It takes a thief

In the late nineteen sixties, there was a TV series starring Robert Wagner called “It takes a Thief”. Wagner starred as a reformed thief who used his powers for good instead of evil. The series was loosely based on an old English proverb that said “Set a thief to catch a thief”. (Or as is […]

October 27, 1922 was the very first Navy Day in the United States

October 27, 1922 was the very first Navy Day in the United States. Former President Theodore Roosevelt had been born on that day and it was selected by the Navy League and the Navy Department as the most appropriate day to celebrate the United States Navy. This celebration was not just held in the United […]

October 27, 1949: The Day Comdr. John S. McCain, Jr., Let The Cat Out Of The Bag… Or Did He?

A Navy at war on two fronts: The Cold War and the War against unification The fall of 1949 was a tumultuous time for the United States Navy. Harry Truman and his Defense Secretary were focused on the unification of all of the Armed Services in a move to contain costs and gain efficiencies. On […]

The Last Navy Day – How Truman almost killed the US Navy

Navy Day is October 27 (sort of) Not to be confused with the Navy’s Birthday, which is celebrated on October 13, Navy Day was established on October 27, 1922 by the Navy League of the United States. Although it was not a national holiday, Navy Day received special attention from President Warren Harding. Harding wrote […]

Lifer

This one is going to make somebody mad. (also may have some cussing so you have been warned) I don’t mean for that to happen, but I have noticed this topic on some of the veteran’s Facebook pages over the past few years and I already know that some people are going to be pissed […]

Blockades do work

One of my earliest memories as a kid was the story about the Cuban Missile Crisis. While there were many parts to this story, the one that I remember most was the Naval Blockade. October 22, 1962 – President John F. Kennedy orders a surface blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet offensive weapons from reaching […]

The Origin of Submarine Dolphins – The Fourth (and I think) Final Chapter

The rest of the story This will hopefully be the final segment in my saga of how the Submarine Dolphin insignia came to be. Each stage along the way has been a lot of fun as I have sifted through magazines, articles on line, historical societies, the Library of Congress and a source which contains […]

Submarine Dolphins Part Three – The Artists that created the Insignia

It must be true, I saw it on the Internet The great thing about living in the age we do is the incredible access to resources on the internet. I have a number of historical reference sites that I use to build my stories and enjoy finding nuggets form time to time. I take it […]

The Origin of Submarine Dolphins – Part Deux

Nothing like stirring the pot… (you can always count on a Submariner to do something like that). In the last couple of days, the Post about the Origin of Submarine Dolphins has been one of the most viewed articles on the blog in a long time. Along with the views came the comments. Some were […]

It’s a Bonny Life in the Land of Kilts and Bagpipes – ALL HANDS September 1967

This article was written less than a decade after Site One was established in the Holy Loch. I did not arrive in Scotland until August of 1990 to serve on board the AFDB 7 Floating Drydock but many of the same conditions that existed back in the Sixties were very similar to what was written. The […]