science

Submarine escape training facility

Submarine escape training facility is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Submarine escape training facility rather than just read about it. In short: A Submarine Escape Training Tower is a facility used for training submariners in methods of emergency escape from a disabled submarine underwater. It is a deep tank filled with water with at least one underwater entrance at depth simulating an airlock in a submarine.

Key takeaways

Submarine escape training facility belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Submarine escape training facility to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Submarine escape training facility from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A Submarine Escape Training Tower is a facility used for training submariners in methods of emergency escape from a disabled submarine underwater. It is a deep tank filled with water with at least one underwater entrance at depth simulating an airlock in a submarine. Since the 1930s, towers have been built for use by the Royal Navy, US Navy, Royal Australian Navy and in several other countries.

Royal Navy SETT

The Submarine Escape Training Tank (SETT) is a 100-foot (30 m) deep facility primarily operated to conduct training with submarine escape equipment, operated by the Royal Navy. The facility, located at Fort Blockhouse, Gosport opposite HMNB Portsmouth, includes a fresh, chlorinated water column with a single escape chamber (as fitted to some classes of RN submarines) mounted at the base, through which students can conduct a fully representative escape cycle from 100 feet (30 m), closely replicating actions which would be required if forced to abandon a distressed submarine from depth. The SETT has its own dedicated boiler house to maintain its water temperature at 34 °C (94 °F). The SETT was commissioned in 1954, with the first students trained in July of that year. Since that time completion of ‘the Tank’ has been a rite of passage for all RN Submariners. Training includes ascents from increasing depths as a major element, but in addition is underpinned by lectures and practical training in how to survive within a disabled submarine, operation of emergency equipment and survival techniques on reaching the surface – a package of potentially life saving skills. Over the years, the SETT has been used to train submariners from Italy, USA, Greece, Canada, Israel, Russia, Venezuela, Turkey, Australia and the Netherlands – with the staff and facility enjoying a worldwide reputation for excellence and good practice. Owing to a combination of increased safety associated with modern submarine design, submarines operating in areas where escape would be impossible with current equipment and the risks associated with the conduct of training, the RN discontinued pressurised submarine escape training in March 2009. The staff at SETT are drawn from the ranks of the UK Submarine Service. All members of SETT staff form part of the SMERAT (Submarine Escape and Rescue Advisory Team), some members form the UK SPAG (Submarine Parachute Assistance Group), and some form part of the UK contribution to the NSRS (LR5) Team. All staff are trained in advanced life-saving techniques and diving medicine.

Other uses

The tower was also privately hired to civilian diving clubs for the purpose of recreational diving and dive training. It was a popular 'novelty' dive amongst UK scuba divers since it allowed new trainees to extend their depth experience in a safe, controlled environment with good visibility and warm water temperature – two conditions that are in short supply in the UK. For similar reasons it was also used for freediving training, with participants including women's world record-holder Tanya Streeter. In addition, the SETT has been used frequently for both underwater equipment testing, and to support media activity – notably hosting Blue Peter on a number of occasions, with some presenters completing ascent training. It has also been used frequently as a situation assessment trials tank (SATT) for technical divers.

US Navy US Navy escape towers were known as Escape Training Tanks. From the 1930s through the 1990s, they were used for training in buoyant ascent, the Momsen lung, and the Steinke hood.

The tower on Sub-Base Pearl Harbor was used between 1932 and 1983. The U.S. escape tower in Hawaii is not in use. The tower was also used to train scuba equipped divers (SEALs) or Underwater Demolition Teams to access or egress the submarine during special operations. The tower once located on Naval Submarine Base New London was in use between 1930 and 1994 and has since been razed. The Submarine Escape Trainer, a 40-foot (12 m) high, 84,000-gallon pool with two escape trunks was constructed at New London in 2007.

Other facilities

Similar facilities are operated by the Royal Australian Navy at the Submarine Escape Training Facility at HMAS Stirling, in Norway and Sweden, and in Turkey at Gölcük Naval Base. The German Navy operates a 36-metre-deep escape training pool, built in 1977, at Einsatzausbildungszentrum Schadensabwehr Marine (Damage Control Training Centre) in Neustadt in Holstein.

Since 2013 there is a submarine escape training tank situated next to non-profit swimming pool Het Heersdiep in Den Helder, The Netherlands. This tank is used by the Royal Netherlands Navy and also by other navies from all over the world. The tower at Aquacentrum Den Helder can also be used by civilian diving clubs for recreational diving and dive training. It is also used for freediving training and for fire brigade diving training. The South African Navy has a submarine escape training tank at the navy diving school at the SAS Simonsberg training unit in Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula.

References

External links

Rescue Tank May End Sub Deaths, November 1930, Popular Science – two-page 1930 article on the new US Navy SETT in New London, Connecticut Royal Navy Submarine School (RNSMS) Submarine Escape Training Tank – Royal Navy website International Submarine Escape & Rescue Office UK-International Submarine Escape & Rescue Training Horsea Island Dive Centre website Dutch International Submarine Escape & rescue Training TRITON12

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Submarine escape training facility

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Submarine escape training facility claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Submarine escape training facility before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Submarine escape training facility ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Submarine escape training facility

In research: Submarine escape training facility appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Submarine escape training facility in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Submarine escape training facility is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Freediving, Royal Navy bases in Hampshire, Underwater diving safety, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Submarine escape training facility outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Submarine escape training facility in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Submarine escape training facility means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Submarine escape training facility out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Submarine escape training facility in simple terms?

Why does Submarine escape training facility matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Submarine escape training facility?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Submarine escape training facility.