Hit Me on Head/ Patient in Undersea Ordeal Asks as Anesthesia Wears Off – The Silversides Appendectomy

This is a companion article to the Swashbuckling Submariner. A Swashbuckling Submariner – Creed Burlingame I did a number of assignments on board the submarines I served on. That isn’t unusual since we operate in a world of our own once we submerge. In addition to your primary duties as a watch stander, you serve […]

A Swashbuckling Submariner – Creed Burlingame

The Washington Star GRAVURE SECTION from February 14, 1943 featured pictures of the many faces of the war around the world. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/dlc_1xul_ver01/data/sn83045462/00280603351/1943021401/0129.pdf From the Mediterranean to the Pacific, allied navies were aggressively pushing back against the forces of the Axis. This particular section of the paper showed images from many fronts but one small picture […]

Old Chiefs Never Die… They Just Get Recycled

Chief times 3 Looking back over the last three plus decades, it’s interesting how my life has had a theme. That theme has revolved around being a Chief. Growing up, I always looked up to my Dad for many things. But one of his best achievements was being the fire Chief in the small town […]

A Day at the Races – Submarine Skulduggery in the Home Islands 1942-1943

Skulduggery has been described as underhanded or unscrupulous behavior. Using technology to sneak up on an enemy was once viewed by proper gentlemen as nothing more than skullduggery. In the nicest sort of way, that is what submarines are best at. I mean, how unfair is it that someone can sneak up on your homeland […]

Blemishes and all … The Country and the Navy in 1973

I am incredibly proud of being a Navy Veteran The US Navy has been a part of my family DNA for more than a hundred years. We have answered the nation’s call since the Great War and served as part of the greatest navy that has ever sailed the seas. Having said that, even the […]

Making a Submariner – Fifty Years ago

In January of 1973, my education as a submarine sailor began. I had already graduated from Machinist Mate “A” school and my original path to nuclear power school was diverted because of my inability to master the math and chemistry that was tested upon completion of “A” school. I was a bit disappointed. Instead of […]

Goodbye 2022 – You certainly weren’t Boring

What a year. I was thinking about what a journey this year has been. Just after Christmas in 2021, I found myself in the hospital with congestive heart failure. I’ve had bouts with it before but the ambulance ride to the hosital was especially troublesome. I was coughing harder than I can ever remember, even […]

Submarine Minelaying – More than one way to skin a cat

There is more than one way to skin a cat. That is one of those odd sayings form a long lost generation that typically means there is more than one way to successfully complete a task. My cats Moses and Oscar would be offended by the original usage which was about actually skinning cats. From […]

USS San Francisco SSN-711 Plank Owner Belt and Buckle… Lost and Found the Backstory

Merry Christmas to all of my readers. This has been a very busy time of year with so much going on at work. A lot at home too which unfortunately keeps me from writing very much. My apologies for that. Mrs. Mac and I are doing pretty well but like many folks have had to […]

The Horrors of War – Navy Medicine at Pearl Harbor (1942 Reflection)

One of my earliest memories of Pearl Harbor was reading books about the attack. I grew up in a firefighter’s family so was aware of the dangers of fire in the civilian world. But reading the many books included in Samuel Eliott Morrison’s collection “The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 – April 1942 […]