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.
Do your subs have proper first-party Xbox controllers instead of Logitech knockoffs? /s
More serious questions if you can answer them: How long is a typical amount of time you spend in a sub? (I don’t mind vague ballpark ranges) How do you prepare yourself physically and mentally for your longer journeys?
For us boomers, we usually submerge for about 3 to 4 months at a time before returning to port for a refitting and repair period, then swap with a counterpart crew that takes the ship underway again. We are subject to the annual physical readiness test and physical fitness assessments, as far as physical fitness goes, and mentally we are required to undergo recertification in the training simulators before they let us touch the controls again. Psychologically, we have our loved ones give us “halfway night” boxes to bring with us, which we open when halfway through the deployment, along with pictures, letters, and so on. It’s never easy, but it makes it bearable.
Thanks for the answers. Subs aren’t for me, I’d start becoming delirious after a month.