"Out-Sputniking' the Soviets"
(See C. LaVO, pp. 48-51, August 2008 Naval History)
Randolph Bartlett
Carl LaVO's article about the USS Nautilus' (SSN-571) 1959 underwater transarctic voyage reminded me of one of my father's Cold War experiences when he was the American naval attaché in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1956 to 1959.
Every month or so, the naval attachés there had a luncheon where they would socialize and talk shop for a couple of hours. The August 1959 meeting occurred shortly after the Nautilus' historic voyage and, naturally, this was the center of conversation.
The Russian attaché happened to be sitting next to my dad at the table and was very anxious to pursue the topic. He peppered my father with leading questions. In response, my dad decided to have some fun at the Russian's expense. As the meal progressed, my father responded by dropping tidbits of information regarding the Nautilus and her recent voyage. By now, every officer at the table was listening. Soon the Russian, to everyone's delight, pulled out a small pad of paper and proceeded to take detailed notes.
Eventually, in a loud voice my father said: "You know, Boris, you can get all this information and pictures, too, if you go down to the newsstand and pick up this week's issue of Life magazine. That's what I did."
Everybody had a good laugh, but the Russian had the last laugh.
"Yes, yes, I know, Barney," he replied. "But it looks much better for me if I can report to my superiors in Moscow that I got all this information directly from you."
"Bouncy but Dry Ride to Safety"
(See R. Bennett, pp. 32-37, October 2008 Naval History)
Captain Andrew C. A. Jampoler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Excellent piece on Francis' patent life-car and the wreck of the bark Ayrshire! Your readers might be interested to know that Joseph Francis' metallic boats found many applications other than as life boats and life-cars. His boats were used in Florida's Seminole Wars and were part of the kit of Elisha Kane and Israel Hayes' American polar expeditions. Two (Fanny Mason and Fanny Skinner) successfully carried Lieutenant William Lynch's American Dead Sea expedition across the Sea of Galilee, down the Jordan River, and across the Dead Sea in 1848. Sadly, Lynch's historic boats-one of galvanized iron and one of copper-have long since been lost.
Just before he died Francis was awarded a gold medal by a grateful Congress, presented to him by President Benjamin Harrison, in appreciation for his contribution to saving lives at sea.
A model of one of Francis' boats is in the National Museum of the U.S. Navy at the Washington Navy Yard in its exhibit on the Lynch expedition.
"Those Stout Manitowoc Boats"
(See D. Walsh, pp. 42-44, October 2008 Naval History)
Commander James N. D'Orso, U.S. Navy (Retired)
With reference to Don Walsh's memoir on the durability of Manitowoc-built submarines, I can add the following:
In mid-1967, the USS Raton (AGSS-270), a Migraine sister of the Rasher (SSR-269), was under way from Guayaquil, Ecuador, back to San Diego. We had been through the traditional line-crossing ceremony on the way down but decided to make a submerged crossing of the equator on the way home. Our skipper, Commander Jack Reilly, ordered the boat to be rigged for dive. It had been two weeks, mainly because of our port visit, since the last dive.
Those boats had wooden decking as part of their superstructure. Lieutenant (later Admiral) Art Moreau, our engineer officer, accounted for this in his trim calculations but may have overdone trying to account for the flotation effect of the dry wood by adding extra weight forward.
It should be noted that these Migraine boats had other quirks beyond the tendency to take a steep down angle brought on by the planning effect of the added hull section forward. We were accustomed to the fact that on diving, any down angle over ten degrees would quickly go to 20. Additionally, the Raton's diving planes were electrically, rather than hydraulically, driven. It started as a routine dive:
"Down angle 21-degrees." (Not unusual for the Raton.)
"Very well, full rise on the stern planes." (Standard procedure.)
"Stern planes tilting motor fuse has blown." (A little out of routine, but not unheard of.)
"Very well, put a bubble in bow buoyancy tank." (No big problem.)
"No effect, down angle still increasing." (Vent jammed open? It happens.)
"Blow the forward group" main ballast tanks. (This is getting interesting.)
The green, somewhat unnerved youngster at the high-pressure air manifold blows the after group instead, resulting in a 45-degree down angle. (Uh oh.)
"ALL STOP! ALL BACK EMERGENCY! BLOW SAFETY! BLOW ALL MAIN BALLAST! (Maybe a short prayer's in order.)
It's reckoned that the only thing that saved us was the acrobatic feat of the electrician's mate back in the maneuvering room who succeeded in answering the backing bell despite being thrown up against his gauge panel by the down angle.
The boat leveled out at something well beyond 700 feet, took an incredible up angle, shot her forward end well out of the water, and then fell backward to her nominal test depth (around 300 feet) before returning to the surface on the level. That was really exciting.
We, also, offered prayers of thanks and blessings to the good folk at Manitowoc.
"Battling the Pacific's Most Deadly Force"
(See T. Webb Jr., pp. 16-25, October 2008 Naval History)
Chuck Davis
Mr. Webb's narrative was spellbinding and frightening and brought to mind a personal episode.
In 1961, as a first-class midshipman headed to the Marines, I decided to do my final term paper about something related to the grassroots black-shoe Navy. This terrible incident caught my attention.
Fast-forward to 1963, when I was in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with recon Marines. Some of us were having a few rum goodies at the Grandboku Pub. Author Herman Wouk was also there, doing "research" for a UDT/recon-type character in an upcoming book—Don't Stop the Carnival (not one of his best).
During our discussion it came out that he and I had both written about the December 1944 typhoon. I informed him that I had gotten a hefty 3.6 on my term paper and asked how his product 'The Caine Mutiny' turned out for him, much to the amusement of those at the table.
OSC James Patterson, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Mr. Webb's article was so moving I could feel every pitch and roll of the ship. It brought back memories of my times at sea in heavy weather. Thanks for a great article and magazine.
"Historic Aircraft"
(See P. Mersky, p. 8, October 2008; M. Dorfman, p. 64, June 2008; and N. Polmar, pp. 14-15, April 2008 Naval History)
Admiral James L. Holloway III, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Commander Mersky states "the Navy offered VF-192 and F9Fs as highly acceptable stand-ins for the Banshees, which would have been the more accurate carrier jet for the movie version of James Michener's The Bridges at Toko-Ri." I don't know if VF-192 was offered, but Fighter Squadron 52 was made available by the Navy and actually flew the flying sequences. I know because I was XO of VF-52 at the time and flew all of the air shots filmed by Paul Mantz.
The full details of the Paramount filming are included in my book, Aircraft Carriers at War (Naval Institute Press, 2007)
"The Cruise Missile Comes of Age"
(See A. Hind, pp. 52-56, October 2008 Naval History)
Lee Wetherhorn
The Styx missile used simple radar homing and thus headed for the part of the ship that gave the strongest radar echo. On the Eilat that was her big, slab-sided funnel. The first two missiles struck in almost the same place. The first explosion tore open the engineering spaces amidships.
The after part of the Eilat was cut off from the forward section. Wounded men had to be pulled forward through the water alongside the ship to reach an improvised aid station forward.
The Eilat sank, but she was not forgotten. Her name was later assigned to a Cherbourg-class missile boat, which took a measure of revenge for her older namesake. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the first war in which both sides used cruise missiles, she fired four Gabriel missiles at Egyptian missile boats during the Battle of Baltim. Three of them hit their targets. The Egyptians launched Styx missiles at the Israeli force, but every one of them was either diverted by decoys or destroyed. Israeli naval commandos believed that the Komar-class missile boat they destroyed off Hurghada with LAW missiles in that same war was the one that had launched the missiles that struck the earlier Eilat. The Egyptians denied this, but many Israelis still don't believe them.
"Looking Back"
(See P. Stillwell, p. 2, October 2008 Naval History)
Captain Alfred R. Olsen Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired)
Mr. Stillwell's article about Vice Admiral Jerome H. King Jr. is outstanding. Admiral King was brilliant, a quick study, and understood a problem and the proposed solution the first time he heard them. He was the most able staff officer with whom I ever served. I would like to add one bit to Mr. Stillwell's biography, about a contribution Admiral King made that changed the Navy and endures to this day.
I first met Jerry King in July 1972. He had just been designated the first deputy CNO for surface warfare. I had been nominated to be the first director of the new surface warfare training division. He didn't know me, but we hit it off from the start and he approved my nomination.
That September, the Bureau of Personnel unilaterally changed the BUPERS Manual and established an 1110 designator for surface warfare officers. The requirements to earn this designator were: to "Serve in a surface ship for three months and perform satisfactorily in the administrative watch assignments appropriate to his rank." A quick check of the manual found that it took almost a half-page each to describe qualifications required to earn submariner (1120) or aviator (1130) designators.
That same day I reported this to the admiral and pointed out the disparity between the perfunctory requirements for 1110 and the detailed, professional requirements for 1120 and 1130.
"What do you propose we do about it," he asked.
I told him that this was an opportunity to draft tough, meaningful qualifications similar to the other warfare communities and make it significant to become an 1110. Without hesitation, he said, "Do it."
My office drafted revised standards, which the admiral approved, and then outlined his strategy. The requirements would be presented to key flag officers at the November semiannual meeting of surface warfare type commanders. If there was a consensus to proceed, we would present them to the fleet commanders-in-chief for their recommendations and approval. Once we gained that, we would direct BUPERS to revise and upgrade the requirements to become an 1110.
In November we received the strong support of the type commanders and the changes were approved. The fleet CINCs approved the requirements and made them even more demanding. In early 1973, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, then CNO, signed the letter to BUPERS directing that the new qualification standards be adopted. The professional surface Navy had been established.
Vice Admiral Jerry King's grasp of the situation, quick approval, and strategy were essential to it coming to pass.
"In Contact"
(See photo caption, p. 6, October 2008 Naval History)
Chuck Chase
I hope you won't mind a small nitpick. On page 6, antennas are referred to in the photo caption as "antennae." As one of my electrical engineering professors was fond of saying, "insects have antennae, radios have antennas."