A bit of a wild streak … the Navy Mustang

I swiped this from Wikipedia today and thought it was a pretty cool description of what a “Mustang” is. I was blessed to be one of thirteen Submarine Engineering Technician Chief Warrant Officers selected the year I crossed over. I knew quite a few guys on the list. Most of us had made Chief the […]

Where is Mister Mac? (Give Bob the Job)

Disclaimer: This post has been approved by the Candidate Good morning to all of you who regularly follow the blog. Its October 25th, the World Series is in progress and we are getting ready for winter in Western Pennsylvania. I completed the series on the 41 for Freedom boats last week and decided to focus […]

How do you stop a submarine? Sometimes the greatest threat is just down the hall from your office.

Sometimes the greatest threat is just down the hall from your office. I have to admit that I am Navy through and through. My DNA has a lot of US Navy intermingled with my Scots-Irish-English-Welsh background. The hair on my arms stands up when I hear the Navy Hymn, nearly half of my wardrobe is […]

The Dawn of the Polaris Age – Pittsburgh and Bettis in 1960

The Dawn of the Polaris Age “Those of us here today may not live to write this history, but we must be determined to shape it.” Every once in a while, you find yourself in a historic spot and feel a little like there isn’t enough time to really understand the surroundings. Well, at […]

The Destroyer man that helped launch the 41 for Freedom Fleet – 31 Knot Burke

You can’t talk about the 41 for Freedom boats without talking about one of the most important men in their development: A former destroyer-man named Arleigh Burke A Sailor if there ever was one: Forty two years in the Navy is a long time by any measure. When that forty two years includes service in […]

How to hunt a submarine – To Catch a Thief, Send a Thief

To catch a thief, send a thief Every once in a while, I think about submarine related questions. One of those questions is what is the greatest danger to submarines? I think the question could have many answers based on the circumstances. The sea itself is certainly a big challenge. Even in the calmest conditions, […]

Mariano G. Vallejo SSBN 658 – Seagoing Cadillac with a hell of a kick

There has been a long standing difference of opinion on the merits of serving on various types of submarines. Go to any Sub Vets meeting and you will find the purists that wear their DBF pin and scoff at anyone who never served on a diesel boat. For the record, despite serving on five boats, […]

A Gathering of the Saints

This is the first post I have done in about a week. Summertime seems to be a tough time to write posts and looking back over the last eight years, July has always been the lowest response month for the blog. As someone who fills in for vacationing preachers in the summer, I am fully […]

July 4th 2019 Post Number 776 – USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN 631

July 4, 2019. This is the 776th Post on theleansubmariner blog. Sometime in the early morning hours of this day, the blog counter for number of “visits” went over 500,000. A half million visits to the site since its founding in 2011. The number of followers on the web site, Facebook and Twitter has really […]

SEA TRIALS – TESTING THE BOAT AND THE CREW

SEA TRIALS – TESTING THE BOAT AND THE CREW Out of the vast cauldron of experiences related to being a Submariner, memories of one experience on submarines normally dominates above all the rest for someone who was a Plankowner of a sub. Sea Trials I have a lot of memories of the sea trials on […]