Featured

The Line (Revisited)

Feeding Submariners – 1930 Style

The early American submarines were very small and lacked any significant ability to feed their crews for any length of time. Since they were not seen as critical independent operators ranging the blue waters of the world, habitability was not as critical. More often than not, they were nested alongside larger tenders where the ability […]

Naval Communique No. 214 – December 6, 1942: THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR, DECEMBER 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor – The narrative Nearly one year after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy Department released a comprehensive report detailing the losses and destruction at Pearl Harbor. Fighting in the Solomon Islands at Guadalcanal was ongoing but after the epic sea battles in the preceding months, the battle was turning in favor […]

The rarest commodity – sleep

Civilians take sleep for granted. But anyone who has ever been in the service, whether as an officer or enlisted person knows that sleep is one of the greatest luxuries that has ever existed. When you leave home and arrive at your basic training, you immediately realize that sleep is regulated by someone who is […]

He’s in Submarines Now – A long line of Shared Experience

In 1942, the world was at war. There were very few places that weren’t affected by Chaos. The oceans were still the primary way that commerce traveled abroad, and those seas were filled with sharks that did their best to slow that commerce down. Those were, of course, the steel submarines that were filled with […]

REPORT ON THE U.S. SUBMARINE PROGRAM – 1968

During the period from 1966 through 1968, the Cold War was producing a heightened level of activity on both sides of the global divide. The Soviets were building their submarine fleet with increased attention to both quantity and quality. The west was trying to make sure its qualitative edge would be enough to counter that […]

The Patten Family and the USS Nevada (first posted in 2018)

Is there any such thing as an average Submariner?

Happy birthday Joey

Updated with current information regarding the Bancroft Association

The Polaris Story Revisited

1985: On the Brink and the Year of the Spies

I don’t think most people realized how much the year 1985 changed the course of naval history. In April of 1985, I was a First-Class Machinist Mate petty officer stationed on board the mighty warship USS Ohio SSBN 726. It was the height of the Cold War, and we were engaged in Strategic Deterrent Patrols […]