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Comment by lisper | Hacker News Reader

> the boat operated on an 18-hour cycle

Why? That seems incredibly stupid. It's unnecessary and counterproductive and the stakes are high. So why do it?

I know this doesn't answer your question but I believe it's a long-standing tradition on many navy and civilian vessels across the world. I only know mariners on oil-producing vessels in Australia but they have all talked about that 6-hour roster. Others will know more than me, but I don't believe this is unique to US Navy.

Well, I'd imagine the 3 shifts are pretty set, due to habitable space design.

So X / 3 = watch duration

24 / 3 = 8 hours, which does seem long to be kept on hair trigger while performing physically and/or mentally taxing tasks.

I'd like to think the military did studies on performance with respect to watch duration. Or they could have just pulled them out of a hat.

Also, it seems like they might have indeed switched to 8-hour shifts: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchkeeping#US_submarine_sy...

yeah, it was the same back when i was on a fast attack sub in the 1970s...and here's the fun part--2 other dudes shared my bed/cot...it's called hot racking...I sleep for 6 hours, then get up and go aft to stand watch or do maintenance, and dude #2 gets in the same cot and sleeps for 6 hrs...he then gets up and dude #3 gets in for 6 hrs...you get 6 hrs in bed per day...FTN...

I knew about hot-racking. That actually makes sense. But why not 8-hour shifts instead of 6?

It was like that in the 80's and 90's too. When we went on a special run, nearly the entire crew would hot rack.

Because the stakes are high. A pampered crew will never handle a life or death situation if their frame of mind isn't close to the verge of life or death 24/7.

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