Stories From the US Submarine Force
OPINION: FTB1(SS) Dave Bowman, Past Commander and Base Historian
Beneath the waves, their watch is kept,
No trumpet sounds, no tears are wept.
The deep remembers, still and wide—
Our silent sailors, side by side.
Look, if you want to start an argument among submariners, it’s simple: start discussing what happened to the USS Scorpion SSN-589 on May 22, 1968.
Continue reading “The Deep Remembers”
The oceans were restless in the years leading up to World War II. Beneath their surface, the United States Navy was building a silent service that would eventually become the prowling teeth of Pacific warfare. But in those early days, undersea warfare was still uncertain, its technology complex and often unforgiving. No story better captures the peril, perseverance, and power of this era than the journey of a submarine that bore two names: first as a tragedy, and then as a warrior. This is the story of USS Sailfish, known to ghost and legend as Squalus.
Continue reading “Sailfish Reborn”
In the dark, moonlit hours of May 10, 1944, the Pacific Ocean off the northwestern coast of Luzon was alive with danger. Beneath the gently rolling swells, the steel predator USS Cod (SS-224), a fleet submarine of the Gato-class, stalked its prey—a leviathan of a convoy moving southwesterly, heavily guarded by Japanese destroyers, torpedo boats, and patrol planes. What followed was a daring submerged engagement worthy of any tale from Theodore Roscoe’s annals of undersea valor: an audacious attack on a 30-ship convoy that left fire on the sea and silence below.
Continue reading “USS Cod’s Torpedo Ballet: The Action of May 10, 1944”
Patrol Reports 