Home : Heath Elliot Johnmeyer, United States Navy :

Submariners

click image to enlarge My kids (Edward & Heath) with the girls (wife & future wife) in front of the Nautilus at The Submarine Force Library and Museum a couple of days before Heath's deployment.

Submariners are among the Navy's most technically trained and skilled people — they need strong and intelligent leaders. Submarine officers command, manage and operate the fleet attack and ballistic missile submarines that patrol the world's oceans — monitoring enemy hostile actions, intercepting electronic communications and gathering information. Submarine officers have the immense task of ensuring that all of a sub's self–contained systems run smoothly, from oxygen and fire control systems to flood management, nuclear propulsion and weapons systems. A small group of disciplined and committed officers are in charge of an entire crew and some of the most secretive and technologically advanced equipment in the world. When it comes to upholding national security, the U.S. submarine force provides the most pivotal service in the military by deterring conflict through its powerful offensive capabilities. If you have the strength, ambition and discipline to be part of an elite group of leaders, rise to your life's challenge by becoming a submarine officer.

Submarines, their officers and crew are heavily relied upon for anti–submarine warfare, anti–surface warfare, land attack, strategic deterrence and landing Special Operations forces. Standards for submariners are very high and operations are often covert and classified. During a sea tour, submarine officers may be in charge of any number of tasks, including the safe operation of the nuclear reactor, maintaining the ship's torpedoes, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and sonar, charting the ship's position and operating communications and intelligence equipment. As a submarine officer, you will be specially trained in the nuclear field and assigned on a nuclear–powered attack submarine or a nuclear–powered fleet ballistic missile submarine.

Attack Submarines:

Designed to pursue and attack enemy ships and submarines. They are the most effective anti–submarine warfare tool available to counter diesel and nuclear–powered submarines operated by potential adversaries. They improve communications and conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines:

These submarines are longer than a football field and carry long–range nuclear warhead missiles. With their nuclear reactors and great speed, they are often the first ships on station when a situation arises.

There are a few ways to become a naval officer. Enrolling in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) or the U.S. Naval Academy are two paths toward gaining a commission. Graduates of Officer Candidate School (OCS), the U.S. Naval Academy and NROTC attend the Naval Nuclear Power School in Charleston, South Carolina. Through the training, officers qualify as propulsion plant operators, obtaining extensive watch standing knowledge and a thorough understanding of all propulsion plant systems.

The Navy provides the most comprehensive training available in the nuclear field. Nuclear training includes college–level classes in physics, chemistry, mathematics, electrical engineering and thermodynamics. As a submarine officer, nuclear engineering training is available in nuclear power plant design, construction, instrumentation and operation. As an officer, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California is also an attractive tour of duty option, which allows you to earn a master's or doctorate degree while being paid full–time as an officer in the Navy.

As a nuclear–trained officer, you'll benefit from some of the most rigorous training the Navy has to offer. Your hard work is not only rewarded with an excellent salary, you'll also receive generous bonuses. Upon completion of nuclear propulsion training, the Navy pays a bonus. Submarine Officers also earn special pay because they serve on a submarine.

Training as a submarine officer directly translates to civilian careers in executive–level management as well as the technology industry and high–tech specialty systems. The specialized knowledge and expertise you could gain through Navy nuclear training will provide you with a skill set that is sought after worldwide. Gaining valuable insight from travelling internationally will provide you with experience that is invaluable to employers in the private sector.

America's submarine force has played a number of roles in a hundred years of both war and peace: attack, surveillance, commando insertion, research and nuclear deterrent. Through all this, the Navy has found men to serve proudly in the Silent Service, where standards are high and where the victories are often kept secret.

Submariners, like their boats, are tough, quiet and work well under pressure. Fewer than 5 percent of sailors are qualified for submarine duty. But for those who do earn their 'dolphins' (the insignia of the submariner), there awaits an experience like no other.

The challenging missions and rigorous living conditions of submarines require a specially trained crew. Submarines have many specialized systems that don't appear on other ships, such as environmental systems, dive systems and special propulsion systems. Since the entire American sub fleet is nuclear powered, there is also a constant need for nuclear engineers.

Interested in these specialized fields you can find a home in the submarine community. Sailors in other fields can become submariners too if they have the mental toughness and control to live in a submarine environment and meet the qualifications required of submariners.

Qualifications for Submariners

1. Must be male and meet all general Navy requirements
2. Must volunteer and pass psychological screening
3. Some submariners in highly specialized fields such as nuclear engineering must enlist for longer periods than the standard four–year agreement
4. Must pass all submarine training
5. Must complete submarine qualifications within a specific timeframe while onboard ship

Training for the U.S. submarine force, like life on a submarine, is rigorous. Submariners must deal with a variety of situations calmly and quickly, and must be in control at all times. Even minor slips like knocking over pots and pans can cause serious problems on a sub, where complete silence underwater is sometimes necessary.

In addition, submariners will be put under enormous pressure - literally and figuratively. Submariners must be in good physical and mental shape to cope with the sub environment.

Escape training:

In the event of an accident, submariners need to know how to exit the submarine. For many, this includes special training in a huge silo filled with water that is meant to simulate the submarine environment. Potential submariners must enter at the bottom and swim to the top.

Wet training:

In this training, submariner recruits are placed in a room filled with pipes. Instructors can spring a leak in any pipe, and the recruits must learn to stop the high pressure leaks as the room fills with water.

Fire training:

Fire is one of a submarine's greatest dangers, far more than flooding, because it eats up precious oxygen. Submariners must learn to deal with a fire, using special breathing gear, fighting the fire and rescuing fellow sailors, often in darkness and smoke. Special training rooms recreate the chaos of a submarine fire.

Nuclear training:

Any engineer or sailor who will work with a sub's reactor must undergo intensive training. Trainees attend special schools and spend time working at Navy-operated reactors on shore. The certification process can take a year. Because of the Navy's emphasis on safety, submariners undergo radiation and accident training.

Sonar training:

Sonar technicians act as the eyes and ears of a sub by deciphering all the data collected by a submarine's sensors. Working a sub's sonar gear, which many view as both an art and a science, requires intensive training. Sonar operators must recognize ships and accurately pinpoint their locations by analyzing sound.

Ballistic missile training:

The Trident missiles aboard nuclear missile submarines are enormously sophisticated machines. The Navy's missile technicians learn to maintain these vital strategic weapons and ensure America's power cannot be questioned through strategic deterrence. Missile technician training is highly classified and restricted.

In order to carry out their missions, submariners are equipped with some of the most sophisticated machinery available. From special mini–subs for use in putting SEAL teams ashore in hostile waters to ballistic missiles, advanced computers and sonar equipment, submariners work with some of the most secretive and high–tech equipment in the world.

The most important technology is often the subs themselves. Always referred to as 'boats' instead of 'ships', these vessels can nonetheless be as much as 560 feet long — just short of the length of two football fields. Subs are extremely complex and costly to build, but the advantages they give to the U.S. Navy in stealth, speed and firepower can't be matched by any other vessel.

Unrestricted Warfare: How a New Breed of Officers Led the Submarine Force to Victory in World War II Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account of the men and vessels responsible for the only successful submarine campaign of the war. They clearly charted a new course to victory in the Pacific.

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