--- title: "10 silly terms you’ll only hear on submarines" date: "2021-11-27" modified: "2021-11-27" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/terms-youll-only-hear-submarines/" categories: - "Join the Military" - "Military Culture" - "Ships" - "Tactical" --- # 10 silly terms you’ll only hear on submarines ![]() Submarines are a little world of their own. With little more than 100 people aboard and submerged, running silent for months at a time, the crews of these nuclear powered undersea monsters begin to develop an entirely new culture of their own. Even non-submarine sailors can get flummoxed at the vocabulary the silent service sailors are capable of slinging. --- ### 1. Freeloading oxygen breather A person taking a ride on the sub or a submarine sailor who doesn't pull his or her own weight. ![]() *(U.S. Navy photo)* ### 2. Angles and dangles When the sub takes a significant angle while submerging or surfacing, the boat is no longer moving horizontally. As a result, the ship's crew will suddenly be walking uphill or downhill at a significant angle. ![]() *(U.S. Navy photo)* ### 3. Emergency blow This is when the sub has to surface for an emergency. There are even special handles the crew can pull to initiate an emergency blow. ![]() *(U.S. Navy photo)* ### 4. Noise This is what it sounds like, but minimizing noise is the responsibility of every crew member. Most of the time spent aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear sub, the crew is likely trying to go undetected or are somewhere they aren't supposed to be. Slamming the toilet seat down at such a time could be very detrimental to one's health. ![]() ### 5. Ahead flank cavitate The submariner's version of pulling chocks or popping smoke – also known as let's get out of here as fast as possible. Cavitation (creating bubbles in the ocean caused by the screws that propel the sub) is usually something to be mitigated, but when this order is given, no one cares about cavitation. ### 6. Baffles This is where an enemy sub can hide directly behind another while moving without being detected. In *The Hunt For Red October,* the USS *Dallas* hides behind *Red October* by hiding in the baffles. ![]() *(U.S. Navy photo)* ### 7. Dolphins The Submarine Warfare qualification pin worn on Navy uniforms. Sailors without their dolphins are nubs, useless. ![]() ### 8. Mail buoy This is a fool's errand perpetrated by saltier members of the crew on the newer guys, usually nubs. Similar to a Machinists' Punch. If you're in the Army, this would be like sending a soldier for Grid Squares or in the Air Force, prop wash. Except on a submarine, the new guy has to get in his foul weather gear, harness, and life jackets to go through the main hatch. ![]() *(U.S. Navy photo)* ### 9. Portable air sample This is another way to get at the new guys or the uninitiated submariner. Subs have little devices for testing the radiation in the air, but the sailors will still get nubs to take a trash bag full of air to the ship's command. ![]() ### 10. Ramen, fish and feet According to submariners, this is what a submarine comes to smell like after just a few weeks. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()