No quarter given - virtual training aids used at Basic Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut

All Hands, April, 2002 by Bob Houlihan

Kids used to gather up their tattered glove, weathered ball and bat and head out to the local field for a summer time game of baseball. Today, you'll find them with controller in hand, glued to the TV, stealing bases and smacking homeruns on the hand-held video version of the old sandlot standby.

The ocean's depths are a far cry from a baseball diamond, but submarine warfare and America's pastime both share basic similarities in terms of how their respective "games" are learned and played.

At the Basic Submarine School (SUBSCOL) in Groton, Conn., students, who in years past would have been given a four-by two-foot piece of paper with a two-dimensional black and white line drawing to learn the layout of a sub, are now sitting down at one of the computers located at every desk in every classroom and firing up the Virtual Interactive Submarine Trainer (VISIT) a play sub-station of sorts.

"At first, I thought it was a pretty neat training program, and I could probably sell it to a lot of sub vets for $19.95, and a lot of the old-time sub guys would buy it and get a big kick out of it," said SUBSCOL Command Master Chief Michael Hurley. "But the program really proved its worth when I took two Sailors who had never been on a submarine and had them use VISIT for a few weeks."

VISIT allows students to stand in any of several dozen locations on three decks -- in the weapons, berthing and electronics compartments -- of USS Dallas (SSN 700) and navigate the whole length and width of the boat using a mouse or the keypad. Student can look up, down, and all around the compartments, seeing actual digital photographic images of the sub. Touch an important piece of equipment with a click or keystroke, and up pops the description of what it is and what it does. It's the computer gamer generation, baby!

"I took [the two Sailors] down to the waterfront and turned them over to the COB of USS Annapolis (SSN 760). The COB immediately told them to go to the torpedo room and find the aft torpedo room fire hose connection.... They looked left and right to see which way it was, went straight to the torpedo room and right up to the correct fire hose connection," continued Hurley.

Having this type of knowledge before they get to their boat allows new sub Sailors to concentrate more on getting their qualifications instead of trying to learn the layout of their boat by trial and error.

"The idea is to get Sailors ready for submarine qualifications," said General Skills Training Division Officer LT Nigel A. Sealy. "Before they even get to their first boat, we want them to know the boat -- to be comfortable with the boat."

It's not just about navigating around the sub, but navigating the sub itself. At the sub schoolhouse, students can enter VESUB, the Virtual Environment Submarine Shiphandling Trainer; a new bridge simulator with a virtual reality helmet so rich in detail it allows prospective bridge officers to see everything they would see if they were out on the water.

With the virtual training aid, instructors can control the sea-state, visibility and number of contacts (other ships) on the simulated "Newport River," as well as change the time of day to make it a nighttime approach. The ability to inject a variety of mishaps into any transit down the river, such as a man overboard, makes the program even more life-like.

As in real life, where playing baseball on a computer won't get you into the major leagues, some things at SUBSCOL just can't be learned in a virtual environment, although some may wish this were the case. In this computer world, there is still a need to exercise muscle and sweat in order to play the game.

Submariners take pride in the fact that they know their submarines inside and out. They know how to operate them, but they also know how to restore safe operation and repair them in any emergency situation. Everyone aboard a submarine is damage control qualified.

"Damage control training on a sub is different. Everyone is relied upon in a submarine," said Sub School Instructor, Machinist's Mate 1st Class (SS) Robert J. Bauer.

"I've got a class graduating next week. These Sailors will report to a boat, and within a week they will be part of the damage control party. Right from the get-go, they have to be at a higher level. As soon as they report, they need to know how to respond to a casualty. They have to know how to use everything," Roberts continued.

In SUBSCOL's infamous Damage Control Wet Trainer, there are no video screens and mouse pads. Students sweat the load for real as instructors have the ability to blast them with a mind-blowing force of water pressure.

The wet trainer simulates the general arrangement of the forward end of a lower level engine room on a submarine. The system's 12 leaks can simulate a variety of casualties ranging from damaged saltwater piping to lubrication oil leaks. Water pressure at the leaks varies from a relatively mild 65 to 80 pounds per square inch, to an in-your-face, water draining from your ears for days, 1,200 gallons per minute when all hell breaks loose.