Every Moment Mattered – The Life and Death of Cassin Young, Captain, USN MOH Recipient – Chapter Fifteen: If you are in a boat, you are more afraid of fire than you are of water. (Japanese Proverb)

Chapter Fifteen: If you are in a boat, you are more afraid of fire than you are of water. (Japanese Proverb) The Japanese radio station at Iwaki signaled to the Radio Corporation of America’s local station that Yokohama was on fire. The massive earthquake that struck the empire of Japan on September first demonstrated the power […]

Every Moment Mattered – The Life and Death of Cassin Young, Captain, USN MOH Recipient – Chapter Twelve: Pig Boats at the Panama Canal

Chapter Twelve Pig Boats at the Panama Canal From the Annual Report of the Navy Department (1921/22), an accurate description of life on board any of the submarines of the day: “Submarines, from their size and peculiarities of construction and operation, are far less habitable than the usual types of surface craft. They do not […]

Every Moment Mattered – The Life and Death of Cassin Young, Captain, USN MOH Recipient – Chapter Nine: “A cowardly, underhanded weapon”

Chapter Nine: “A cowardly, underhanded weapon” As Cassin Young and his classmates were being trained in the art and science of submarine warfare in the summer of 1919, forces across the Atlantic Ocean were gaining strength to try and cut short his and many other’s careers on submarines. The British had been particularly hard hit […]

There will be wars and rumors of wars – What if the losing side wrote the history books?

There will be wars and rumors of wars Matthew 24:6-8 (King James Version) 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: […]

“Information from other sources sheds rather a different light on the matter.” Underestimating any enemy can be dangerous

“Information from other sources sheds rather a different light on the matter.” Underestimating any enemy can be dangerous. Recently, I was browsing through the national archives and found some declassified documents dating back to the 1920’s about submarine development abroad. During that time frame, there was a great desire on all parts of the world […]

Patriots Point Gardens of Stone – A Cold War Submarine Memorial

Since moving to the Low Country, I have spent a lot of time rediscovering many treasures of the Charleston area. One of the most significant is the Cold War Submarine Memorial at Patriot’s Point. Because most of my earlier life was living through the Cold War, the place has pretty significant memories for me. I […]

Manitowoc Built Submarines – America’s Ability to Innovate and Adapt

In 1940, the American navy was advertised as one of the most powerful in the world. In a speech to the Navy Council of Illinois in Chicago on Oct. 26—Secretary of the Navy Knox asserted that the United States “has the most powerful fleet in the world and is engaged in the task of building […]

Lest We Forget. USSV CF Memorial and Museum Boat Fund

Lest We Forget. USSV CF Memorial and Museum Boat Fund The desire to memorialize the great sacrifices made for a nation or cause goes back to the earliest times. Cave drawings and crude monuments to great battles are found in all parts of the world. The Romans mastered the art with buildings and statues […]

“The Flight Is Doomed” … until the submarine shows up to the rescue

“The Flight Is Doomed” Of all the submarine stories from history that have been forgotten over time, very few are as interesting as the one about a submarine rescuing an airplane in the Pacific Ocean which then then towed it to safety. Nearly 100 years ago, flying between the continental US and Hawaii was still […]

Periscopes Off Our Coasts

Seventy years ago, the Korean War was coming to a stalemate and the Cold War was heating up all around the globe. America was weary from back-to-back military conflicts and facing a new future in the shadow of the nuclear bombs that were possessed by both sides of the Iron Curtain. The ability to openly […]