Why did U.S. submarines perform so dismally in the defense of the Philippines? An analysis of their commander's report and a leading submarine historian's critique reveal some intriguing answers.
Ward Carroll and Eric Mills do a super job in interviewing Capt. Ransom regarding his observations.
The damaged nuclear attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN-22) departed San Diego, Calif., on Wednesday, a Navy spokesperson confirmed to USNI News.
Damaged Attack Submarine USS Connecticut Leaves San Diego - USNI News
Japanese Mini Submarines at Pearl Harbor | Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (noaa.gov)
On the 2nd of October, First Coast Honor Flight conducted their inaugural flight of Veterans to Washington DC and return. Two submarine veterans, Rodney Heikkenin, First Coast Base and Jim Wigging, Florida Base were on the flight.
To understand a Sailor you must know:
We left home as teenagers or in our early twenties for an unknown adventure.
We loved our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives.
We said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew.
We learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corners of the Earth.
We found new friends and a new family.
We became brothers and sisters regardless of color, race, or creed.
We had plenty of good times, and plenty of bad times.
We didn’t get enough sleep.
We smoked and drank too much.
We picked up both good and bad habits.
We worked hard and played harder.
We didn’t earn a great wage.
We experienced the happiness of mail call and the sadness of missing important events.
We didn’t know when, or even if, we were ever going to see home again.
We grew up fast, and yet somehow, we never grew up at all.
We fought for our freedom, as well as the freedom of others.
Some of us saw actual combat, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us saw the world, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us dealt with physical warfare, most of us dealt with psychological warfare.
We have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can’t fully describe or explain, as not all of our sacrifices were physical.
We participated in time-honored ceremonies and rituals with each other, strengthening our bonds and camaraderie.
We counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all.
We have dealt with victory and tragedy.
We have celebrated and mourned.
We lost a few along the way.
When our adventure was over, some of us went back home, some of us started somewhere new and some of us never came home at all.
We have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures.
We share an unspoken bond with each other, that most people don’t experience, and few will understand.
We speak highly of our own branch of service and poke fun at the other branches.
We know, however, that, if needed, we will be there for our brothers and sisters and stand together as one, in a heartbeat.
Being a Sailor is something that had to be earned, and it can never be taken away.
It has no monetary value, but at the same time, it is a priceless gift.
People see a Sailor and they thank them for their service.
When we see each other, we give that little upwards head nod, or a slight smile, knowing that we have shared and experienced things that most people have not.
So, from myself to the rest of the Sailors out there, I commend and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for your country.
Try to remember the good times and make peace with the bad times.
Share your stories.
But most importantly, stand tall and proud, for you have earned the right to be called a Sailor.
I’m a Sailor.
Borrowed from a Shipmate
My apologies for the late entry. Still learning the art of cut-n-paste from various sources. Thanks to Dave Rifkin for the photo.
https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2021/06/14/uss-cod-world-war-ii-submarine-arrives-erie-hull-repairs/7682412002/
A sonar technician (submarine) and an electronics technician assist in pulling in the ballistic-missile submarine USS West Virginia at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Dec. 16, 2010. (James Kimber/U.S. Navy)
8 Jul 2021
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
A tornado with winds that reached about 120 miles per hour struck Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, on Wednesday afternoon, causing injuries and damage, the National Weather Service said Thursday
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/08/significant-120-mph-tornado-carves-through-georgia-submarine-base.html
BEIJING — China’s military said it chased a U.S. warship out of a disputed area of the South China Sea on Monday after Washington warned an attack on the Philippines might activate a mutual defense treaty.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/12/china-says-it-chased-us-warship-out-of-disputed-sea.html
On May 7, the Russian Navy finally commissioned the Kazan, its first Yasen-M-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN).
From the Base Commander, Dave Rifkin;
A special thanks to the Torpedo Maintenance team for their hard work today (and it was hard consuming all that pizza and beer afterwards :-). We got her spruced up but won’t be completely finished until the polished hardware goes back on this week. Well done to shipmates Dave Schlessinger (coordinator), Don McBride (consultant), Steve Bridge, Tom Carty, Pat Ivory, and Lanny Mosley. Couple of photos below.
By Matt Fratus | February 24, 2019
Every submariner’s fear is being trapped on the bottom of the ocean inside the steel coffin they live, work, and sleep in, knowing that help on the surface isn’t coming to save them.
U.S. Naval Institute
On May 10th in 1921, the submarine USS R-14 ran out of fuel and lost radio communications while searching for a missing ship. The crew stitched together blankets, hammocks and battery deck covers, and then spent 5 days under sail to travel 120 miles back to Hawaii.
USS Skate
First Submarine to Surface at the North Pole USS Skate (SSN-578) hung below the Arctic ice like a matchstick suspended an inch from the ceiling of a large room. A knot of sailors in the control room stared intently at an instrument inscribing patterns of parallel lines on a rolling paper tape. The pattern looked like an upside down mountain range. “Heavy ice, ten feet,” said one of the sailors. Suddenly the lines converged into a single narrow bar. “Clear water!” the sailor called out.
Commander James Calvert, the skipper, studied the marks on the paper closely. He stopped the submarine, ordered “up periscope,” and peered into the eyepiece. The clarity of the water and the amount of light startled him. At this same depth in the Atlantic—180 feet—the water was black or dark green at best, but here in the Arctic, it was pale blue like the tropical waters off the Bahamas. The crew laughed nervously as Calvert reported seeing nothing but a jellyfish. Calvert turned toward the man in charge of the ice-detecting instrument. “How does it look?” The sailor flashed him the okay sign. “Bring her up slowly,” Calvert said. The three-thousand ton sub began drifting upward like a giant balloon. The diving officer called the depth as the Skate rose.
Otherwise the room was deathly quiet. A wrong move or a miscalculation would endanger the mission or even the ship. Calvert continued to peer through the eyepiece. When the top of the periscope came within sixty feet of the surface, he spotted heavy ice to the side. He flipped the prism to look straight up, but saw nothing except the same blurred aquamarine. Sweat appeared on his forehead as he felt all eyes in the control room bear down upon him. If the sub rose too slowly, it could drift away from the opening. If it rose too quickly and struck ice, the collision could tear open the pressure hull and send the sub and all ninety men on board to the bottom.
Calvert, one of the most decorated naval officers of World War II, had survived eight war patrols in the submarine Jack and later became the third naval officer selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover to command a nuclear powered submarine. It was one of the Navy’s most demanding jobs, for it required the intellect and the courage to operate the Navy’s most sophisticated and dangerous propulsion system. This success of this mission would help Navy planners determine whether submarines could navigate safely under Arctic ice, a question with grave implications for national security, given the emerging Soviet submarine threat.
Calvert ordered the ballast tanks blown. The roar of high pressure air seemed earsplitting after the tense silence of the last few minutes. Upon surfacing, Calvert ordered the hatch opened, then climbed up to the bridge. The sky was slightly overcast and the damp air felt like an unseasonably warm February day in New England, with the temperature hovering near freezing. The submarine’s black hull stood out in stark relief against the deep blue of the calm lake in which the ship now floated. Beyond the lake, stretching to the horizon in every direction, was the stark white of the permanent polar ice pack. The officer who had climbed to the bridge with Calvert called the skipper’s attention to the port side of the ship. There a full grown polar bear was climbing slowly out of the water and up onto the ice. The date was 11 August 1958 and the Skate had just become the first submarine to surface at the North Pole.
[Source: U.S. Naval Institute | Naval History Blog | August 11, 2011 ++]
Harris' new workspace is one of two "heritage desks" Seabees constructed this year. Sailors also built a desk for the Navy secretary that not only includes materials from the Constitution, but from the frigate Chesapeake; battleships Texas, New Jersey and Arizona; and sloop of war Constellation as well.
Copy and paste the below address for article
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/04/05/navy-seabees-build-vp-kamala-harris-desk-out-of-wood-uss-constitution.html?ESRC=eb_210406.nl
Here’s the latest on getting vaccines in our area. You can get on a waiting list for a call back for the Regency vaccination location. No word on new vaccine doses for the VA downtown facility (should be soon though). Publix link also included (just have to be lucky and try often for St Johns County). Thank you BC Dave Rifkin for the intel.
https://www.publix.com/covid-vaccine/florida
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/veterans-and-gold-star-families-free-access.htm
Another late entry (OBE)
This is Base Commander Dave Rifkin presenting Owen "Coyote" Carlson with a Letter of Appreciation for his work on establishing this blog.
Congratulations Coyote
This is a month late (sorry) but this is the swearing in of the 2021 Executive Board, First Coast Base.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3117076/chinas-underwater-drones-seized-indonesia-expose-tech-routes
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/12/13/russian-nuclear-submarine-test-fires-4-missiles/
One of the last U-Boats produced by Germany in the Second World War had all the most advanced technology, including a new "high pressure toilet". What happened next, a veritable toilet disaster, deserves to be remembered.
