USS San Francisco SSN 711 Reunion

1MC: Attention All Hands, this is the Big Mac. The Reunion is On for 2013 Location: Norfolk Marriott Waterside, Norfolk Virginia Date: September 6-8 2013 Venue: Reservations: To receive the guaranteed rate of $100 per night, you must contact Marriott at either 1-800-228-9290 or 757-627-4200 anytime after 1 PM on June 28 or before […]

Its bigger than you think

3,531,905.43 square miles. That is roughly the area that makes up the United States of America. We are certainly not the biggest single nation but we are also not the smallest. Last night, I flew over the section of the country between Atlanta and Pittsburgh on my way home from a business trip. The night […]

Strategic Deterrence – 3500 patrols and counting

When most people look back at the fifties, it was a mixture of many different themes. On the one hand, we had the growth of the so called middle class into suburbia as returning GI’s and their counterparts in the other services came home as victors to a nation ready to grow. Home ownership became […]

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 […]