NOVA Online | Submarines, Secrets, and Spies

Life on a Submarine

What does it feel like when your submarine launches a ballistic missile? When you finally earn your Dolphins, the submariner's equivalent of pilot's wings? When you find yourself heading to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis? When your sub accidentally dives below its maximum test depth? Click on the links below to hear the tales of former submariners about life underwater.

Bud and Mary Turner	"We didn't know whether the next "Flash" message would be a drill or the end of the world."

Dave Henry	"When your living space is the size of a three-bedroom house, and you've got 120 guys jammed in there, you develop a certain civility."

Patrick Householder	"The morning before the Cuban Missile Crisis broke, I was standing topside mid-watch when I noticed lights coming on at the Key West Submarine Base."

Bill and Lorraine Whalen	"When a missile went off, it was a lot like standing on a diving board while somebody jumped off the other end."

Lee Steele	"As soon as that hatch shuts, you know you are divorced from the real world. It's kind of liberating in a way."

Bob Berry	"We went past the test depth. That was probably the scariest feeling I have ever had."

Dennis Splane	"The collision damaged our sonar dome, but fortunately it didn't puncture the hull of the boat."

Tippy D'Auria	"Once you'd received your coveted Dolphins, somebody would grab you, and you'd be duly tossed overboard."

Paul Benton	"Why would I have gone unless there was some danger to it? I could have stayed home and read about it."

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