“In my spare time, I went to Harvard”… how they kept from being bored on a boomer in ’65

November has been submarine month at theleansubmariner. Probably a large part of that is the nostalgia of looking back over the last 45 years and my own experiences on the boats. I got a chance to share some of my memories as well as stories from the archives that highlighted submarine development since the early […]

1899 – 1900 The Epidemic of Submarines

1899 – 1900 The Epidemic of Submarines Chief, Bureau of Construction and Repair, Commodore Philip Hichborn – July 1893-March 1899, Rear Admiral Philip Hichborn – March 1899-March 1901 If you have never heard of Admiral Hichborn, don’t be too surprised. He had a long and glorious career but has faded into obscurity over the last […]

Winning the Dollar Bet – Every Submariner Understood What Losing Meant

Buried Treasure One of the great things about researching old books and documents is finding the odd story buried in one of them. Taken by itself, the fact or story would not mean much but pulled out and given perspective, it gives an insightful vision to something that happened along the way that would have […]

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 […]

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 and Submarines – An Opinion From a Master Submariner in 1939

Simon Lake was by any measure a Master Submariner. A prolific inventor, he held over two hundred patents at the time of his death in June of 1945 (just a few months short of the end of the war that was largely shaped by submarine warfare). Lake was a dreamer and had many ideas about […]

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 […]

Happy Birthday 1947 – Predicting the Future of Naval Warfare

The official Navy Birthday is now celebrated on October 13 every year thanks to Admiral Zumwalt declaring that day as the one to remember. But it has not always been celebrated on that day or with the same focus. In 1947, the aftermath of the Second World War was being felt all around the world. […]

Submarines: “from a boy to a giant”

One of my favorite pastimes is discovering unique stories about the United States Submarine force and the development through the ages. There is no better witness to the phenomenal growth than that of one of the most profound influences on submarine operation and development: Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. The most fascinating thing about this man […]