Coming Home – Saying Goodbye to the USS Pittsburgh SSN 720

Coming Home It’s been over 25 years since I retired from the Navy. We have traveled and lived all over the country since then but Western Pennsylvania has been “where I live” for the past six plus years. I had never intended to come back here even though it was where I grew up. Eighteen […]

The question of the monster (the fictional vision that became the Fast Attack Submarine)

The Monster “THE year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumours which agitated the maritime population, and excited the public mind, even in the interior of continents, seafaring men were particularly excited. Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […]

Veteran’s Day 2019 – Neptune’s Cadillac Redux

Veteran’s Day is about remembering the men and women who sacrificed so much for the country. If you asked most of us, and we were honest. We would simply say that we did our jobs This article came from the Honolulu Advertiser and was written about the USS San Francisco shortly after we made the […]

Promises made, promises kept – The Polaris Story 1967

Promises made, promises kept – The Polaris Story 1967 There have only been a few times that I have posted stories from shipmates. Each had value all by themselves but their content certainly made them worth sharing. The story of the installation of the AFDB 7 USS Los Alamos floating dry dock in Scotland, https://theleansubmariner.com/2014/04/04/afdb-7-los-alamos-holy-loch-scotland-in-the-beginning/ […]

The Silent Service – 1951 – Earning the Twin Dolphin

September 1951 found the United States embroiled once again in a conflict far away from its home shores. Harry S Truman was the President and he held a televised transcontinental news conference on the new medium of Television to discuss the official surrender of Japan at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. September 4, 1951 – […]

Redecorating your boat – the softer side of Diesel Boats we never knew

Redecorating your boat – the softer side of Diesel Boats we never knew There is a lot of good natured kidding back and forth between diesel boat sailors and those who operated nuclear subs. Okay, to be fair, some of it isn’t so good natured. But the DBF sailors have been known from time to […]

The Typical Submariner Candidate in 1950 – Not Just Your Usual American Home Town Boy

The Typical Submariner Candidate in 1950 – Not Just Your Usual American Home Town Boy The average 20 year old American male in 1950 shared a number of things. They were between 9-10 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed so they grew up while the world was at war. Their entertainment was radio and […]

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 Submariner Stereotype

How do you describe a Submariner? If you are a qualified submariner, you probably have a standard description when people ask about your life when you were on the boats. The most common responses I get are “Oh, I could never do that” or “Weren’t you afraid?” But nearly everyone of a certain age has […]

It wasn’t for the glory… life as a Submarine Auxiliaryman

Imagine having this conversation with your nephew who had never been around the Navy. He saw your uniform with the dolphins and heard you saying something about winning the Cold War. This is how the conversation went: “So you were on submarines. What did you do in the war Uncle Bob?” “I kept the air […]