine that passed underneath.