11 AUGUST 1958 OPENING THE ARCTIC The 1950s saw the United States embroiled in a “Cold War” to halt the spread of Soviet Communism. Indeed, by the late 50s the Soviets, once thought to be technologically backward, appeared to have a Read More
30 JULY 1942 LAST CALL FROM GRUNION On 30 June 1942, LCDR Mannert L. Abele conned the new Gato-class submarine USS GRUNION (SS-216) out of Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol. WWII was seven months old, and the first glimmers Read More
10 JULY 1975 “THIS CAN’T BE GOOD” “This can’t be good,” Chief Paul DeLange thought to himself as he stood on the deck of the attack submarine USS FINBACK (SSN-670) early this morning overseeing the aft line handlers. Disco music blared Read More
2 JUNE 1918 WORLD WAR I AT OUR DOORSTEP The bright sun and calm seas off Delaware’s coast this morning belied the sinister intent with which U-151 cruised the surface. Germany and the US had been at war for a year, Read More
24 JANUARY 1943 “DOWN THE THROAT” USS WAHOO (SS-238) is one of best remembered submarines of WWII, and her third war patrol from 14 January to 7 February 1943, under CDR Dudley W. “Mush” Morton, is perhaps the most noteworthy of Read More
24 SEPTEMBER-24 OCTOBER 1944 LAST CRUISE OF TANG The Balao-class WWII submarine USS TANG (SS-306) had amassed an enviable 18 ship sinkings totaling 120,476 tons, including a tender and two military transports, on her first four patrols. On 24 September 1944, Read More
6 SEPTEMBER 1776 FIRST SUBMARINE The world’s first operational submarine was the brainchild of physician and inventor David Bushnell while a student at Yale College in 1771. During the 1775 British blockade of Boston, he and his brother Ezra gave the idea physical Read More
30 AUGUST 1944 PALAWAN RESCUE On the night of 13 August 1944, USS FLIER’s (SS-250) surface transit of the Balabac Strait off Borneo was suddenly blasted by a deafening explosion. Like her sister, ROBALO (SS-273), two weeks earlier, FLIER had struck Read More
13-16 AUGUST 1942 RESCUE OF S-39 The 51 submarines of our S-class represented one of our most prolific post-WWI classes. Built between 1917-1920, their technology was shortly eclipsed during a time of rapid advancements in submersible design. The “Sugar” boats remained Read More
7 APRIL 1966 LOST H-BOMB Considering the pace of Cold War activities in the 1960s, accidents were bound to happen. Such was the case on 17 January 1966 when an Air Force B-52 collided with a KC-135 tanker during an aerial Read More