Tag: Cold War

A $3 Toy Security Issue?

In the early summer of 1982, I walked into the Base Exchange at Dam Neck and walked out with a piece of the Cold War, boxed and shrink-wrapped for just a few bucks. It was a model of the Polaris submarine, the pride of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear deterrent program. For months, while I attended SWSE “A” School and later Mk 98 Mod 0 “C” School, it sat on my desk. A sleek plastic sentinel with decals, accurate contours, and the powerful allure of strategic dominance. It was emblematic of all the tasks that I was leaning and being prepared to take upon myself. It’s presence reminded me of my own goals and what I wanted to accomplish.

But, back in 1961 that little submarine model kit wasn’t just a toy. It was a controversy.

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The Daily Cold: June 2

1969

  • June 2: The fleet attack submarine USS Sea Leopard (SS-483) was underway on Cold War operations. According to official Navy histories, Sea Leopard “deployed on a special operation to the North Atlantic” on 2 June 1969. She returned to Norfolk on 15 August and then entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in January 1970 for overhaul.
Sea Leopard (SS-483) starboard view underway, 8 June 1970 leaving Philadelphia Naval Shipyard after entering a six-month overhaul. (NAVSOURCE

1971

The Seawolf (SSN-575) is about to received her new “Special Projects” hull section at Mare Island on 2 June 1971. She is in dry dock #4. (NAVSOURCE)

USS Seawolf (SSN-575) in drydock at Mare Island on 2 June 1971. The nuclear-powered Seawolf received a new “special projects” hull section on this date.

  • June 2: The nuclear submarine USS Seawolf (SSN-575) underwent a major conversion at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. On that day she received a new “special projects” hull section, as documented by U.S. Navy photographs and archives.

1973

  • June 2: The new Sturgeon-class submarine USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686) was launched at Newport News Shipbuilding. The launch ceremony was sponsored by Congressman Rivers’s daughters Ravenel and Eastman.
    L. Mendel Rivers would later be commissioned into service in late 1974.

Sources: Official Naval archives and photo collections including the Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS) and contemporary museum and media reports.

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Stickleback

She was born in the final stretch of World War II, commissioned in March 1945 at Mare Island. Like many boats of her generation, she came too late to fire a shot in anger, but the USS Stickleback (SS-415) still made her presence known. She served with quiet distinction in the Pacific, patrolling the waters between Japan and Korea, offering aid to shipwrecked Japanese survivors in the war’s waning days, and returning home in time to parade in Admiral Halsey’s victory fleet. Then she went to sleep in the reserve fleet, waiting, like many others, for a second act.

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