1913 – PERFECTING THE SUBMARINE

The war clouds were continuing to gather over much of Europe. The Kaiser and his leadership team recognized that in order to continue growing as a country, they needed more land and resources. The English and French were bound together by a series of treaties and this binding would propel all of the Powers towards […]

1906 – A very bad year for submarines

1906 – A very bad year for submarines The submarine race around the globe was gaining steam as more and more of the major powers sought to join the growing list of naval powers that possessed the underwater craft. The recent war between Russia and Japan was an example of how important the threat of […]

“Navies are soon to disappear, according to a critic in the New York Herald” July 1901

In 1901, predictions about the coming changes to the navies of the world were abundant. The industrial revolution had produced new technologies and science was rapidly advancing in many fields. The recent Spanish American war had shown how important a flexible navy was to a countries defense and the introduction of submarine warfare brought an […]

What’s in a name? The Saga of the Jinxed Sea Otter – 1942

What’s in a name? The Saga of the Jinxed Sea Otter Even before the United States entered World War II, an old nemesis from the last World War was making its presence known: the submarines of the German Navy. Sea commerce was the life blood of the British Empire and in 1940, America was already […]

“We thought they would be taller” The Americans Arrive in Northern Ireland, January 1942

I don’t normally write much about the War in Europe on my blog since it doesn’t fit well with my core interests. But a story from the newspapers of January 28, 1942, caught my eye. The story was about the arrival of the US Army in Belfast Northern Ireland. Debbie and I travelled to Northern […]

Losing the World’s Largest Submarine – The Unsolved Mystery of the Surcouf (1942)

Losing the World’s Largest Submarine – The Unsolved Mystery of the Surcouf The Washington Times had a picture of an odd-looking French submarine on page A-3 of the January 20, 1942 edition. The caption read: Free French Operate World’s Largest Sub. I had previously written a story about a French submarine that escaped Germany’s clutches […]

Grand Theft Submarine – Stealing the U-111

Note: This article is a result of some research I have been doing in the past few days about an amazing submarine story related to the technological development of American submarines. The story was researched and developed using two reference books: United States Submarines, Naval Submarine League, published in 2002 and United States Submarines by […]