SHIP: We are in the first crew’s quarter – now, this place looks different from when I was still crossing the waters. This cosy room was once home to nine crew members, with their beds, lockers and a simple table. In 1999, when the ship returned to Lithuania, it was accommodated by members of various combat units on compulsory service. However, over time, for security reasons, they were moved deeper inside the ship, into the second crew’s quarter. Later, the electromechanical combat unit took over this place, which was strategically more convenient as the engine room was right next door. The crew used to spend their leisure time here, resting and having lunch. Being the most spacious room on the ship, it was usually used for crew meetings to discuss work-related matters.

Background sound: calls one of the crew members “Team of systems engineers, stand by! A chief of the team of systems engineers and a systems engineer, stand by! Repeat: “A chief of the team of systems engineers and a systems engineer, stand by!”

SYSTEMS ENGINEER: The life at sea is beautiful if you are not seasick. Sickness caused by the waves and smells makes you feel sick for 3–4 days and you do not want to eat or drink anything, only feel nauseous. And now, standing on the ship, you can probably sense the smell that has soaked into the walls of the boat over the years – the smell of diesel and oil.
CHIEF SYSTEMS ENGINEER: When you were running to the broadside, everyone would say: “Keep Kiela from falling overboard!”
SYSTEMS ENGINEER: My name is Andrius Kiela, I have served on board the ship “Sūduvis” as a systems engineer for eight years. I started my service on “Sūduvis” in 2006 as a member of compulsory military service and served as a motor-mechanic for 9 months. After a couple of months, in 2007, I started my professional service. The first time I stepped aboard after those few months in the woods, everything turned 180 degrees, a completely different service. And then this ship “Sūduvis” got so much ‘stuck’ to me that I didn’t want to go anywhere else. The only thing that saved me from seasickness was the medication and the quietness in the first crew’s quarter. This part of the ship underwent the weakest swell, and it just so happened that this was where I lived.
CHIEF SYSTEMS ENGINEER: I am Darius Auškelis, a chief of the team of systems engineers. My service in the Navy started in 1998 when I was called up for compulsory military service. As I had a maritime education diploma, this was my ticket to the Navy. After half a year in the service, in 1999, I received an offer from the ship’s electromechanical combat unit commander-to-be to join the newly formed crew of “Sūduvis”. I served on “Sūduvis” from the start of her navigation in 1999 until the decommissioning of the ship, including a break of four years. In 2021, I had to lower the ship’s flag for the last time. It was not easy to say goodbye to the ship after so many years I have dedicated to her. The ship has become a big part of my life. I was under the command of the chief of the electromechanical combat unit, and a systems engineer was subordinate to me. 
SYSTEMS ENGINEER: It was me. 
CHIEF SYSTEMS ENGINEER: Yes, we worked together. Andrius was always a type of man who prefers talking over eating. But we worked in a focused manner, dealing with the assigned tasks and occurring challenges.
CHIEF SYSTEMS ENGINEER: I had a small old German book that we used to keep in the ship’s functionality room. It depicted all the systems: water, fuel, air, oil – it was like our ‘Bible’. This book has experienced much more than some of our crew members.
SYSTEMS ENGINEER: The tanks at “Sūduvis” were of vital importance: 32.6 tons of fuel, 1.25 tons of oil and 12.5 tons of fresh water. Water had to be economised on long voyages – only cooks, medical staff and motor-mechanics could use the showers due to the nature of their work. The rest of us had to live without them. But somehow we didn’t make a big deal of it. The ship was cosy. When I think about those times, it seems that “Sūduvis” was like the first love – the love you can never forget.

Background sound: “Your watch has ended.”

SHIP: Let’s move on.