The Dawning of the Polaris Age

The USS Ohio Museum – Why Not.

I read today that when the USS Ohio finally retires, it will do so as the oldest continuous operating submarine in US History. The first submarine of the class, the USS Ohio or SSBN-726, was commissioned in 1981, followed by 17 more vessels. Though Ohio-class submarines were built to have a 30-year service life, most […]

Rembert James War Correspondent- The first part of the story ended way too soon

Blessed are the storytellers… for they shall inherit eternity. Okay, so that isn’t really a beatitude. But it could be. Recently, I discovered a series of articles written by a war correspondent named Rembert F. James. Cold War Stories – Periscopes off our Coasts: 1954 Never heard of him before? Can’t say that I blame […]

Cold War Stories: Submarines: Past, Present And Future Of Silent Service (1962)

In April of 1962, I had not even turned ten years old. But I already had a fascination with submarines But I was conscious of many of the things that were going on in the world. I read every book I cold find in the library about the wars that came earlier in the century. […]

And so, you master self then, laugh at fear – The Story of a Sub Man and USS Grayback SS 208

And so, you master self then, laugh at fear – The Story of a Sub Man There was a total of fifty-two American submarines lost during World War 2. The damage that the submarine force had inflicted on the Japanese and naval forces was staggering. But losing that many submarines was also a very high […]

Cold War Stories – Homecoming 1946

Homecoming 1946 Nearly eight million men and women served in the United States Armed Forces during the second world war. Many recent articles in various news outlets and television stories highlight the hundred plus years the few remaining survivors are celebrating this year. But the numbers are diminished greatly with the passing of time. They […]

Man and the FBM Movie

Unclassified movie clip of the early days of the Polaris Program. This was certainly used as a recruiting tool to man the ships that would serve in the Cold War. USS George Washington SSBN 598 – First and Finest (December 30, 1959) https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/5235/4523576/content/mopix/330/dvic/330-dvic-24673.mp4

A Japanese Submarine operating in the Indian Ocean – From The archives

This black and white video comes from the National Archives. It shows life on board a Japanese submarine in the Indian Ocean. Some interesting features include firing their deck gun, riding on the surface at night, sleeping arrangements (yes, they slept next to their torpedoes), off watch activities like playing cards and other games, preparing […]

Pre-war Footage of a Japanese Submarine

I was cruising through the National Archives today and found a short video clip of a Japanese submarine in operation. There is no sound to the clip, but it is pretty fascinating to observe the crew and the boat in action. Based on her configuration, only one of the pre-war submarines I identified in Jane’s […]

“Information from other sources sheds rather a different light on the matter.” Underestimating any enemy can be dangerous

“Information from other sources sheds rather a different light on the matter.” Underestimating any enemy can be dangerous. Recently, I was browsing through the national archives and found some declassified documents dating back to the 1920’s about submarine development abroad. During that time frame, there was a great desire on all parts of the world […]