How do you stop a submarine? Sometimes the greatest threat is just down the hall from your office.

Sometimes the greatest threat is just down the hall from your office. I have to admit that I am Navy through and through. My DNA has a lot of US Navy intermingled with my Scots-Irish-English-Welsh background. The hair on my arms stands up when I hear the Navy Hymn, nearly half of my wardrobe is […]

Make no wild claims about Polaris – Burke (CNO PERSONAL NO. 35 SECRET – Personal For Official Use Only)

During his time as Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke communicated with his top leadership team using Secret Memos. Many of those memos are now declassified. CNO Personal Number 35 was issued to discuss the increase of Soviet submarine activity in the Atlantic region as well as to discuss the coming Polaris Missile system. […]

The Destroyer man that helped launch the 41 for Freedom Fleet – 31 Knot Burke

You can’t talk about the 41 for Freedom boats without talking about one of the most important men in their development: A former destroyer-man named Arleigh Burke A Sailor if there ever was one: Forty two years in the Navy is a long time by any measure. When that forty two years includes service in […]

USS George Washington Carver SSBN 656 Strength Through Knowledge

“Events of October 1962 indicated, as they had all through history, that control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security…” President John F. Kennedy, 6 June 1963, on […]

So they fired first. Could you push the button in response?

The aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis on America I was in the second grade when the Cuban Missile Crisis broke. Over the years there have been a number of great documentaries about what really happened during the crisis, but even now, I am not sure I know what really happened. The Cold War was […]

USS Thomas A. Edison SSBN 610 “Potentia Tenebras Repellendi” (Power to Repel the Darkness)

USS Thomas A. Edison SSBN 610 When I was a young boy going through grade school, I was fascinated with the heroes of the day. There were very few superheroes (Superman and Batman) and I didn’t follow sports as closely as others did. Nope. My heroes were the men who were American Inventors. We […]

You volunteered for submarines? Are you crazy?

You volunteered for submarines? Are you crazy? The sacrifices made by American submariners in the Second World War are well documented. 52 boats lost. The Submarine Service represented only 1.6% of all Navy personnel during the war but they accounted for over 55% of all Japanese ships sunk, including one-third of the Imperial Japanese Navy. […]

The First American Legion and the Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916

2019 is the Centennial of the American Legion. But did you know that there was another organization that claimed that name first? Not only that, but one of the founders of that earlier group was a Roosevelt too. Only this time, it was Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States of America. […]

Like a phoenix rising from the waves – the sail rises once more

The phoenix is a mythical bird that derives from Greek mythology. It was described as a feathered creature of enormous size with talons and wings. The plumage was radiant and beautiful. The story goes that the phoenix lived for many years before it built its own funeral pyre, burst into flame, and died, consumed in […]

July 4th 2019 Post Number 776 – USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN 631

July 4, 2019. This is the 776th Post on theleansubmariner blog. Sometime in the early morning hours of this day, the blog counter for number of “visits” went over 500,000. A half million visits to the site since its founding in 2011. The number of followers on the web site, Facebook and Twitter has really […]