[Joe Wicked]

Post 9/11 even I who was a submariner with an honorable medical discharge cannot get a tour of even the older boats I served on. If you are not Active Duty, you really have to have connections. A friend of mine locally here in TX who was also Navy has a cousin who is an admiral in the Navy and he could not get a tour on an Aircraft Carrier when he was in San Diego a few years back. It is too bad you did not get a chance as it really is a lot different than most imagine. The passageways are very narrow and the overhead very low. Tight quarters do not even begin to describe it and the smell you will never forget. We use a chemical called Amine to remove carbon dioxide from the air to allow use of every bit of O2. The Amine is a liquid and it will evaporate into the air and that is the "submarine smell" everyone talks about. I will turn anything white to brown that only Bleach and lots of it will get out. The tight quarters and the amine cause Submariners to go through more uniforms on average than other sailors. I have a few pictures and if you are on Facebook I can give you a link on there where you can get a few shots to kind of get the idea.