Air wars

Its been a week since the tragedy caused by a man who by every account had some serious mental issues. The obvious attacks against personal gun ownership have been unrelenting every single day since. I have forced myself to listen to NPR on my daily commute and whenever it was convenient to do so. As […]

December 12, 1942 Report of the Sinking of the SS President Coolidge

During the war, detailed records were kept that later were transcribed for review by historians. Today’s story comes from that report. Imagine how different Christmas of 1942 would have been for the families of over five thousand soldiers if the Captain of this ship had not taken the actions he did. http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/comms/1942-12.html S. S. PRESIDENT […]

Why We Fight… December 5, 1942 versus December 5, 2012

Grabbing obscure stories from the past has become a bit of a hobby. Most of the people who follow my blog know that I have been focusing on historical events from seventy years ago. Most of my writing has been about war fighting and technical details. The greatest generation was supported by an equally great […]

"…the Italian Navigator has just landed in the New World…"

Compton: The Italian navigator has landed in the New World. Conant: How were the natives? Compton: Very friendly. December 2nd 1942 was the day the world changed forever. The title of this story is the coded telephone message confirming first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction on that day. On that afternoon, the Atomic Age began inside […]

City of Brotherly Love

This is the 300th blog for theleansubmariner. Philadelphia has a special place in my heart and in my family’s history. It was on her shores that many of my forefathers first arrived in America and in her neighborhoods where our story began in this land of the free. The city has many nicknames. Besides the […]

It Was a Real Honor

I ran into my younger brother’s recruiter last night as we were waiting to get into a local restaurant I haven’t seen George in many years but he recognized me right away. He hugged my wife and her sister and then turned to me and said “You look just like your old man”. I wasn’t […]

The Battle Within

Diet and exercise are simple and relatively easy ways to overcome weight issues. By now, anyone who can read understands that fat, salt, sugar, and preservatives will effect the way a body retains or loses weight. If you continue to eat too much food without balancing it with some exercise, you should not be amazed […]

All or Nothing

Radical and Revolutionary Those were words used to describe one of the greatest Battleships ever to sail the seas in defense of freedom. The USS Nevada (BB-36) was the second IS Navy ship to be named after the 36th state and was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships. Her sister ship was the […]

1913 was a very unlucky year – an entire country lost its freedom

As we opened the new year (2013) I was thinking about how precarious life has become in this new age. A majority of the voters thought enough of Obama to reelect him last year. It would seem that there is a broad spectrum of support for taxing other people in the interest of “fairness”. The […]

Navy Proud: It’s in the blood

On the sixth of April 1917, the United States Congress declared war on Germany. The declaration came after the German government increased its belligerent actions against the United States. President Wilson who had campaigned on the strength that he had kept the US out of war from 1914 until that very moment had relented after […]