Steel Boats, Iron Men and their stories (plus a bit more)
Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra – The San Francisco Story (Post #711) Over the years, I have heard many submariners say that a boat changed their life. For some, it was because the boat was their qualification boat. The completion of a hard and grueling period in their life when they were required to […]
Read More I left my heart… on the San FranciscoUSS 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!This is the next story in the series about the 41 for Freedom boats. The name Alexander Hamilton has been widely resurrected in the past few years with the wild success of the Broadway show “Hamilton”. But for me, the name will always be synonymous with the second Lafayette Class submarine that bore his name. […]
Read More USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN 617) – Castles in the AirBen 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 third in the 41 for freedom series of Articles on theleansubmariner. Like the first two, it captures the thoughts of the man who was the Father of the Nuclear Navy in his own words from his book about the submarines that were named after American icons. Thomas Jefferson was a very complicated […]
Read More USS Thomas Jefferson SSBN 618 – Hostility Against TyrannyThe 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?Post number 697 : Serving on the Indy In 1988, I had applied to the Navy’s Chief Warrant Officer program and had a good feeling about being accepted. I had taken a number of hard assignments along the way with a broad range of experience. Machinist Mate, Career Counselor, Master Training Specialist and a lot […]
Read More SSN 697 USS Indianapolis – An unexpected stop along the journeyThe 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)
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