The life of those sailors who are called to tasks of special peril under the sea is recognized as being strange, unnatural, full of hazard, and of necessity involving considerable strain. It is hardly remarkable, therefore, that the infrequency of mental breakdown among submariners has given rise to comment and conjecture by various authorities. Colonel Cutler (1944) of the U.S. Army, in a lecture entitled “A Surgeon Looks at Two Wars,” states that the lack of neurotic illness amongst submariners is due to the fact that there is no escape route. He points out that “there are statistical data to support the fact that where there is no escape route, these psychological casualties do not arise, or arise but rarely. Thus they are not reported for crews of submarines, and surely this might be thought of as a place for psychological strain …” This view is not accepted by all, and quite different explanations have been put forward. Surgeon-Captain Curran, R.N.V.R. (1944) believes that effective pre-selection and early elimination of the unsuitable are the two principal reasons for the small number of submariners who reach naval psychiatrists.