Periscope up!

Does anyone know what mechanical malfunction you could get on a submarine? It needs to be something that's serious, not necessarily going to end up as an all out disaster. I've googled about a bit, but it seems it's the kind of thing they don't write up in great detail - for obvious reasons I suppose.

I have a short story in mind about a navy clerk with OCD, ordering and despatching parts to ships and subs. He's too anxious to do the job properly and sends off some wrong parts, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knows he's done something wrong. That alone wouldn't be enough to cause disaster, but that mistake will interact with a series of maintenance errors, setting up a lurking and growing problem, initially disguised by the subs own override defence systems. I probably don't need too much technical detail because it would swamp the story anyway, but I feel like I can't write it without some notion in the back of my mind of what's happening. It'd be great if anyone could help or point me in the direction of some information.

Many thanks.

Wow! That's great. Thanks so much. And there was me, thinking I might not get a response. What a fantastic resource this site is. I just did a search on the problem you suggested and it brought up loads of detailed stuff that I wouldn't have found in a million years. It sounds like just the kind of chronic problem that I need, where people might misdiagnose a new problem because they expect it to be the usual problem. And it sounds like maintenance errors could easily interact with it. Fab! Like you say, I shouldn't need to much detail, but I'll be able to throw in a few words that make it sound more authentic.
Thanks again.
(PS. Can I come back to you if I get a bit stuck?)

MadScientistMatt said:

Is this a diesel or nuclear sub?

Click to expand...

For this story, it could be either. It needs to be a problem that wouldnt take too much explanation. Some explanation is fine, because my obsessive character will be worrying about what might happen, thinking through the possible outcomes. Do you have other possibilities for me?
Thanks.

Thanks all for your contributions and help, the speck of paint story is very interesting, I like the chain of unrelated incidents that come together to make disaster. Fascinating.

Maryn - my dayjob is psychology and I agree, you need to be put on a couch pretty soon! I can just imagine the free associations...

Thanks again.