Escape training

Interesting article from Oz for all you soap dodgers.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24987063-31477,00.html

 

Interesting bit at the end, Oz is no longer using UK training but still relies on its submersible for any rescue attempt.

 

Janner

If I remember correctly Pusser stopped wet pressurised training in the Tank last Summer. It would appear that RN Training now is just play acting perhaps a recently qualified submariner can tell us exactly what training is carried out today.

NUtty

 

Even a pressurised ascent was, arguably, just "play acting"..yes, it was one of the best "rides" going; yes, you had to "keep blowing out, all the way to the surface"; but it certainly was not escape training. It was just a wet, pressurised ascent. Did it bear any relation to an escape? not really, did it add value? possibly.
I don't have strong feelings either way, but we shouldn't kid ourselves regarding what pressurised training was and wasn't.

 

Scabz

Was your course, the same as I did in 1965, completed since September 2008 when it was stated all wet training at SETT in Fort Blockhouse had finished or have they changed their minds?


Nutty

 

Just back for a few days leave. I've just started phase two training after passing out of phase one last week. There are no plans for us to do anything at SETT other then theory and 'play acting'.
Shame as I was looking forward to the tank.

Kind regards,
AB Stepto!

 

Thanks for that info Steto. Do you know if you are Scotland or Devon bound yet.

Nuty

 

Shows what happens when private enterprise is allowed to take over defence functions and facilities. :x I did not realise the Canucks had such facilities though :?

 

Don't know yet. Being down south would be great but we'll all be up north sooner or later by the sounds of things.
Just want to get my phase two training done now and get on with some real work.
Can't wait to get on the boats.

 

What about the people who made a habit of getting in and out of submerged sludgemarines? No lock-out / lock-in training at Dolphin and straight into the real thing I suppose :roll:

RM

 

I did SETT last October and I think we were one of the first courses not to do the pressurised side. There is supposed to be a review some time early this year to decide if they'll introduce it or not but I can't see them bringing it back any time soon.
It's a bit worrying really because although no one's had to use it in the last 35 years or so, what happens in another 15 or 20 years if god forbid a pressurised assent does have to be used and all the boats crew have never done a pressurised assent because of this suspension?

I know the chances of having to do an emergency assent are slim, but there is always the chance that it could happen. Just wish I'd done SETT originally last April like I was supposed to!

 

Are they going to do 'dry runs' whereby you have to shin up a 100ft rope blowing out all the way?

Just think of all the money the MOD would save not having to fill the tank.

Daft idea but you never know someone there might take it onboard

 

Like most things in the Military, the training is done just in case the real thing occurs.
To stop any particular type training is, in my opinion, foolish.
Not long after I did my last ascent 3 people died in the tank. That resulted in a temporary suspension but training still carried on after the suspension was lifted.
More examples of the nanny state I think. :evil:

 

As far as I can see, is it really worth the risk?

In my limited experience it looks like nearly everybody has a problem free and successful ascent. This would suggest that the training prior to the pressurised ascent was of an excellent standard. Accordingly, very few people die or are injured. However, using the same logic you could say that with a nearly 100% pass mark on the first pressurised ascent the build up training must be excellent. So why not bin this final ascent because every one (99.99%..) knows how to do the ascent and we're only risking killing people if it goes wrong.

To me it's like getting a parachutist to cut away his main chute just to practice pulling his reserve.

T C

 

SETT was not like escaping, too warm and cosy for that. However it undoubedly did add value, it was confidence building and instilled in us a procedural routine that we hoped would never be called into practice. If, heaven forbid, one of ours went down for every person who got out alive because the automatic reflex 'kicked in' that would be good news; and that success would make the investment in SETT worthwhile.

 

I fully agree with the above, actually doing it made you realise that you could do it.
I would admit though that doing the ascent in a suit is a lot easier.

 

While a warm, well illuminated tank is not the same as the cold, dark ocean, failure to follow the drill would have been just as fatal. Wet escape training gives confidence in the system and some familiarity with the physical and mental sensations of an escape that cannot be reproduced by any amount of theoretical training.

 

It may not be commonly known but the Dinks were also flown back to the UK for SETT training every three years from the early 70's until about 1993 when their own facility opened.

Also their escape diving craft was the first to have a seal base the could swivel up to 60 degrees from the horizontal, if my memory serves me right, to lock onto the standard escape hatch ring seal. Others at that time had problems unless the boat was sitting upright.

Nutty

 

You could of course try this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260357775499&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

 

I believe the end of wet training has many advantages, however with huge manpower shortages within the service, SETT has increasingly become a bottle neck for ratings. Not withstanding the medical after medical, xray after xray, the percentage of good men that were held over or refused entry for minor medical ailments was no small figure. The cutting of pressurised training must speed up this process.