Rear Admiral Robert Stocker – A visionary Constructor that Changed the Course of a War He Never Saw

Retiring from any long-standing position is always a memorable event. I retired the first time when I was forty years old. It was sooner than I had planned but circumstances made it a reality and I just went with the flow. It was a nice affair and even thirty years later, I remember how honored […]

Lest We Forget. USSV CF Memorial and Museum Boat Fund

Lest We Forget. USSV CF Memorial and Museum Boat Fund The desire to memorialize the great sacrifices made for a nation or cause goes back to the earliest times. Cave drawings and crude monuments to great battles are found in all parts of the world. The Romans mastered the art with buildings and statues […]

Blessed are the volunteers… for they shall inherit the next watch … The USSV CF Scholarship Fund

Blessed are the volunteers… for they shall inherit the next watch I have always liked the fact that duty in the armed forces has been a volunteer organization since the draft ended. I signed up in the delayed entry program in April of 1972 when I was just seventeen. The draft still existed but I […]

Your Table is ready Mr. Ambassador… Serving the USSV CF

Your Table is ready Mr. Ambassador Mac. Petty Officer Mac. Chief Mac. Mister Mac. (and a hundred various civilian titles including manager, trainer, leader, coach, speaker, preacher and on and on). Of all the titles I have had in my life, one that I have never had was Ambassador. At least not until this week. […]

“The Flight Is Doomed” … until the submarine shows up to the rescue

“The Flight Is Doomed” Of all the submarine stories from history that have been forgotten over time, very few are as interesting as the one about a submarine rescuing an airplane in the Pacific Ocean which then then towed it to safety. Nearly 100 years ago, flying between the continental US and Hawaii was still […]

In the beginning… building a submarine despite the odds (1900)

In the beginning… building a submarine despite the odds (1900) The 125th Anniversary of the United States Submarine force will occur in April of 2025. This is one of a number of articles related to that celebration. I spend a lot of time researching history and my favorite source material comes from the National Archives. […]

Some “Very Cool navy traditions” as a civilian would view them

As the year 2024 comes to an end, we are finally settling down in our new home in South Carolina. One of the things that drew me to living here is the plethora of historical and veteran’s activities. We haven’t had much time to visit too many places yet, but a number of previous visits […]

Home 2024

Home We attended the highland Games in Charleston SC yesterday. It was a pretty nice affair held down on the waterfront in North Charleston. I hadn’t been to a gathering for a few years so hearing the pipes and drums was a special treat. I have to give the bands credit though. They played well […]

Random thoughts to wrap up October 2024

Happy October 30th Some random thoughts as I waited for a family member to come out of his medical procedure here at the Medical Center in Charleston. He has been in pain for a long time, and I hope they can find the root cause of the problem. I got a call from a very […]

Happy Navy Day 2024 – The 75th Anniversary of one of the worst bureaucratical decisions in history

I’ve written a lot about the history of Navy Day in the past including this article from 2019 The Last Navy Day – How Truman almost killed the US Navy This is the 75th anniversary of that last Navy Day and the criticality of having a strong navy is becoming clearer with every passing day. […]