my hats off to all Navy combat veterans, especially submariners. some great action footage of depth charging going on right now. Krauts are releasing oil to try deception.....made in 1957, I will still in diapers, yes CLOTH diapers, lol...
As I've said before, there isn't a hull strong enough to contain me should I wake up and find myself inside one of those things. My admiration for those who serve in them is immeasurable.
A friend was a sonar supervisor in a Permit class attack sub, early '80s. (USSR was still around) He has some pretty interesting stories, and pictures of Vladivostok harbor taken through the periscope.
MY FIL served on diesels, early 50's. Funny thing is he gets seasick, and is the only person I have ever actually seen turn a lovely shade of light green. Chums well, too. Once submerged, he was fine. He hated the surface!
I had a neighbor, now deceased, who served aboard a German u-boat in WW II. Hans' boat was sunk by the Brits, who sailed away, leaving the survivors behind. An American ship happened along, plucked them out of the water, and brought them to the U.S., where he spent the rest of the war as a POW. After being repatriated to Germany, he brought his bride, Marta back to the U.S. They had a son, who became an officer in the US Navy! Hans and my dad spent hours at our kitchen table, drinking beer and swapping war stories. I'm so grateful for such memories.
The ending of "Enemy Below", and the mutual respect displayed by the two captains, always gets to me. And that ^ is why.
Even in peace time "things" don't always go as planned.
This was my boat in 67' when we surfaced, we knew we were in trouble had no idea how close we were to becoming another statistic. 85 enlisted men and 10 officers, on watch and at battle stations.
All I could say was WTF, I will never take anything for granted again. I knew what the outcome could have been, no one survives.
A friend was in Merchant Marine in WWII, on some of the convoy runs. When he would (almost never) talk about it in the 70's, he would turn dead white.
Burning/sinking ships on all sides, doomed sailors in the water, no stopping to pick them up, or even avoid running them down.
An uncle by marriage was in the second boarding party of the U-boat captured in the N. Atlantic during WWII. He was fine with that - the first party had to safety the scuttling charges. That boat is in a US museum (Chicago? Smithsonian?), and he told me his pic(with his party) is included in the display. I did see his copy of the pic, but never the dispay itself.
Let's not forget that SOB Congresscritter that blabbed to the papers about our "small losses" in the Pacific being due to the Japs setting their charges too shallow, as our boats had greater depth capability than theirs, which they were initially referencing for depth settings. Cost hundreds of lives after that.
Let's not forget that SOB Congresscritter that blabbed to the papers about our "small losses" in the Pacific being due to the Japs setting their charges too shallow, as our boats had greater depth capability than theirs, which they were initially referencing for depth settings. Cost hundreds of lives after that.
A friend was in Merchant Marine in WWII, on some of the convoy runs. When he would (almost never) talk about it in the 70's, he would turn dead white.
Burning/sinking ships on all sides, doomed sailors in the water, no stopping to pick them up, or even avoid running them down.
An uncle by marriage was in the second boarding party of the U-boat captured in the N. Atlantic during WWII. He was fine with that - the first party had to safety the scuttling charges. That boat is in a US museum (Chicago? Smithsonian?), and he told me his pic(with his party) is included in the display. I did see his copy of the pic, but never the dispay itself.
The U-505 at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I have been to that exhibit on a few occasions - the first time on a school trip in the seventh grade. It is both educational and captivating. Even in the seventh grade I thought hard about the "pucker factor" overload the boarding parties must have felt when they heard the command "boarders away".
A friend was in Merchant Marine in WWII, on some of the convoy runs. When he would (almost never) talk about it in the 70's, he would turn dead white.
Burning/sinking ships on all sides, doomed sailors in the water, no stopping to pick them up, or even avoid running them down.
An uncle by marriage was in the second boarding party of the U-boat captured in the N. Atlantic during WWII. He was fine with that - the first party had to safety the scuttling charges. That boat is in a US museum (Chicago? Smithsonian?), and he told me his pic(with his party) is included in the display. I did see his copy of the pic, but never the dispay itself.
I went through nuke school and nuke prototype and had orders to an SSN. Got busted for drunk and disorder and other dumb stuff. They considered me a security risk and sent me to the surface navy. Probably the best thing for me. LOL five years later I was the course supervisor for the Tomahawk cruise missile course, and then had a top secret/SCI clearance working for an Admiral, managing cruise missile operations for a battle group. Never know which way life will take you sometimes.
A good submarine movie is Das Boot. Appears to be quite realistic of what it was like back then. Paul B.
Yes, enjoyed that one, too. It showed the change from early to mid-WWII in the N Atlantic. Better developing technology and willingness/ability to focus on fighting the U boats made a dramatic difference.
Don't have much use for Sean Connery or Alex Baldwin but, I also enjoyed The Hunt for Red October
As a middie, an afternoon spent on an attack boat that was pierside at Norfolk was all it took to convince me that I didn’t want anything to do with subs. 😮
While on cruise on board the America, one of the movies we had was Das Boot. Pretty tense and very well done.
My nephew was a quarter inch or so under the height cutoff for sub duty. Once he was in nuke school there was no turning back - and he grew 4 more inches in a late growth spurt. He spent 3 years sleeping curled up. The day he got out, he burned his uniforms. The next day he realized he was still in the reserves and bought new ones.
A friend was in Merchant Marine in WWII, on some of the convoy runs. When he would (almost never) talk about it in the 70's, he would turn dead white.
Burning/sinking ships on all sides, doomed sailors in the water, no stopping to pick them up, or even avoid running them down.
An uncle by marriage was in the second boarding party of the U-boat captured in the N. Atlantic during WWII. He was fine with that - the first party had to safety the scuttling charges. That boat is in a US museum (Chicago? Smithsonian?), and he told me his pic(with his party) is included in the display. I did see his copy of the pic, but never the dispay itself.
my hats off to all Navy combat veterans, especially submariners. some great action footage of depth charging going on right now. Krauts are releasing oil to try deception.....made in 1957, I will still in diapers, yes CLOTH diapers, lol...
Pretty good movie, that.. Another one is "Das Boot"..
Originally Posted by local_dirt
Originally Posted by las
A friend was in Merchant Marine in WWII, on some of the convoy runs. When he would (almost never) talk about it in the 70's, he would turn dead white.
Burning/sinking ships on all sides, doomed sailors in the water, no stopping to pick them up, or even avoid running them down.
An uncle by marriage was in the second boarding party of the U-boat captured in the N. Atlantic during WWII. He was fine with that - the first party had to safety the scuttling charges. That boat is in a US museum (Chicago? Smithsonian?), and he told me his pic(with his party) is included in the display. I did see his copy of the pic, but never the dispay itself.
U-505.
I was 9 years old when I toured the U-505......and knew right then I wanted to serve on subs... Did so, from '66-'69 (USS Redfish & USS Razorback).. The latter, btw, is at the North Little Rock Maritime Museum and is still 90% operational..
Let's not forget that SOB Congresscritter that blabbed to the papers about our "small losses" in the Pacific being due to the Japs setting their charges too shallow, as our boats had greater depth capability than theirs, which they were initially referencing for depth settings. Cost hundreds of lives after that.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/pxQ0Bmx.jpg)