Chapter 785 Nuclear Submarine (2)
Upon hearing the news that they had reached the pole, loud cheers erupted in the submarine.
If it is wartime, unnecessary movement inside the submarine is strictly prohibited to avoid death. However, the location they are currently in is the North Pole, and no matter how big the noise is, no one will come to trouble them.
The first mate on the side suggested excitedly. "Captain, do we have to hold some kind of ceremony? It's like the Equator Crossing Ceremony."
The Equator Crossing Ceremony is an ancient naval tradition that continues from the Age of Discovery. The earliest written records can be traced back to the 18th and 19th centuries. It is also called the "Equator Festival". When the ship crosses the equator, all sailors, except those on duty, have a day off, hold a banquet, and sacrifice whole pigs and sheep to the God of the Sea. Some captains also set up incense altars on the bridge to offer sacrifices, and the sailors drank and danced to pray to the sea god for blessings and safety.
Later, this custom also spread to the navy, but the original intention of the "Equator Crossing Ceremony" in the navy was to boost morale by setting up a "Fool's Day", or to ensure that new sailors can withstand the challenge through "pranks". Hard days at sea.
For example, when a U.S. warship passes the equator, old sailors will hoist a "Jolly Roger" with a white skull on the warship and announce that the warship is taken over by Poseidon Neptune and his followers. The old sailors will put on pirate costumes to "tame" the new recruits. Starting in the morning, the new recruits will put on travel shoes, shorts and white clothes, queue up to enter the hangar, and wait for the veterans to clean up. After all the levels are passed, the crew member dressed as Poseidon will issue a Shellback certificate to each recruit.
It's just that they are traveling under the iceberg and it is impossible to get some air. The captain thought for a while and ordered. "Forget the ceremony, let's add a glass of dark beer to everyone at noon."
Another burst of cheers erupted inside the boat.
After passing the pole and sailing for another seven days and seven nights, the sonar man reported loudly. "Captain, we have passed through the ice cap!"
"Come up!" the captain shouted loudly.
They sailed underwater for more than half a month, and they were almost going crazy.
Although the working/living environment on a nuclear submarine is superior to that of a conventional submarine, for example, the engine noise of a nuclear submarine is much smaller than that of a diesel engine. There is no pungent smell of diesel in the air; the oxygen produced by electrolysis will produce a small amount of ozone, and the smell of ozone is like the smell of dust and weeds after rain, which is a bit pungent, but also very refreshing; plus The crew can take regular showers to remove the odor of sweat from their bodies. In addition, the air purification system and ventilation system installed inside the submarine mean that the air inside the submarine is still good.
However, after being trapped in this iron jar day and night for more than half a month, many crew members still suffered from insomnia, loss of appetite, low blood pressure, waist and leg pain and many other conditions.
When submariners are on duty at sea, they usually sail for dozens of days, because it is impossible to distinguish between day and night in a fully enclosed submarine. Once the submarine enters the water, the life of the sailor begins to be an 18-hour cycle, and these 18 hours are cut into three 6 hours are used for sleeping, duty and leisure respectively. Therefore, to become a crew member on a submarine, applicants must pass a series of cruel tests, psychological evaluations and high-intensity training, but these are not as good as after boarding the submarine. The hardness of life. Crew members not only need to have rich technical knowledge, but also need to have enough determination and perseverance to persist in completing several months of underwater life. It is basically impossible for ordinary people to work normally in such a difficult environment.
At the same time, the navies of various countries try their best to install entertainment facilities in the limited submarine space to reduce the pressure on soldiers. For example, new nuclear submarines in later generations even have various entertainment facilities such as small swimming pools, cinemas, and fitness venues. Russian and US military submarines even have Sauna room for soldiers to rest and relax. Paint submarine cabins different colors to help crews overcome cabin fever.
At this time, German nuclear submarines were not generous enough to install swimming pools and cinemas, and could only arrange other entertainment facilities as much as possible. And if it weren’t for crossing the North Pole, they wouldn’t have stayed away from the surface for more than half a month.
Following the command to float, high-pressure air entered the ballast water tank. After emptying the seawater, the buoyancy was greater than gravity, and the submarine quickly floated underwater. Suddenly, the bow of the submarine jumped out of the sea like a dragon, and then fell heavily to the sea, splashing countless water splashes.
The nuclear submarine reveals its smooth appearance, especially its command tower, which is almost integrated with the submarine's body and looks quite beautiful. It is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. The shape of the podium enclosure is very much like a streamlined car, which is also to reduce resistance.
A sailor stepped forward and unscrewed the hatch cover of the bridge. The remaining seawater poured down in the fierce sea wind, and the people around him shivered. Due to the operation of power and mechanical equipment, the interior of the submarine maintains a high temperature of more than 30 degrees all year round, just like the hot Sahara Desert.
"It's so cold!" Everyone hurriedly found coats to put on, climbed out of the bridge along the ladder and came to the deck. Although it is the arctic daylight period and the sun is directly overhead, the cold wind still makes people feel biting. But smelling the fresh air, the sailors opened their mouths exaggeratedly and greedily breathed in the air that smelled slightly of the sea.
The navigator held the sextant very responsibly for azimuth calibration.
A sextant is an optical instrument that can measure the angle between two distant targets. It is most commonly used to measure the angle between a celestial body and the sea (ground) horizon or between celestial bodies. By measuring the angle and finding the latitude of the point where the sun is directly shining on that day, the latitude of the observer can be determined. This is of great significance to navigation. Since its introduction in the 18th century, the sextant has been an important positioning and navigation tool.
Their nuclear submarines use an inertial navigation system, the core of which is a gyroscope. The gyroscope is stable. By measuring the relative position, the acceleration of the submarine can be known. Then, as long as the acceleration is integrated once, the speed can be obtained. After the second integration, the range can be obtained. By comparing it with the position at the time of departure, the longitude, latitude, pitch and roll angle, speed, sailing distance and heading of the submarine can be calculated.
This thing is not advanced technology. As early as 1852, French physicist Foucault made the earliest Foucault gyroscope in order to verify the rotation of the earth, and formally proposed the term "gyroscope". In the early 20th century, German explorer Anschütz wanted to explore the Arctic by submarine. In 1904, he created the world's first marine gyrocompass, opening up the way for gyro instruments to indicate the direction of moving objects. At the same time, German scientist Schuler created the "Schuler Tuning Theory", which became the theoretical basis for gyrocompasses and navigation instruments.
Unfortunately, even advanced instruments such as fiber optic gyroscopes and laser gyroscopes in later generations will have errors, not to mention the mechanical rotor gyroscopes at this time; as time goes by, errors will continue to accumulate, so appropriate calibration is performed after each sailing period.
The navigator fiddled with the sextant in his hand for a while and reported to the captain. "Captain, our course has deviated, about 20 degrees from the original route."
The captain nodded disapprovingly, which was all they expected. Just as he was about to say something, a sailor in charge of vigilance shouted. "Captain, that iceberg is drifting towards us!"
The captain looked in the direction pointed by the sailor and saw an iceberg drifting slowly in the distance. The iceberg was as big as a truck. People familiar with the sea conditions know that only a small part of the iceberg is exposed above the water, and most of it is hidden under the water. The ratio of the volume of the iceberg above and below the water is about 1:9.
"Prepare to dive!"