A submarine is routinely required to return to periscope depth; however, a transition from deep to shallow waters is one the most dangerous operations due to the potential to collide with surface vessels. Submarine operations are not particularly well understood outside the immediate submarine community, particularly from a sociotechnical perspective. A submarine sounds and control room simulator was used to examine the work of ten teams. The Event Analysis of Systematic Teamwork method was used to model the social, task and information networks in order to describe team performance. Results showed that the sonar controller and operations officer are the busiest in the command team. Communication between these operators was revealed as a potential bottleneck in the command team, particularly during higher demand scenarios. The information communicated and tasks completed centred on the processing and understanding of sonar data. Implications are discussed alongside suggestions for future work.
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