SSBN. ETV. Will not respond to questions about sensitive or classified subjects. My views are my own and I do not represent anyone.

Hi there!

Edit: since this has been asked several times:

SSBN stands for “submersible ship, ballistic missile, nuclear powered”. That is, the same overall type of ship as the Red October.

ETV stands for “Electronics Technican, Navigation”, because N was already taken by Nuclear Electronics Technicians. I work with everything from interior communications and announcing circuits to Electronics, shipwide atmospheric monitoring, navigational inertial gyroscopes, strategic nuclear missile navigation, and tank level indicators to basic underwater submarine navigation using the voyage management system and even helming the ship itself.

  • ramplay@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    What do you generally do for recreation?

    Any stories of cool things you’ve seen/done and/or situations that were less than comfortable?

    • wanderingmagus@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Usually there’s a movie playing in either Crew’s Mess or Crew’s Lounge, or a videogame tournament like Super Smash Bros or COD2. Personally, I’d rather go to my rack (personal bunk the size of a coffin), draw the privacy curtain, and read a book or get some sleep in. Sleep can be a luxury after a long period of maintenance, and underway with all the pressure and salt water, there’s plenty of that. There’s also stationary bikes, free weights and other exercise equipment available on board, usually stowed in the aft machinery room or torpedo room, for people to work out if they feel like it, and snacks at the salad line in Crew’s Mess next to the galley.

      I’ve been aboard when a fire was called away in the torpedo room, and once more when there was a fire called away in the forward machinery room. Fortunately, nothing came of either situation, as you can tell since I’m posting today. As far as cool things, other than drills in which we simulate the launching of thermonuclear weapons, not really - the SSBN fleet does everything in its power not to do anything cool or exciting, so as not to endanger the strategic weapons systems!