A Boomer Sailor’s Dream

In my Navy career, I was many things. Machinist Mate, Submariner, Career Counselor, Master Training Specialist, Docking Officer on a Floating Drydock and Engineering Officer of the Watch on board a large surface ship. But before I was any of those, I was a boomer sailor. Boomers of course are the nicknames for Fleet Ballistic […]

In the Waters of Pearl – Building the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base 1918-1945

I spent a number of years in my youth living and sailing out of Pearl Harbor. The last time we were there was in 2003 and the changes even then were astonishing. Many of the old buildings were still there but a modern bridge attached Ford Island to the mainland. The Chapel at Sub […]

New London – The Cradle of Submarine Life in America (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)

The Cradle of Submarine Life in America began its story 150 years ago April 11 1868-2018 I was reading through a Naval History record of Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II (Volume I (Part II)) Part of the massive construction done to support the war was the story about the expansion of the […]

Some traditions are worth forgetting – Real Submariners

Each submariner’s journey begins when they finish all of their training and the hatch closes when the last man is down. For a hundred and seventeen years, submariners have steered a course unique to their own generation and their own type of boat. From the wildly dangerous gasoline powered boats to the sleek new nuclear […]

41 For Freedom – SSBN Memories 41 Years Later

Its funny how an old picture can bring back so many memories. Whether a boomer sailor sailed out of Scotland, Guam, Rota or Charleston many of the events they experienced were similar. I don’t know how many hundreds of ballistic missile patrols were made. I am sure there were a lot. Since the 1960s, strategic deterrence has […]

Diamond Anniversary – The First Battle of Savo Island (Part 7 – The Marines on Shore and the Consequences)

The operation at Guadalcanal was named “Watchtower” but to the Marines involved, it would forever be known as Operation Shoestring. As history records, the entire operation was put together in a hurry with limited resources and even less intelligence. One misstep after another compounded their misery and the disastrous events of the First Battle of […]

Memorandum Number 68: FUTURE SUBMARINE WARFARE – 1923 (How America almost lost World War II before it even started)

In the final days of the Great War, Naval planners had seen first hand the devastation and destruction caused by the modern machines of war. The submarine was an example of one of the most destructive. As plans were being made for the peace, decisions about the methods for maintaining that peace would have to […]

The Old Submariner

The Old Submariner I sometimes don’t know where I’m going, but Oh, all the places I’ve been. Wrapped up in a hull made of steel, with a crew of fine sailors locked in. The missions are lonely and silent, the dangers untold with no yield, But we still climb down the steel ladders, the hatches […]

The Galloping Ghost

I’M THE GALLOPING GHOST OF THE JAPANESE COAST By Constantine Guiness, MOMM 1/C, USN I’m the galloping ghost of the Japanese coast. You don’t hear of me and my crew But just ask any man off the coast of Japan. If he knows of the Trigger Maru. I look sleek and slender alongside my tender. […]

USS TRIGGER SS 237 – The First Patrol June 26, 1942 (75 Years ago)

USS Trigger SS 237 Departed on her first war patrol on June 26, 1942. The United States Navy had not planned on using the submarines at its disposal in the way they found themselves forced to in the spring of 1942. The Japanese Navy had crushed the battle fleet in a surprise attack at Pearl […]