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!!"