Submarines are famous for one activity that most surface ships miss out on, hot racking. This is something that is done because there is more crew than beds on board a submarine. So sailors must share a rack with one another.

Normally what happens is the rack is shared by persons in the same work center. One person is on watch and the other person is sleeping. When the first guy is done with watch he wakes the other up who then goes to watch and the first guy then gets to sleep. Since the rack was previously occupied it will more than likely be warm, hence the term hot racking.

As long as both persons take care of their personal hygiene things are not all that bad. If one neglects to shower then there can be a problem. So being on a surface ship did have one major advantage, I did not share my bunk with anyone. After seeing some of the guys in boot camp who wanted to go on submarines I was glad of that as well.