Mutiny? Not in my Navy…

To the best of my memory (and a search on Google) there has never been a mutiny on board a US Navy submarine. If there ever has been one, I am sure that one of my faithful fact checking readers will be reaching out to me. That’s cool. I hope I am not wrong since […]

USS George Washington SSBN 598

You never forget your first… When I requested a submarine for my first assignment after sub school , I wanted to be on a Diesel Boat first, a fast attack second, and a Boomer third preferably a 640 class. I vaguely remember an old salt at a bar in Groton talking about how beautiful Key […]

The Flowers of The Forest

In the misty legends of Scotland, there are many songs that are interwoven with the victories and defeats of her native sons in glorious conflicts. The great pipes blew violently across the field as part of the offensive tactics of the Chiefs. You can almost feel them pierce the air of a cold Scottish morning […]

How’s that Reset Button working for ya?

“We are the largest nuclear power,” Putin said, addressing supporters during a televised meeting. “And our partners have certain concerns and shake us so that we don’t forget who is the master of this planet, so that we remain obedient and feel that they have leverage to influence us within our own country.” http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20111208-315227.html Its […]

Hu Said What?

Normally I would think of a routine from an old Abbott and Costello movie when I see something a comical as the title of this post. Not this time though. Hu Jintao (the President of the People’s Republic of China) has been very vocal recently about upgrading and preparing the military in general and the […]

Listen to the Music

We live in an amazing age. Technology has exceeded almost everyone’s expectations and everything about how we work, live and play has been impacted in one way or anther. I write these words in full understanding that one day a few years from now, some younger person will be “thinking” into their blog about how […]

Flight 19

I haven’t thought about this story in years and was reminded this morning about the tragedy of Flight 19. On December 5, 1945, Flight 19, made up of five TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers left Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale to conduct advanced overwater navigational training. As I began thinking about it, it occurred to me […]

Angles and Dangles

I think every sub guy has his favorite boat and as I have indicated before, my favorite was the USS San Francisco (SSN 711). Maybe it was because I was on the pre-com crew and saw her come to life. Maybe it was just the combination of characters that served on her (many of us […]

Caught in the Crossfire

Its 3:00 AM and everyone in the control room party has managed to find a comfortable enough position to hide the fact that they are half snoozing. The room is rigged for red and the boat is plugging along at 4 knots at 150 feet. Even the Auxiliaryman of the Watch has laid his clipboard […]

How did this thing get so far out of alignment?

Like many submariners, I spent a few weeks in one shipyard or another helping to fix wear and tear issues. As an Auxiliaryman (A-Ganger) I quickly found that there is a special kind of hell reserved for us in a shipyard. Since our equipment and systems run the length of the boat, our work could […]