Discipline, routine, and trust: the traits that keep submariners alive. We sat down with the Deep Six crew to learn their methods for thriving in the abyss.
Roles That Overlap
Drills That Matter
The crew rehearses three scenarios weekly: hull breach, reactor instability, and biohazard containment. Stopwatches, critiques, and immediate iteration drive improvement.
Community Impact
Deep Six mentors rookies through open comms sessions, sharing SOPs and post-mission reports to lift survival rates across the fleet.
Leadership Under Pressure
Their commander runs short, scenario-based briefs with a single objective and three clear constraints. Decisions are delegated to the most informed operator on the loop, not the highest rank in the room. When alarms sound, the crew defaults to practiced checklists first, then adapts—this balance prevents chaos while leaving room for initiative.
Equipment Philosophy
Deep Six favors modular, field-repairable gear over fragile, high-spec alternatives. Quick-release clamps, redundant seals, and standardized fasteners keep downtime low. Each member carries a micro-kit customized to their role but compatible across the team, so parts can be swapped mid-mission without tools.
Lessons Learned
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” The crew’s biggest gains came from eliminating avoidable errors: mislabeled containers, unlabeled breakers, and undocumented patches. They treat every near-miss as a gift—log it, share it, and bake the fix into the routine. Excellence is just discipline repeated under pressure.