A Royal Navy submariner has exposed the brutal realities of living on a nuclear submarine, including ‘coffin dreams’ and months without sunlight
Emilia Randall GAU Writer
07:00, 14 Apr 2026
Paul thought he would be on the submarine forever(Image: Instagram)
A 22-year-old Royal Navy sailor has revealed just how harsh life aboard submarines truly is, describing “coffin dreams”, six-hour sleep periods and months deprived of sunlight.
The Liverpool Vanguard Deterrent submariner told his YouTube audience he believed he would “never get out,” explaining the “strangest part about spending six months under water isn’t being down there – it’s coming back and nothing feels normal, not even things you’ve done your whole life.”
Paul McNally spent six months submerged before returning for just a few weeks’ leave. He explained this was almost more challenging than the months he’d spent beneath the ocean’s surface.
“The first thing that hit me was the silence under months of constant voices and machinery,” he said on his YouTube Channel, reports the Express.
Senior Rate’s bunks in the Royal Navy nuclear powered sub(Image: -)
He added: “Real silence feels empty, like something is missing – to the point where I had to play washing machine noises just to fall asleep.”
Yet Paul found no comfort in sleep either. He explained: “Even sleeping felt weird. For the first time in months there wasn’t a ceiling just inches above my face. And the strangest part – the coffin dreams just stopped.”
Coffin dreams are commonplace among submariners operating in exceptionally confined spaces. Paul’s recurring nightmare involved being stuck in a narrow crawl space.
Paul said: “Your brain starts putting you in a coffin every night. It felt completely real. Then it hits you you’re in a coffin – just not six feet under – just hundreds of feet underwater.” Even time felt distorted for Paul.
He explained: “Time doesn’t feel the same down there. It can feel like Groundhog Day. Sometimes it can honestly feel like purgatory.”
Then came the most difficult part – readjusting to everyday life. Paul said: “You go from six hours on six hours off for six months straight to suddenly having no routine at all… even something as simple as a shower felt strange, unlimited water, no time limit – I wasn’t used to it.
Shift patterns and poor sleep make for a strange sense of time(Image: Instagram)
“For the first few days I didn’t know what to do with myself i just felt weird.” Paul was originally supposed to receive three weeks off but they got an additional seven days. He said: “Six months underwater – no sunlight – messed up sleep – it takes more out of you than you think.
“You go from having every hour controlled to having nothing to do, and that messes with your head. My body clock was completely broken – I woke up at the exact times i used to without an alarm – like my body thought I was still down there.
“Most days I just sleep, order food, and do nothing, even though I was finally free, and that didn’t make sense.
“I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to go out. Being in public felt overwhelming. Too many voices too much going – it just didn’t feel real and I just wanted to be alone.
“You spend six months trying to get out and when you finally do you don’t know how to live here anymore because part of you is still down there.
“And the hardest part, no one actually understands what you’ve just done, to them you’ve just been away. People think submariners come back to normal life – bit you don’t. You have to relearn how to live again.”
