For many people, going to work means spending time in an office or a factory.
But for Bartlett Clark, a retired U.S. Navy captain, it used to involve spending months beneath the ocean’s surface traveling the world in a nuclear-powered submarine.
He could have taken to the sky to serve his country, but he chose a career in the navy’s submarine force.
When a comrade once asked him why, Clark replied, ‘The laws of physics are on my side because there are more airplanes in the ocean than there are submarines in the air.?
Clark, a resident of Clarkston, discussed his career and life aboard a submarine during a fireside chat held Jan. 23 at the Oxford Public Library.
The program was part of ‘The Way We Worked,? a Smithsonian traveling exhibition that will wrap up its visit to the library on Feb. 1.
Clark spent 26 years in the navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1967 and retiring in 1993. Seventeen of those years involved sea duty.
The culmination of his career was the time he spent commanding the USS Omaha (SSN-692), a nuclear-powered, Los Angeles-class attack submarine that was in commission from 1978-95.
The Omaha was the sister ship of the USS Dallas, the submarine made famous in the 1990 movie classic ‘The Hunt for Red October.?
‘They looked the same,? Clark said.
Clark explained there are two types of submarines ? ‘attack dogs? like the Omaha and ones armed with ballistic missiles.
Submarines carrying ballistic missiles have only one purpose in life, according to the captain, and that is to ‘go out and hide? in quiet parts of the ocean. They must remain undetected and ‘be ready to launch their arsenal of missiles within 15 minutes of receiving an order to do so from the president.?
Attack submarines, like the Omaha, travel around with an arsenal of torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles or Harpoon anti-ship missiles. They’re armed to protect U.S. ships and do battle with enemy surface ships and submarines.
‘The speeds are classified for both types of ships and the operating depth is still classified,? Clark told the audience. ‘But I can say it’s in excess of 400 feet deep and in excess of 20 knots.?
So, what’s life like aboard a submarine?
‘It’s not boring. It’s not boring at all,? Clark said. ‘It’s always very, very busy.?
Crew members operate on 18-hour days.
They spend six-hours on watch and 12 hours off watch. During those 12 hours, crew members are engaged in work-related activities such as routine maintenance, drills and training sessions, but they also find time for eating, sleeping and recreational pursuits, according to Clark.
Every man aboard a submarine knows his role, according to Clark, and there’s ‘a tremendous amount of peer pressure? for them ‘to do their job and do it well.?
Being such a confined space, one might think the air quality aboard a submarine isn’t very good, but that’s not true.
‘Surprisingly enough the air on a submarine is very, very clean,? Clark said.
Sea water is distilled into fresh water, which is then broken down into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is pumped out, while the oxygen is stored.
‘That’s how we breathe,? Clark said.
After ‘you’ve been down for a while,? when the sub surfaces, ‘real air smells bad.?
‘It smells like fish,? Clark said.
A submarine can remain at sea for as long as the food supply holds out. The captain said food is the ‘limiting factor in how long a ship can go.?
Clark recalled a time when the submarine he was on was submerged for so long that ‘we were down to reusing coffee grounds and eating a lot of rice.?
‘All the fresh stuff was gone,? he said.
That was in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War in which a coalition of Arab nations, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel from Oct. 6-25. When the war broke out, Clark was the engineering officer aboard the USS Greenling (SSN-614), a Permit-class attack submarine, which had just finished a deployment and was heading home. Clark’s sub was forced to turn around and go back to work.
Clark’s last tour of duty was as a professor of naval science at the University of Michigan. In 2005, he moved to Clarkston, the town named for his family.
His great, great, great grandfather was Jeremiah Clark, who established a homestead there in 1832. Jeremiah’s brother, Nelson, settled there in 1836. Clarkston village was later organized and named through a vote of the settlers in 1842.
‘It was named for the two settlers who did the most to improve the town,? according to Clarkston’s municipal website.