You'll receive your 'Dolphins' on completion of your Submariner training and after time spent at sea refining your skills. This highly prestigious badge can only be worn by Sailors and Officers who have proudly earned the right to serve on the Royal Australian Navy's submarines.
Criteria: The Submarine Warfare Insignia (also known as "dolphins" or "fish") is a uniform breast insignia worn by enlisted men and officers of the United States Navy to indicate that they are qualified in submarines.
In the summer of 1923, while serving as Commander, Submarine Division Three, Captain Ernest J. King proposed that the Navy create a warfare insignia device for qualified submariners. The insignia came to be known as “dolphins” or “fish,” and is one of the Navy's oldest warfare devices.
Unlike his naval colleagues serving on surface ships, a fully qualified submariner, whatever his trade, can take an individual through his boat and explain, in great detail, what everything in the boat does and how to operate it - even in complete darkness. That takes training and it is called earning your dolphins.
For the men and women of the Submarine Force, it's the submarine warfare insignia, known informally as submarine “dolphins.” Submariners earn their dolphins by demonstrating vast knowledge of all systems aboard a submarine in a process called qualifying.
Since 1959, the U.S. Navy has trained dolphins and sea lions as teammates for our Sailors and Marines to help guard against similar threats underwater. The Navy's Marine Mammal Program has been homeported on Point Loma since the 1960's.
To earn the right to wear "fish" or "dolphins", prospective submariners complete an extensive qualification process that lasts about one year (for both enlisted and officers, though the two programs differ significantly) and covers all of the submarine's systems.
Dolphins, attendants to the Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and patron deity to sailors, is sometimes referred to as the sailor's friend. They were also chosen to represent the Submarine Service because of the characteristic way in which dolphins dive and surface.
An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. SSN is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the SS denotes a submarine and the N denotes nuclear power.
The Dolphin Code
Loosely based on the Air Force's 'Falcon Code', it was designed to allow the submarine to send a brief message to ships and aircraft during an exercise.
Sailors of many nations consider a dolphin to be lucky, or a good omen. Often, this was for practical reasons, as pods of dolphins frequent shipping lanes and coastal areas where humans dwell. For the earliest seafarers, a dolphin would have been a welcome sight and sign that dry land wasn't far away.
Much-loved by the ancient Greeks
Myths often speak of dolphins as altruistic, saviour figures in the lives of sailors and even for some of the Greek gods. One myth records that dolphins saved a talented poet, Arion, from being killed while he was on board a ship returning from a poetry contest.
Since Bangor, Washington, now houses the largest single nuclear weapons site in the world, it needs protection from all sides, including the seaward side. That's where the Navy's dolphin pods and sea lions come in.
Established in 1995, The Gold and Silver Dolphin Awards recognize annually the officer and enlisted submariners serving on a commissioned submarine on the anniversary of the Submarine Force (April 11) who have the earliest dates of qualification in submarines.
Dolphins follow boats out of curiosity, entertainment, and to catch a free ride with the current pressure. Dolphins burn less energy while achieving a higher speed when they swim in the wake a boat leaves behind. Dolphins may follow commercial fishing ships because they are trying to get a free meal.
Silent running is a stealth mode of operation for naval submarines. The aim is to evade discovery by passive sonar by eliminating superfluous noise: nonessential systems are shut down, the crew is urged to rest and refrain from making any unnecessary sound, and speed is greatly reduced to minimize propeller noise.
The up or down angle of a submarine underway, measured in degrees from the horizontal. A "zero bubble" is an even keel as contrasted to an "up bubble" or a "down bubble." (Ship's Clinometer demonstrating "zero bubble.")
When the large nuclear subs began to appear, there was an attempt by some submariners to start calling them ships, but as with many things in the Navy, tradition trumped logic, and today, all submarines—even the giant “boomers” (fleet ballistic-missile submarines)—are called boats.
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.
They watch movies, play video games, play cards, or just sit around and hang out. Sometimes they will get in a gym workout or run. Yes, submarines have gyms. Some modern-day subs are the length of two football fields and seven feet tall.
By tradition, some gendarmes may still grow a moustache. Submariners may be bearded, clean-shaven, or "patrol-bearded", growing a beard for the time of a patrol in reminiscence of the time of the diesel submarines whose cramped space allowed for rustic and minimal personal care.
Bubblehead: A sailor in the Submarine service.
It is important to note that the dolphins on the insignia are fish (also known as dorado or mahi-mahi).
The person in charge of a submarine is called the captain or the commanding officer.