Steel Boats, Iron Men and their stories (plus a bit more)
“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Nathan Hale Writing about the USS Nathan Hale has been a bit of a challenge for a number of reasons. The story of the ship itself is not that difficult even though there is not a lot of information available on […]
Read More “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”USS Patrick Henry “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.” As a sailor who sailed on a number of submarines and ships, I can assure you there is no sweeter word that “Liberty”. I have to be honest with you and say that […]
Read More USS Patrick Henry SSBN 599 – Give Me Liberty or Give Me death!Ben Franklin was always one of my favorite historical figures as I was growing up. I learned about his exploits as a young man and of course he was a writer among many of his achievements. His ability to learn has always fascinated me and maybe made me a bit jealous. From the time he […]
Read More The First American – Benjamin Franklin and the SSBN 640 Submarine named for himThe equation is simple. The number of surfaces must equal the number of dives in order for a submarine to be considered successful in its mission. There are very few other finite measurements that can be applied to submarines throughout our long history. But that doesn’t mean that the time beneath the surface or […]
Read More A deep diving dog? There’s something you don’t see every day.This is the fourth in the series about the 41 for Freedom submarines. If you have followed the series, you have noticed that they are not in chronological order. I am trying to remain faithful to the way they were arranged in the book EMINENT AMERICANS, NAMESAKES of the POLARIS SUBMARINE FLEET, by H. G. […]
Read More USS James Madison SSBN 627 – Tribute to a Founding FatherThe world is filled with pollywogs and Shellbacks There were a number of very old traditions observed when I was a sailor so many years ago. One of the most significant was explained to me in great detail on the 8th of February 1974 on the USS George Washington (SSBN 598) Blue crew. The submarine […]
Read More Get in line you useless pollywog! Prepare to meet King Neptune!Homesick Once upon a time on a submarine far, far away (USS San Francisco to be exact) a number of us were homesick for the place we had originally called home. In this case, it was Western Pennsylvania. The 711 boat was a hard working boat and once we hit our homeport in Pearl Harbor, […]
Read More Can the Groundhog see his shadow underwater?The End of the World was THIS close. This is a story about a series of events that happened in the late 1950’s that changed the course of the world in one of its darkest times. America and her allies had squared off against the Soviet Union in an increasingly complex game of […]
Read More The End of the World was THIS close. (The Gaither Report and its consequences)I asked for a sign and this is what I got (1638 EST 1/7/2019) I monitor the traffic on the web site each day to see what is working and what is not. It was kind of an interesting surprise to open the blog up and see that number on the left. Recently, the focus […]
Read More First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of His CountrymenObstacles to Overcome – Building the Polaris Submarine It is a well-known fact among the submarine community that the USS George Washington started out life as the fast attack submarine Scorpion. Building the new boat was driven by the need for a platform for the Polaris missile system. Normally when a new submarine or ship […]
Read More Obstacles to Overcome – Building the Polaris Submarine
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