Safety Last

The greatest fear in a ship at sea is fire. That is as true on the steel ships of today as it was on the wooden ships in the age of sail. Especially on a submarine submerged, but on any ship at sea, when you are faced with fire there is nowhere to run. Fire can back you into a dead end in a heartbeat, and it can run through passageways faster than the most fleet of foot. Fire is the nightmare that makes you wake up screaming.

There was a reason that our shipboard uniforms were 100% cotton. Synthetic fabric melts before it burns. It melts into the flesh of the person wearing it, and then it burns within that flesh, inflicting deep and terrible burns, often right down to the bone.

Today’s Navy has gone deeply stupid, because I read today that those idiotic camouflage working uniforms that they wear today are 50% nylon and only 50% cotton. Not surprisingly, they burn, and our sailors wear
them every day on US Navy ships at sea.

From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

Not to mention from the fucking idiots who specify and buy their uniforms.