David White – Diesels had people sleeping were others were eating right on top of each other

On a diesel submarine you eat, sleep and live in that one area, that Mess deck. The middle bunks fold down, so the bottom bunk becomes a seat and the middle bunk is the back that you lean on, so you can’t stay in your bunk if you’ve got a bunk that forms a seat, until everyone’s gone to bed. 

You’re stuffed. But that’s seniority. 

Simon:  I was going to say, is that the most junior ones? 

Yeah, junior guys get those bunks, yeah. But even as a Baby Chef, I got a good bunk in the passageway because of the hours that I had to keep. So yeah, so you, I mean … some of the stories, you know we had, the Killick of the Mess on Oracle, a bloke called Griffin, he used to wake up, light up and get up, so he’d get a shake with a cup of tea, because he was the Leading Hand in the Mess so quite senior, even though he was a Junior Rating, very senior.

Three badges, been in submarines forever, he’d get his pipe out [blowing noise] like that up [tapping] and then he’d get and he had to be careful where he put his feet because he could stand in someone’s porridge … or because that table, people have already started eating breakfast and he’s gotta climb out so he’d say, “Make Way” and they’d move their breakfast out the way and he’d climb out, sit down and then somebody would bring him his breakfast because he was the Killick and that’s how he used to get served. Everyone else had to go and get their own. 

So yeah, so you’re sitting there, you’re eating your breakfast, sitting on what might be your bunk, then when they have a movie, that’s all done in the same place, so if they’re all watching a movie and you’re knackered, you can’t go to bed, unlucky, you just have to suck it up. 

Whereas on a Polaris submarine or a Nuclear propelled submarine, they’ve got a separate Mess Deck, where they would have movies and eat, a Dining Room, completely separate to their sleeping accommodation so, and of course they are true submarines, they don’t have to surface for air, so they are true submersibles and diesel boats you say, ah, you know. I tell you there isn’t a more comfortable way to go to sea.