Let's see.....0215 Engine Room Lower Level. This watch station is huge, encompassing the SSTG LO Bay, the Condensate Bay, the PLO Bay, the MSW Bay, the ASW Bay, and all of Engine Room Middle Level Aft, almost half the engine room.
The hourly logs have been taken....that takes three minutes. The #2 LOP was shut down, cleaned, and put to work on the Starboard SSTG LO Sump. The PLO Strainer got it's daily cleaning at 0030, the Port SSTG LO Strainer was cleaned at 0120, the Starboard SSTG LO Strainer was cleaned at 0140. It took 30 seconds to shift from #1 and #2 Condensate Pumps to #3 and #4, which was done at 0010. It took five minutes to shift from #1 and #2 R114 AC units to #3 and #4, which was done at 0024. The ship is currently cruining at PD off the coast of China on routine patrol, no manuvers are expected this midwatch.
There is NOTHING left to do for the next four hours but take those hourly logs. Fifty seven minutes of each of the next four hours will be spent trying to find something interesting to do, and failing. This is when the ERLL watch pulls his spinal tap syringe from his pocket (the ELT's use them for boiler water oxygen sampling) and he climbs up to be under the Main Engine aft journal bearing, because he knows the Engine Room Upper Level watch has to put his face right THERE to read that thermometer. So you squirt him. He'll try to squirt you when you're reading the ERFW pump outlet thermometer.
It's not only distinctly possible to see the Engine Room Supervisor, the Engineering Watch Supervisor, and the Auxiliary Electrician Aft before they see you, but fairly easy to move around the watch station to hide from them, a game most ERLL watches play. But this time, when the Engine Room Supervisor comes down, the Lower Level watch and he get together. The EWS is supervising the Engineering Laboratory Techician's reactor sample, and that pins the EOOW in the Manuvering Room for nearly half an hour. The AE aft is cool, he has a thing with the cook that he doesn't want to mess up. So there's no problem sneaking back behind the condensers for a little fun.
THAT's how it will work on a submarine.
Glad to see a non-qual has some "facts".
I got my dolphins a long time ago, I don't need someone who hasn't lived the life to tell me "facts".