Happy New Year

I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on the year just completed and look ahead to the coming year.

Each day when I check the web site statistics board, I think about my readers and those who come for a visit. In the eight years I have been blogging, a pattern has really emerged and I try to react to that pattern.

The original blog was designed to be a balance of lean, leadership and submarine stories. There have been a total of 684 posts (including this annual report) since the beginning of the blog. 270 of them are directly related to submarine history and an equal number are Navy related. I have focused more on Submarine history this year with 60 stories directly related to boats and submariners.

The year overall was a strong one. 95 total posts led to a second highest visit count ever of 78,300.  The average year before this was about 51,000 so that is a nice increase.

Daily visits for the year averaged 215 per day. Previous years saw an average of about 144 per day.

December alone was the highest ever visit with over 8400 visits. Most of that was because of a series of submarine stories related to the beginning of the Polaris Program 60 years ago.

As of noon on December 31, 2018, total visits was 433,000. That’s a nice number and one step closer to a personal goal of half a million before year ten. Thanks to all who have visited. It means a lot and I appreciate your feedback.

What’s next?

I will continue to research and post stories about submarine history. This year is an anniversary year for the Polaris program so more stories about the boats, the men and the support structure that made the whole thing happen.

Its also an anniversary year (75 Years) of the all important battles and events of 1944 including D-Day. I visited Normandy twice and the National D Day Museum in Virginia and have a collection of stories in the woks to honor the men who saved an entire continent with their sacrifices.

There are many pivotal stories about the War in the Pacific in 1944 that are worthy of attention so you can count on that as well.

The USS Pittsburgh is decommissioning this coming year so don’t be surprised if you see a few stories about her history and the history of other ships that have carried the name into battle and around the world.

Finally, I will be doing some short blogs throughout the year on lean and leadership that help me to stay focused on the par4t of the leansubmariner that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.

I hope the New Year brings you great success. Thank you for all of the visits and see you next year.

Mister Mac