Ohio Class SSBM 560 ft in length 42 ft beam, crew 155
Los Angeles Class SSN length 361 ft Beam 32 ft, 134
While in boot camp, envision all your company crammed into a space as detailed above, filed to the gills with equipment, then imagine being there for a minimum of 2 months at sea, never seeing the sky or feeling the ocean breeze.
The challenge for sub service is as I see it, not technical, it is psychological. The question is can you live in extremely close quarters for extended periods of time, and enjoy it.
Anyway, when I enlisted, I too wanted to go submarines, wanting to be macho and all that, but at the time, if you wore glasses it as an immediate disqualifier. All that said, I still wanted subs, that is until I went to the D1G prototype for training. There I had the opportunity to go into the S3G plant and I immediately saw the difference between surface and subs. It is called SPACE. The surface fleet is now is all aircraft carriers, and these ships dwarf even what massive space I thought cruisers offered. That said, my preferences for sea duty was always destroyers and cruisers because of the smaller crews. The idea of going to sea with 5,000 other people just did not appeal to me.
So your choice is go to sea on a floating city, have more ports of call, and the opportunity to watch sun sets and storms at sea, or go submarines and experience none of the at sea visual and other sensory experiences the surface fleet offers. On the other hand, you will be, as posted earlier, a more closely knit crew in a very small space.
My advice is to wait until the last possible time to make your decision to go with the boats. Find out what the nuclear and naval service is all about. Qualify on that submarine plant. Then with experience and age, you will be in a position to make your best decision.
