NAVY NEWS, MAY 2008
The age of VVengeance
these are available to the men of Vengeance. are very much our own). should only be called upon if all else fails. (but they do at least give you a light), you work
The sole link with the outside world is a daily And when we say it’s American, we mean it’s And that neatly sums up Vengeance herself. She abnormal hours, Big Brother’s always listening,
print-out of world news and sporting results, plus American – there’s no taking into account British should only ever be used in extremis. and you’re able to unleash Armageddon.
60 words sent twice a week by loved ones. sensibilities. Lurking beneath the seas ready to lob a weapon There have to be some pluses.
It’s best not to put anything saucy in these No, the computer cabinets are a light brown of last resort on an enemy is not ‘just a job’. Well, as of April 1, deeps on a boat have been
‘familygrams’ as the off-watch crew ashore reads (instead of the turquoise which dominates the RN). Working on the supermarket tills is ‘just a job’. receiving £5 extra per day to compensate for such
the messages before they’re sent and the CO The measurements are Imperial: all PSI and feet The burden the men of the V boats bear has no conditions – but as CPO Burton, 22 years a ‘bomber
reads every one once it arrives aboard. – whereas in the rest of the boat they’re metric. comparison. queen’, points out “I’ve never met anyone in the
The odd horny message might get through. Bad And then there are the instruction manuals full of “A lot of people focus on ‘that day’ and Submarine Service who does it for the money.”
news does not. If there are bad tidings to impart – rather strange negatives – ‘hatch not shut’ rather the responsibility it entails,” explains Cdr If it’s not about the money, then it must be
deaths in the family, car crashes and the like – then than the more natural ‘hatch open’. McKendrick. something intangible.
these are imparted at the very end of the patrol, Actually, Trident’s not the only part of Vengeance “The greater responsibility is borne every day “Someone the other day said that getting your
when the boat is about to return to Faslane. with an American fl avour... although the other one – the need for being ready to be ready. You have dolphins was similar to getting the green beret,”
If it sounds harsh it’s because the mission is is not quite so large (or destructive). to be able to launch at any time. CPO Burton adds.
more important than the man. Nothing should stop Down in Manoeuvring – the submarine equivalent “If that order does come, then you know the Yes, it’s about esprit de corps. “One boat,
a bomber completing its patrol. of the Ship Control Centre in skimmerland decision has been made in the most extreme of one team,” Lt Cheater adds. “Everyone knows
And that includes serious illness among the – engineers keep tabs on Vengeance’s power circumstances.” everybody else’s job. It’s a question of safety and
crew. Every bomber carries a doctor on patrol source and everything which it drives. To date on Vengeance’s 16 patrols, those it’s why the dolphins mark us out from the rest of
– unlike corresponding surface ships – who can The reactor/ ‘most extreme of the Fleet.”
carry out surgery in a makeshift operating room engineering systems
(actually the junior rates’ mess). display is a glittering,
“A lot of people focus on ‘that
circumstances’ have That does not mean that Silent Service doesn’t
mercifully never come face the same problems as the surface fl eet. It
Such operations are, thankfully, rare. “Having well, colourful, array of
day’ and the responsibility
to pass. too suffers ‘pinch points’ and some submariners
been in the General Service, submariners seem lights and switches laid
to be pretty healthy,” says PO(MA(SM)) Mark out in an easy-to-follow
it entails. The greater
Instead, the boat grumble about being bounced from boat to boat;
has returned 16 times as Britain’s ultimate weapon, no bomber departs
Chambers. “But if you get a cold then it can wipe schematic diagram.
responsibility is borne every
to Faslane with few on patrol without 100 per cent of her crew.
out a third of the ship’s company.” There’s no ship’s
Which isn’t good. Even less so when you realise telegraph in the
day – the need for being ready
outside the Silent And we do ask a lot of these men of the deep.
Service aware of what From taking charge of the boat to the day they
that the sickbay (aka God’s waiting room) is traditional sense. A small
to be ready. You to be able to
she’s done or where hand her over to her Port crew this summer, the
pretty rudimentary (it’s basically a bog-standard button marked ‘accept’
cabin with a bed and lots of medicine stashed in fl ashes when the
launch at any time.”
she’s been. Starboard team will have lived and breathed
There are nothing but Vengeance, save for a few days at
cabinets). control room demands
– Cdr Andrew McKendrick
no traditional home, for seven or eight months.
But then that rather sums up life in a submarine. a change in revolutions homecomings, no I spent but a day aboard Vengeance. The smell
It’s the Navy stripped down to its bare essentials. (submariners think in banners, no families of fresh air and the sight of blue skies were most
“We sail with everything we need – albeit in basic terms of rpm, not half speed, full ahead and the waving on the quayside – the RN, rightly, doesn’t welcome.
form,” says PO(ET) Paddy McAllister, a Strategic like). like to advertise its bomber movements. As I waited to clamber up a less-than-inviting
Weapons System technician. And on top of the reactor ‘throttle’ which is Besides, it’s not like a surface ship returning vertical ladder on to the casing, a procession of
It’s the job of Paddy and his SWS shipmates used to adjust the position of the control rods is from deployment: the crew do not fi le off with their submariners scurried down it: the men of FOST.
to keep constant watch on the missiles in their perched an eight ball. Thereby hangs a tale long kit bags within minutes of the brow landing on the For just as Vengeance has to go through the
tubes. and unprintable, but it does involve a pool table quay. acoustic range before deploying, so her men must
You see, you don’t just load a Trident into its and a bar in the USA... It takes 12 to 24 hours to shut down the reactor go through the mill of Operational Sea Training.
silo, sail off on patrol, then unload the missile back As for the reactor, don’t expect to be wowed after the patrol. There’s also a bit of de-storing to Unlike their surface counterparts, the deep
at Coulport. by this marvel of technology. Yes, it can drive the do. There’s enough paperwork and data recordings FOSTies come aboard and stay aboard; there’s no
No, the missiles sit cocooned inside their tubes, most complex machine man has ever built beneath from a mission to fi ll a Transit van. Everything in boat transfer at the day’s end back to base – these
umbilical cords reaching out to them feeding them the waves. Yes, it can power a large town. the control room is recorded – rather like the Black chaps are on for four weeks (they even have their
the data they require and sensors checking the But to look at, it is, well, rather dull. Don’t expect Box in an airliner – down to the conversations and own mess area).
temperature and humidity. any fl ames. Don’t expect any Promethean fl ashes chatter. “We actually fi nd it works better,” says Lt Kris
Trident is powered by solid fuel rocket motors or arcs of lightning. Don’t even expect a pilot light “Everything we do is analysed by a team – they Shields. “We get to see the human side of the
and that solid fuel really doesn’t like getting damp fl ame. No, all you can see, should you choose to go over everything and report to the Assistant Chief FOSTies living and working alongside them,
(just watch the Youtube clip of HMS Gloucester’s look, are a few grey metal blocks. of Naval Staff about how effectively we maintained getting the banter going.”
Sea Dart mis-fi re to give you an idea of what could Not everything aboard Vengeance is at the our patrol,” Cdr McKendrick explains. Banter yes, but remember that the man from
go wrong). cutting edge of technology, however. “It’s a level of scrutiny which no-one else has. FOST is always right.
So like nurses caring for incubated babies, the Amid the dials and displays, the coloured It doesn’t make us paranoid, but it does make us “I think we are all ready for the days ahead,”
missile control team sit in, er, missile control and switches and readouts in the control room, there’s extremely honest.” Vengeance’s XO Lt Cdr ‘Billy’ Dainty tells his
nurture their ‘offspring’. a large funnel squeezed between the planesmen’s So, you live in a steel tube, you don’t see daylight shipmates over the intercom.
Missile control, like the missiles and the silos seats. or experience fresh air for three months, you “Remember: there is never an occasion to argue
and the fi ring system are all American, part A voice pipe connects the control room with the can’t have a fag (smoking is now banned inside with the FOST staff. If there is any doubt, say
of a long-time deal with our ‘cousins’ (the fi n. If you holler loudly enough the men topside all submarines), you’re completely out of contact ‘Thank you very much, Sir, for your support.’ Enjoy
missile’s nuclear warheads, however, should be able to hear you – and vice versa. It with your families, your bunk is the size of a coffi n FOST and keep smiling.”
picture: po(phot) tam mcdonald, frpu clyde
014-015_NN_May.indd 2 21/4/08 10:23:23
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