November 10: Rest day in Valdivia
Took a tour of a retired Chilean submarine today. It's "Oberon" class, made by the UK in the 1960s and retired in the 1990s. 27 were built: 13 for the UK Royal Navy, and Chile, Australia, Brazil and Canada ordered the others. They have diesel engines which charge lead-acid batteries, which power the electric motors. The diesel engines need air so they can only be used at periscope depth - so the batteries did a lot of work. And were carefully contained; if there was an acid leak that reached the hull it would be a very bad day at the office!
Onboard it's full of sharp edges, low ceilings, narrow corridors, tiny rooms - no spare space anywhere. It had a crew of 75, who worked and slept and rested in three shifts so 25 would be asleep at any one time. There weren't much more than 25 bunks, presumably they're in continuous use. Even the captain's cabin didn't have a visible bed: it looked like a couch was repurposed.
From left to right: bunks. Ship plan. One of the many hatches along the main corridor. Torpedo room
Space is precious everywhere: there’s no gaps between equipment, and its squeezed into every possible corner. There's signs that space problems came up during construction and got improvised solutions: dials and controls in weird places, On the bridge I saw a torpedo diagram professionally stenciled on a large pipe.
Submarines are not for tall people: I had a hardhat on and knocked it against the ceiling even when trying to stay low. The main corridor passed through hatches in watertight bulkheads which needed to be climbed through. It'd be clear who was new on the crew by how much slower they got around...
From left to right: getting through the hatches made me realized I haven’t stretched properly in a while. Helmsperson station. Periscope. Engine and controls. Emergency information.
The submarine looked like it was slowly decaying, but I expect proper upkeep is prohibitively expensive: the tour cost less than a coffee.
There also was a 20 meter high Foucault pendulum on the waterfront; the direction should change about 10 degrees per hour but I didn't stick around to check, finding a coffee was more important than confirmation that the earth rotates. It's right beside the fish market, which I walked through but was not tempted by.
From left to right: Foucault pendulum. The enclosing structure. Me and the submarie.
In the afternoon I sorted out the dates for the rest of the ride to Santiago, and booked a flight back to Amsterdam for December 4. There's a spare day or two, in case I want to take an extra day somewhere, but the pace is pretty relaxed so I shouldn't need it.
Also it rained all afternoon so it was definitely a good choice to stay inside and do homework.
Tomorrow is another day off, partly because the place I'm staying is both nice and cheap, partly so I can get the bike looked at, and partly because I want to. It'll be cloudy and slightly rainy tomorrow, but it should be sunnier and warmed on the day after, when I'm back on the bike. Fingers crossed!
