North Charleston, Here We Come.

USS San Francisco SSN 711 Gathering of the Saints (Reunion 2024) NOTE: The Gathering is open to anyone who ever sailed on the USS San Francisco SSN 711 or was stationed on MTS 711. The list of attendees for the Charleston gathering is growing day by day. Make sure you get your reservations in soon, […]

Tradition!

Tradition! One of my great loves is old school musicals that made it to the big screen. Probably because I was an actor in high school and a few rare times since then. But one of my favorite musicals of all time was Fiddler on the Roof. What a great story line about overcoming great […]

Sudden Impact… Forever Impacted

Sudden Impact… Forever Impacted It was a cold and freezing night. (I’ve always wanted to use that line ever since Snoopy used something similar in one of his attempts to be a novelist. Cartoonist Charles Schulz made Snoopy use this phrase because “it was a cliché and had been one for a very long time”. […]

Nautilus to Columbia by James C. Goodall

Happy December. This is the time of year when we get presents in the mail and for me that includes the latest project by my friend James. C. Goodall. Jim is a former Air Force guy (Retired) who combines his photographic skills with his passion for submarines and other technical platforms to create valuable resources […]

Veterans’ Organizations

I’ve been thinking a lot about starting an official USS San Francisco SSN 711 organization. The purpose would be for the crew to stay connected and informed about where people ended up and what they did after graduating from the boat. It could also be a one stop shop for future reunions and gatherings. Finally, […]

Aloha Spirit and Maui – Forty Years of Memories

Watching the television and on-line reports of damage to Maui has been difficult. The loss of life and property damage is heart wrenching. My memories of that paradise are fading now with age but I can still see some images in my head. The first time I went there was at the end of a […]

Crush Depth is theoretical… until it isn’t

Note: I collected much of the technical information for this story from open source documentation. As always, I do not reveal information from my actual submarine experience. I love and respect my fellow submariners still on patrol and only publish these generic submarine statistics to make a point. So you were a submariner? What […]

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 […]

Has anyone seen the anchor?

Adrift The definition of the word adrift is often this: so as to float without being either moored or steered: “a cargo ship went adrift”. Unless you are a submariner by trade, you are probably not familiar with the fact that some submarines have anchors. My first boat was the USS George Washington and she […]

1911 Whim of a Woman – The First Female Casualty on a Submarine

Once upon a time my wife got a chance to join me and my fellow submariners on a dependents cruise. I am not sure they are even allowed anymore. But this was a pretty special occasion. The USS San Francisco (SSN 711) pulled into Maui in the Hawaiian Islands and the wives and some kids […]