A few tips to make your Military fiction more realistic.

One of the reasons I wrote OF ICE AND STEEL, was due to the fact that most writers never served on submarines and could not seem to get the facts down.  Here are some tips that will help you get it right.

When you talk about an American Sailor, the word sailor is always capitalized.

Members of the Naval Service never salute inside a building or inside a ship.  They never salute if uncovered. (Not wearing a hat.)

Dive Dive is only called out once.  That is when the sub is leaving the surface.  If your fictional boat is already submerged and they want to go deeper, they change depth.

Supply Officers are know as "The Chop."

Here are the ranks in the Navy

E-1  Seaman/Fireman/Airman Recruit

E-2 Seaman/Fireman/Airman Apprentice

E-3 Seaman/Fireman/Airman

E-4 Petty Officer Third Class

E-5 Petty Officer Second Class

E-6 Petty Officer First Class

E-7 Chief Petty Officer

E-8 Senior Chief Petty Officer

E-9 Masterchief Petty Officer

O-1 Ensign

O-2 LT. Junior Grade

O-3 LT.

O-4 Lt. Commander

O-5 Commander

O-6 Captain

O-7 and above.  Just call them Admiral.

To get relationships between your enlisted andyour officers correct, you have to be careful.

Remember that the Ensigns, and LtJgs know very little about the ships on which they serve. They must be able to treat the crew with respect, the Chiefs and the crew are the ones who teach these new officers the technical part of thier jobs.

An Ensign yelling at a Chief, would have his head respectfully handed to him. All senior officers will tell you it is the Chief's who run the Navy.  That is how it was designed.  Officers make the desisions and the Chief's carry them out.  Remember that when your character is a hot cocky Ensign.

Sailors do not wear dress blues or whites on the ship unless they are part of special detail. They wear blue jump suites, and ball caps with the ships name.

Dogs, cats,or Monkeys are not allowed on a ship.  however Ido have a great story about a monkey that got on a sub.

Nudes or pin-ups are not allowed anymore.

The modern Sailor is not the hard drinking, woman chasing, bar fighting, scoundrel he once was.  God I miss them though.

When the Commanding Officer arrives at his ship he is announced over the PA system (1MC). His arrival is announced as if he were the ship. Example: If the CO of USS DALLAS comes to the ship, the watch announces it as "DALLAS ARRIVING."  If he leaves the word is "DALLAS DEPARTING."

Under the Captain is the Executive Officer or XO. He runs admin part of theship while he trains to take over as the CO of his own ship one day.

Sailors go through many schools before they arrive at a ship. After Boot Camp they might go to A-school where they are taught the basic skills of what they will do on the ship. Then they be assigned Submarine school, or a school similar. Once they have that schoolfinished they may be assigned to C-School. This is where they learn the nuts and bolts of the equipment they will take care of in the Fleet.  The education never ends. There is Fire Fighting, Escape, Damage Control, Small Arms, and about 1000 other schools.

On submarines there is no doctor. There is however a highly trained IDC or Independent Duty Corpsman. He can do just about everyhting a doctor can do.

Modern subs do not have deck guns.

Radar does not work underwater.

Sonar does not work in the air.

Here are the jobs (Ratings) on a submarine.

ET- Electronics Technician. Takes care of navigation, radio, and radar as well asthe communications within the ship.

FT- Fire Control Technician. Tests, programs, and launches weapons. Tracks targets and plots solutions to intercept a target.

TM now called MM- Machiniest Mate. Takes care of Atmosphere Control Equipment, Potable Water, Diesel Engine, Sanitary System, Hydrualics, High Pressure Air, Torpedoes, Missiles, Small Arms, Anchor, Missile Tubes, Torpedo Tubes.

MS- Mess Specialist.  The Navy requires that MSs' assinged to subs be fully qualifed chefs. These are the cooks  aka Stew Burners.

YM- Yeoman. These are the folks that pay us and take care of all the tons of paperwork. They do awards and keep the CO and XO out of trouble.

ELT- Engineering Lab Technician. This is the guy that samples the reactor, and does radiation monitoring.

ET- Electrician. Operates and maintains the power on the ship.

Nuclear MM. Operates the Reactorandtakes care ofthe main engines and all the other classfied stuff I cannot mention.

ST- Sonar Technician. Operates the Sonar system.

SK-Storekeeper. Works for the Supply Officer. orders and recieves all the millions of parts needed, orders the food, toilet paper etc.

Well there are just a few little tips to help out.  I hope you can use them.