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by John23832 307 days ago
Because submarines are still ships that can be boarded. This is more for defense of the crew vs offense.
1 comments

Firing rounds inside a nuclear submarine? Isn't it like firing a gun inside a plane?
It's definitely a thing you don't do without good reason (enemy boarding action/mutiny) but remember subs are designed to survive nearby explosions underwater; there's redundancy and there's massive amounts of time spent training damage control where your repair or work around damaged systems.
Yes. What's wrong with that?

A 9mm, buck shot, or even a 556 (which they are not using on a sub) is not piercing the pressure hull of a submarine. That's before considering all the other mass of metal and matter within the sub.

5.56 is fine in a sub.

Technically firing a .50 / 12.7mm should be fine for the hull even with API.

Bulkheads are thick.

(Note: SynTech / frangible ammo preferred)

I really meant that at the ranges that you would probably be engaging at in a sub (sub 10ft) a 556 is not the correct round to use.
Oh, valid!

Just thinking through Navy issued small arms. Lots of M4s and M17/M18.

I mean, I guess there's more risk of ricochets and equipment damage on a sub than a ship? Regardless, a lot of "don't do that" things become "you might have to do that" things in a combat scenario.
There are a lot of things that don't react well to bullets in a submarine. One Jack Ryan comes to mind...