In the early days of the twentieth century, when the United States was just beginning to understand the promise and peril of undersea warfare, a small, steel-hulled boat slipped into the waters of the Puget Sound. She wasn’t flashy. There were no cheering crowds on the dock and no headlines outside the Navy towns. But when USS F-3, originally named Pickerel, was commissioned on August 5, 1912, she quietly joined the ranks of a fledgling force that would one day shape the future of naval combat.
Continue reading “Silent Pioneer”Under the Ice
She started life as a workhorse, not a wonder. USS O-12 was never meant to make history, only to do her duty. Built in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1916, this O-class submarine served briefly in the Panama Canal Zone after World War I. She was solid, if not spectacular. Compared to her Electric Boat sisters, she had her flaws. But for a few short years, she stood watch where it mattered. Then, in 1924, the Navy pulled her from service and parked her at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was supposed to be scrapped. That would have been the end of it.
Continue reading “Under the Ice”Vison Below The Surface – The Submarine Leadership of Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison

In the fog of the Atlantic and beneath the waves, a quiet revolution was underway. As the United States entered World War I in 1917, its submarine force was still in its infancy—limited in number, rudimentary in design, and scattered in command. The boats were short-ranged, poorly coordinated, and used mostly for coastal defense. But at the helm of its transformation stood a man few have heard of, yet whose legacy shaped the very heart of the Silent Service: Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison.
Continue reading “Vison Below The Surface – The Submarine Leadership of Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison”
