Life Aboard US WW2 Subs

As long as the men were OK being in small space, it didn’t feel much different. They were inside the pressure hull, meaning that the pressure they felt personally wasn’t very different. It was sort of like being in a passenger plane. The change in pressure isn’t very noticeable. The difference, of course, is that in airplanes, the outside pressure is less. In submarines, the pressure was greater but it was still outside the pressure hull. In short, it was no big deal. Depending on the weather and the sea state topside, being submerged might have been preferable

The hull did compress a little when they went deep. However, at least on these WW2 boats, it wasn’t enough to notice a pressure change. It may still have been enough to harass the new crew members. Old salts could tie a string from one side of the hull to the other and pull it tight when on or near the surface. Then, as the boat went deeper and the hull compressed, the string sagged all out of proportion to the actual compression. It looked far more significant than it was.

Of course, the boat rides better as it gets below much of the wave action from above.

Perhaps, but it quickly became much quieter. Down at 100 to 150 feet, the wave motion from the typical swells was mostly or completely gone. The boat was much steadier. However, they probably would be aware of up and down angles during larger changes in depth. Those were due to the operation of the boat and are separate from wave action.

Shortly after leaving port, the captain would usually do “angles and dangles.” This was normally announced in advance. The captain then ordered depth changes with larger up and down angles. This was done to shake loose any equipment and supplies that weren’t stored properly. It provided an opportunity to properly store everything before it could become a problem.

The primary purpose was to protect night vision. When going from white lights to darkness – in this case up on the bridge or looking through the periscope – the men were practically blind for 15 seconds or more. Sailors preferred not hurting themselves when going to their assignments. By going from red lights to darkness, they usually avoided the time that they were completely blind.

Red lights also reduced the time to fully adapt to the dark. Although some people claim that it takes hours to get full night vision, eyes mostly adapt to darkness in about 20 minutes if the person comes from white lights. If, however, the person comes from red lights, eyes adapt in about half that time

The lookouts in WW2 were looking for smoke on the horizon, usually the first indication of enemy ships. There may not have been a moon up yet, or maybe the sky was clouded over. They were looking for smoke in a dark, grey night. The lookouts needed the best opportunity of seeing enemy activity for the safety of the whole boat.

When getting ready for a watch on the bridge, sailors would usually be given red glasses or goggles to help preserve their night vision. This would prevent a stray flashlight or match from doing any damage to their night vision. In addition, all flashlights used in red-light spaces should have a red lens for the same reason.

Red lights also didn’t give away our location. White lights can show a beam for a great distance. If you remember the first 9/11 memorials in New York City, you know what this means. The memorials were just lights shining up to the sky from where the towers had stood. Those beams of light were visible for miles all around like pillars. Submarines didn’t want to show something like that.

Most of the boat would be rigged for red. Only maneuvering and the engine rooms would still be using white lights. The after torpedo room would be rigged for red for sleeping purposes. Crew there would have to go through the machinery spaces, where they are exposed to white lights, to get to the bridge unless they are wearing red glasses.

Reds lights in the boat at night did not cause serious difficulties. It was a bit harder to see gauges and labels in red lights, but the crew got used to that quickly. The most famous issue was that it was briefly impossible to play cards. If you have a deck in true red light, the red numbers and spots (hearts and diamonds) completely disappear. Sub sailors are quite resourceful and quickly solved the problem. They outlined the hearts and diamonds, and repeated the numbers, in black. Soon there were decks of cards printed for submarines produced by the Electric Boat Company. For an example of the solution, Google https://www.wopc.co.uk/search/query/submarine+playing+cards/ and click on option 2, Submarine Cards.

Is this a problem for you in your home, most commonly when coming out of the bathroom at night? We turn off the lights and open the door, and we see nothing for 15 seconds or so. One solution would be to install red lights in the bathroom. However, we assume that is not likely to happen. Another option is to do the “pirate thing.” (What on earth are we talking about? Is this person daft?) You have probably noticed that nearly all depictions of pirates include an eye patch. Certainly, you didn’t think that every pirate has lost an eye to injury. Pirates wore the eye patch when they were inside their lighted ship. Then, when they went up on deck, they would flip the eye patch up and out of the way. Then they could see out of the eye that had been covered while the other was still adjusting to the dark. We don’t need to use an eye patch. Just close one eye about 15 seconds before we turn out the lights. It looks strange for a bit, but it works.

Very few, if any. Unlike today, there was no way to call or text the family back at home. There were serious concerns about security. Finally, there were concerns about servicemen getting bad news when they couldn’t do anything about it. There was no sense letting a sailor know about serious problems back at home when he couldn’t do anything at all about it.The news would be saved until the boat returned to port.

Letters were the obvious means of communications with families. Sailors might write regularly, but there was no incoming or outgoing mail when at sea. Large surface ships might get or send mail occasionally using replenishment ships. Since submarines operated separately or in small groups, there were no postal deliveries. As a result, sailors would receive mail from home in batches. They would also mail their letters out in batches.

Outgoing mail was censored. It was normally be read by one of the officers and there might be some holes where sensitive information was cut out. Naturally, some sailors would develop code words or phrases that would provide some very basic information about what was happening. However, orders were secret before departure and the crew would not normally know where they would be patrolling next. There wasn’t much they could give away.

There was one message in the Pampanito’s office about the birth of a child. That was likely sent while the boat was coming back to port. It was important to remember that the lack of some good news, such as the expected birth of a child, can be the same as bad news. It may be better practice to withhold all such news until the boat was in port or very close.

On the WW2 boats, it was often claimed that the only exercise the men got was jumping to conclusions or harassing each other. The fact was that there wasn’t the room, and often not the time, for regular exercise. There was usually some work going on during the day in the few compartments with space. As a result, the only real exercise would come from whatever manual work the men had to do or going up and down ladders.

There are only the two offices on the boat. There was the log office for the engineering department, which was the tiny space in the maneuvering room. The ship’s office, for the yeoman, was a bit larger and was located across from the goat locker in the forward battery. The captain’s cabin has a desk and a bit more storage but isn’t really an office. And that’s all folks.

The captain did get the separate cabin all to himself, although it isn’t that fancy. It did allow a minimum of privacy, although there was only a curtain instead of a door. He did have his own desk as well as course and depth indicators at the foot of the bed. It should also be noted that he would probably be awakened often, in accordance with his night orders. He would want to know of any potential enemy contacts as soon as possible. He would also want to know when the battery charge was completed and when the boat was prepared for the activities of the next day. In peacetime, the captain would also want to know whenever any ship was expected to come within five miles of the boat. He would expect to know what the OOD was doing to stay clear of the other ship.

They didn’t always think so. The first issue was that captains often overestimated the type of ship that was attacked, the damage done and the tonnage sunk. This estimate would be more accurate if the target was positively identified and then sunk. It helped if some of the wreckage with the ship’s identification could be recovered.

There were reviews of the claims by the individual captains by the submarine commanders for the area – the Central Pacific and the Southwest Pacific. Monitoring Japanese radio traffic could often confirm sinkings and the identities of those ships. That could increase the captains’ claims but most often reduced them

The final review, after the war, was by the Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) which audited Japanese naval losses in WW2.This almost always resulted in captains losing credit for some ships sunk. Japanese records may not have been complete, particularly with regard to smaller vessels, those under 500 tons. Many submarine captains believed that they did not get full credit for the ships they sank since they were not confirmed in Japanese records. They would not get credit for vessels under 500 tons.

JANAC – “Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee was a United States inter-service agency set up to analyze and assess Japanese naval and merchant marine shipping losses caused by U.S. and Allied forces during World War II.” (From Wikipedia.) This committee reconciled American and Japanese records to try to confirm sinkings.