Life as a Sea Daddy | By Gilles Poirier |  |
There are hundreds of valves and gauges on a submarine and every submariner needs to know them all. Well, at first it seems just too much, but the newbie submariner or "sput" (surface puke under training) did not become qualified in a couple of weeks. It took many months.
Sput Life
| A 'sput' would have to make their own drawings of all the systems on board. He had in hand a qualification book. This book had to be signed by a qualified submariner as he went through his qualification program. He had to stay on the ball and work diligently to get this book signed. This book covered several months of training. |  |
At the end of each month you had to show your drawings and knowledge to your "sea daddy". Each new submariner "sea puppy" was assigned to a "sea daddy" who became his mentor and teacher. Should the "sea puppy" lag behind he was called a "delinquent". For a delinquent, there was no napping in your bunk in the afternoon and no movies at night. At the end of your training, your "sea daddy" would take you throughout the submarine to test your ability to show him that you knew all your systems and all the emergency evolutions. Once your "sea daddy" was happy, he would take you for a "final walk-through", then the candidate was taken for a last final walk-through, this time done by an officer. Only then did you become qualified and allowed the pride to wear your "dolphins". (Another incentive was your pay went up as a qualified submariner.)
Report to the Sea Daddy
Care of Your Sea Puppy
Patience Makes Perfect
I always took pride in being assigned as a "sea daddy" to a new "sea puppy". When I presented my candidate for his final walk-through with an officer, I knew that he was ready for it and never had any failures. When I was taking my "sea puppy" for my final walk-through I would take him through all the compartments on board, often blindfold him and take him to a valve chest and ask him to tell what each valve was and what it was used for
I still remember one "sea puppy" assigned to me; he was an army cook. He just did not have any mechanical abilities. He did not know what a pump did, did not understand why you had to surface the submarine using HP air, he did not comprehend the very basic stuff; but, I took him under my wing and just knew we would make it. I found out later that he had the same problem before, going through the basic submarine course, but made it through, just barely.
Boy was he a challenge! It took me an extra month of great patience.
It was so nice to see him when he suddenly grasped a particular system, his eyes just lit up and he always had a big grin on his face. When I took him for his final walk-through I was a little leery, but it went fine, I felt good to send him on to the officer for his big final walk-through. He qualified and was always grateful to me. When he was serving meals from the galley and found out that the messman had my plate, there was always a little extra meat, or gravy. What a guy he was, and he was the first army cook to wear the dolphins!
Boy was he a challenge! It took me an extra month of great patience.
It was so nice to see him when he suddenly grasped a particular system, his eyes just lit up and he always had a big grin on his face. When I took him for his final walk-through I was a little leery, but it went fine, I felt good to send him on to the officer for his big final walk-through. He qualified and was always grateful to me. When he was serving meals from the galley and found out that the messman had my plate, there was always a little extra meat, or gravy. What a guy he was, and he was the first army cook to wear the dolphins!
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