I went to the doctor today, and he told me he had to use Silver Nitrate on my skin as part of the procedure. As frequently happens, the mention of an innocuous phrase used during normal life starts me thinking about Life On The Boat. In this case, it got me thinking about dangerous pranks submariners play on one another.
I frequently had to chew out nukes who thought it was "funny" to take some Silver Nitrate into Berthing and let a couple of drops run down the side of the face of some sleeping shipmate; as you know, it leaves what looks like a teardrop trail. (Of course, this prank actually was funny -- as long as it didn't get in anyone's eyes -- but as the CRA and Eng I couldn't be seen as encouraging it.)
The same thing with "pinning" someone in their rack (propping open the bedpan with the guy sound asleep in his bed) -- sure, it's humorous to see the guy yelling about how he's going to get the perpetrators when he's completely helpless, but what if there's a fire? Or EB-Greening someone upside down to a ladder?
For the weekend "midwatch shoot-the-sh*t", what are your favorite submarine pranks? They don't even have to be dangerous to anyone -- even though the best ones frequently are.