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Day Five



6am: Am on duty for the next 24 hours in the role of officer of the day (OOD). This means I act as the captain’s representative on board and I’m responsible for the safety and security of the submarine, the nuclear reactor, nuclear weapons it carries, the crew and all contractors on board. It’s a massive privilege to be entrusted with such a huge responsibility.



6.30am: Once I’m ready, I walk down to the boat and conduct rounds of the jetty and the upper deck of the submarine, looking for hazards or anything that is out of place. Once I’ve done this I do a full set of rounds on board, and check multiple logs to ensure I am happy to take the submarine from the outgoing OOD. We then conduct a formal handover process, discussing all the previous day's major changes and maintenance, and what is planned for today.



8am: I am happy to take the boat so I go to the control room to make a formal submarine-wide pipe (announcement) stating that I am OOD and responsible for the boat for the next 24 hours.



8.10am: Breakfast in the wardroom: poached eggs on toast, bacon and beans with tea to wash it down. All our meals are free on board when on duty.



8.30am: I sit in the submarine’s control room and a steady stream of contractors start arriving to do maintenance work on the boat. A ballistic missile submarine is an incredibly complex vessel and a challenging environment to work in that could be hazardous without strict controls, so we take safety and security very seriously. As the OOD I am personally responsible and liable for the safety of all personnel while on board, so it’s very important to me that I’m on the ball all morning, whether I'm in the control room or on one of my many rounds of the boat to check on safety and security.



12pm: Lunchtime. I’m starving and need to eat quickly to get to my next set of rounds of the boat. You don’t realise how many steps you take just getting about the boat. I wish I could wear a tracker but because security on board is such a high priority you aren’t allowed any personal electronics on the boat. But the way I see it, calories don’t count when you are on duty! I have a tasty baked potato with tuna, beans and cheese, and lots of salad. Trying to get in as much fresh food before we go to sea and we switch to canned, dry and frozen.



2pm: Back to the control room. As this is a final maintenance period before we head back to sea, I’m not expecting much maintenance work to continue past 4.30pm so the boat should be fairly quiet from then onwards, with just the duty watch on board.



4.30pm: I decide that we need to practise an emergency scenario, which is known as a heave in submarine slang. After a chat with two other officers to plan how we're going to test the crew, we decide to run through the response to a fire in one of the missile compartments. One of the officers sneaks over to the missile compartment, starts shouting "Fire, fire, fire" and the heave gets underway as the boat's alarm begins sounding...



5.45pm: Finished the heave. The crew did really well and I give them some feedback. We practise heaves every day as it’s important that we're ready to deal with any incident that could happen and it’s important we make the training as real as possible. I made all the crew heave on Christmas Day last year and I still don’t think they have fully forgiven me but in my mind just because it's Christmas doesn’t mean standards can fall!



6.30pm: It’s curry night tonight as it's Wednesday. I’m not much of a fan though, so the chefs make me a ham, tomato, pepper and cheese omelette (there are definite perks to being their boss). We then have apple crumble for duff – naval slang for dessert.



7.15pm: To the stores office, which I usually work from to catch up on paperwork. I do a surprise cash inspection of the accounts, a stores item check and finalise some personnel reports for an upcoming promotion board. They need to be submitted before we sail and lose connectivity to the outside world.



10.30pm: More rounds of the boat, followed by tea and chocolate digestives. I’m expecting divers to work on the boat's exterior from midnight, so I fill out the forms to allow certain valves on the boat to be shut to make it safer for the team to be underwater. I remember how nervous I was for my first ever duty. Now I have done so many, I am very confident in my ability and that of my team around me, but the need for vigilance and high standards always remains when working in this environment, no matter how many duties you have done.



11pm: I sit in the control room and spin dits (RN slang for gossip) with some of the duty watch. The crew are such a good bunch and I love working with them. They manage to get up to the most ridiculous antics in their spare time, so they always have a hilarious story to tell!



Midnight: More rounds. I do them at midnight and the duty senior rate does them between 2am and 6am so we can get some sleep in between.



Total: £0