What’s in a name? The story of how the most famous submarine in modern history was named

What’s in a name? All Navy ships have a designation. Through the years, technology and advances in design have created the need for new designations. The book Dictionary of American naval fighting ships. v.1. United States categorized all of the ship types used in the American Navy’s history as of 1959. As far as submarines, […]

2020 – An Epic New Year

2020 – The year of the Fast Attack Coming Soon

USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

I was assigned to the USS Halibut (SSN 587) in late 1975. The boat had just returned from her last mission and was about to undergo decommissioning. My previous assignment had been at Pearl Harbor on the USS George Washington but I did not want to extend to take the boat into the shipyard at […]

Submarine Rule #1: Close the Hatch (The Story of the Fulton)

Imagine spending an entire night under the surface of the ocean. In 1901, this had to have been quite an electric story. The American experiment with submarines was not that old yet and the thought of men actually living under the water’s surface was something that still lived in science fiction. The Fulton was an […]

1954 – The year underwater warfare changed forever

1954 – The year underwater warfare changed forever. This post was originally posted in July of 2019. Since 2020 is the year of the Fast Attack on theleansubmariner, I thought it appropriate to repost it with some updates. After all, it was the Nautilus of Jules Verne’s imagination that started the whole process. And it […]

SEA TRIALS – TESTING THE BOAT AND THE CREW

SEA TRIALS – TESTING THE BOAT AND THE CREW Out of the vast cauldron of experiences related to being a Submariner, memories of one experience on submarines normally dominates above all the rest for someone who was a Plankowner of a sub. Sea Trials I have a lot of memories of the sea trials on […]

The Hero of the Two Worlds (Le Héros des Deux Mondes) USS Lafayette SSBN 616

When the Polaris program was first conceived, the technology to make it all work did not exist. Neither did the submarine platforms that would need to carry the new weapons. In fact, the George Washington was a strange creature that evolved from the world of Fast Attacks that in and of themselves were revolutionary. Gone […]

Ballistic Missile Nuclear Submarines in 1964

Nuclear Submarines at Ten Years This article from ALL HANDS MAGAZINE did a very nice job capturing the development of the Nuclear Submarine Navy during the first ten years. Looking back nearly fifty five years later, it is stunning to see what was accomplished considering the technology they had available at the time. Think about […]

Obstacles to Overcome – Building the Polaris Submarine

Obstacles to Overcome – Building the Polaris Submarine It is a well-known fact among the submarine community that the USS George Washington started out life as the fast attack submarine Scorpion. Building the new boat was driven by the need for a platform for the Polaris missile system. Normally when a new submarine or ship […]

A decade that changed the world – FBM history from 1959-1969

A decade that changed the world – FBM history from 1959-1969 Nearly a decade of progress changed the face of submarine warfare and nuclear deterrence. Between 1959 and 1969, the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines went from concept to reality in a way that fundamentally changed the way two major powers viewed warfare and strategic deterrence. […]