The night before … USS Astoria at Midway

There will be no sleep tonight for the main space sailors on board USS Astoria CA-34. The eight boilers would be cleared and on line before the expected engagement the next day (June 4th) and the steam turbines driving her four shafts would be preheated and running at daybreak. Even with the forced draft blowers […]

Can you read the writing on the wall?

How many times have you heard that statement in the past? Do you know where it comes from? Do you know what it really means? Like so many stories down through the ages, it has taken on different authorship. The most probable original author comes from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. The […]

Originally posted on theleansubmariner:
“I walk along the city streets You used to walk along with me, And every step I take reminds me Of just how we used to be. Oh, how can I forget you, girl When there is always something there to remind me Always something there to remind me” The Sunday…

(There’s) Always something there to remind me…

“I walk along the city streets You used to walk along with me, And every step I take reminds me Of just how we used to be. Oh, how can I forget you, girl When there is always something there to remind me Always something there to remind me” The Sunday after Easter is always […]

Services For the Dead

The War Between the States had ended in April 1865, 58 years before the Service manual I have in my collection was printed. May of 1927 (four years later) the roll call was getting smaller and smaller. Just as they had for every year since 1874, The Post Adjutant was tasked with calling that […]

Searching for Superman – why CI/Lean initiatives often fail (Part 2)

Failure is not an option… but most of the time it is assured One common set of factors that can affect success or failure for a Continuous Improvement/Lean Initiative is the recruitment, selection process, and use of a CI/Lean leader. Leadership at all levels has an impact on every initiative but this becomes more critical […]

Searching for Superman – why CI/Lean initiatives often fail (Part 1)

Starting a Continuous Improvement (CI)/Lean Journey I have been working on a project for a few weeks that categorizes what companies are looking for when they seek a lean or continuous improvement leader candidate. While that sounds rather boring on the face of it, the project has actually been a very interesting look at why […]

Bluejackets Manual, eighteenth edition, 1968 (Third Printing, September 1969)

I’m sure I have mentioned it before but I have a modest collection of Bluejackets Manuals dating back to the early 1900’s. I started out with my Grandfather Parkin’s manuals from the Second World War. From that time, I have added them as I find them in old book stores, sea ports, and Army Navy […]

Originally posted on theleansubmariner:
I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. ~Maya Angelou If you are lucky in life, you get to have a real brother. This is no reflection…

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (and they still don’t like him very much!)

What is your favorite birthday memory of all time? Was it a special trip or maybe something you had hoped for all year? I don’t remember the year that I first got my favorite birthday present, but I do remember what is was. It was the year I found out that I shared the same […]