As I left off in my last blog, we had just been called to battle stations and I was moving quickly to my station as stern planes man. Many of us, I'm sure were thinking of all the other boats that had been depth charged in this same area.
The boat had just come up from 400 feet and when we broke through the colder water layer we found ourselves in the middle of the Russian Fleet as it left Petropavlovsk, it's home port in the Pacific. We were now at battle stations, rigged for ultra quiet and at periscope depth. The skipper was taking pictures through the periscope that were so good that I heard one of our officers say you could identify the senior officers on the Russian ships.
The spooks were also busy getting intelligence data from radio signals and sonar. Eventually the captain figured we were stretching our luck so we turned toward deeper water and went to 400 feet. We all let out a sigh of relief that we had gotten away with a very valuable intelligence gathering mission. The rest of our patrol was routine and we eventually got relieved and headed home to Pearl Harbor. We had to stay undetected all the way back to Pearl but that was no problem.
We arrived back off the coast of Oahu in the early morning, just before daylight. The picket destroyer that guards the entrance to the channel finally spotted us and came roaring in on us. We had no hull numbers and
no flag flying so they decided we needed a good looking over. As the sent a flashing light challenge I noticed that there forward 5" gun mount swung out pointing at our bridge, and reported same to the OOD. The Quartermaster of the watch came to the bridge and return the proper code letters to answer the challenge as well as other information. The destroyer swung away from us and we entered port at 8AM. We were met on the way in by the Admiral and our Squadron Commander.
Later that afternoon I received orders to my next school, Nuclear Power School. I was disappointed in a way as Tangs next trip would be to WestPac and I really wanted to make that trip. Since I had two weeks leave coming I called my fiance and we decided to get married as soon as I arrived.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Stories of a Submariner
I was growing up during the closing years of World War Two. I was often taken to movies that were made about the war, during those years. I can clearly remember my parents taking me to Soldier Field, in Chicago, for a large War Bond rally. there were all kinds of military equipment on display
and a reenactment of a battle between US and German soldiers. Of course as a very young boy all of this impressed me greatly. (PS: at the age of 2 1/2 I remember hearing President Roosevelt telling about the attack on Pearl Harbor) As I grew older television became available to the public and when my dad could afford it we got a used set. I was then able to watch movies and other shows about WWII. I soon became thrilled by submarines. My favorite TV series was call "Silent Service" which were actual real stories filmed on board submarines, mainly in the Pacific.
By the time I graduated high school I knew I wanted to serve on submarines in the Pacific. When college didn't work out for me I joined the Navy. The recruiter I signed up with gave me a guarantee of submarine school & Electricians Mate School if I signed up for Nuclear Power school, so I was on my way.
On the day you graduate from Submarine School you get to pick your first
boat( subs are commonly refered to as boats, not ships). I picked the USS Tang in Pearl Harbor. This boat was named after the famous submarine of
WWII. My new boat was built on the plans of a German Uboat type XXI and this class of boats were the first Fast Attack boats. There were 5 boats in the class and all were diesel powered. All of this class of boats were named after famous boats sunk during WWII.
Soon after reporting aboard Tang two things happened, I was promoted to seaman and I found out that I got seasick. I was to learn that I got seasick easily and that I would need seasick pills as long as I stayed in the Navy. Usually I got over it in a couple of days after leaving port and I found that I never got sick in really bad storms as the boats motion was too violent.
the summer of 1962 we got orders to prepare to go to sea on a top secret
patrol. After loading provisions, weapons-including 2 war shot torpedoes,
and the removal of our two rescue buoys we sailed in late June. Our first
and last stop was Midway Island. There we topped off our diesel fuel, fresh water and provisions used getting there. We were also treated to a beer party which lasted about 4 hours. During this time the seaman on duty painted out our white hull numbers so we were totally black.
We sailed again in late afternoon, after the spooks came aboard. From then on we were to remain totally undetected, even from our own planes and ships. We were operating under war time conditions. After crossing the International Date line we started our patrol reversals of time. What we did was reverse night and day. When we arrived on station we would be in close to shore making our observations so the ship would be rigged for red, red lights only, and those off duty would be sleeping. This increased our level of quietness. At night we would be much farther out charging batteries and doing other required duties. We stayed rigged for red then also.
On an amusing note, food looks different under red lights, especially anything red. Catchup is practically invisible. By this time most of our fresh
produce, milk, etc. were gone so we were now eating canned goods, powdered milk, canned potatoes, powdered eggs etc. Nothing had changed since WWII. The submarine force did get the best food the Navy had available.
In addition to my duties as an Electricians Mate striker my primary watch station was as either the bow or stern planesman. On watch in addition to maintaining the ordered depth between periscope depth and 400 feet we constantly drilled on emergency drills and practicing to be able to control
the boats depth with only one planesman. I was also the battle stations stern planesman. One day I came on watch and was the helmsman. Shortly
after coming on watch I relised that when I moved the rudder the gyro compass repeater did not follow my course correction. I started using the magnetic compass and found we were way off course, toward land, and immediatly told the conning officer. He gave me the correct course to get back to the twelve mile limit. We were in to 6 miles of the Russian coast. No
place you wanted to get caught.
Some days later I came off watch and went too my bunk in the after torpedo room. I was just getting to sleep when the general alarm sounded and an announcement of " Man battle stations torpedo, this is NOT a drill!!"
and a reenactment of a battle between US and German soldiers. Of course as a very young boy all of this impressed me greatly. (PS: at the age of 2 1/2 I remember hearing President Roosevelt telling about the attack on Pearl Harbor) As I grew older television became available to the public and when my dad could afford it we got a used set. I was then able to watch movies and other shows about WWII. I soon became thrilled by submarines. My favorite TV series was call "Silent Service" which were actual real stories filmed on board submarines, mainly in the Pacific.
By the time I graduated high school I knew I wanted to serve on submarines in the Pacific. When college didn't work out for me I joined the Navy. The recruiter I signed up with gave me a guarantee of submarine school & Electricians Mate School if I signed up for Nuclear Power school, so I was on my way.
On the day you graduate from Submarine School you get to pick your first
boat( subs are commonly refered to as boats, not ships). I picked the USS Tang in Pearl Harbor. This boat was named after the famous submarine of
WWII. My new boat was built on the plans of a German Uboat type XXI and this class of boats were the first Fast Attack boats. There were 5 boats in the class and all were diesel powered. All of this class of boats were named after famous boats sunk during WWII.
Soon after reporting aboard Tang two things happened, I was promoted to seaman and I found out that I got seasick. I was to learn that I got seasick easily and that I would need seasick pills as long as I stayed in the Navy. Usually I got over it in a couple of days after leaving port and I found that I never got sick in really bad storms as the boats motion was too violent.
the summer of 1962 we got orders to prepare to go to sea on a top secret
patrol. After loading provisions, weapons-including 2 war shot torpedoes,
and the removal of our two rescue buoys we sailed in late June. Our first
and last stop was Midway Island. There we topped off our diesel fuel, fresh water and provisions used getting there. We were also treated to a beer party which lasted about 4 hours. During this time the seaman on duty painted out our white hull numbers so we were totally black.
We sailed again in late afternoon, after the spooks came aboard. From then on we were to remain totally undetected, even from our own planes and ships. We were operating under war time conditions. After crossing the International Date line we started our patrol reversals of time. What we did was reverse night and day. When we arrived on station we would be in close to shore making our observations so the ship would be rigged for red, red lights only, and those off duty would be sleeping. This increased our level of quietness. At night we would be much farther out charging batteries and doing other required duties. We stayed rigged for red then also.
On an amusing note, food looks different under red lights, especially anything red. Catchup is practically invisible. By this time most of our fresh
produce, milk, etc. were gone so we were now eating canned goods, powdered milk, canned potatoes, powdered eggs etc. Nothing had changed since WWII. The submarine force did get the best food the Navy had available.
In addition to my duties as an Electricians Mate striker my primary watch station was as either the bow or stern planesman. On watch in addition to maintaining the ordered depth between periscope depth and 400 feet we constantly drilled on emergency drills and practicing to be able to control
the boats depth with only one planesman. I was also the battle stations stern planesman. One day I came on watch and was the helmsman. Shortly
after coming on watch I relised that when I moved the rudder the gyro compass repeater did not follow my course correction. I started using the magnetic compass and found we were way off course, toward land, and immediatly told the conning officer. He gave me the correct course to get back to the twelve mile limit. We were in to 6 miles of the Russian coast. No
place you wanted to get caught.
Some days later I came off watch and went too my bunk in the after torpedo room. I was just getting to sleep when the general alarm sounded and an announcement of " Man battle stations torpedo, this is NOT a drill!!"
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