TUPF wrote:
My first commanding officer on my first submarine was 6’9”. He said he learned very early on that if he didn’t want constant stitches in his head, he stooped everywhere he walked onboard. Most submarine overheads (ceilings) are under 7 feet and with valves and wires everywhere (on purpose so that no one ever loses sight of how dangerous an environment we were in, plus easier access), anyone over 6’5”, beware.
When I went into the submarine service, you needed a waiver if you were over 6'3. That was for conventional boats, though--I imagine nukes have slightly more headroom, so the parameters could be different.
We had one guy from Slidell (named Randy), who was 6'5" and an avid scuba diver. He did did so well in all the tests, and he was so gung-ho about submarines, that he was able to get a waiver. We enlisted on the same day and were close buddies through our first stint at New London.
But then we went to sea on a "real" boat (we trained on the USS Batfish, which was a WWII boat moored at the Algiers Navy Yard, but they flew us to Key West for a boat that could actually get underway). The first time we submerged, Randy completely freaked out! His claustrophobia was so bad, and he was so big compared to everyone else aboard, it took 6 guys to hold him down so the corpsman could sedate him. We never saw him again after that. I was told he went aboard a destroyer.
As for me, I loved the boats, but when they told me I would have to go nuclear after commissioning, I didn't like the idea of extended underwater deployments. So I went into the SeaBees instead.