This is like an escape room on steroids. Except you're trying to escape drowning.

See, you would have been fine if some sailor hadn't been keeping all that water in his locker!

Half a billion dollar ship being kept afloat by brute force and the simple wooden wedge. I love it.

I am 62 I did that training when I was 17 yrs old when I think back to it I still feel cold and scared. We were told that if we did not seal the leaks in time we may be drowned. It got to about 8 inches from the top I was treading water then they suddenly drained the compartment. We did not have enough time or material to seal all the holes. If I live to 100 yrs I will never forget that day. Have told family of that day now having found this I can show them.

Escape room? No thanks - Plug the hole room? Yes please!

I wonder what would happen if someone said over the speaker: "We lost control over the water level."

1:13 that grin is like "I get to max out the controls on my boss, oh happy days!"

7:29 The Navy: We're going to try and drown you while you bash wedges into holes Also the Navy: please mind your head

Woulda been easier had they had.. **slap** Flex Tape!

I imagine the enemy trying to sink that ship as it slowly turns into a cluster of wedges poking out in every direction.

I don't need a sinking ship simulator. I have my life for that.

The USN also has these live damage control simulators and they’re terrifying. Water everywhere, the only light is on your helmet, people yelling and screaming….I remember having to shore up a bulkhead with 4x4s and wedges and a friggin sledgehammer. But when you finish and the water starts to slow down and then stop…that’s a helluva good feeling.

1:17 Missile: *hits boat* Guy in the back: Bloody hell

4:37: "if they are feeling kind, they can drop the water level." 4:46, Driver: "Poseidon will have no mercy, neither will I!"

They’re too calm. They’re like:”Oh hey we’re drowning!”

Did that in 1978, still remember the initial panic when the lights went out and the water flooded in. Once in action though, you concentrate on the task at hand

“I just sawed this boat in half!”

Imagine astronauts banging wedges to fix a hole after space debris hit the ISS fuselage

That “Bloody hell!” was so absolutely British, and I love it 🤣🤣

Brings back memories of the Submarine version of this that I had to do periodically. Its literally the worst feeling having that water hitting you from everyside trying to patch one pipe up. I always felt like a wet Chihuahua standing there when it was all done. Getting those wedges in is difficult work. I could barely get them in there it takes just pure brute force and coordination.

Imagine those crew doing this in WWII, on freezing waters, in dark compartments , not knowing if the ship is already doomed or not

I love how at 1:24 you can just hear Matt in the background yelling _“Bloody HELL!”_

At Raleigh it is known as HMS Havoc - for fairly obvious reasons. They used to start this exercise by shouting 'enemy aircraft' then throwing in a couple of thunderflashes (REALLY loud fireworks) which deafened you in a small metal compartment, then turn the lights off for about 15 seconds for maximum confusion. Zero chance of fixing all the leaks - you just need to restrict it to the point that the pumps can cope

Did anyone else just want them to see them close the cabinet and be like “It was already broken.”

"this group is no good, fill her with water and get the next batch ready."

When I was in the Italian Navy, before being assigned to my ship, I had to do a similar training, in a similar ship model, but not with water. It was fire. I never felt so scared in my life afterwards

I used to be in the Canadian Navy and we had a similar (but much more primative and smaller) training compartment/tank in Halifax, Canada. The same principals were applied: the water level was controlled externally and if your team was performing favorably, they'd slow down the inflow of water. But if your team wasn't getting the holes plugged up or the shoring (timbers) in place correctly, the operators would nearly fill the compartment! It is surprisingly realistic once you're down inside one of these Mock-ups, and easy to forget that it's just a drill, especially when the cold water keeps rising!! Well done Tom.

If I was a sailor, I would want to get as much training in this simulator as I could to prepare me mentally for a real life scenario such as those simulated here.

That looks so fun. But I'd probably have a panic attack

the most unrealistic part is how clear the water is.

Watched this and it immediately brought back memories of using a quite a bit of lower tech and smaller damage control sim. Those things it is a lot of fun to do, just pray I never need to use those kind skills in a real emergency.

In 1968- to 72 I was stationed at Point Loma Sub base., San Diego. The navy had a simulator that taught the same damage control principals. Thanks for helping me look back in time.

7:22 I’ve never seen a more polite warning sticker

Getting to do some really cool odd stuff these days tom. Long live youtube and the doors it opens.

Can't imagine the stress of this situation... and add being hit by more rockets/artillery as well a rough sea.

That’s cool, it’s like a metaphor for the UK itself.

I've heard that one of the biggest differences between Japanese and American ships in the Pacific War were the levels of damage control. The Americans were able to keep afloat ships that the Japanese would have written off as beyond saving.

Imagine you’re in the navy then your boat gets hit and all you hear is “bloody hell!” in *matts voice then you just die

I lost my breath several times while watching this. I'm definitely not getting on any boats soon.

this is an incredible training capability, you can really imagine the difference between a crew with this training and one without.

Wow..if this a training simulation and it already looks scary.just imagine if this is real life scenario where lives are at stake and under combat.

Imagine your boat sinking and you and your crew and a trying to repair the damage and you hear from the bottom depths of the ocean *"T o s h o w t h e p o w e r o f f l e x t a p e , I c u t t h i s b o a t i n h a l f ."*

I have had to train in one of these before to rank up in the Navy and im not lying it is way scarier than you think, i mean people may say “the waters clear so its easy” or “15 degrees isnt much” but when you are in there it can be incredibly tough and it is actually fairly likely this can happen if you are aboard a ship, usually destroyers maybe other ships. And i have had to deal with these kind of leaks before and they are very hard to repair, so looking at how Matt did and how they performed they did very well.

One of the best courses in my time in the RN. Lessons learned that day will stay with me forever.

My uncle did this 30 years ago And I have to do in a few weeks time, I'm very much excited Update: did it, it went well was great fun, we did a smaller room with less holes, we have a BSSC and ISSC in phase 2 in which we do more, we also had the HMS Chaos which doesnt move but is used to demonstrate more stable solutions to the holes

Biggest surprise is that to fix a hole in a ship...they use wood? I guess thinking about it, it is a substance that can be shaped quickly and will expand slowly as it absorbs water. But still it's a little odd if every British Navy ship has a stack of wood in a cabinet in case of a breach.

Love it. I joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1979 and did similar training, although this modern RN facility is of course more advanced!

I'm unlucky enough to have experience of the simulator and a real damage control situation from collision. I did the damage control training at HMS Excellent and I was also on HMS Nottingham when it ran aground in 2002. The simulator was fairly representative of my experience onboard the Nottingham, including the equipment used. (Although, both in simulation and on ship we had access to more than just wedges and hammers.)

honestly this seems like it'd be really fun

When the lights turned off, that's when I would have cried. 4:07

I’ve done this, absolutely loved every minute of it, the instructors are top fellas too.

Done this myself when I was in Navy training. Crazy experience!

Captain, we are sinking! Send Scott But, captain Send Scott! ok

Epic prank: Cover your 3-4 friend's eyes and take them to the "ship". Then, tell the, that it's the 48 hour ship challenge! No phones, no internet for 48 hours inside that room without going out. Then, tilt the ship a bit for some time so they think they're floating on the sea, and around 5 hours in start the simulation and make them freak out. Like seriously freak out.

Wow make so much sense to have these sorts of simulators!

Me: **is trying to cut my shower time in half to conserve water** The Royal Navy: **is probably running one of these simulations simultaneously**

"they trusted us with hammers!!" that is now my favorite quote

I was fortunate enough to go to HMS Raleigh for work experience in yr10 and we got to do this for ourselves. From experience (bare in mind I was 15 and scrawnier than I am a year later) that bloody locker was the hardest part. I was told to climb in and I had to have a mate help push me in 😂 Edit: I forgot to mention the staff didn’t go easy on us and put it on a 15 degree turn so the water was just flying about

who would win?: -the literal wrath of poseidon pressurized trough a hole -one wedgy woody boi

I loved it ! Our lot got the mess deck compartment too and we were getting the full 15 degree roll. We were also using splinter boxes and accro props.

Missile which costs thousands of cash: *peep* A piece of wood and some hammer: *hey*

Wood wedges may seem too primitive, but the triangular shape of it and the property of wood makes it just the perfect solution. Beauty in its simplicity

"some press want to interview you sir, are you in a good mood?" "nope" "attempt to drown them and mask it as training exercise?" "no no, they are the press, have a training exercise that is about sinking ships and get them involved..." "oh sir... you're a big softie"

I think the white house is an even better simulator of a sinking ship.

did you try to turn it off and on again?

I think they should do birthday parties for kids :L

This was great fun. I did this in the summer of 2003 was a Submariner for 10years and I would do ot all again in a heartbeat. Best job ever.

Just did this yesterday, looking at it doesn't look too hard but doing it in the dark and it rolling 20° each way and maybe more was challenging with added more to the realistic side.

I went on this a year or so ago with the cadets. One thing that isnt mentioned is how cold the water is - its absolutely freezing to the point where it numbs you completely. When I was there we had around 10 people in at the same time, and all of these problems were occurring simultaneously. The locker was, no doubt, the hardest thing. You can't see anything, and when trying to push wedges in, your hand just gets shoved away by the power of the water. It was great fun but absolutely hellish at the same time.

dam, why'd they have all that water inside of the locker

These exact techniques have been used for centuries - there were people whose job it was on wooden ships to go around and repair small daily leaks using tarred hemp rope called Oakum - this is where caulking comes from because it was also done in cabins above to stop wind draughts.

Imagine doing this while the ship is rocking back and forth, and the water is sloshing from side to side!

Believe it or not, I loved damage control training when I was in the Navy. In Germany in the 90s we didnÄt have quite as fancy facilities, but not too far off. Plus, we got to train building the wooden constructions in an actual ship. A decomissioned one kept for that purpose with holes in the hull. That was actual sea water we got to work in and still ... I loved it! So rewarding to stop the flow and see what you achieved immediately. Sometimes I miss the Navy ...

the moral of the story is: "if you go into the royal navy, take goggles..."

extremely valuable training.

I did this back in 2012 but we used clamps aswell, it wasn't just wedges. Anyways, I was in the mess deck on a bunk bed dealing with a hole there and I nearly lost a clamp behind the hole. Staff wouldn't have been happy! 😄 It was great fun anyways. Quite the experience and it was rocking all over the place!

That wedge split was clutch AF

This looks awfully expensive. I just get in my shower with all my clothes on and pretend I'm in a sub that's been hit.

Never have I felt such anxiety, watching such calm men, standing their ground in a flooding room, with water rising so fast. I respect their ability to adhere to the task.

Wow! Water pressure is very powerful and trying to repair it at the same time. Congrats to you.

"this is serious kit" *Shows vid of someone whacking wedges with a hammer*

They trusted us with hammers. :P

The US has something similar, or at least had> It has been many years since I trained on the USS Buttercup. Besides the flooding and damage control below decks we also fought fires (set by the instructors) in the superstructure, class A,B,C, and D. Look up class D fires...itś some fun!

This is just downright scary. My blood pressure is up watching it and they're doing this commentary mode. Can't imagine being there 😨😱😱

I want to try that so bad.

What's truly amazing is that the initial method for dealing with a hull breach is the same as it was hundreds of years ago, wooden wedges and a hammer.

This looks both fun and terrifying at the same time

Did that in 2001,what a week that was. Best course the RAF ever sent me on. Oh yes I was on the DG deck, and it went wrong.

Tom: We left behind an entire hammer at one point Paul: *They trusted us with hammers and we prevailed*

'Instructional staff would get the full 15 degree, to make it harder...' *tries to supress evil smile* That guy loves a good drill

Best fun I have ever had on this.

Wish they would show the engine room section, makes this bit look easy, when the ship is rolling 15degrees you have to time the rolls to get the wedges in otherwise you would be completely submerged when it rolled back over. Have done this three times now, its pure fun, the cold doesnt bother you once the adrenaline gets going.

Using wood may seems weird, but there is not many way to plug a hole quickly. The best way would be to bring the ship out of the water, cut the damaged steel, replace with new one, weld it, paint, wait for it to dry, then return to the water. Second best way would be to dive and weld a plate over the hole. The boat can't move while they do that. Third way would be an inflating baloon, but the sharp edges of the metal would shread it so no good. Wood is actually pretty good, can be roughtly and quickly shaped with an hammer and an edge. Once in place, the more you hit the wedge, the more it will deform and get better coverage since the metal will sink in the wood. Remember, the hole has probably been caused by a missile or torpedo. That mean they are being attacked. They can't go outside to fix it, they have to plug it as best as they can. All they need to do is plug it enought so there is less water comming in than the pumps can take the water back out. Once they will be back in a safe zone, they will be able to do the better fix, like sending a diver to weld a plate in place. When their mission will be over, they will most likelly go in a dry dock to get proprelly fixed.

I'd love to see professionals doing this

I get to do this with my school as a part of CCF, I can’t wait 😁

I've been in one of those for navy cadets. It was awesome, plus we did training for fires on ships.

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This would make an amazing escape room type experience

Ahh, HMS Havoc, been and done this, an amazing experience..

Wow, the graphics are amazing!