A Day at the Races – Submarine Skulduggery in the Home Islands 1942-1943

Skulduggery has been described as underhanded or unscrupulous behavior. Using technology to sneak up on an enemy was once viewed by proper gentlemen as nothing more than skullduggery. In the nicest sort of way, that is what submarines are best at. I mean, how unfair is it that someone can sneak up on your homeland […]

“Every Moment Mattered” Book Update

Very fast update on my upcoming book. I got an update from my editor and the first big round of edits will be back to me by Monday. Kind of interesting since that is fifty years to the day after I joined the Navy and started my journey as a submariner. The note was really […]

Prepare to launch

“Take a chance. All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure thing” boat never gets far from the shore.” From the writings of Dale Carnegie Today is one of those days where you stand on the edge of the cliff […]

Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor

Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor An obscure article in the Southern Jewish Weekly put forward an interesting idea in the form of an article published on January 30, 1942. In some ways, this is part three of a series about Taussig. But it casts the story in a different light and […]

The Loss of the SS-233 USS Herring

With Pearl Harbor fresh in the minds of the American public, any good news was welcomed by the American people. In January 1942, the news was not encouraging. The Japanese war machine was continuing its relentless march down the Malay Peninsula, Manila had fallen, and Bataan was being threatened, and newspaper reports of catastrophe after […]

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941 The document I discovered during my research on Cassin Young was yellowed and tattered with age. Some sailor had the presence of mind to keep a copy of it in his personal possession as a reminder of the day that would live […]

USS Pollack SS 180 – Bringing the War to the Enemy January 1942

A great piece of history concerning the first submarine to draw blood in the waters off of Japan. America was still reeling from the attacks at Pearl and across the Pacific. The large battleships were crippled or sunk and the aircraft carriers that would ultimately tip the scales were still few and far between. One […]

The Vision of a Man Named Nimitz – The American Submarine Story in the 20th Century

Arguably one of the most influential American Submariners that ever lived was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. As a young man, he was significantly influenced by his German-born paternal grandfather, Charles Henry Nimitz, a former seaman in the German Merchant Marine, who taught him, “The Sea – like life itself – is a stern taskmaster. The […]