Everything Old is New Again – Life in the Nuclear Shadow

Everything Old is New Again I’ve spent a great deal of time over the past few years studying about the development of nuclear power for use by the US Navy. One of the most informative documents was written in the early nineteen sixties titled Nuclear Navy 1946-1962 written principally by Richard G. Hewlett and Francis […]

The Final Dive of the F-4 (March 1915)

F-4; THE FIRST SUBMARINE LOSS FOR THE US NAVY It was on the morning of March 25, 1915, that F-1, F-3, and F-4 left Honolulu for local operations. F-4 did not return, and the eventual detection and recovery was a classic of naval salvage. She was later “interned” at the bottom of Pearl Harbor after […]

Book progress – Tell the Whole Story

One of my goals for the past few years was to tell the story of Cassin Young, Captain, US Navy. Cassin was a thirty-year man in the Navy that saw some of his most significant moments during two of the most pivotal battles of the Second World War. At Pearl Harbor, he was stationed on […]

The USS Albacore SS 218 and her Sponsor – February 1942

The story of World War 2 is always a combination of the stories of the ships that served and the men who were involved in their lives. This story is about the USS Albacore, but it is also a story about some of the men who were around when she was launched. The ship’s sponsor […]

The Surrender of Singapore and the Great Bluff – February 15, 1942

The Surrender of Singapore and the Great Bluff In the early chaotic days of World War 2, the Japanese took advantage of the fact that the allies had bartered away so many opportunities to prepare for a conflict. The Washington Naval Arms limitation treaty of 1922 resulted in smaller navies among the future belligerents, but […]

The Short Life of the USS Juneau – February 14 to November 13 1942

A fast ship for a new kind of war As the Japanese were crushing their opponents all across the western Pacific Ocean, the USS Juneau was commissioned on February 14, 1942, with great fanfare. Captain Lyman K. Swenson was her first commanding officer. Little could anyone have predicted that less than 9 months later, the […]

Crossing the line February 8, 1974

Our fears are always more numerous than our dangers Seneca Forty-eight years ago, I was brought into one of the most ancient organizations called the Ancient Order of the Deep. The Crossing the Line Ceremony is as old as the sea. From the Official Navy Web Site: Although crossing the equator may seem like a […]

Sinking of the S-26 Boat January 1942

Subsafe Anyone who has ever sailed on a US Navy submarine probably had at least some idea about the reasons for all the training and emphasis on safety that was given to them. From the beginning of submarine operations in the early 1900’s, diving on a submersible ship in an unforgiving ocean has always […]

Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor

Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor An obscure article in the Southern Jewish Weekly put forward an interesting idea in the form of an article published on January 30, 1942. In some ways, this is part three of a series about Taussig. But it casts the story in a different light and […]

How much the world has changed in fifty years. And how little.

How much the world has changed in fifty years. And how little. January 1972. Fifty years ago this month, I was just beginning to figure out where I was going to head after high school. To be honest, the choices were not very open. I had spent a lot of time pursuing anything but my […]