Steel Boats, Iron Men and their stories (plus a bit more)
In the time before Polaris Quick disclaimer: I am sure that the purists will be jumping up and down in their retractable arm chairs yelling at Mister Mac for misrepresenting the article and contents. But if you stick with the story long enough you will discover two things: It was someone in BUSHIPS in 1958 […]
Read More Nuclear Submersible Aircraft Carriers – USS Permit and USS HalibutJuly 4, 2019. This is the 776th Post on theleansubmariner blog. Sometime in the early morning hours of this day, the blog counter for number of “visits” went over 500,000. A half million visits to the site since its founding in 2011. The number of followers on the web site, Facebook and Twitter has really […]
Read More July 4th 2019 Post Number 776 – USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN 631USS STONEWALL JACKSON (SSBN 634) Today is July 2nd. In 1863, a great battle in and around a small town called Gettysburg was in its second day. This is not meant to be a story about the battle but the second day was a day when Robert E. Lee surely could have used the talents […]
Read More USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN 634 – Unwavering CourageUSS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (SSBN 602) I am writing this on July 1, 2019 which is the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. It’s interesting that the next four days will be dedicated to members of the 41 for Freedom Family who all had a direct connection to the Civil War […]
Read More USS Abraham Lincoln SSBN 602 – Pax Per TridentumThe ballistic missile submarine John C. Calhoun was launched on June 22nd 1963 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia. By September of 1964, she would take her place in the ever growing fleet of submarines that had been sought after by the Navy for over a decade. These vessels […]
Read More USS John C. Calhoun – Keeping the Peace“I implore, as the best blessing which Heaven can bestow upon me upon earth, that if the direful and sad event of the dissolution of the Union shall happen, I may not survive to behold the sad and heart-rending spectacle. Quote from “On the Compromise Resolutions,” speech before the U.S. Senate, February 5 and 6, […]
Read More USS Henry Clay SSBN 625 – The Great CompromiserThe James Monroe was built in the early days of the Polaris program and typified the boats that were launched during that time. With each successive weapons upgrade, she would be retrofitted with more powerful weapons and equipment to support her primary mission: deterrence. A little over ten years after she was commissioned, Admiral Rickover […]
Read More USS James Monroe SSBN 622 – Watchful WaitingI have to be honest and admit that I never looked inside the missile tubes on either of my FBM submarines. I know there was something inside all of the tubes because of the great deal of work required to keep them ready for use if the President called on us. But as an A-Ganger, […]
Read More Polaris A3 Deploys in Atlantic and Pacific (ALL HANDS 1965)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 […]
Read More “Go forth and conquer” USS Kamehameha SSBN 642My history is a little rusty sometimes and I will readily admit that I was not as familiar with John Marshall as I should have been before I started this installment of the 41 for Freedom series. Yet, of all the men a boat of this class could have been named for, this one is […]
Read More Freedom’s Defender – USS John Marshall SSBN 611 (SSN 611)