One track takes him into the supply branch and can lead to command of a naval depot or a program office. Another is the Marine Engineering Officer (called MEO) track, which allows him to operate a nuclear, steam, or gas turbine power plant. There also is a track for those who desire to specialize in weapons employment. Accepting this option, called the Weapons Engineering Officer (WEO) track, means that an officer can rise to head the weapons department on a submarine or ship. The greatest differences are in the track that leads to command.
For those officers who desire to command one of Her Majesty's submarines, the Seaman Officer's career track must be followed. Much like his U.S. Navy counterpart, the young seaman officer spends his first tour on a submarine qualifying for his 'dolphins' and learning how things are done on a submarine. The important difference is that although he spends considerable time watchkeeping and learning the aspects of nuclear engineering that directly concern him, his training is concentrated on making him aware of all aspects of the boat's operations. From the very start of his career, the seaman officer is being groomed for command.
Another difference from his American counterpart is that the young officer spends his entire career assigned to submarines. Shore and 'joint' tours are virtually unknown in the British submarine service and are seen as a sign that one may not be suitable for command. As the officer rises through the hierarchy of the wardroom, he becomes first a Navigator, then a Watch Leader or Officer of the Watch (WL/OOW). During this tour a critical decision about his future is made by his captain and the Chief of Staff, Submarines, at Northwood, England: whether or not to send him to the Perisher.
Perisher is the Royal Navy's submarine command qualification course, which every prospective submarine captain and first lieutenant (the equivalent of the U.S. executive officer) must pass before he can move up into those positions. It is a course unlike anything else in any other service. An American probably would consider it a postgraduate-level course, with an extra helping of stress built in. There is more to Perisher than stress and learning how to drive submarines. It is a test of the trainee's character, designed to tell the Royal Navy whether or not a man is qualified to command one of the most powerful conventional weapons systems in the British arsenal. Probably the closest thing that might be compared to Perisher is the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) at NAS Miramar, California, though Top Gun tests only the skill of a pilot and radar operator, not the ability of an officer to command more than a hundred men. The average Perisher student is in his late twenties or early thirties, with between eight and twelve years of experience in submarines.
About twice a year, ten officers are selected to attend the Perisher course, which is based at the Royal Navy submarine base at Portsmouth. If there are not enough RN officers to fill all ten spots, these vacancies are made available to the prospective captains of other selected navies' submarines. To date, officers from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Holland, Israel, Chile, and many others have taken the Perisher course. The only modification made for these officers is that the parts of the course specifically involving nuclear submarine operations are replaced with instruction on the diesel submarines more commonly found in those navies. Surprisingly, no American officer has ever taken the Perisher course-and it has been run since 1914! I should point out, conversely, that no British officer has ever taken and completed the American PCO course. The two countries have different focuses to their command qualification courses, and both seem satisfied with the products produced.
The faded accounting ledger that is the logbook of every Perisher course since 1922 (the earliest time that they kept records) is filled with a 'who's who' of Royal Navy submarine history, including Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse; Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward, who led the RN forces during the Falklands War; and the current senior Perisher 'teacher,' Commander D. S. H. White, OBE, RN.
Commander White and the other Perisher teachers are the keepers of the institutional memory where command of Royal Navy submarines is concerned. Just two years ago, the Perisher course underwent a significant change in its curriculum, with more emphasis being placed on nuclear submarine operations, long-range weapons employment, and tactics for war at sea. Since that time, the teachers continually try to keep the course and what it teaches as up to date as possible.
The five-month course begins by dividing the ten trainee officers (also called 'Perishers') into two groups, each supervised by one of the Perisher teachers. The Perishers visit all the manufacturers of equipment that goes into the RN boats, as well as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Limited (VSEL), where all the British submarines are currently built. Then they head into the attack simulators to learn approaches to surface targets. After the simulator runs are completed, they head up to the RN Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane, Scotland.
Here the real test of the Perishers begins. Each group of trainees is taken aboard a Royal Navy submarine and begins to do visual approaches on a frigate charging at the submarine. Each trainee gets to do five runs a day for a period of several weeks. As the course progresses more frigates are added, until the Perisher trainee has three of them simultaneously charging at his periscope. The idea is for him to safely operate the submarine, fire off a shot, and not get run over by one or more of the frigates. All the time that a Perisher student is at the conn of the sub, the teacher is evaluating the trainee's reactions and ability to maintain his awareness of the tactical situation.
It is an emotionally brutal regime, with a very high dropout rate. On average, between 20 percent to 30 percent of the Perisher trainees don't make it, and failure rates on individual courses may be as high as 40 percent. Unfortunately, to drop out of Perisher is to never step aboard a British submarine again. When it happens, the teacher's coxswain gives the trainee a bottle of whiskey, and escorts him back to shore.
If the trainee survives the approach phase, he heads into an equally challenging operations phase in which the Perishers play the roles of actual submarine captains on missions. These may include sneaking up on a coastline in the British Isles to deliver a Special Boat Service (SBS) commando team, snap some pictures of a coastline, or practice laying mines. The final phase of the course has the trainees taking part in a war-at-sea exercise, designed to see how each trainee can handle actual command of a boat in combat. When it is all over, and the Perisher has checked off all items on the teacher's checklist to the instructor's satisfaction, he is what every seaman officer dreams of being, a Perisher graduate and qualified to command a Royal Navy submarine.
The Perisher course is a very expensive proposition for the Royal Navy. If it did not already have the assets in place to conduct the course, the cost per individual trainee would be approximately PS1.2 million. The human cost is also high. Failed Perishers usually transition into what is known as General Service if they choose to stay in the
