Well Written & Insightful

There are a plethora of memoirs and books littered with personal accounts of land based military service. it's easy to find plenty of material describing life as a soldier in world war II and later. however, life aboard a modern nuclear submarine seems to be a subject matter so little covered in general. Sure, there are a number of memoirs from the second world war pacific campaigns that tell of combat aboard U.S submarines, Thunder Below being one such book that springs to mind, but modern accounts of working aboard submarines during the Cold War and beyond are hard to come by.

Watertight is my second such glimpse into this enclosed world of life aboard a modern submarine. My first such find was a book entitled "Under Pressure: Living Life and Avoiding Death on a Nuclear Submarine." by Richard Humphreys, available here on Audible. Humphrey's book is a less polished personal account from a British Royal Navy submariner where as Watertight is authored from a U.S perspective. Interestingly, both book see their respective authors serving at sea during the same time period, so offers a juxtaposition of how life in the undersea navy differed in terms of personal experiences. Further, it also contrasts how the basic enlisted crewman, as in Humphrey's case, compared to Heckman's highly trained role as a reactor operator. Heckman's story, although littered with profanity and accounts of pranks and some of the hardships faced working on a submarine, lacks Humphreys', although somewhat less polished writing, more gritty account in terms of how exhausting and dirty conditions often were. Further, Humphrey's pulls no punches in dealing with far more awkward aspects of working in an environment with over one hundred men in a confined space.

However, this isn't to say that Heckman's account is any less interesting. No, not at all. It just lacks coverage of some of the more delicate issues that Humphrey's doesn't shy away from. Watertight spends more time, it seemed, off the submarine or while the submarine was moored in port than it did while at sea. It's not until around chapter fifteen that we finally get into his first submarine, USS Seawolf, SSN 575. Prior to that, we learn about what it takes to become a nuclear power plant operator and the massive workload involved in attaining qualification in this highly skilled field.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of the special projects submarine he served on, Watertight doesn't delve into any aspects of this in any detail, nor does it spend any real time on the nature of their missions. There are plenty of humerus stories to be sure and there are certainly a number of colourful characters here. One serious scare described in the book does go to show just how dangerous working on these machines can be.

Like the aforementioned "under Pressure" book, Heckman also talks about the raucous drinking that went on while on liberty. Unlike Humphrey's book, the U.S navy's liberty ports tended to be rather more exotic with Pearl Harbour being a favourite as opposed to the pubs and clubs of a cold Plymouth or Scotland.

My only disappointment with Watertight is that it stops after the author's transfer to a new boat, the USS Parche. I was hoping for more stories from his new assignment and was looking forward to him describing comparisons with his experiences aboard Parche compared to Seawolf.

These two books compliment one another and I would suggest anyone interested in submarines to check out both in order to build a more complete picture of life at sea, or should I say, under it, from opposite ends of the qualification scale.

Watertight is well written, humerus at times, full of colourful stories and a glimpse into the type of training required to operate a nuclear reactor at sea. it's as much a story about life off the submarine as it is while aboard it, but it all adds up to a fascinating memoir and well worth a read.

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