So it hasn't been OCR'd or turned into plaintext at all... it's just a scan of a microfilm document? Kind of hard to read more than a few pages at a time.
As for submarines, one night in the med in Naples harbor my buddies and I were on the catwalk, it was very late and dark as all get out, then like a deep sea monster back lit by the city lights a sub came slowly into view headed for I don't know where it was awesome!
Too true, Captain. Mea culpa. First trip to Naples was in 1967. Never warned about the Peroni beer and street food. My RD3 self vomited into Naples Harbor at Fleet Landing. While I was ashamed of myself, the deed wasn't as bad as if it had happened on the mike boat ride back to my Med-moored ship.
Naples Fleet Landing was always ..interesting..around end of liberty. As a very young Ensign I was assigned Beach Guard there. The CPO very gently guided me into the guard shack about 2200 and made sure I knew to stay there.
It was the only one I ever saw that wasn't a museum! It was a modern sub, whether USN or NATO I don't know. this was in the wee hours of the early morning, All we saw was the hull and sail.
I bring it up because he recounts his escape to Austrailia as part of the surviving PBY elements of PATWING 10 in 1942.
During the interview(pp 120-121 Vol. I), he talked about the significant number of the Austrailia based sub sailors who were going AWOL. Many from the S (or Pig) boats, which is the type pictured above.
Life aboard them was brutal. A PBY had accidentally attacked one, and when then Lt. Hyland went to speak with the skipper, Hyland said the man had a terrible skin condition and had lost 30-40 pounds. The skipper said, "Please leave us alone. Thats all we want."
The Aussie cops said it was easy to find the wayward sailors, and they usually had them nabbed in half a day...
"We just have our people go around, and they look in the bars...We just pick up anybody, one, who is wearing white socks, or who uses the phrase, 'Goddammit'. "
The Pig boats were sent to the Aleutians as well. I'm curious to see how they fared up there!
CDR Salamander, you out did yourself! Living near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard the story of USS Squalus/Sailfish USS 192 is something of local ledgend and lore. You can see where Squalus went down and Peter Maas wrote a compelling book “The Terrible Hours” about the Squalus sinking and Charles “Swede” Momsen leading the rescue efforts which is a glorious story in our naval history. (BTW Albacore is also here and quite a tourist attraction but most have no clue about her significance) At any rate I see that the action reports for Sailfish are included in the file which is easily downloaded! Wow! As it was for most of WWII really young men were put into harm’s way and did amazing things. These action reports no doubt reflect the courage to go to sea and as submariners fight one tough war. Then it ended, then they came home, and they got on with living. We are closing in on Veteran’s Day this is an early trick or treat surprise so thank you for this edition of FbF!! The Portsmouth shipyard is thriving some 6,600 people are working there, 3 shifts pretty much 365. We can do amazing things when the BS is shoved aside!
We need a continuing American version of uboat.net, the German site that has expanded over the years till it covers virtually every aspect of submarine and antisubmarine warfare remotely connected with the U-boat campaign. If the Germans can manage this for 1150+ U-boats, we should be able to equal it for our 300- combatant WW2 submarines.
Agreed. I've done some writing for uboat.net and combinedfleet.com drawing heavily from the USN war patrol reports - there's a lot of good stories out there that have yet to been properly told.
uboat.net goes fr beyond the submarines, to include allied ASW vessels, down to the British converted fishing trawlers. A really great accumulation of knowledge and easy to search.
Fullbore. Despite the Scoobs Family brown shoe heritage, I've had a lifelong interest in USN submarine operations. I've spent many hours trolling through these war patrol reports ferreting out little known episodes and overlooked details - just finished revisiting the little known patrols of SUBRON 50 in European waters. The fruits of this labor can be found on several prominent naval history websites...
Did my 1st class Middie cruise in Odax (SS-484). Came away with an abiding repect for the submarine force and those who manned it. Sampled how the nukes operated and went Destroyers.
Naval Research and Development just entered a Dune Time Warp… Possibly the Naval Two-Star was replaced. Too many people, so reduce numbers! Deliver possible solutions to Test as soon as possible! Name of this game is “Nuclear”!
CDR Salamander, starting about 1983, the Navy Ordered me to San Francisco, NIS, NUWEPS, then CINCPAC in Hawaii!
I recalled all those WWII Submarine movies!
Before that, in 1974, I went to the Sacred Heart Convent to find someone who remembered my mama. Afterwards, I met my Turn Verein Gymnastic mates at Berkeley!
To crawl around the insides and climb the outsides of a Submarine, you have to be a gymnast!
In about 1985, Gus Chyba brought me back to San Francisco so I could study how Holograms were made!
Nothing like seeing a Nuclear Submarine breach the surface!
Inside VAMC, 50 Irving Street N.W., Washington D.C. Swimming Pool, I was allowed to play my own game of “Hunt the Submarine” with my Water Mask, Snorkel and Fins… pretending I’m “Flipper”. Remember thst show? Good FbF, wouldn’t you agree? Stay safe! God Bless America.
I was privileged to know Capt. W.A. Stevenson commander of S-30 and Aspro. Double NC awardee. He related the Arctic weather was a harder combatant than the Japanese. Mentioned in Clair Blair in Silent Victory, gave command of his sub to his brother. Both were USNA grads.
So it hasn't been OCR'd or turned into plaintext at all... it's just a scan of a microfilm document? Kind of hard to read more than a few pages at a time.
This book was always too expensive to get when I was a kid...
https://archive.org/details/unitedstatessubm0000theo
Finally picked up a copy not long ago.
https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/united-states-submarine-operations-in-world-war-ii/author/theodore-roscoe/
I like the Dorsai novels and Hammers slammers.
Also the book Forlorn Hope.
I also like WW 1 and 2 novels.
As for submarines, one night in the med in Naples harbor my buddies and I were on the catwalk, it was very late and dark as all get out, then like a deep sea monster back lit by the city lights a sub came slowly into view headed for I don't know where it was awesome!
and John Ringo
Back in the day, you were more likely to see a dead horse floating in Naples Harbor than a submarine.
And lots of other things!!
Too true, Captain. Mea culpa. First trip to Naples was in 1967. Never warned about the Peroni beer and street food. My RD3 self vomited into Naples Harbor at Fleet Landing. While I was ashamed of myself, the deed wasn't as bad as if it had happened on the mike boat ride back to my Med-moored ship.
Naples Fleet Landing was always ..interesting..around end of liberty. As a very young Ensign I was assigned Beach Guard there. The CPO very gently guided me into the guard shack about 2200 and made sure I knew to stay there.
It was the only one I ever saw that wasn't a museum! It was a modern sub, whether USN or NATO I don't know. this was in the wee hours of the early morning, All we saw was the hull and sail.
Also picked up Adm John Hyland's two volume oral history...
https://www.usni.org/press/oral-histories/hyland-john
I bring it up because he recounts his escape to Austrailia as part of the surviving PBY elements of PATWING 10 in 1942.
During the interview(pp 120-121 Vol. I), he talked about the significant number of the Austrailia based sub sailors who were going AWOL. Many from the S (or Pig) boats, which is the type pictured above.
Life aboard them was brutal. A PBY had accidentally attacked one, and when then Lt. Hyland went to speak with the skipper, Hyland said the man had a terrible skin condition and had lost 30-40 pounds. The skipper said, "Please leave us alone. Thats all we want."
The Aussie cops said it was easy to find the wayward sailors, and they usually had them nabbed in half a day...
"We just have our people go around, and they look in the bars...We just pick up anybody, one, who is wearing white socks, or who uses the phrase, 'Goddammit'. "
The Pig boats were sent to the Aleutians as well. I'm curious to see how they fared up there!
.
CDR Salamander, you out did yourself! Living near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard the story of USS Squalus/Sailfish USS 192 is something of local ledgend and lore. You can see where Squalus went down and Peter Maas wrote a compelling book “The Terrible Hours” about the Squalus sinking and Charles “Swede” Momsen leading the rescue efforts which is a glorious story in our naval history. (BTW Albacore is also here and quite a tourist attraction but most have no clue about her significance) At any rate I see that the action reports for Sailfish are included in the file which is easily downloaded! Wow! As it was for most of WWII really young men were put into harm’s way and did amazing things. These action reports no doubt reflect the courage to go to sea and as submariners fight one tough war. Then it ended, then they came home, and they got on with living. We are closing in on Veteran’s Day this is an early trick or treat surprise so thank you for this edition of FbF!! The Portsmouth shipyard is thriving some 6,600 people are working there, 3 shifts pretty much 365. We can do amazing things when the BS is shoved aside!
Have you checked out "32 in '44: Building the Portsmouth Submarine Fleet in World War II" by USNI Press?
We need a continuing American version of uboat.net, the German site that has expanded over the years till it covers virtually every aspect of submarine and antisubmarine warfare remotely connected with the U-boat campaign. If the Germans can manage this for 1150+ U-boats, we should be able to equal it for our 300- combatant WW2 submarines.
Agreed. I've done some writing for uboat.net and combinedfleet.com drawing heavily from the USN war patrol reports - there's a lot of good stories out there that have yet to been properly told.
uboat.net goes fr beyond the submarines, to include allied ASW vessels, down to the British converted fishing trawlers. A really great accumulation of knowledge and easy to search.
Fullbore. Despite the Scoobs Family brown shoe heritage, I've had a lifelong interest in USN submarine operations. I've spent many hours trolling through these war patrol reports ferreting out little known episodes and overlooked details - just finished revisiting the little known patrols of SUBRON 50 in European waters. The fruits of this labor can be found on several prominent naval history websites...
Tremendous amount of history packed into one page of links.
Did my 1st class Middie cruise in Odax (SS-484). Came away with an abiding repect for the submarine force and those who manned it. Sampled how the nukes operated and went Destroyers.
CDR, good afternoon…
Naval Research and Development just entered a Dune Time Warp… Possibly the Naval Two-Star was replaced. Too many people, so reduce numbers! Deliver possible solutions to Test as soon as possible! Name of this game is “Nuclear”!
The back up game is UVA or Flying Drone.
The Nuke in WW II, yes…
The Drones are here now to stay!
Submarines will launch Drones, yes?
CDR Salamander, starting about 1983, the Navy Ordered me to San Francisco, NIS, NUWEPS, then CINCPAC in Hawaii!
I recalled all those WWII Submarine movies!
Before that, in 1974, I went to the Sacred Heart Convent to find someone who remembered my mama. Afterwards, I met my Turn Verein Gymnastic mates at Berkeley!
To crawl around the insides and climb the outsides of a Submarine, you have to be a gymnast!
In about 1985, Gus Chyba brought me back to San Francisco so I could study how Holograms were made!
Nothing like seeing a Nuclear Submarine breach the surface!
Inside VAMC, 50 Irving Street N.W., Washington D.C. Swimming Pool, I was allowed to play my own game of “Hunt the Submarine” with my Water Mask, Snorkel and Fins… pretending I’m “Flipper”. Remember thst show? Good FbF, wouldn’t you agree? Stay safe! God Bless America.
I was privileged to know Capt. W.A. Stevenson commander of S-30 and Aspro. Double NC awardee. He related the Arctic weather was a harder combatant than the Japanese. Mentioned in Clair Blair in Silent Victory, gave command of his sub to his brother. Both were USNA grads.