Hoffman Estates native serves on nuclear submarine

A 2013 William Fremd High School graduate and Hoffman Estates native is part of a crew, protecting and defending America aboard the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarine USS North Carolina.

Seaman Nathan Duffield is a sonar technician on one of the Virginia-class submarines based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

"I enjoy working with advanced military equipment like sonar," Duffield said.

The USS North Carolina, commissioned in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2008, is longer than a football field at 377 feet and can sail under the waves at more than 30 mph.

Attack submarines can execute missions from intelligence gathering and surveillance, to tracking and hunting enemy submarines and launching cruise missile to engage inland targets hundreds of miles away, said Cmdr. Gary Montalvo, the sub's commanding officer.

Because of the demanding nature of service aboard submarines, sailors are accepted only after rigorous testing and observation.

"My job is to make sure the sub doesn't get in a traffic accident," Duffield said.

The training is demanding, as the crew needs to be ready to respond to any kind of situation that may arise while at sea and endure long periods of time submerged.

"We rely heavily on every one of our shipmates to operate our equipment correctly and save the man next to him in the event of a casualty," Montavlo said.

The rigorous nature of submarine service is challenging, but Duffield enjoys it and believes it makes the crew tighter.

"I like traveling and meeting people from all over the world," Duffield said. "I also enjoy working with everyone in the division to accomplish a goal and the satisfaction of getting out to sea."

Being an attack submarine sailor has meant spending a lot of time away from his friends and family, but Duffield believes in the work he is doing.

He likes "the camaraderie and working through problems when no one else can help us except for the crew itself," he said.