Throughout the generation where men have gone to sea on submarines, a bond has formed that crosses all of those generations. This anonymous quote comes from one of the web sites I frequent. I can’t identify the author so I have taken it directly from the posting but will gladly give credit if the author can show authenticity.

This is military appreciation month. In honor of my brothers (and now sisters) still serving, I dedicated this post to you.

Mister Mac

“WE ARE SUBMARINERS

“We are not the first of them and we will not be the last. Our heritage runs back to the first submarine. This heritage line continues forward into an unseen future. The one before trains each generation. This will remain so until there is no more use for submarines, which will never be….…
If one of us goes aboard a new or old submarine, we are comfortable with the men there. They are we, and we are they. Stand us in a line in all our dress uniforms or naked in our coffins, we are the same. We are and forever will be submarine sailors. WE ARE ONE.

We can have everything taken from us, uniforms, medals, our sanity and our lives, but we will always be recognised by others and ourselves as a submariner. This status cannot be removed from us. Our ‘Dolphins’ worn on our chests then, hung on our walls now, or later pinned on mouldering uniforms in our graves mark us forever. We are first, last, and always men that stepped forward and worked long and hard to become what we are. We are unique among sailors for we sail down deep into dark and always dangerous waters. We do this not with foolhardy go-to-hell bravery, but with cool calculation and care. We challenge the dangers with training and practice. We know that the time for bravery will come when two shipmates shut themselves in a flooding compartment, knowing that the whole boat and crew depends on them to control the flooding.

We believe in each other, because we must. Alone at sea, the crew and a pressure hull are all we have to reach the surface again. Men with confidence in each other dive and surface submarines countless times. Each man trained by others holds the lives of those shipmates in his hands.
‘Dolphins’ are the symbol of this tradition. Submarine hulls have numbers and men have hearts and souls. We carry those numbers in our hearts in life, and they mark our souls in death. GOLD DOLPHINS are a symbol of this.
To us ‘Dolphins’ are it, no other symbol matters or means anything as important as they do.”