Qual Card

Submarine Qualification

When you report aboard a submarine you just don't get assigned a job and go to work. First you must be qualified to perform that job. You may have had training on how to do it else where, but not on a sub or in particular, this submarine. You must qualify or re-qualify on the boat.
Unqualified persons, before they are allowed to do anything more than be a mess cook, (and even that takes special training), must qualify on board. In a commissioned vessal you are given a year to accomplish this. In new construction it's a bit harder to do in that time frame since you need to wait until the system you want to qualify on is installed.
Every person has to know a certain level of basics to be trusted to sail and operate on a sub. This is necessary because you never know where you might be when an emergency occures and be required to assist in damage control or other emergency procedures. You might be the ONLY person in a space and solving the problem quickly will mean saving your life and every one elses.
Each system and compartment required 3 levels of testing to become qualified on or in it.

So, grab your flashlight. Get your systems drawings and qual book from the C.O.B. and come crawl through a year of little or no sleep. Limited liberty, or no liberty, if you have fallen behind in your quals. Be sure to buy some stock in a medical supply company, because you're going to be wearing a lot of it.
At the end, who knows, you may also be wearing your "fish", as the insignia at the top of the page is called.
Good Luck

These are the items that all Submariners that sailed in the Flasher MUST get Qualified in.

Casulitiy & Damage Control
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SHIPS COMPARTMENTS
Bow Compartment
Operations Compartment, 3rd platform
Operations Compartment, 2nd platform
Operations Compartment, Upper Level
Attack Center & Sonar Room
Reactor Compartment & Tunnel
Auxiliary Machinery Space
Engine Room
Maneuvering Room
Topside & Bridge

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SYSTEMS
Trim and Drain System
High Pressure Air System
Service Air System
MBT Blow System, (Main Ballast Tank)
Ventilation System
Main & Vital Hydraulic Systems
External Hydraulic System
Planes & Rudder Hydraulic Systems
Oxygen System & 0² Generator, (Flasher wasn't equiped with this system)
Sanitary System
Atmosphere Control System
Fuel Oil Filling & Compensating Water
Fresh Water System
Air Conditioning System
Refrigeration System
Snorkel System
Main Coolant System
Steam System
Feed & Condensate System
Basic Electrial System
Tanks
I.C. Systems
Main & Auxiliary Sea Water
Radiation & Health Physics
Supply

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Lookout
Helm & Planes
Topside
Below decks

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Each of the above compartments, systems, functions and skills was learned completely and drawn and explained three times before being qualified.

The following is the Qualifaction Card I had to get completed and get tested on time and time again. As you will be able to see, it received some hard wear and tear.

Once you have learned a system, you are tested by a qualified Petty Officer on that system. Take the Trim and Drain System for an example. Once you have traced it all out, hand over hand, touching as much of it as you can, and finding ALL the different valves and understand what each valve and pump does, then you get to be tested on it. The P.O. will ask you specific questions about the system. Ask you to draw, from memory, the entire system and place each and every valve and pump where it should be AND show the remote operator connections and swtiches and where they get there power supply from. After the P.O. is satisfied that you know the system, he will sign your "Qual Card". Then you get to go to the Chief Petty Officer qualified on the system and get him to test you also.
When you have all your systems signed off, guess what??? You get to go to your Duty Officer and he will test you on ALL of it again. Some of which you learned months ago......when he is satisfied and signs your card then the XO and Captain review it and once they sign the card and have the Yeoman make the proper entries in your service jacket. you are Qualified in Submarines!! You will then be presented your Dolphins at an awards ceremony or maybe at "quarters" infront of the whole crew.
You are now a Submariner!!
(By the way, the word is pronounced....Submarine-r not Sub-mariner)