Discovery Channel: Submarines - Sharks Of Steel 1of4: The Submariners

What is a submarine? A submarine is a steel tube in which we put three thousand pound hydraulic pipes, 4,500 pounds per square inch high pressure air, everywhere you can reach we've got 450 bold AC power, 250 volt DC power we have fans and pumps. We armed with the weapons have almost unimaginable suspected power we propelled with a nuclear reactor and then we take it out and intentionally sinked in salt water. That's not inherently safe. The latest Los Angeles class fast attack submarine is limited in its capability by only one thing: how much food she can carry. Usually its 60 days supplies for her crew of almost 150. Getting them on board is a tricky maneuver everything that enters the submarine goes through a narrow hatch: food, men and weapons. The low is a sealed world of work, drills, sleep and more work in a cramped and sunless enviroment. The Topeka is preparing to go out on patrol only a handful of people know where she's going and for how long she may be gone 12 hours for six months patrolling close to Russia, or lurking in the Red Sea. This is the world the submariner regardless of his nationality The former Soviet Union still has the largest submarine fleet in the world though much of it consists of aging diesel electrics like this Foxtrot. She is nearing the end of her useful life nonetheless this patrol could take her far as the Mediterranean and for six months Returning from two months sea trials in the Atlantic is her majesty's submarine (HMS) Unseen. She is also a diesel-electric and is the Royal Navy's most modern non nuclear submarine. Submarines have always inspired both fascination and fear. their movements remain closely guarded secrets in the lives at the men on board is a mystery. They all belong to a closed society members have an exclusively male club. Separation is a fact of life shared by all submariners and their families want a man goes on patrol he may as well be on the moon it's a continual cycle love separation and reunion some say it's like a divorce every six months others that it's a honeymoon Not at myself but my views on the Navy so so as much concerned and going to see I think to spur love affair pressure on a marriage. ownership to see the ones I T A the last minute safety at sea maybe 5-6 days with a little pools we go out and spend six to eight weeks it's a in a BBC BBC regular but it all the time you can come to the family car want to them me there hardly the family hardly the children have to launch I want to your own they really understand six months put even have only gone for a week then are gone for a few days in the store ask mom where's daddy that sort of thing stand in front window where's daddy when she coming home was dead you know her dinner he said and you've seen for I am he takes any kind p i like it him when his bold moves away from the dock a submariner enters a world which he cannot share with anyone except those around him by tradition submarine service is the most secretive among the military in any country once the topeka reaches deep water of San Diego she will die entering her true the first dog was frightening I mean a school that Allah the some dreamworks a put together without any died when she stood there and the of afterward and festival out some control thank you this is wrong and I'm backwards and that goes down from within actually died after the Dec when your study on course merge Fisher static course worshipers I'm operating a submarine requires precision teamwork the captain's orders are repeated and relate several times before being carried out it's part of a system of multiple checks designed to eliminate possibility there merchant 150 be online be nice dying way the the Friday to submerge ship a submariner must do what every surface sailor dreads take water on board ballast tanks are flooded for extra weight and diving plane steer the boat below achieving what's called neutral buoyancy is a fine balance between submerging and sinking thanks a lot wash nicer up 33 down 72 technically it would be possible to automate or any of these functions 7 wanna submarine operators deboers 1500 feet a minor mechanical problem could push it to crush on him go quicker to identify emergencies signs computers cannot combat them as in the cockpit of an aircraft there is no we're on our mistakes seeing the foxtrot crew taker down you could be forgiven for thinking you are watching war two movie but once again rigorous teamwork is everything more than any other branch naval service each man relies absolutely on his crewmate to do his job correctly submariners overall navy's know their lives depend on each other whoever else maybe friend or foe they share a common enemy the sub-mariner has only one enemy and thats all-round him the immensely powerful and utterly implacable C the United States nearly suffered a tragic disaster drama not always written when the submarines responded to the bottom of the sea of the North Atlantic historically submarine ing has proved dangerous business reflected in the traditional hazardous duty pay CD even peacetime brings its own disasters as in the case at the square looks like to help 33 survivors now report everything about it the bench and the prospect of rescue remains uncertain in most of the waters of the world you cap recovers submarines as one admiral said the only point in locating a wreck is to know where to send the flowers of fun tonight coming home a second miles attorney want rescue workers proved act this way why family back toward to the safety record a bar submarines is not perfect in particular we have lost two nuclear submarines over the course of the program the thresher 1963 in a scorpion in 1968 were very significant events an hour program April 1963 a pleasure made her last day and again the watery tomb for a 129 men 8 the thresher was the deepest dive in combat submarine in the world her loss caused by flooding and a reactor shutdown was a tragic reminder that submarines operate along in an environment as unforgiving space there is no margin for mistakes in a submarine you're either online or did for the deck for sports right bike reversed course there a unique way by here alright 25 require measure analyze a record want euro responded all my aspect where r wright 25 degrees or commander injury on skews putting to Piqua through her paces usually he wants to crew but not this time among other things it's a good checked to see if everything stowed correctly if you're being chased the last thing you want is a tin of baked beans banging against the whole and giving your position away they call it angles and angles to this day the US Navy will only admit speeds in excess of 20 knots but it's accepted that boats like the Topeka are capable of nearly twice this speed almost fifty miles per hour submerged in the underwater games tag played between the superpowers speed and maneuverability are essential ingredients vital for outrunning your opponent and hopefully even his torpedoes largely remain almost two-thirds turns now let that Gary writer static or smart you Petty Officer sure is a nuclear engineer his work spaces after the cruise mass and occupies almost palpable it's a classified area where no cameras are allowed beyond this store is the heart of the Topeka the nuclear reactor highly radioactive uranium generates intense heat which superhits water in a separately both types to produce steam this drives a turbine to create electricity which in turn powers the propeller although nuclear safety is taken very seriously there's a friendly rivalry about the pros and cons of working on nuclear as opposed to diesel electric boat's they call as new clips we call in these woods is this the smaller you get from like a long time with with the Rio Samaras mean as you can see over that week we were there the boren's first marines and then these lights come on take order your take along one side speaking on and bring is the the call themselves and their proper some owners and these diesel boats in the back time you spend most time on surface some no rest my case admitted the service nucleotides micronet but I'm water we don't need citizen was when he died he stayed on as long as the food last at the only lead to a long as they died food the broader turn off the lights and glow in the dark do not have a name which is which is what's gonna happen with you hurry you that question a clear up to me when I started I had no idea what I was getting too I had the same ideas about glowing people in material stuff as China how is no very safe every person and use your army fact everyone on the boat I tertiary where's dosimetry measures toasted radiation media my national like this review smarting over my bell and it measures my gamma neutron radiation the US Navy is intensely sensitive to public perceptions of nuclear power and the safety of its man but unanswered questions remain about the affected exposure and the potential danger of nuclear submarines in heavily-populated ports even the welfare of civilian refit workers is now a matter for debate safeties abuse asking safety is everything and entire voters decide cue everything in the boat if anything happened russian nuclear submarines have a poor safety record despite the claims that their designs water was religion as a personal attack yeltsin you need some help some of you ask me my assessment of the radiation added on board these boat I kill the infected strange as it may seem the lever radiation on board nuclear-powered submarines is lower than what you and I are exposed to on a walk around the city all submarines are designed as weapons of war once underway the rhythm of the machine takes over whether it's an antiquated diesel-electric like this or a modern nuclear bombs priority is given to the propulsion and weapon systems on a deck built for missile tubes living quarters must be crammed the space is left over 1 5 11 all the time submariners life is unique in the military unlike the Aviator all the tank driver he doesn't Park his weapon at the end of the day he lives inside the machine they used to call them sewer night sailor's but nowadays atmosphere control is a rigorous apart from indulging smokers Aerosoles luminous watchers and even boot polish or forbidden list they contaminate the closed environment fresh oxygen and water are made from the sea by more they say the food is the best in the service but unlike the Royal Navy no alcohol is allowed on board and listed many the same as the officers but there's a Childline rather than silver service trash must be compacted and dumped into the sea heavily weighted so as not to betray your position underway distinction between night and day quickly disappears your time is broken into watches six hours on six hours of Rick Rick timing I'm going what weekends become a thing of the past the routine is relentless yet I'm arkla company your months earlier on the place that that's yours and we we have to do things they're kinda keep our morale of my guys bring personalize sheets when they go to see watching Snoopy sheets i've seen. sheets with hearts on ARM even seen one guy where a guy and a computer image of falling computer image of his wife former she so honors very little privacy barriers here no I don't knowingly only on your rack yeah its that's the only place somewhere that you can really neo go your thoughts together it released day you just have to jump it close a curtain that's all you got as far as probs yeah Rustenburg share share our lives here good bread e public takes a special type of bloke 27 submarines I not all the possible it is however one but there are very few people in fact I can only think about two or three you have not enjoyed the comradeship my closeness and the sort of independence that you have a submarine which is a here barbecue your characteristics that means you are quite literally living in each other's pockets do get close the I mean Friendship Heights yeah the car in her units builds a something so special for friendships you know that's a you wouldn't outside any on something you live in on such component spices monarch and because surely together you literally sleep on top one with not but yeah this a.m not been able to a pizza are you got drinking together when you arrive at a port my heart see-saw bodies all bodies in bucks is a sin very close on board but we on patrols attention you can go too much at times he need to get away from someone but no to run your own booze Eastham economy it takes a special kind of visibility I'm stressed times econ stress call upon the Lord well-mannered things about well added now it's just like a big family when you're on your way everyone's really tight you know the way you talk to people the way touch people I'm I think everybody here Roy secure with themselves making booze like this underway in this kind of environment played in public they will be acceptable the engineers or nukes joked that the torpedo man's job is to protect their reactor torpedo man or cromer's called the nukes their chauffeur's either way the torpedo is central to the hunter killers lethal anti-submarine world sophisticated actors mark 48 torpedoes right into its target by 20,000 York maximum speed of 55 miles an hour the advanced capabilities version is fast enough to catch the swiftest russians summary topeka also carries tomahawk cruise missiles demonstrated with such ferocity during the gold for buyers sisters tools loaded to be ready for action mothers a very little difference between a submarine operating peacetime and wartime is farr's the submarine is concerned we're going out no we r Colbert 0 we're doing the same type bold missions we do everything up to the point does actually firing our weapons in and that is wanna the reasons why our readiness is so high is it where we going to an area were not detected con no one knows where they're so we can conduct our operations just as if we had a wartime mission in that area this is the captain our situation right now is that we are moving into way area where there's been a hospital submarine activity we've received offers the who is back in the hospital covering and we're conducting our sonar search for those contact now carry on it sounded the sounder dole water running their hydrophone we use for underwater communication we can also hear other Clark night and we're listening her close contact with hear their school flavonoids coming in that coming through that speaker a fast attack submarine is always only minutes away from responding to for initiating aggression at the same time she might spy on enemy maneuvers or intercept their underwater communication systems essential to hold this is still remaining undetected it requires a state of constant alert commander jim Blonsky his first priority in wartime would be destruction up enemy boomers before they could launch their nuclear missiles this might involve intricate maneuvers under the polar ice cap traditional territory for russian submarines are you gonna do it not to do it his medal of of Hill ballistic missile submarines like the typhoon operate to a different rhythm much of their time is spent simply hiding like cosmonauts aboard an orbiting space station their crews live a life virtual suspended animation all but not even Jules Verne pictured life like this at the bottom of the sea as the world's biggest submarine the typhoon deserves the traditional nickname up the floating hotel in its atmosphere above comfortable it's likely dated health its easy to forget its deadly purpose doing it's one way maintaining room around despite very low pay uncertainty about the future and poor conditions at home despite all his responsibility even captain Julie of earns only a few dollars a month the news you well ruled the 0 lmao well 0 0 0 and then there's the traditional fringe benefit to the nuclear submarine ok in would russia may be finding it hard to feed its civilian population but it clearly attach is importance to taking care of the submarine force little things are important now the cops burnt out the whole crew gets past can show the movie when you want to upsets people we messed with each other a lot will know something agitated I so will will do that advocating just to get to a those last three more weeks patrol Taylor base ready you know their bodies like at each others throats here goes just just gonna face starts out everyone's a pretty good mmm am happy to have a long climb year fortunate we tend to get pretty uptight we do little things that are funny to us Mike from the other people we freeze people's shoes stealer Palolem sounds like kid stuff but it breaks the boredom out there the isolation is in tenths you can call home or even write a letter buddy times each patrol the Navy allows you a message from home whatever news can be squeezed in 250 words they call them family grams I'll I know you'll think I'm crazy but I had to bring home just to hear your voice on the answering machine 0 it made me cry can't wait to see you are my love had boo mammograms really important once we get underway and on toward the end patrol as ago you know you just gotta have something to keep the guys up and evening going and added that the morale background and the Grammys is is the baby on the boat one enjoys being a rating means after what began to walk to the ship you got a whole stack family grams in hand papers and they're gone we're going to gramm I get a gram know it's kinda bad as when you have to give a gram per mom right on my mom had right but down my wife as are you find out that their kids are doing great basketball yes yes am some even it's a good feeling it's a great night so I got milk: on the old movies well call in the confinement and isolation boredom can become a professional hazard I think anyone has more time with their job sometimes but thats you me sittin on watch and then you pick the bus on a min pick up a contact in what was a boring mid-march now you're chasing somebody I tajik control we have one been classified as a hostile submarine cr3 for now bear 098 the context gone to the way my intention is to move around behind a min get in position to attack them with the mark 48 torpedo carry on ship we operate in realistic scenarios you don't think about it a lot but did in the back to your mind you know that your profession called Moniz to go out there and destroy the enemy we're ready to do that up build for the course 39 years old commander Edward job lansky controls a billion-dollar weapon system it's a responsibility relations it's a very challenging time and and it get your heart pumping because you know that you're in a position where if you make a mistake you have the potential to to give away your position them opens Aug 30 30 be the first to about you for be the backup you rebirth to for back up dude our mission is to go in there and destroy specific targets whether it's with or torpedoes or with or cruise missiles and but whether we carry nuclear weapons are not is not something then you know can be discussed in the on class by level so believe the question at that it's a violent profession if you look at it you know it the fundamental level but you're not going to deter aggression or be your enemy without some destruction up or funny up up very well lip up talents but I'm what well block back hear from them scared one somewhat obscure battles care about ship all stations not slowing paid 150 be every numbers help words is clearly the best submarine in the world I mean there's there is no compares as far as I'm concerned there's no other platform that I would want to be on it if the shooting started we could take on and defeat anything that's out there I'm sure the deck proceed occurs group to for months on end the captain along will decide on the submarines operations reporting is results only non return to base constant drilling like this anti-submarine exercise keeps the edge on his men during the long periods of confinement tough ruthless training isn't just a game professionalism it's because as another kind of pressure it's not just the cu2+ exerts pressure it's a circumstances the psychological pressure aboard the submarine had a the navy's operation hideout draws to a close after two months of being sealed below decks for the 23-man volunteer group it's been a test the human fitness over prolonged periods of submerged conditions and the cruise reactions will largely determine the human factor in the Navy's first atomic submarine designed to stay under indefinitely what's the first thing these parents the dogs wanted to do after 60 days in confinement by shave with bridge popped water federal recover said we don't know if we have any problems wears a rich because we don't sense a Carter said them and I rather and/or slapped one atomics not less on the card and historic underwater voyage from Hawaii we had a psychiatrist for example on board the Nautilus when it went under poll and looking for the stresses of the people the stressors aren't there people are stressed submarine operations if they are they will get in on more than okay to the only persons trust button populace was psychologist because the crew teased him so much one place I want when I was on one suffering we had very limited amount of water underneath this family had very limited amount a water Obama's because polarize the job you did then was very very important one mistake im everything gonna you hit the boundary and the RA's so its trust will be in out there all by yourself the pressure of separation contributes to the highest divorce rate in the armed services one bad things about them some reading in general usually around each run windup maybe 22 remorse after a while reading the same Rams over seeing when there's a problem Graham they lose after a while reno Hansen don't really want to get the guiding them with NaCl posted I better you don't hear about it there's nothing you can do about it having gonna be out there on the drawing on the day and doing your job and you don't know about it you're better off you know it in your bag the people who survive that pressure and perform really well those who had the toughest raining sometimes people say okay how do they release that pressure well i can tell you the best way by far it's six wives and girlfriends are really crucial to submit this for more than a month and personal welcome from wives and children families and brand a scene in which america joins while ago in that maybe traditional was a cruise well some allies get off or longley and they won't let their husbands know that their love Lee saw there said Diana you get some spicy family grams and not not to to the point being bothered with slightly risque something like I can't wait to wrap my loving arms and legs around you or something to that effect or I can't wait for you to bring home the they have a special dinner ready for you can't wait for you to bring home the me yeah things that affect and those kinda grams will talk about the names know that no one gets in various to protect the innocent or guilty or whatever and a those become the family grams in the week with posters down a mess decks are right get a laugh at them if it weren't for the gramm sometimes would go insane thereby as to know that you know missus an adventure I wish to go home 30 miss you know ruinous our families threat well typically this is the hardest part of a submarine family's life the Georgia is preparing to depart on patrol today when they say goodbye in a couple hours time her cool and their families will not see each other for three months are me once and has been in for almost 14 years and can get used to it you myself the street are fortune wheels on really want my children being born I was gone shortly after and I I'd leave home you more so long backing the before five months old and in some cases you know 67 it's real hard children growing every year and find anywhere lemme 269 know the people talk about well I was with my dad and I did this message well child go on this time we mine uranium mines radioman effort back courtroom and again and again fundraising not just when they come home remind them in the coming home to you labor leaving the family an hour after the Georgia has pulled away from the war she must pass through this floating bridge on our way to open sea under patrol area four wives and families it's the last glimpse the submarine with their men on board and by tradition some gather here for a final farewell in I'll no

Channel: Zsolt Szekretár

Views: 1,040,058

Rating: 4.6558986 out of 5

Keywords: Discovery Channel (TV Network), Submarines: Sharks Of Steel, Submariners, navy, military, us, soviet, russian, submarine, nuclear, typhoon, ballistic, missile, icbm, ssn, ssbn, cold war, weapon, documentary

Id: _YAEitUAAZs

Length: 46min 20sec (2780 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 31 2014