STATISTICS BELOW THE SURFACE

I heard this stat a week or two ago.  "One out of every five submariners died during World War II."  That's pretty close to 20 %  -  not a good average.  Also, it doesn't seem like a good way to go.  I think I'm way too claustrophobic to ever be a submariner.  

I'm amazed by submarines and those who man them.  Some little tidbits:  1.  the greatest chance of fire on a sub is from the washers and dryer vents (just like home).  They are running almost 24/7 and the vent doesn't work well except when they are on top of the water.  2.  there are more men on a sub than there are beds (talk about close quarters).  3. when they get a bad water leak in their pipes, they have to surface and blow the water out so they can fix the pipes.  4.  everything in the workings of the sub must have someone on board who can repair it.  5.  they can play music all through the vessel but, when they are doing stealthy things, no one can make a sound for a long time (spooky).  6.  we have about 70 subs in service and most of them are powered by a nuclear power plant.  7.  crews say the most valued piece of equipment on a sub is the ice cream maker (they all have them and they have to make their own because they can't keep that much frozen.  8.  a sub on a 6 month cruise will run out of fresh food in about two week (after that, it all comes out of a can.)