Man and the FBM Movie

Unclassified movie clip of the early days of the Polaris Program. This was certainly used as a recruiting tool to man the ships that would serve in the Cold War. USS George Washington SSBN 598 – First and Finest (December 30, 1959) https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/5235/4523576/content/mopix/330/dvic/330-dvic-24673.mp4

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 […]

The Day the World Changed – Launching Polaris Submerged

I watched the news recently when the Air Force successfully landed their bunker buster bombs on the Iranian Target. 65 years ago, the Navy had its own dramatic moment that forever changed the world. USS George Washington (SSBN 598) left Groton on 28 June 1960 for Cape Canaveral, Florida, where she loaded two Polaris missiles. […]

I hated the PRT… until I realized how bad things could get without it

I’ll be the first person to admit that of all the things I encountered in the navy, the PRT (Physical Readiness Test) was my least favorite thing. I can imagine there are a lot more like me out there. Let me explain. From the day you join any of our armed services, they start breaking […]

Part time sailors? There is no such thing

I’m still going through boxes of old paperwork and stuff I have saved over the years. Some of the items include pictures and mementoes from my years in the navy. One item that was in an old album was a faded copy of a Welcome Aboard letter from Charleston’s FBMSTC (Fleet Ballistic Missile Training Center). […]

What’s that hissing sound?

Looking at the launch and commissioning of the Nautilus the last few days, it seemed odd to me that the sea trials were somehow out of whack with what I was used to. The experience of building a submarine in the eighties was that you had the launch, fitting out, sea trials, then commissioning. Looking […]

Another New Adventure; Supporting the USS Pennsylvania

I belong to a number of organizations that promote the support of our navy and veterans. Those include the Navy League, the American Legion, the VFW, the Naval Institute and the Naval Submarine League (NSL). I recently became a life member of the NSL. The great thing about becoming older is that the cost of […]

Agent Orange and Guam… Fifty Years of Consequences

UPDATED INFORMATION AT END OF POST (FEBRUARY 2025) A little over fifty years ago, I came to the island of Guam for the very first time. The crew flight from Hawaii was one of the longest I had ever been on. Frankly, it was THE longest in my young life. Along with the officers and […]

Not for glory, but for victory – The need for Auxiliary Ships

Not for glory, but for victory Submarine tenders are near and dear to my heart. My seagoing career was launched and finished on the decks of two Cold War era tenders (USS Proteus and USS Hunley). Although Proteus was actually built as a World War 2 era tender, she was later converted to support the […]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Seas – The Nuclear Navy of 1964

In 1964, I was ten years old. The movie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Seas had come out in 1961 but I only remember it from later showings on television when I was much older. The TV series that was born from that movie ran from 1964 to 1968 and I am pretty sure […]