Category: Cold War

The Routine of Torpedo Offloads and Berth Shifts in San Diego: USS Queenfish (SS-393)

In August 1958, USS Queenfish (SS-393) was back in San Diego after her WestPac deployment and quickly moved into a maintenance phase. The deck log shows that beginning on August 21 she entered an availability period, and over the following days the crew oversaw the offloading of her torpedoes. This was standard practice before any yard period, both for safety reasons and to allow overhaul work in the torpedo rooms. The log notes entries where torpedoes were struck below, removed, and transferred off the submarine, marking the transition from an operational posture to one focused on repair and upkeep .

Continue reading “The Routine of Torpedo Offloads and Berth Shifts in San Diego: USS Queenfish (SS-393)” →
0

The Northern Star

In the shadowy chess game of the Cold War, the move that changed everything did not come from a missile silo in Kansas or a bomber base in England. It came from beneath the waves, out of sight and far beyond reach. On July 20, 1960, deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, the USS George Washington unleashed the first Polaris ballistic missile from a submerged submarine. That launch did not just mark a technical milestone. It transformed the rules of deterrence, and in many ways, helped hold off the unthinkable, even into the 21st century.

Continue reading “The Northern Star” →
0

Operation Iceberg

Five and a half years ago, I was sitting at a table on a Saturday morning with one of our newest Base members at the time. He had been a Sonar Tech and was DBF to the core. As we talked about his story, he told me that his adventures had included going under the ice… in a diesel boat.

Look, I am fascinated by under ice ops, but the idea of a diesel boat going under the ice for more than a quick duck seemed… insane. He laughed. “It was, but we did it.”

At the time I had no idea about Operation Iceberg, the Navy’s 1946 expedition under the overall Operation Nanook, to send submarines into the Arctic Ocean. Tom (although he qualified in 1962 aboard USS Cutlass SS-478) wasn’t old enough to have been a participant, but he certainly would have understood it.

One of my least favorite parts of being a USSVI Base Commander were the Eternal Patrol notices and the funerals. Tom was a great guy, and I was looking forward to a lot more discussions about these kinds of things. But it wasn’t to be.

So this article is dedicated to the memory of STSCS(SS) Tom Lee, departed on Eternal Patrol on May 8, 2020.

Continue reading “Operation Iceberg” →
0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑