John Avery - Black Cobra

“Try doing that in a hurry with eighty other men in flooded conditions while under attack,” Uri said.

“I can’t even imagine,” Aaron said. Then he followed Uri up a ramp onto Cobra’s main deck.

“What you see when you look at a submarine is just a skin, or shell, which floods with seawater when submerged,” Uri explained. “The skin gives the sub its streamlined shape and helps protect the vital inner hull, or pressure hull, from damage. Like a space capsule, the pressure hull is the main component of the crew’s life support system, and if it is breached, or punctured, things can go bad in a hurry.”

Aaron looked around at Cobra’s heavy, steel-plated skin, painted a dull black.

“Within the pressure hull there are a total of seven compartments,” Uri went on, “lined up end to end, with one long, narrow corridor running through them — just like you would see on a passenger train. Compartment One is up in the bow, followed by Compartments Two, Three, and Four, and so on down the line, ending with Compartment Seven in the stern.”

“That’s a lot of compartments,” Aaron said.

“Yes, and many of the main compartments house smaller compartments,” Uri said. “It may sound confusing, but actually the layout is very simple: Compartment One is the Forward Torpedo Room, Cobra’s primary weapon array, and the main reason for an attack sub like her to exist. Compartment Two contains the Captain's Cabin, the Sonar Room, other Officer’s Quarters, and the Officer’s Ward Room. Compartment Three houses the Control Center, otherwise known as the Control Room — the heart and brain of the sub. Compartment Four houses Midshipmen’s Quarters and the galley. Compartments Five and Six are the Engine Room, and the Electric Motor Room, respectively. And finally, Compartment Seven, in the stern, contains the Aft Torpedo Room.”

“Where are the hatches that trap tourists?” Aaron asked.

“Four of these seven compartments are considered vital,” Uri explained, “and they are secured by watertight hatches which can be sealed off from the rest of the submarine in the event the main pressure hull is compromised. The first vital space is Compartment Two, with watertight hatches at each end — one leading to Compartment One and the other leading to Compartment Three.”

Aaron counted two hatches on his fingers.

“Compartments Four, Five, and Six, are also considered vital, and similar to Compartment Two, they actually grouped into a single module with watertight hatches at each end.”

“One leading to Compartment Three and one to Compartment Seven," Aaron said, picturing it easily now.

"Correct," Uri said. “The crew could move from one end of the sub to the other along the main corridor using just those four hatches.”

“Let me see if I've got this straight," Aaron said. "If the pressure hull fails, the corridor running through the seven compartments can be cordoned off as needed using four watertight hatches, as a last defense against the incoming seawater.”

“Precisely,” Uri said. “But there are more hatches here on deck. For instance the hatch toward the bow, used to load torpedoes into the Forward Torpedo Room with a crane from above, and the escape hatch above Compartment Seven, the Aft Torpedo Room, toward the stern. The fin hatch, here amidships, provides access to the ladder leading to the Control Room in Compartment Three. Think of it as Cobra’s main entrance. I’ll point it out later. Are you ready to go below?”

“Ready,” Aaron said.

They walked past Cobra’s large, black fin and continued on toward the bow, stopping at a steep, narrow set of steel stairs leading down into the sub’s dark interior.

“These bow stairs were cut through what used to be the torpedo loading hatch I mentioned earlier,” Uri said.

“Above the Forward Torpedo Room,” Aaron said.

“Yes, Compartment One,” Uri agreed. “We submariners didn’t have the luxury of these stairs. We entered the boat through the fin hatch using the ladder to the Control Room. These and most of the handrails and ramps you see on deck were installed by the maritime museum for the benefit of the public. But since they’re here, why not use them. Follow me.”

Aaron and Uri descended the tourist stairs into the Forward Torpedo Room.

“Foxtrots were armed with high explosive torpedoes with a range of ten miles,” Uri said. “The weapons could be fired from six forward, or four aft 533 millimeter or 21-inch torpedo tubes. You’re looking at the six forward tubes.”

Aaron could not believe the amount of equipment crammed into such a tight space.

He saw what reminded him of a World War I gas mask hanging from a hook. "Is that for if the air in here goes bad?” he asked, pointing at the odd looking device.

“You’re close,” Uri said. “It’s actually a Submerged Escape Apparatus. In other words, a lung, for breathing underwater during an escape.” He took it off the hook and handed it to Aaron.

Aaron turned the contraption over in his hands. It consisted of a rubber lung, a steel bottle, a mouthpiece, and goggles. “How does it work?” he asked.

“It combines a CO2 scrubber with supplemental oxygen to hopefully provide enough breathable air for an escapee to make it to the surface.” Uri said. “The museum hung it here, along with other memorabilia, to add realism. That one’s pretty old, though. The scrubbing canister’s probably shot, and I doubt there’s much oxygen left in the bottle. I never had to use one, thank God.”

Aaron hung the lung back on its hook.

“A submarine torpedo tube is like a large naval gun,” Uri said. “It’s basically a barrel with a breech and muzzle. However, a torpedo tube uses compressed air rather than an explosive for the purpose of firing, and the tube's projectile is self-propelling, the tube supplying only the initial boost for the torpedo.”

He indicated one of the heavy torpedo racks. “When fully armed, Cobra carried twenty-two torpedoes. These are two of them.”

Aaron stepped over to take a closer look at the huge, colorful bombs, both over 20-feet long. One of the weapons was painted fire-engine red, with white stripes. It was shaped like a cigar, like the torpedoes he had seen in pictures.

The second torpedo, however, looked quite different: it was painted forest green and was at least two feet longer than the other. It was tipped with an articulating nosecone made of brightly polished metal, and looked much sleeker, faster, and deadlier than its counterpart.

“These torpedoes have been disarmed of course,” Uri said. “Would you like to see how they’re loaded?”

“Sure,” Aaron said. He had always wondered how that was done.

“The gantry crane is used to move the rack and align a specific torpedo with the tube,” Uri said. “Then the pulley system pulls the weapon in.”

He craned the rack over and loaded the red and white torpedo into tube 5. “Did you get how that was done?” he said.

“I think so,” Aaron said.

Uri withdrew the bomb and settled it back onto the rack. “Go ahead, try loading the green torpedo into tube five.”

Aaron followed Uri’s instructions and loaded the weapon, and then he reached up to close the tube’s inner hatch cover.

“You can leave the hatch cover open,” Uri said. “I’ll secure everything later. Let’s move on to Compartment Two.”

Compartment Two was accessed through the first of the four watertight hatches along the main corridor. Uri led the way and Aaron ducked in behind him. The corridor was very tight, leaving barely enough room for two men to squeeze past each other.