скачать книгу бесплатно
Under Pressure: Life on a Submarine
Richard Humphreys
Based on the first-hand experiences of a man who served on a submarine during the Cold War, Under Pressure is the shockingly candid, visceral, droll and incredibly entertaining account of what it’s like to live in one of the most extreme man-made environments in the world.Richard Humphreys did not grow up near the sea, but in the heart of Britain. Attempting to join the Foreign Legion at just 17 years old, leaving for Marseille little to his parents’ knowledge, it was an unexpected epiphany which told him that a career under the sea was for him. He ended up serving in the Royal Navy submarine service for over 5 years from 1985-1990, at the end of the Cold War when skirmishes with Russian subs were still frequent. Underwater, hidden away from the eyes of the world’s media, was where the Cold War was at its hottest.This thrilling book depicts the astounding circumstances of someone who finds themselves living in deep underwater. It is not written from a military point of view, although some of that will of course come into it, but it rather concentrates on how it feels to live in this extreme environment – a world without natural light, surrounded by 140 other men, eating the same food, breathing the same air, smelling the same putrid smells, surviving together in some of the most forbidding conditions imaginable. It is a book which takes its cues from the likes of Scott Kelly’s Endurance and Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker, both New York Times bestsellers, which shine light on hitherto unexplored professions and allow readers glimpses into worlds they would otherwise never experience.Covering the disorientation of never knowing your exact location, the claustrophobia of bunking with 140 other men in a 430ft x 33ft steel tube for months at a time, and the effort needed to stay calm in an environment which offers no space or natural light, Under Pressure is an honest and gritty portrayal of one of the most unique ways of living known today.
(#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
Copyright (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
Names of Royal Navy personnel have been changed to protect privacy.
Mudlark
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published by Mudlark 2019
FIRST EDITION
Text © Richard Humphreys 2019
Illustrations © Tom Hughes 2019
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers
Cover illustration © Neil Gower
Photographs courtesy of the author except where indicated
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Richard Humphreys asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green)
Source ISBN: 9780008313050
Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008313081
Version: 2019-09-03
Note to Readers (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:
Change of font size and line height
Change of background and font colours
Change of font
Change justification
Text to speech
Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008313050
Dedication (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
For my father, who loved life
V.J.C.H.
1928–2016
Epigraph (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
‘Submariners themselves were regarded as not quite the thing – smelt a bit, behaved not too well, drank too much. They were regarded as a sort of dirty habit in tins.’
Admiral Sir John Forster ‘Sandy’ Woodward, One Hundred Days, 1992
Contents
1 Cover (#u4b0a3059-1357-57f0-8c6c-bbc048631087)
2 Title Page
3 Copyright
4 Note to Readers
5 Dedication
6 Epigraph
7 Contents (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
8 Author’s Note
9 Diagram of Polaris Submarine
10 Polaris Submarine Hierarchy
11 Glossary
12 Introduction
13 1 Beasting
14 2 HMS Neptune, Faslane
15 3 The Bomber
16 4 Alongside
17 5 Work-up
18 6 Coulport
19 7 Before the Off
20 8 Set Sail
21 9 The Dive
22 10 A Brief Tour
23 11 No Time
24 12 All the Time in the World
25 13 Downtime
26 14 Booze
27 15 Snadgens
28 16 Porn
29 17 Familygrams
30 18 Showtime
31 19 Under the Lights
32 20 Cut Off
33 21 Racked Out
34 22 Food, Glorious Food
35 23 The Day Job, the Night Job, Repeat
36 24 Letters from the Grave
37 25 Captain Is God
38 26 To Launch or Not to Launch
39 27 Homeward Bound
40 28 Off Crew
41 Acknowledgements
42 About the Publisher
LandmarksCover (#u4b0a3059-1357-57f0-8c6c-bbc048631087)FrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter
List of Pagesii (#ulink_1626b464-ce30-5017-a52f-4a81dd55326d)iii (#ulink_b8022847-c5fe-5195-98fd-7ad13b547429)iv (#ulink_6dd6cde7-b9a3-5be7-b62e-b39dffbe743c)1 (#ulink_4726d86d-4f49-5619-aa74-0cb0db923f95)2 (#ulink_1d0559c4-ea7d-5614-b618-fa7a2c7c69ff)3 (#ulink_063e6878-0991-5dfe-bf46-3740914b6eb7)4 (#ulink_be8b30c2-56df-560e-b31b-fe9556aa3dca)6 (#ulink_72e76600-738b-500a-9c96-9a45a790fb0b)9 (#ulink_92b1903a-e301-5c1f-9f45-2b84cc94ec74)10 (#ulink_af9f652e-2a60-5c7e-9ff6-72cb383ccee5)11 (#ulink_aedbc74a-51a5-56c5-99c5-21fc26780dd7)12 (#ulink_c22843ae-5760-5a08-9c8f-70cbecafe03e)13 (#ulink_7d4ed99f-a584-5ce8-bbe3-a8c9ca4fc847)14 (#ulink_052fa169-b0ca-5343-b270-0026bce72c90)15 (#ulink_673415c3-3b79-5631-b55e-ba99e3026420)16 (#ulink_f114745a-c641-578c-8dde-8d4e5f2d1c35)17 (#ulink_3afc4644-fdab-5a09-af35-2ae9720f1eac)18 (#ulink_b7ceb275-d9d4-5cd9-8d2b-c485d3f644ef)19 (#ulink_215485a5-5049-5706-99ff-800bdc5ef41a)20 (#ulink_113949dc-a4df-5546-a9be-5a0018acc536)21 (#ulink_fd3c7735-f41a-5d1f-a57b-c06f2bc31ff3)22 (#ulink_186790cd-17e7-5dda-9bbe-9201097b91eb)23 (#ulink_0eed638c-00cd-545a-8abc-cdf259d6a648)24 (#ulink_0dc3a3b2-320f-552b-ae47-87add2ce02ba)25 (#ulink_7724fe0d-66d4-59df-b14a-fa7a0277b393)26 (#ulink_e1266dab-cb00-5f21-86c0-cbfded30cfa5)27 (#ulink_f5b2f737-9e7f-5f71-b6a4-1d0cd84e433f)28 (#ulink_1a708485-1bac-543e-aea5-9c1e57518b21)29 (#ulink_0d65a2c9-775b-50a4-8720-e5c64828e68a)31 (#ulink_cf966ca7-364c-51e4-8d94-e8f043dcda07)32 (#ulink_837a2394-3c76-57a8-8d9c-03261cdf4931)333435363738394041424344454647 (#ulink_185351dd-aaad-573f-ab91-8b984573dc8e)484950515253545556 (#ulink_9eb28f70-4efb-5c40-b5ff-d1aaa8b1da47)5758596061626364656667686970717273 (#ulink_d3631fb7-0f51-564e-ac23-1c4e36c0a4bc)747576777879808182 (#ulink_e96e34bc-a5c3-56d4-bcef-49d8ac164f3b)838485868788899091929394959697 (#ulink_8823ad3b-bd80-595a-9a3e-37f8b8f175bc)9899100101102103 (#ulink_55a196df-8a46-5041-bd7c-2a4248b6fa31)104105106 (#ulink_f7a3ff62-b25a-567c-b9d9-04f39e4b6e60)107108109110111112113 (#ulink_ab201e11-101a-59dc-b2f1-78f736a561f5)114115116117118119 (#ulink_bad67b77-58a9-5829-a043-ab7bcf6d1fec)120121122123124125126127128130131132133134135136137138139140141142 (#ulink_47fd29b1-71d4-5d96-ba5d-4f6e35e9ced7)143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164 (#ulink_82ae7f92-069b-5d04-9240-fa155b070e39)165166167168169170171 (#ulink_bd0285c5-7190-5f2f-baa1-2d724154be25)172173174 (#ulink_8c7c6514-0bb3-5f9c-b69a-f6d5a841dbeb)175176177178179 (#ulink_12ab68a2-654e-5ce3-9c2e-547eb4f20c62)180181182 (#ulink_1917b366-86ce-5e57-a165-4339e159f027)183184185186 (#ulink_683152d1-1a80-5006-b26d-8ff7573f1881)187188189 (#ulink_9a53365e-1739-59ef-99bd-2a0742ed08d8)190191192193 (#ulink_d8163886-279e-5cd1-8e28-483e0f42efd5)194195196197198199200201202203 (#ulink_5daf9b21-4010-50a1-a2c2-28e0444f2bf4)204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220 (#ulink_3f7e6dfc-084b-59bd-8852-41f256b75373)221222223224225226227228229 (#ulink_281e4e9e-bf31-5019-b0dc-67b6e60e51de)230231232233234235236237238239240241242243 (#ulink_3c6f205a-c0b3-53cf-ab19-be2182c74882)244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258 (#ulink_e7fc3e5e-4343-5a27-9077-69456de158d4)259260261262 (#ulink_edfc0901-00f6-57c5-88ef-6a701a2ee9e0)263264265266267268269270271272 (#ulink_b32db8f3-02c4-59d6-b916-6600e7cdaae1)273274275276277278279 (#ulink_610402d2-4888-54b4-8356-49291015cea4)280281282283284285 (#ulink_f334ec8e-d681-5b2c-b8fc-2ef40dab6d3d)286287288289290291292293294295296297 (#ulink_3bd0f906-85d6-5374-9e7f-1f2e26e02be2)298
Author’s Note (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
I switched off the radio, made my way slowly up the stairs, shut the bathroom door and shed a tear. It was 16 November 2017, the day after the Argentinian submarine the ARA San Juan went missing in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina. At first, in those early days, it was unclear what had provoked the accident or what fate had befallen the crew, whether they might somehow still be alive beneath the waves. But then, with time, the cause of the tragedy became clear. An electrical malfunction had short-circuited the battery, which led to a complete loss of power for the old diesel-powered submarine. The San Juan had then sunk to the ocean depths, before finally imploding under the intense water pressure. The entire crew of 44, which included the first female submarine officer in the Argentine Navy, Eliana Krawczyk, had perished.
On hearing of the crew’s horrible fate, my thoughts switched back to my own period of service aboard a submarine and how blessed I’d been not to have suffered a similar fate. There are innumerable fine lines between life and death when operating in one of the most testing environments the world has to offer, where one wrong move can almost instantly bring chaos and disaster. After the San Juan tragedy, friends who had previously never seemed the slightest bit interested in my naval career started pumping me vigorously with questions about submarines, the dangers involved in underwater living, and exactly how I retained my sanity during the long weeks and months away at sea, cut off from the rest of the world. This book is a direct result of those conversations.
At the age of 18, in the mid-1980s, I became a member of an elite group who served aboard Britain’s nuclear deterrent, continuing my service for the following five years, while the Cold War was still hot and nuclear confrontation seemed scarily imaginable. In the 30 years since I left the Navy, submarine living and operating have remained fundamentally the same, although the creature comforts – including email, laptops, PlayStations and other products of the digital age – mean that some aspects are possibly easier now than they were during our stand-off with the Soviet Union.
I hope that what you are about to read will go a little way towards explaining the raw, real-life experience of what it’s like to spend prolonged periods of time on a submarine. I’ve tried not to focus on the military aspects, although by necessity some of these will come into the story, but have rather concentrated on how it feels to live day-to-day in this claustrophobic, man-made environment, describing the pressures it exerts on both one’s mind and body.
This is a book about life lived at the extremes, and there are few more extreme situations than living underwater in what is effectively a giant, elongated – if beautifully streamlined – steel tin can. I hope that it informs, shocks, excites and entertains, and that it moves you, the reader, to spare a thought for the brave men and women who at any given moment are patrolling the world’s waters, keeping their silent vigils.
The ID card issued to me on joining HMS Resolution. I’m going for a Mick Jones from the Clash vibe.
Diagram of Polaris Submarine (#ufb7011b0-5457-5166-bac6-648a922c656b)
Polaris Submarine Hierarchy (#ulink_181577f6-2f7d-50df-89e1-fbe178a16632)
Glossary (#ulink_3a6a8831-83e6-5a32-bd04-af4b2d3909cf)
Terminology
alongside: status of submarine when berthed at jetty, in Resolution’s case at Faslane, awaiting to go to sea for patrol or work-up. Also where ship maintenance, storing ship, and loading both missiles and torpedoes – at Coulport – take place.
AMS (auxiliary machinery space): three areas on the submarine – AMS 1, 2 and 3 – where various bits of machinery are located.
angles and dangles: deep-water procedure where submarine dives and heads back to surface at steep inclines to test if boat is safely stowed for sea. Any noise generated by falling pots, pans or bits of machinery could give boat’s position away on patrol. Great fun.
ARL (Admiralty Research Laboratory) table: located aft and on starboard side of control room. Mostly used when surfaced. Map lies on top of it and periscope navigational fixes taken from landmarks are applied to chart to calculate submarine’s position in conjunction with SINS.
