When I was a Midshipman, I took two training cruises aboard submarines, one a Boomer (summer of 1986) and the other a Fast Attack (summer of 1988). It's one of the few experiences in life were you go out into the ocean, disappear, and you have zero contact with the outside world and what's happening in it. My home area actually had a major airline crash in the summer of 1986 of which I was totally unaware of until the 1 year anniversary a year later. It was REALLY strange when the local news was doing a summary of a major event that happened when I was on patrol and had absolutely no knowledge of.