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It was 1958. Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander in Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, insisted there were Soviet submarines lurking off our coast. Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, suggested that Admiral Wright prove his statement. A proclamation soon appeared, scrolled and framed, outside Admiral Wright’s office:
Whereas, the presence of unidentified submarines in the approaches to the United States has been frequently reported, and
Whereas, the submarines have been uncooperative in declaring either their identity or their intent as is required by the customs and usages of honorable seamen, and
Whereas, tangible evidence that these surreptitious operations are being conducted would result in appropriate embarrassment to those involved
Therefore, I do hereby pledge to donate one case of Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Brand of Quality Tennessee Sour Mash Com Whiskey, made as our fathers made it for seven generations at the oldest registered whiskey distillery in the United States, established 1866, to the first Scene of Action Commander in the Atlantic who produces evidence that a “non U. S. or known friendly” submarine has been worn out.
/s/ Jerauld Wright
Admiral, U. S. Navy
At that time, I was commanding officer of the USS Grenadier (SS-525). When we heard of this proclamation, the wardroom gave the matter a lot of thought. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that a submarine was the most likely platform to win the Jerauld Wright Award. We believed that we were smarter, had better equipment, and
better teamwork than our adversary. All we needed vva the opportunity. da
Early in the afternoon on 28 May 1959, sonar repo11 contact thought to be a Soviet submarine. The sonar op ators had not heard these characteristics before but es mated the range to be ten miles. After about 20 minu ^ the contact faded. We marked the estimated position
the chart, drew an approximated course-line to the
Cape, and gave our contact a calculated speed of
North
advance
of five knots. Since this contrived track went through. Grenadier's patrol area, we decided to make a no approach to the track and turn and go slowly on the s ^ course as the other sub. If our estimates were correct, expected to regain contact in about an hour. . <ai
Prior to departing our home port in Key West, Florl , for the patrol and an exercise off Iceland, we had reP a. £[ an air hose to the mechanism which opens the sn°^,aS head valve because the hose was leaking. The hose located within the snorkel mast and was banded tog<' t with other hoses and wires in a large loop so the could be raised and lowered without damage to the ho On two previous occasions during the patrol, however. hoses had sustained damage when the snorkel mast ^ lowered, and it had been necessary to surface in the jy est part of the night and make temporary repairs—the ^ access to the hoses being an access plate which cou -f reached only from topside. After the last time the f was made, we had decided, since we were on Patr° eed tion, to leave the snorkel mast up and patrol at slow' and at a shallow enough depth so we would not overs
the snorkel mast.
an1
After about two hours, we had not regained contaC, not were feeling a little disappointed that our estimates n** ^ worked out. It was now about eight hours since ou y. snorkel period, and the air was getting a bit fouled- j, gen was so low it was hard to light a cigarette. ^^oS' sion was made to snorkel in order to ventilate the 3j6ptb phere and top off the battery. We came to periscope
and were preparing to snorkel when sonar reported a con- act °n the port bow close by. The contact’s bearing ^oved down our port side at a rate which would indicate a range of about 800 to 1,000 yards, but there was nothing ln sight on the periscope, despite good visibility. We had re§ained our submarine contact.
Realizing the contact could possibly be the USS Skate SN-578), which was also in the exercise, we challenged e sub on the underwater telephone several times. There as no reply.
At this point, our contact sped up and, judging by the
loud cavitation, was doing so in a hurry. The sub then apparently reversed course and began to close in on us rapidly. Since the raised snorkel mast restricted our speed and depth capability, we lowered the mast immediately, hoping we would not damage the hoses. With the snorkel mast housed, we went active on the sonar, obtaining a range of 1,200 yards from our playmate. As the sub’s range closed to 200 yards, the bearing began to change so rapidly its rate was not measurable. She had apparently made a radical turn at the last minute, closing in at high speed.
With our test depth at 400 feet and the other sub’s at 750
At about 2300, sonar contact was lost abruptly. He ha
A T reapparently stopped. We came to “All Stop,” anil i
quested complete silence throughout the ship. Our » ^
aircraft, which had performed superbly, was relieved o
station by a second aircraft when fuel ran low. The ne
aircraft surrounded us with magnetic airborne detecti
equipment contacts which we acknowledged, but did n°
act on. There was a natural tendency to want to go ac 1
and investigate. However, I believed that was the usU
surface ship tactic and that if we had commenced p0*0 £
holes in the water, we would lose our advantage, the
did not know where we were, and I was sure she
2,000 yards dead ahead, hovering. .
Though the night would never get black, the
part would occur at about 0100 on 29 May. The word
passed over the sound-powered phones to expect the c
tact to surface at 0100. g
At 0100, just as predicted, the contact surfaced.
was a Soviet “Zulu”-class missile-firing submarine.
taped the whole sequence and then sent this messa&^
“Have surfaced my contact. Request Jack Daniels rep ^
aboard earliest and Jack Daniels, Jr., be sent to
nessee Sour Mash Corn Whiskey. Commanding Officer of USS GRENA ^59 whose officers and crew did on 29 May ^is succeed in fulfilling all requirements award.
feet, we were certain she was deeper, but we were prepared for a collision and presented our bow. As predicted, it was a scare tactic, and we fell in astern. She tried the same tactic again to no avail, and we were trailing astern at about 2,000 yards.
After about an hour, things had settled down. We were fairly certain our adversary’s battery was low as she poked along at four to five knots with no more spurts of speed.
Meanwhile, the Grenadier’s atmosphere had more than 3% carbon dioxide. Ventilation was becoming a must. Using the snorkel, we raised the mast and started the routine checks of the snorkel head valve to ensure it was operating correctly. It was not. The open head valve air hose in the mast had been cut when we had lowered the mast earlier in the encounter. With no other alternative, we decided to surface, create maximum ventilation, send our initial contact message, and submerge again. We had a good strong contact and believed we could take a ten-minute gamble without losing it and, in turn, gain a tremendous advantage with a complete charge of fresh air to go along with the fully charged battery.
We surfaced, put four engines on, and sent our message to Commander, Submarine Forces Atlantic: “Have contact on Soviet submarine, can track indefinitely.” We requested a P2V for patrol squadron/submarine (VP/SS) coordination using a tactical circuit.
We still had strong contact on both sonars, BQS-8 passive and the BQS-2 active in the passive mode. Instead of submerging, we organized a port and starboard trailing party.
We settled in for a long vigil, surfaced with two engines on propulsion, a full battery, and fresh air. Every minute we were surfaced and our target remained submerged gave us a tremendous advantage. We were ready to hold contact for as long as it took to exhaust the adversary.
Soon, it was apparent that we could follow the contact and remain on the surface, maintaining a full battery charge with lots of fresh air and also be in contact with the P2V, which would soon arrive. In addition, the aircraft and the Grenadier were visible to all, should anything nasty occur. We were conducting VP/SS coordination tactics on a cooperative live target. The time was late afternoon with no real darkness expected at that latitude in the North Atlantic.
After several hours of trailing, everyone became more proficient and confident, especially the sonar operators who soon learned that the contact’s noise spectrum indicated depth; they could tell when she was coming up for a look or going deeper. Sonar conditions were ideal, and the enemy was noisy.
With the P2V on station and performing to perfection, we were able to introduce humor and gamesmanship into a tense situation. As sonar would report the target coming up for a look, we would vector our aircraft “on top” of the target, and the pilot would drop flares with amazing accuracy to coincide with the other sub’s periscope breaking the surface. The P2V was flying at wave-top height. We would like to have taped the other sub’s commanding officer’s remarks as he was eye-to-eye with the aircraft commander. We played that game about once an hour.
duty
involving flying.” We submerged, and, on orders returned to our patrol station south of Iceland. ^ After we left, the “Zulu” remained on the surface ^ almost 24 hours under aircraft surveillance; after submerged, all contact was lost. Qf
Our executive officer, who had finished his t0“r j duty, was soon transferred by helicopter to Iceland carried tales and tapes to the various naval headquart^j Admiral Wright delivered the award as promised shook the hand of every member of our crew. He a delivered a half case to the aircraft commander an
crew. aht’8
Alongside the proclamation outside Admiral Wflg js office hung a matching Jerauld Wright Award whic proudly displayed in my study. It reads:
Whereas, the presence of unidentified submarine5^ the approaches to the United States has frequently reported, and . jn
Whereas, the submarines have been uncooperat*' _s declaring either their identity or their inte0f is required by the customs and usage honorable seamen, and ,55-
Whereas, through actions of USS GRENADIER s
525) tangible evidence that these surrep11 operations are being conducted has been Y duced f0f£
Therefore, in accordance with a pledge here f
made by me, I do hereby deliver one c Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Brand of Quality ^
Isl Jerauld Wright y Admiral, U. S-