David White – DSRV exercise one of the greatest achievements in David’s life

We sailed on Repulse, now this was the first time I’d ever set foot down a Polaris submarine and I knew my future probably lie in there but again, from a diesel boat it was spectacular, the room and everything and of course we had loads of Americans on board because it’s an American system.

We go out, we dive and we dive near HMS Otter. So, all us Instructors then go back to the after-escape compartment, climb into it, shut the lower lid. This is at about 400 feet and then they flood that little compartment between the submarine and the lower hatch, it’s like a skirt so they flood, that and eventually it breaks the seal and she lifts off and then she goes zoom. 

Simon:  That’s the DSRV itself? 

The DSRV. With 22 of us on board.  And she just goes along and finds the submarine, comes along, mates. But when we lifted off and the crew must do this and scare the shit out of everybody. When she lifts off she’s still got some air trapped in that skirt and she gets rid of it by yawing. 

Like that, but they don’t tell you, and we wondered … 

Simon:  All of a sudden it’s tipping on the side? 

Yep, we wondered when, in the beginning, why we had to put like rally harnesses on. 

And they said, “Oh you’ve got to buckle up” and it’s four points; over there, two there and a big central parachute release thing, and then we lift off and all of a sudden we go yeeeaww. 

And you can see the crew giggling, bastards. So anyway, so then we come across and we find Otter and of course we painted big white rings around the hatches to make it easy for them. 

Simon:  So someone’s piloting it? 

Oh there’s two Pilots and a crewman. Yep. 

And it’s, and they’re flying it like an aircraft and they come along and they just very gently settle down and then they pump some water out and they get what they call a soft seal and then once that holds for five minutes then they pump it all out, get a hard seal, open the hatch, bang, bang on the submarine’s hatch and at 400 feet, they open their escape hatch. 

Which would normally be to the ocean. 

Simon:  Right. So that’s got to be some trust there hasn’t it? 

Oh, dear and I mean it’s one of the greatest achievements of my life, other than becoming a dad and sticking at marriage for 50 odd years, that, that features up there with them. To stand on a submarine casing and you know it’s at 400 feet and there’s maybe little bits of dirt trapped between the skirt and it lets a little shard of water come in and it hurts. 

Simon:  Oh, right. ‘Coz the pressure’s so immense? 

Even, yeah, even through that thick suit. 

Simon:  Like a needle is it? 

It’s like a needle, and they say, “Be careful, it could cut your suit.”  

It doesn’t matter here, um, but if you’re doing it for real and you were going to escape, that would be an air hole. 

And they said you know, if that hits your bare skin, if it’s a big enough jet it could cut your skin as well, but to stand, you think, ‘I’m stood on the casing of a submarine here and it’s 400 feet under water,’ and then you climb down in the submarine and once you’re all in, they shut the hatch and you feel this ‘domp’. 

As it lifts off and off it goes and it did that twice. 

Simon: So that was to show this is how we can rescue people? 

Yep, yep, it was just a confidence building thing.