The Daring Gambler Held All the Cards – The Plunger Legacy

There are few other submarine names that show the progression of the growth of America’s submarine propulsion power as clearly as the family of boats named Plunger I wanted to end Submarine Month (April 2020) with a classic story and a tribute to one of the most decorated submarines of the Cold War at the […]

1987 – The Counterpunch for a growing Soviet threat

1987 – The Counterpunch for a growing Soviet threat When I became a Machinist Mate Chief Petty Officer in August of 1987, I celebrated having served on a fair representation of Cold War submarines and stations. The journey took me from New London to Charleston to Pearl Harbor to Mare Island. Then the trip continued […]

THE BACKBONE OF THE FLEET – The United States Navy in 1940

THE BACKBONE OF THE FLEET – The United States Navy in 1940 Navy Day is a holiday that is no longer really celebrated in the United States. While President Truman surely helped to bring about its demise, the American public was probably ready for a break from too much emphasis on the military by the […]

2020 – An Epic New Year (In Retrospect, using the word epic might have been a mistake)

2020 – The year of the Fast Attack Coming Soon Well, that was the plan last December. I was thinking that a good follow-up to my 2019 year of highlighting the 41 for Freedom Boats would be a logical way to spend the year. To be honest, I spent a lot of time helping to […]

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 […]

USS Bowfin – The Pearl Harbor Avenger and Patrol Number Five

USS Bowfin – The Pearl Harbor Avenger and Patrol Number Five When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the great surface fleet that was the mainstay of America’s naval arm was badly battered. Laying in the mud and waters of Pearl Harbor, these great ships were suddenly ejected from the immediate battle plan and a new […]

“Go forth and conquer” USS Kamehameha SSBN 642

USS KAMEHAMEHA (SSBN 642) The very first thing that hit me when I got off the plane in Hawaii is the humidity. Back in the day, we were told to wear dress blues for travel when we traveled (or at least that is what I remember the Chief saying as I left my last school […]

“The Happiest Among Mortals” – USS Daniel Boone SSBN 629

Did you have a hero growing up? I had quite a few but one of my favorites was certainly Daniel Boone. Living in Western Pennsylvania, we still had a lot of “woods” near where I lived and as kids we would spend a lot of time hiking and exploring. This was in the days before […]

Post #726 – Be careful what you wish for… life of a Trident Sailor

Be careful what you wish for… life of a Trident Sailor I have an old bumper sticker someone gave me after I made Chief Warrant Officer that says “I did it the hard way… I earned it”. Another one that was given to me was ironic when I look back over the years leading up […]

SSN 697 USS Indianapolis – An unexpected stop along the journey

Post number 697 : Serving on the Indy In 1988, I had applied to the Navy’s Chief Warrant Officer program and had a good feeling about being accepted. I had taken a number of hard assignments along the way with a broad range of experience. Machinist Mate, Career Counselor, Master Training Specialist and a lot […]