Inside, Fearsome Firepower Amid Cramped Conditions

Two facts are paramount to understanding life aboard a U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine.

First, submarines are offensive weapons.

There are no supply or support submarines. Subs are designed and their crews trained to be deployed on the front lines for months at a stretch, to go into harm’s way quietly and, if necessary, with ferocious destructive power.

Second, a submarine is a very cramped place.

The sleeping berths for enlisted men are three-high, up to 21 in a compartment. Each rack is 75 inches long, 25 inches wide and 18 inches high, about the same size as a coffin but without the privacy.

The confluence of facts one and two make for an elan that is unique to the submarine service.

“We’re the point of the spear,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronald Parra as the boat glided several hundred feet beneath the surface while on a training mission off Southern California.

“The quality of life may be better on surface ships, but we do more exciting things,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Douglas Pervine.

For its 14 officers and 116 enlisted men, life at sea on the Salt Lake City is an unbroken string of 18-hour days: six hours standing watch (that is, doing your assigned job) then 12 hours doing maintenance duties, training, studying or, perchance, sleeping. After that, it is back on watch.

Because space is limited, the crew must “hot rack”--when one sailor arises to stand watch, another is waiting to use the same bed.

Because the crew is limited and the boat’s systems highly complex, all personnel are cross-trained. And even after being assigned to a submarine, sailors must earn their “dolphins,” the sub service’s traditional insignia: silver for enlisted, gold for officers.

Senior enlisted men who see a newcomer watching a movie or reading a magazine rather than studying for his dolphins have been known to bark that the time could be better spent paying attention to business.

“It takes a long time to win your dolphins,” said John Honrado, the ship’s cook. “Guys are very proud of them.”

Many of the enlisted sailors are but a few years out of high school. Not that long ago they were devoted solely to the pursuits of youth--sports, women, cars.

Now they are enduring lengthy deployments at sea, around-the-clock drills, and routinely going up to 60 days without the boat surfacing. The submarine record is 105 days submerged.

Submarine duty does have its compensations. The pay and food are better than on other ships. There is little risk of being seasick: once submerged, there is virtually no sensation of movement.

After finishing their watch, sailors assigned to the torpedo room sometimes sack out on mattresses beneath the torpedo racks, to be closer to their station if a general alarm is called. (Submarines are men-only because there is not enough space for separate sleeping quarters for women.)

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The boat carries an impressive arsenal that can be fired at land-based targets 700 miles away. A fast-attack submarine can carry up to 24 missiles and torpedoes. A single torpedo is designed to sink a medium-sized ship. During the Persian Gulf War, missiles fired by U.S. fast-attack submarines leveled office buildings.

It also has sonar equipment to detect other subs and surface vessels.

Sonar operators, with only a touch of boasting, say their gear is so sensitive that it can hear the clanging noise made by a rival submariner several miles away putting down the lid on a metal toilet.

The U.S. advantage in surveillance was undercut, however, by sonar secrets passed to the Russians in the 1970s and early 1980s by spies.

Still, a fully equipped, fully manned submarine is what the Navy calls an excellent “platform” from which to accomplish various military tasks.

“We can be there before anyone knows it, we gather intelligence, and we can find and destroy targets that no one else can,” said Lt. Cmdr. Phil Sawyer, the boat’s executive officer.

“Subs are the deadliest ship in the U.S. arsenal,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Michael McNamara.

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The boat is divided roughly in half. In the aft is the nuclear propulsion reactor that heats the steam that drives the turbines to provide electricity and drive the propeller. In the fore is everything else divided among three decks.

There is no privacy and little recreation. The Salt Lake City has a stationary bicycle, a StairMaster and a well-stocked library of movies for the two VCRs aboard. Submarine movies are big favorites.

In what may be the ultimate case of life-imitating-art-imitating-life, the Salt Lake City’s enlisted mess and officers’ ward room are festooned with pictures from “The Hunt for Red October,” “Destination Tokyo,” “Torpedo Run” and “Das Boot.”

Anyone who has seen a World War II submarine movie knows a good deal about life aboard the only kind of ship that intentionally sinks itself.

Computers and nuclear propulsion aside, the basics remain the same, including a horn that screams “Oogah, oogah, oogah!” while an officer gives the shouted command, “Dive! Dive! Dive!”

Launched in 1982, the cigar-shaped Salt Lake City is 360 feet long, 33 feet wide at the beam and weighs 7,000 tons. The Navy tells the world that the San Diego-based Salt Lake City, and other submarines of the same design, have a speed of 25 knots and a diving depth of 800 feet. The real numbers, which are larger, are classified.

The Salt Lake City has been cited for quietness and reliability, a point of pride with crew. Never has the boat missed a scheduled departure.

The captain is Cmdr. William D. French, a submariner for almost two decades. Naval experts say command aboard a submarine is particularly arduous because of the proximity of captain and crew; the captain’s every mood is seen and evaluated by his crew.

To a large degree, French seems to be the reason for the high morale aboard the Salt Lake City. He combines a strong sense of command and purpose with an air of collegiality and respect, and tries to make sure the crew understands the why of the mission, not just the how.

“It’s important for everybody to know why we have to work hard, why we have to be quiet, why we have to stay sharp,” French said. “We share a lot of data. A submarine is not a one-man show, it’s a 130-man show.”

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Glossary

* Fast-attack submarine: A submarine built to detect and sink enemy submarines and surface ships and to launch nonnuclear missiles at land targets.

* Trident submarine: A submarine built to launch ballistic nuclear weapons at sites up to 4,000 miles away.

* Los Angeles class: Adm. Hydman Rickover’s ultimate design for a fast-attack submarine. The majority of U.S. submarines are Los Angeles class.